It’s no secret that social media has become a key component in every real estate agent’s business. It’s one of the best ways to connect with potential clients, showcase your listings, offer a behind the scenes look at what your day looks like, and is a great way to provide a stellar first impression.
While it may appear on the surface that an account is working their social media well with lots of followers, likes, and comments, the real question is how many of those people are converting to real-life leads and sales.
The truth is you don’t have to have a large following to start making sales from your online presence. All it takes is a good strategy, a little persistence, and being authentic to really make a difference. Below you’ll learn how to use social media for real estate to generate more leads.
Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles for Leads
It doesn’t matter if it’s for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media profile, you’ll want all of your pages to match. To do this, make sure you have the same headshot across all of your platforms. This will quickly allow your followers to know that they’re looking at the same person. If possible, you’ll also want all of your handles to match.
When it comes to your cover images, your followers need to know how they can take action quickly. Stay away from generic images of houses and logos. Create an image that has a call to action or consider having a video play with a voiceover.
When it comes to optimizing your Instagram bio, your space is limited, so be sure you identify the purpose of your profile, a little bit of information about you, and where you’re located. You only get one link in your Instagram profile, use it to generate leads. Do not have it sent directly to your website. Consider having it to an opt-in page. Here’ an example of one of my one of my opt-in pages.
What Content Real Estate Agents Should Share
There are a few different types of posts you can include on your social media accounts. The ones I encourage agents to use include educational, personal, and promotional.
For the educational posts, think of this as general real estate information. These posts will be tips on how to improve curb appeal, how to add value to your home, reasons not to FSBO, etc. Much of the educational posts can be viewed as more generic content that most real estate agents are posting about regularly.
Personal posts help remind your followers that you’re not just a business; you’re also a person. For me personally, I include most of my personal posts in my Instagram stories, but you’ll occasionally see my dog and husband pop-up on my feed. When it comes to sharing personal posts, think of using these as a way to attract your ideal client. Showcase your personality and what you enjoy doing when you’re not working.
Promotional posts aren’t just sharing your listings; these are also posts that will generate your leads. Share stories about your work, ways you help your clients, and why your clients enjoy working with you. While many times, prompts aid in coming up with ideas on what stories to tell, this information is not generic; this is your organic posts that set you apart from other agents.
How to Get Engagement on Social Media
As you’re planning your content, you need to think of ways you can get your followers to take action. Be sure to include a call to action in the captions when you want followers to do something. If you want them to comment, tell them to comment below. If you want them to like the post, ask them to like or ‘double-tap’ if they agree with your statement. The clearer you are with what you want your followers to do, the more likely it’ll be that they take action.
*Bonus Tips*
Get active on Instagram stories and post 3-5 times per day. When you tag other accounts in your stories, much of the time, they will repost your story to their account, allowing their followers to see your content.
Want followers to get in your direct messages? Share a poll, but don’t just use the yes/no option. In the example below, you’ll see a post I shared. If they answer ‘yes,’ I can send them a message on how I can help. If they answer, I’m a pro; then I know they don’t need help.
Contact New Followers in Through Their Direct Messages
I’ll be honest, sending strangers messages on their social media accounts is entirely out of my comfort zone, but I know if I want to turn these followers into clients, I have to step out of my comfort zone.
Every evening I look at my new followers, and I send them a welcome message thanking them for the follow, sharing a little bit of information about myself, and offering them a ‘free gift’ which is one of my opt-ins. Currently, I’m offering my free content marketing guide. As of writing this blog, I have an 18% conversion on getting followers to opt-in to my email list. While it may seem like a bit of work to do, remember this is free marketing that can be done in a matter of minutes every night.
Starting conversations with people we don’t know can be stressful in the beginning, but it’s important to remember that if you want to convert your followers to leads and then to clients, you have to be willing to start somewhere.
In a course I took with a well-known copywriter, Tarzan Kay, in regards to email marketing, she said, “the money isn’t in the list, it’s in the relationship you have with the list.” The same is true with your social media. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have, what matters is what type of relationship you have with those followers, and if it’s strong enough to make you money.