Maintaining a social media presence is crucial for real estate agents looking to connect directly with their potential customers.
However, simply posting a constant stream of listings isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’ve got to provide content people are interested in. It’s not just about selling them a house. It’s about making them want to work with you when the time is right for them.
So, how do you get them to choose you? First, you’ve got to get them to trust you. And how do you do that? By marketing yourself as a local expert. An easy way to do that is by sharing information about your local community on your social media accounts that people will be interested in reading and sharing. In order to do this, you’ll need reliable sources and a consistent feed of material.
Here are a few good places to start:
Yes, content for your Twitter feed (as well as your Facebook real estate business page) can be found directly on Twitter itself.
The fact the platform is set up with a max of 140 characters on each post will make it even easier for you to scan for helpful content. By following the right people, you set yourself up with a completely personalized news stream that runs 24/7.
Get started with this list and Twitter will continue suggesting similar profiles.
- Your local Business Journal publication (or find more by Googling your city name followed by “business news”)
- Chamber of commerce/downtown association
- High school sports, music and theater feeds
- Prep sports writers from local papers
- Local sheriff or police department
- Business writer or business section from the local newspaper
- Construction trade sites
- Favorite local shopping centers
- Popular restaurants
When sharing on Twitter, posting local information is as simple as a retweet.
If you plan on sharing to Facebook, however, it’s better to copy and paste the direct link to the article, along with a short description you write yourself.
Google Alerts
Remember the days when the paper boy would ride his bike down rows of houses throwing the paper onto everyone’s lawns?
Google Alerts is like that, but more personalized and less adorable. Whenever you set up a Google Alert, Google will search the web for the terms you’ve specified and send you a briefing of articles/images/etc. relating to those terms.
Go to Google.com/alerts, and enter the terms you’d like to follow.
Terms to ask Google to keep you up-to-date on could include:
- Your city name
- Neighborhood name(s)
- Local housing developments
- Your city name plus the word development in quotes (i.e. “Sacramento development”)
- “[Your city name] restaurant opening”
- Specific types of housing you might specialize in, like “Seattle condos”
- Names of major local shopping centers (if it’s a common name you may need to include the city name after it)
You also get to choose how often you’d like Google to send you your recap. Aim for once a day!
Feedly
Feedly is a news aggregator that provides you with an easy way to follow local blogs and websites.
All you do is provide the URLs you want to follow, and Feedly organizes them for you all in one place for your convenience (I mean, who doesn’t want to save time in whatever ways they can?).
A few sources you could include are:
- Your local Patch site (visit patch.com to see if there’s one for your community)
- Your local Eater (visit eater.com to see if your city is covered)
- Local food writers
- City lifestyle magazines
- Small community newspapers
- Business/real estate writers
- City government
- Chamber of commerce/downtown association
Feedly also allows you to type your community name into their search bar for suggested sites to follow. OR, you can just Google your community or city name followed by “blogs.”
Nextdoor
This is possibly the best way to get your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your community.
It’s truly the ultimate source for hyperlocal content. Whether people are complaining about a nuisance, excited about a new development, or simply discussing the goings-on in your community, it’s the best way to get an inside look at the lives of the residents.
All you have to do is read through what people are saying and then post about it! These posts function as great conversation-starters and show that you’re involved in the things they care about.
Providing helpful and interesting content from all the places listed (and any more you can think of) is a great first step into optimizing your social media accounts to bring you more business.
Remember, real estate is a highly competitive field – anything and everything you can do to stand out among the crowd should be priority.
At Pipeline ROI, we provide you with a marketing platform that will enable you to keep up with all aspects of your inbound marketing efforts. With prewritten content ranging from social posts to e-mails, from eBooks to webpages, you can save time and energy while still marketing your business. And that’s far from all we’ve got to offer. A beautiful, mobile-responsive website, lead management capabilities, e-mail drip marketing, and much more are at your fingertips and under one login. Click below to learn more and get a free demo.