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Everyone is on social media these days, it is the way we connect. If you’re not visible as a business owner, it might be hurting your work! So what do you do with social media?Here's a way to begin the path down the social media rabbit hole and manage your expectations.
What do you mean by social media?
Instagram is a great visual place to engage with potential clients. It’s slightly more formal and can connect with Facebook so your posts can be replicated in both places. There are business options available that will give you more information about your followers.
Tiktok is a great video content platform. The videos are super short and viewers don’t expect video editing. This means filming a quick video with your phone works extremely well. Also, getting started in Tiktok can be easier because your videos spread quickly even without a lot of followers. You can do a slide show of videos and include the most viral sounds on a personal account.
Stories (found in both platforms) are temporary content that goes away in 24hrs. This is a great place to repost related content from other users. Things like announcements for city events or new businesses opening up are perfect ways to show your followers that you’re in the know about the town.
What should my username be?
It’s perfectly ok to have a nice long username, such as Firstname_Lastname_realtor. If you’re just setting things up it’s a good time to think a bit about who you want to be online. Do you want to be formal or uber-casual? It will make a difference on your handle as well as the kinds of content you’ll be expected to post. "Tootsie_realtor" will have very different content than Christopher.Andrews.Realtor so consider your name carefully, and maybe even spin up a new one if yours doesn’t match your personality.
What do you post on your account?
The conversations you have will have a direct impact on your business. What sort of expert do you want to be? Are you going to give lots of tips for home buyers? What to look for in a house, what to avoid, and tips on the home buying process will attract those kinds of followers. Or are you more interested in cultivating a long term relationship with current home owners that will eventually sell? Then you’d be more likely to find engagement with local content, home maintenance tips, and staging ideas. You can be the budget person to help them understand that part of the process giving great mortgage tips and advice. You don’t have to be one thing of course, but it helps to have a focus when you start.
Make sure you have a clear introductory post pinned to the top of your feed. That way any new person can easily find you, your photo, and your contact information when they’re looking for a realtor!
A good strategy is to have a mix of content to see what works. There will be a sweet spot of content you actually like to post and what resonates with other people. Some of it can be personal stories about you, your work day, your favorite parts of being a realtor, your local coffee indulgence. Posting about your current listings has obvious value. Sharing customer testimonials and answering common questions might be the easiest pieces of content. They also have immense value as it is helpful for clients to know these answers and it is the kind of content to engage new followers.
When creating videos, find a hook to get people to continue watching. Something like “top 3 local business” will engage people right away. You may only get 3-4 seconds before they move on to the next thing. Think short for your videos, simple topics with big impact since the video should only be one minute long anyway.
The Social Part of Social media
Obviously there is a huge social component of this process. You should include time to respond to comments on your posts. In fact, you should encourage engagement every chance you get! Ask for advice to see what other people think about your topic. Those comments can give you new ideas to post about and increase the involvement of your followers. A simple “what do you look for in a home?” is a great place to start.
Commenting on other posts is also a wise activity. Start with following related accounts in your area such as the official city account and maybe a few businesses. Responding to their posts will start to establish your presence online and connect the two of you together. If you build on that relationship, you can collaborate on a post together. That way your shared content goes out to both sets of followers. Both accounts can acquire new followers and you are seen working together for a common goal.
It is essential that you respond to all your DMs. These are “direct messages” from people online that are private between the two of you. Make sure you know how to find them and treat them like you would any other email or phone call from clients!
How long will it take to see results?
This is the trick, it may take a year to get really good results. But again think about what you’re looking for! If you just want a place for your current clients to get to know you, that is a valuable asset that may not result in follows or even contacts. Finding new clients will take time but you could also get lucky with a great listing or new home-buyer right away.
How often you post really matters, since your content needs to be out there and fresh almost every day. It is a good idea to post 4 stories a week and 2 posts a day. Yes, that is a lot. That is the amount to aggressively grow your business. There are people who’s whole job it is to manage this much content for good reason. So if you’re not ready for that much, start small and expect it to take much longer to grow your following.
Secret Sauce
A little known secret is to find some good real estate agents out there to inspire you. Someone from another area could have interesting content that you enjoy and you can replicated it for your area. If a realtor from shows off their city, you can do the same format for your city to post to your followers. They might have a great method of doing a home walk thru that inspires you to do the same thing. There are great ideas out there, you just need to find what works in your voice.
The trick is to know what you’re expecting from social media, it's not one-size-fits-all. Be patient with results and you'll be able to keep up the conversation.