15 Ways to Crush Your Real Estate Social Media Marketing
This article is part of a larger series on Real Estate Lead Generation and Marketing.
Real estate social media marketing is an extremely powerful—and largely free—tool to grow your audience, build a trustworthy brand, and ultimately increase your income. With strategies like finalizing your branding, repurposing content for each platform, or implementing tools to increase consistency, any real estate agent or broker can find an audience on social media and grow their clientele and revenue. Start by reading these top tips for effective real estate social media marketing and implement them into your strategy.
1. Develop a Real Estate Social Media Strategy From the Beginning
This may seem like a somewhat obvious tip, but many real estate professionals start their social media accounts without a plan. No successful marketing strategy happens on its own. Social media requires you to have a definitive strategy and consistent execution in order to see results. Before you hit publish, take some time to consider:
Strategies to Consider | Example |
---|---|
What you want to be known for | Commercial real estate agent, expert in real estate investments, selling expired listings for above the asking price, first-time homebuyers |
Who your audience is (and isn’t) | Young professionals, empty nesters, first-time buyers, veterans |
Where your audience spends time | Facebook vs Instagram vs LinkedIn vs TikTok |
Which platforms you’ll use | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube |
How to use each platform | 30-second education Instagram Reels and TikToks, blog snippets on Twitter, photos and tips on Facebook page, listing photos on Instagram |
What you’ll offer to social media followers | Home valuation, property searches, website blog, homebuying tips, free comparative market analysis reports |
How often you will post on each platform | 3 times per week or daily |
How much money you will spend (or not spend) | $0 for organic posting vs a few hundred dollars a year for automation and research tools vs a few hundred dollars a month to directly outsource tasks |
By using social media with a long-term strategy in mind, it will be easier for you to build a niche and authority while keeping content interesting and light-hearted. It will help you clearly define your brand and post more effectively and more consistently with less stress.
2. Keep Branding Consistent Across All Online Platforms
As you build a social media presence, your followers should naturally flow between your profiles and your website without confusion. Achieve this by keeping your branding consistent on every social media platform and communication channels like email and your website. Your real estate branding can include:
- Logo
- Brand colors
- Headshot
- Slogan
- Vision statement
In addition, make sure to frequently talk about and link to your website and social media pages. Publish interesting blog posts, offer freebies, videos, and property information on your website, then give teasers about that content on social media.
Example of real estate branding freelancers on Fiverr
“Branding” doesn’t have to be a scary word. Even if you don’t have any basics of consistent branding, there are resources and professionals available to you on Fiverr. Fiverr is a freelance platform that allows you to easily find and connect with branding experts who can completely take care of this task for you. Plus, services on Fiverr start at only $5. Search through available freelancers today.
3. Use Each Platform for Its Intended Purpose
Every social media channel is made differently, so they should each be used differently. Instead of taking the same approach to all of them, repurpose your content for each platform. This does not mean simply copying and pasting content, but intentionally tweaking each post to fit each platform. Using this strategy will help you more efficiently reach different audiences on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so on.
Premium Realty Facebook business page post
For example, here’s how you could differentiate your social media marketing content by platform:
- Facebook business page: Your realtor Facebook page is great for posting market updates, active listings, funny memes, and links to blogs or landing pages on your website.
- Facebook groups: Groups tend to get significantly more views, engagement, and interaction, so consider establishing a Facebook group for your sphere of influence and local audience within your real estate Facebook marketing plan. In your group, post more casual and personal content and interact more frequently with members. Don’t forget to invite members to ask and answer questions of their own.
- YouTube: Create a library of property videos, or edit and repost Instagram stories or Facebook live videos.
- Twitter: Use Twitter as a news syndication source to stay top of mind. Share short snippets from your blog posts or real estate memes.
- Instagram: Use interactive polls and questions on Instagram stories, or repost YouTube videos, tutorials, or property walk-throughs on IGTV.
- LinkedIn: Use LinkedIn for real estate to connect with other professionals and potential partners, and to generate leads by adding a link in your profile.
- TikTok: Create short videos with popular music to attract real estate leads on TikTok, and reshare videos on Instagram reels.
4. Post Consistently
It’s wise to expect every potential client to Google your name or scroll through your social media feed before reaching out or accepting your offers for help. Your social media channels can help leads feel a connection with you before you ever have a one-on-one conversation, which is why it’s important to maintain a focused social media strategy.
When you show that you are present online and that you interact with others consistently, you’ll build trust with followers and potential clients. The way that you show up online will impact your brand as a trustworthy real estate expert. Being consistent on each platform may mean different things—for instance, it’s optimal to post three videos per day on TikTok, but no more than once per day on Facebook (per Hootsuite). In order to find the most effective posting times and frequency for your audience, try using a social media marketing tool that provides detailed reports.
5. Outsource Your Real Estate Social Media Marketing Management
When you are ready to take your social media marketing efforts to a new level, you may find that you don’t have the time or energy to do it all yourself. After all, your priority should be on serving clients to the best of your abilities. For most successful real estate agents, there will inevitably come a point when you must outsource social media management.
The good news is that there are plenty of social media marketing companies for realtors. Read through the full article and the options below to see that there is a wide variety of ways to outsource social media. You may choose a large agency like Lyfe Marketing that customizes your strategy, or a real estate-specific social media content producer like CityBlast.
Companies | |||
---|---|---|---|
Key Features |
|
|
|
Starting Price | $99 per month | $750 per month | $199 per month |
Read More |
6. Take Advantage of Automation & Scheduling Tools
Most real estate agents and brokers are already busy, so the idea of posting on multiple social media channels every day can feel overwhelming. Make it more achievable by using a scheduling tool like Hootsuite to view, plan, and schedule all your posts in advance.
Hootsuite makes it easy to create and plan out your social media posts for multiple platforms in advance, which saves hours of your time. It then automatically publishes your posts at the scheduled time, so you can be consistent online without sacrificing your priorities.
Example of Hootsuite dashboard
Check out our article on the best social media tools for real estate professionals for more helpful examples.
Pro tip: Social media scheduling and automation tools can save you a lot of time, but be sure to consistently check in on your scheduled posts and be conscious of current events to avoid appearing insensitive (or simply unaware of the world outside of your marketing).
7. Encourage Social Media Engagement
Posting on social media is important, but it’s only a piece of a successful real estate social media marketing strategy. In order to substantially grow your audience, reputation, and clientele on social, you need to engage with your followers. Engaging is the key to building relationships and gaining clients from social media, plus it gives you a boost in the algorithm.
Here are a few ways to encourage engagement on social media channels:
- Respond to every comment or message you receive
- Like and comment on your follower’s posts
- Use features in Instagram stories like polls, questions, and sliders
- Ask fun and unique open-ended questions
- Go live to answer questions
- Don’t be afraid to use your personality and humor while staying professional
Example of engaging with your audience by Aaron Gordon
Use social media to intentionally stay in touch with your past clients. Send a personal friend request or follow request and you can support them when they post life updates or interesting content. This helps you to stay top of mind and helps you continue to build a natural relationship with clients, which makes it easy for them to send you referrals.
Pro tip: One of the most powerful ways to promote your social media page is with an engagement strategy developed by Gary Vaynerchuk called $1.80. Find 10 of the most relevant and important hashtags in your industry, then comment—or leave your “two cents”—on nine of the top posts within each of the designated hashtags. You may be shocked at how quickly this strategy skyrockets your own following and engagement.
8. Enhance Your Social Media Photos With Virtual Staging
When you’re looking for interesting social media content, look no further than your past and current listings. Even if the homes are vacant or full of dated furniture, you can easily update them with virtual staging. Virtual staging is a process that uses software to add digital renderings of furniture to help buyers see the full potential of a property.
Virtual staging software looks extremely realistic and usually takes only a day or two to complete. Displaying staged photos of your listings will naturally grab your followers’ attention. Plus, showing how you market properties can help you generate more real estate leads.
Example of virtual staging by Stuccco
To help you pick the best option for your listings, visit our guide on the best virtual staging services.
9. Use Real Estate Social Media Marketing Videos to Make Connections
Video content is more important than ever before. Video content tends to get more engagement, and businesses that use video as part of their marketing strategy grow 49% faster than those that don’t. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to buy fancy production equipment and become a professional filmmaker or YouTuber overnight.
While many agents successfully use YouTube to generate real estate leads, you can get a lot of exposure by creating much simpler videos, like Instagram Stories, Reels, TikTok, and Facebook Lives. Even if you’re uncomfortable on video, it’s arguably the best way to personally connect with your followers. In fact, people generally prefer to see real estate agents speak naturally—like on Instagram Stories—instead of always publishing big video productions. It makes people feel like they know you and it can be a great (free) marketing tool to help promote events such as an open house.
Behind the scenes Instagram story by The AMS Team
Another great way to utilize video is to show behind-the-scenes footage. You can show some of your day-to-day activities, like touring houses with clients. This is another great way to show your personality and make potential clients feel connected to you. You can use behind-the-scenes footage on multiple different channels, but check out more details on how to use Instagram for real estate.
Pro tip: If you do decide to get in front of the camera, be sure to act naturally to avoid coming off as salesy. Take a “show, don’t tell” approach to help sell your expertise and listings.
10. Reach a Targeted Audience With Social Media Ads
Advertising on social media can be a great way to supplement your overall real estate marketing strategy. The most common type of online advertising in the real estate industry is on Facebook. Real estate Facebook ads are cost-effective, with an average cost per lead of $9.76, and you only pay when someone interacts with your ad. Plus, it offers a ton of audience targeting options, so you can hone in on your ideal client by area, interests, other sites they’ve recently visited, income level, and more.
Example of a Facebook ad by Sue Little
However, don’t start Facebook ads simply because they are the most common. Instead, determine which platform is the best for your specific audience and business goals. Social media advertising also includes Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, consider using Hibu to create highly effective social media ads. Hibu is one of the most affordable social media management agencies with custom solutions. You’ll work with online advertising experts who personally manage your account, so you’re bound to see the growth you’re looking for.
11. Use Testimonials to Highlight Past Successes
You may be confident enough to share your strengths on your website and social media, but nothing builds trust and authority quite like testimonials. Reading positive feedback from your clients appeals to potential leads much more effectively. Therefore, ask your clients for a testimonial after every successful real estate transaction—the more specific they can get, the better. Then, share those testimonials directly on any social media platform.
Example of real estate agent promoting positive testimonials on Twitter
Another great option is to take a picture with your clients at closing and tag them on social media. Since this is a major life event, these posts frequently receive a high level of engagement from their friends and family—giving you free exposure.
Don’t miss the opportunity to be a Zillow Premier Agent and automatically collect testimonials on your profile. Since Zillow is the top real estate platform, it makes sense to gather your positive testimonials on this page and use them to drive thousands of potential buyers and sellers to you. As a Zillow Premier Agent, your profile and positive reviews will be shown on any local listing that isn’t already claimed, making it an easy path to gathering ready-to-convert leads.
12. Target a Niche Audience With Your Social Media Marketing
Social media can be an ideal place to market specifically to a niche audience, like FSBOs, veterans, downsizing empty-nesters, first-time homebuyers, or investors. On any social media platforms, there is so much content constantly being shared that it’s easy for your local audience to forget you.
Example of niche marketing by Nathan Linnell
By establishing a niche, you separate yourself from general residential real estate agents. For example, it would be difficult for a single mom to forget a realtor who helps single moms buy investment properties. The more specific you understand and market to your audience, the more powerful your results will be. To discover your niche, check out our article, 10 Most Lucrative Real Estate Niches & Why They Work.
13. Be Personable & Speak to Your Audience
Even if you don’t choose a specific real estate niche, you still need to be clear and specific about who your audience is. Many real estate professionals make the mistake of over-generalizing their audience. If you try to attract and speak to everyone, you won’t resonate with anyone. In the beginning, try some different things to figure out who you attract and what they respond to the most.
For example, you may find that you don’t work well with first-time homebuyers or that you tend to work well with business owners. Pinpoint your brand and the qualities of your ideal client, then focus your content around that brand.
An agent whose niche is young families should appeal to them with pictures of their own young family and focus on working in neighborhoods with parks, playgrounds, and good school districts. Speaking in an extremely professional tone would not appeal to this audience. On the other hand, if you work in commercial real estate and serve large companies, professionalism and specific investor jargon will go a lot further.
14. Increase Exposure & Reposts With Tags
Tags help social media posts gain exposure on essentially every platform. Therefore, pay attention to opportunities to tag relevant accounts to your posts. For example, if you’re an agent with Sotheby’s, tag Sotheby’s Instagram account in your posts. Because many brokerages are well-known names, odds are their social account has a lot more followers than yours. By tagging them, your post shows up under their tagged posts, and they may opt to repost your post on their account.
Example of social media post with tags by Roots Real Estate
Additionally, consider tagging other relevant accounts. For example, if you’re promoting a high-end listing in Santa Barbara, consider tagging local magazines, such as the Montecito Journal, so that your post is displayed in their tagged photos, and they may choose to repost your post. Or, say you used a staging company—tag them to gain additional exposure.
Of course, hashtags are another tool for gaining exposure on social networks like Instagram and Twitter. Hashtags give the social media algorithms some context on your post, which helps them show your posts to people who are interested in that topic. Hashtags can range from general topics, like #realestate, to many specific topics, like #OKChomesforsale. If you’re not sure where to start, check out the best hashtags for real estate.
15. Document & Measure Results
Even with a thorough social media marketing plan, it’s unlikely to get immediate success. Building a brand takes time, consistency, and improvement. If you continue to use a social media strategy that isn’t effective, you will end up wasting your time, energy, and money and become frustrated.
Instead, part of your initial strategy should include a period to look at your results and tweak your strategy. You can do this on your own by looking at simple analytics like views, likes, and shares. However, it will be easier and clearer if you work with a professional who is more familiar with important statistics and how they should impact your strategy.
Artur’In analytics
With Artur’In, you have a dashboard that makes this information easily digestible as well as a personalized digital coach. Artur’In is great for real estate professionals who want to outsource some elements of social media but still have a hand in the process. Get a free demo today!
Bottom Line
Real estate social media marketing can be an incredibly powerful way to grow your business and attract people who want to work with you. It can be used to generate leads and build your authority to become highly respected in your real estate niche or community. By creating a marketing strategy and using these social media tips, any real estate professional can create a successful online brand.