Real Estate Marketing Tips: How to Grow Your Following- Part 2
In a recent article, we provided 10 online real estate marketing ideas that have been proven to bring in more leads and loyal followers. In this article, we are providing 10 additional tips so that you can really stand out and be the go-to real estate professional in your neighborhood and beyond.
Here Are 10 More Real Estate Marketing Tips for Online Success
1)Â Â Â Â Â Set Up a Local Business Page on Google
If you haven't set up your Local Business Page on Google yet, you're likely missing out on some good opportunities. It’s free to set up and you can target certain keywords to improve your online visibility.
People can leave Google reviews on your profile, and you can use it to share your latest promotions and news, add photos, and display your hours. Plus, it helps with search engine optimization, and you can see how people found your Business Profile so that you can better manage your real estate marketing tactics.
2)Â Â Â Â Â Create a Lead Generation Tool
An email list is critical to any successful real estate business because it allows you to stay in touch with potential buyers on a regular basis so that they will think of you when they are ready to buy or sell. That's why it is important that you offer lead magnets to add people to your list.
Create something of value that people in the market for real estate would want access to. This could be an asset such as a home appraisal tool for which you could email the results. It could also be a pop-up form or squeeze page with a free download offer, such as an e-book, report, or tip sheet. If you don’t have one of these, you can’t stay in touch with people who have visited your website, and that’s a lot of missed opportunities.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Use Email Marketing Strategies
Once you have your lead generation tool, you can build out a full email marketing campaign that starts with delivering what you promised from your lead generation tool. As they say, “the money is in the list.” When you have a list of people who have raised their hands and told you they are interested in something you offer, it's a beautiful thing.
You can market to your list, yes, but you will also want to send them useful information that they will value. You can send them quick tips, links to articles on your blog, coupons, special deals, etc. But remember, everyone gets way too much email these days, so it is critical that you provide tons of value. Aweber, GetResponse, and MailChimp are excellent email marketing software options.
4)Â Â Â Â Â Reward Your Referrals
Referrals are the best type of marketing available because they are well received since they normally come from a trusted friend, family member, or associate. According to the 2017 Real Estate Marketing Benchmarks Report, 89.3% of real estate agents said that referrals are one of their most effective real estate marketing tactics, but at the same time only 43.8% of real estate agents would invest in getting more referrals if they increased their marketing budget.
This is a mistake, as it often takes some enticement beyond just a good experience for people to go out of their way and make a referral. That’s why it’s important to come up with a way to compensate people for their referrals and talk about that benefit to your clients on all of your marketing platforms.
5)Â Â Â Â Â Amp Up Your Branding
In this day and age, having strong branding that sets you apart from others is what attracts people. After all, no one wants to work with a normal, “boring” real estate agent. They want to work with someone who stands out and has personality.
And make no mistake, your logo is not your brand. Your brand is your voice (the language you use in your marketing), what you stand for, and the character traits that make you unique. An effective way to create strong branding is to create a Character Diamond.
6)Â Â Â Â Â Create Your Own Publicity
You don't have to wait to gain publicity naturally for your real estate business. Get out there and seek out opportunities. Reach out to local radio and television stations and offer up your expertise. Real estate is something that media outlets report on often, and they need experts to provide their opinions. You can also use resources such as HARO, which sends publicity opportunities on a daily basis through email.
7)Â Â Â Â Â Socialize on Social Media
Social media is obviously one of the best ways to build a following and gain new customers. While it's a given that you'll post your listings on social media, only about 20% of what you post should consist of self-promotional material.
Make the majority of your posts about things such as holiday decorating tips, home remodeling ideas, information about the real estate market, and lifestyle information that will help people in their lives now and in the future.
It’s also important to provide information about the neighborhoods you work in, such as information about a new community center, benefits of living in the neighborhood, events taking place, and highlights of local residents and the good they are doing for their community.
Instagram is huge, especially with the younger market, and you can gain a lot of exposure by posting the right things on Instagram. Post images and videos that catch the eye. Instagram is also a great tool for researching what your competition is doing.
Use hashtags to get more likes and views on your Instagram content. According to a Simply Measured Instagram study, Instagram posts with at least one hashtag get 12% more engagement. Try hashtags such as #OpenHouse, #HouseHunting, #Flip, #[YourNeighborhood/City], #NewListing, and #ForSale.
If you’re new to hashtags, here is some great info about how to use them.
Twitter is another useful channel for real estate marketing. Tweet local news, moving and staging tips, charity events, and questions that will engage people such as “What would your ideal bedroom look like?” or “How many times have you moved and what's your biggest tip?”
Hashtags are also beneficial on Twitter for getting more views on your Tweets. You can use tools such as Trendsmap or Sprout Social to discover the best trending hashtags to use. In addition, you can use @mentions to send Tweets to specific people, such as congratulating new homeowners.
Facebook still has the largest subset of users for online targeting. By creating a Facebook Business Page, you’ll demonstrate professionalism and you’ll be able to view insights and run Facebook contests and ads.
8)Â Â Â Â Â Use Social Media Influencers
When a person has gained popularity over an audience on social media, they are able to influence that audience by making recommendations about products and services that align with their goals and values. This type of marketing is known as social media influencer marketing, and it works really well for luxury real estate.
Prices still remain relatively low for this type of marketing, and it can be a highly effective way to increase your following. It is important to make sure the influencers you hire are legitimate. You might want to start with this list of top influencers in real estate.
9)Â Â Â Â Â Utilize Zillow & Trulia
Zillow and Trulia remain separate sites even though the companies have merged. Both sites are similar, and it is a good idea to set up a profile on both. They are the most used sites by buyers and sellers these days for the purpose of searching for properties and researching the market. That means you need to make sure your profiles are top notch.
Research your competitors on Zillow and Trulia, and make sure your profile stands out from theirs. If it doesn't, you are missing out on a very lucrative opportunity. Once your profile is up to par, you can run ads on these platforms to increase your exposure even more, and you can ask people to give you reviews there as well.
10)Â Ask for Reviews on Yelp
Yelp is a trusted site that people love to use to gain social proof about companies. It is one of the best sites to get referrals on, and the great news is that it can be done automatically by integrating it on your website and even in your email signature.
You can also send an email to your clients at the completion of their transaction thanking them for their business and asking them for a review on Yelp (make sure you provide them with the link to make it as easy as possible for them).
What Now? Where Should You Start?
Between Real Estate Marketing Tips Part 1 and this article, we've given you a lot to think about, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. It's probably impossible to incorporate all of these real estate marketing ideas into your business, so start with the top three ideas that spoke to you the most and ignore the others for now. Once you accomplish them, that's the perfect time to come back to these tips and add more into your real estate marketing strategy.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
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