Millions of people are using Google and other search engines to search for local resources in their area every day.
As a real estate agent, it’s important that you are utilizing local content marketing as a method for driving traffic to your real estate website and growing your following on social media to generate real estate leads.
There’s value in writing neighborhood and city guides that focus on the primary locations that you service so your new and existing clients continue to find valuable.
Here is why local content marketing is important to growing your real estate brand and how you can start adding more local content into your real estate marketing plan.
What’s Local Content
Local content is defined as content and news promoting a service or bringing attention to a story in a specific city, neighborhood, or community. Local content is used in many industries, but it is most commonly used in real estate, travel, and retail.
98% of all home sales originate online, so not being online is no longer an option.
Possum Kingdom real estate agent, Sabrina Sparkman, has become a top producing real estate agent in her small community by creating a website all about living in the community.
The same is true with Michelle Bellisari, a local real estate agent in Boca, Florida. She has turned a hyperlocal website into a place online that provides residents and tourists with everything they need to know about living and visiting the area.
The goal of local content is to dominate a market. Everything you do online should work toward making your name, company, and brand synonymous with your local market.
Local Content to Share to Generate Real Estate Leads
Getting started sharing local content doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
As a local, you have all of the insider knowledge that potential homebuyers need to know. What are the school districts like? Do town residents go to football games on Friday nights? What’s the art scene like? Are there lots of parks for children to play and community organizations for parents to get involved with?
Sharing up-to-date information on your town’s best parts will increase the likelihood of engagement on your social media platforms and help you grow your brand, allowing you generate real estate leads. By utilizing the appropriate hashtags and location tags in your posts, your content will be pushed to show up at the top of these searches.
If you are involved in the community, that’s even better. Share anecdotes from the latest city council meeting or your experience volunteering with the parks department. Encourage your followers to start up a conversation about the best parts of your town to highlight everything it has to offer. The more engagement you have, the more relevant you will be.
Real estate website, Movoto does a great job of using hyperlocal information to increase their website views. Their strategy focuses on local content for different neighborhoods, and their website has gone from 2,000 visitors a month to over 18 million.
How did they do this? By sharing articles that are relevant to locals themselves. Great articles on the Movato website showing hyperlocal information include 10 cities that make Texas A Perfect State to Relocate to, 30 Best things to do in Houston with a Family, If You’re From Kansas, This Hilarious Video Will Be The Best 5 Minutes Of Your Day.
How to Generate Real Estate Leads Using Content
The most important way a real estate agent can use local content is by educating potential clients about the local housing markets in the areas they service. While most real estate searches are dominated by big websites such as Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and even large brokerages like Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, it is possible for independent agents to rank still rank.
Again, take a look at Sabrina. If someone is considering moving to Possum Kingdom, the first thing they’re going to want to know is what’s it like to live there. By searching the key phrase living in Possum Kingdom, a potential client will find her blog about the Top 5 Reasons to Live in Possum Kingdom.
Even if you aren’t ranking, local content is a great way to nurture your leads and clients with relevant information through email marketing.
Creating a Local Content Marketing Plan
When you first start trying to figure out what type of content to share and where to share it, you may find yourself overwhelmed.
The first step in figuring out what type of content you want to share is understanding who your target audience is. Who are you trying to attract?
Questions to ask yourself include…
Are they new to the area?
Are they buyers or sellers?
What type of home will they be looking to purchase or sell?
Do they have kids? Are they single or married?
The more specific you are in identifying who you enjoy working with, the easier it will be to decide what type of content you want to share.
Once you identified who you want to target, start asking yourself what gets their attention. What do they care about, and what problems can you help them solve with your content?
For example, if you’re targeting families with children, the parents want to know about the school district, family-friendly things to do in the area, preschools and daycares, and pediatricians in the area. Consider partnering with teachers, babysitters, doctors, or local businesses that cater to families with kids to create valuable content that would interest, entertain, and most of all, help them.
To make your local content convert in real estate, it needs to do one thing… provide genuine and valuable content.
If you need help writing and creating local content for your real estate business, be sure to schedule a free strategy session.