Social media provides many opportunities for you to build your reputation as a real estate professional and attract new business. Thanks to various social media platforms and tools, you can reach out to prospects, clients and peers instantly, connecting, engaging, promoting and learning. Here are four of the top ways real estate professionals use social media:
1. Attracting Prospective Clients–Whether you are hoping to attract buyers, sellers, or both, developing a social media presence can help you meet this goal. Essentially, you want to establish an online presence and seek exposure wherever your audience gathers. This usually means
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but don’t overlook other popular platforms, such as Tumblr, Instagram, Foursquare and Vimeo. Many real estate professionals are gaining traction on such platforms by broadening their exposure and turning fans into clients.
2. Sharing–The purpose of social media is not merely to be seen; it’s also about sharing. And you, as a real estate professional, have plenty to share. What do you have to share? Think listings, neighborhood profiles, video tours and announcements of open houses and events. This type of sharing allows you to establish yourself as an expert on the local area that interests your audience, quench prospects’ thirst for more information, and appeal to the senses with eye-catching photos and videos.
3. Demonstrating Expertise–A single listing, community profile or video tour will likely appeal to a portion of your audience, but it certainly won’t appeal to all of your prospects. You can, however, reach out to a broader audience by providing industry information and advice, market updates, statistics, and commentary via your blog and various social media outlets. Be sure to include links to your website so that prospects can search listings and contact you for help. Trulia Voices, Zillow Advice and YouTube are good choices for answering questions and sharing tips and hints.
4. Networking–Social media also provides opportunity to network. Use the various social media platforms to network with other real estate industry professionals and former clients (an excellent source of referrals). Keep in touch with current clients as well, providing information that interests them and letting them know you care about their lives and understand their goals. You can even use social media networking to stay abreast of what other industry professionals are up to, learn more about the industry and develop new ideas for putting your best foot forward.
Discover how REVStaffing can dramatically boost your productivity. Take the next step towards better organization and increased exposure for your residential or commercial business by sending us an email, or give us a call for a free needs analysis.
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There is no one correct answer to this question. The right amount of time will depend on your goals, the number of platforms you are using and the size of your social media network. It is, however, safe to say that your commitment to social media will have to be significant if you want to see real results. It can be time-consuming to generate and upload content, share with others, engage in conversations, respond to posts and stay on top of links, etc.
Set Aside Time
Since you likely have a host of other tasks to deal with on a daily basis, you’ll want to make the time you spend on social media as efficient as possible. To do this, set aside a specific part of each day or week to handle social media tasks. During this time, focus only on your social media efforts. If you allow other tasks to creep in, you will find yourself spending double or even triple the expected time to get a simple task done. Even checking email or answering a phone call or two can dramatically increase the time you spend, turning a one-hour commitment into two or three hours on your social networking platforms.
Create a Schedule
Your audience will appreciate knowing what to expect from you, so make a schedule for when you will update and add new content. If you post to your blog twice per week on the same days, for example, your readers will know exactly when to visit for fresh content rather than making hit-or-miss visits to your blog. Be sure to update your content regularly. Your audience will rapidly become bored if your blog, Facebook and Twitter pages are not updated frequently. You may get the best results if you post to your blog at least once per week, though your audience might find two or three weekly posts more satisfying. As for your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other accounts, posting at least a couple of times per week is usually ideal.
Make Time to Engage
Remember that good social media isn’t just about posting and talking at your followers. The main point is to engage and communicate. As such, you will need to build in some time to friend and follow others, respond to posts, answer questions, make comments, and share. You may need to set aside a little daily time for this, as you don’t want to let questions and comments linger. If your audience members wait too long for responses from you, they will likely move on to another business. Set aside about 30 minutes per day for this, but expect to put in more time as your network grows. Additionally, the number of platforms you use will make a difference. If you have an active Facebook account and a growing following on Twitter, you will typically have to commit more time than if you’re just getting started with one social media platform.
Our REVStaffing virtual assistants dramatically boost our clients’ productivity. Take your next step towards better organization of your residential or commercial business by sending us an email, or give us a call for a free needs analysis. We’ll be happy to discuss ALL of your unique business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT!
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