Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
As helpful as social media has been for real estate agents, you should know that it can do just as much harm to your brand if you aren't careful.
If you're using social media to grow your real estate business, steer clear of these five easy mistakes:
Your followers want to know how you can help them as a real estate professional, and seeing your family vacation pictures and personal status updates have nothing to do with it.
There's no reason why you shouldn't have a professional business profile on social media. It's free to create, plus you get extra features for businesses that general users don't need.
Your clients already know you're in the business of buying and selling property, so there's no need to constantly remind them via their newsfeeds. Instead, use your presence to show them what else they can expect from you. For example, some agencies use their Facebook channel to share new blog posts geared toward buyers and sellers. Think of how you can provide value to your audience, and sales will follow.
Hopefully, you won't have anyone sharing negative comments about your posting, but if you do, deleting them isn't the best way to quell the ire. If someone sees you deleted their comment, they may feel the need to point out their comment was deleted, which could raise red flags about why you deleted it. In addition, some users become more inclined to spread negativity, even if it means airing their grievances on other channels.
Instead, consider these comments as opportunities to show your responsiveness and professionalism.
If you've hired a social media firm to handle your content, or you're relying on someone in your office to update your posts, you need to trust their actions reflect your brand. Things like typos or overly hyped real estate listings don't look good on your agency. Copying what other agencies are doing simply because they have no new ideas don't help you differentiate your brand from others.
Establish guidelines as to what kind of content you want your audience to see. Or, you could require each post receives your approval before it goes live. Yes, it's a bit of extra work on your end, but not doing so could mean sacrificing your ROI on your social media efforts.
There's more to social media than Facebook, but that doesn't mean to have to be on all of them to make your presence known. However, that doesn't mean you should just stick to Facebook, either.
Each social platform offers its own unique benefits, so take some time to explore what they offer before you commit. Often times, you can use the same content on multiple platforms, which makes for easier work on your end. As a result, you can expand your audience reach and boost impressions.
However, trying to be in too many places at once can easily become a full-time job in itself. Consider where your target audience is most likely to be, weigh the pros and cons of each platform, then decide where to direct your resources.
It takes ongoing time and effort to build a stable social media presence, so don't let one simple mistake squash your hard work.
