39 million people in the UK actively use social media.
There is no denying that social media has the attention of a large number of your potential clients. Even so, it can be really hard for estate agents to find the time and inspiration to maintain social media accounts.
This is why using a freelance social media expert could help your estate agent business be the best in your local area.
Did you know the UK user spending 1 hour and 50 minutes A DAY scrolling through social media. So it is now a good time to update your social media marketing strategy.
Why Is Social Media For Estate Agents Useful?
- Increased brand awareness
- Builds trust and “humanises” your business
- Demonstrates your expertise
- Keeps you top of mind with potential customers
- Can drive traffic to your website
- Can help to generate more leads
Social media isn’t necessarily the best place to sell yourself as an estate agents. It is much more about building awareness of your business, engaging with potential customers and adding value so that when someone is ready to engage an estate agent, you are first in mind.
Which Social Media Platforms Should I Post To?
People tend to use their social accounts for different reasons so you have to consider this. For example, people might use Pinterest for Instagram whereas they go to Twitter for news or opinions.
Social media platforms also tend to attract different age groups.
Instagram users are generally aged 18-34
Facebook users who are between 50-70 use Facebook 60% of the time.
Estate agents should consider who are their target audience and adapt their social media content to match.
The most used social media platforms in the UK are (in order):
- Youtube
- TikTok
If you still have Google+ links on your website, don’t forget to go back and remove them. That platform is no extinct!
But What Should I Post To Social Media?
The main thing is to think customer first.
What would the person scrolling want to hear from you? It’s very easy to get caught up in what you think is interesting.
Great business social media accounts don’t just sell, sell, sell and they don’t just talk about themselves. Try to educate, inspire or entertain the people following.
It is important that you post often. A social media manager can decide with you on how many hours a week you can spend on it and schedule posts in advance. This means you will not have to think of something on the spot. Take into account local news, recent events and seasons eg Christmas.
To help you along the way, below are 10 great ideas for your estate agent social media campaigns.
Showcase Your Properties
Images of property are very popular on platforms such as Instagram.
This is not only helpful if someone is actively looking but it also inspires. Whether or not, your properties are as high end as the ones on their account, great property photography is inspiring and attractive. Alongside photography, consider sharing video such as point of interest trailers as video tends to have good engagement and attention on social media platforms.
Share Reviews & Testimonials
One of the biggest issues for estate agents is trust. Sharing reviews that people have left for you on Google or elsewhere can be great for business as it provides social proof.
Social proof is essentially evidence from your peer group and it can have a dramatic effect on other peoples behaviour.
Obviously, you don’t want to onl post things like this but they’re a good addition if you’re posting regularly
Dogs! Dogs! Dogs! Cats! Cats! Cats!
Dogs and Cats are both are the internet’s favourite animals. People are attracted to accounts and post featuring dogs and cats.
Consider sharing any office pets, perhaps even making them a regular feature. You could also consider featuring any dogs or cats at the properties you are listing. You could make a feature that lists properties you are selling or renting that are Dog and Cat friendly.
Answer Popular Questions
In the spirit of adding value and providing the content that your potential clients actually want, think about what questions they have that you could answer. You may have a list of frequently asked questions or you may need to do some keyword research on the topic (you can use something like Google Keyword Planner to do this).
If you use this tactic, answer fully and honestly – really try to go the extra mile. You could do this using video or perhaps even Live features such as Facebook or Instagram Live.
Popular questions could be things like “how to sell your home quickly “steps to getting a mortgage general queries around the local property market. You can also cover questions about the local area. For example new developments in the area, new business areas and how to choose the best furniture for a property.
Think Local
It makes a lot of sense to build your social media following among people in your local area. You should therefore consider using paid ads or boosted posts to reach more people within a certain radius of your branch.
In terms of posting content that is locally orientated, think local events and news. People are generally interested in what is happening in their own backyard so being a go to for that information is a great reason for a local person to follow and engage with you.
You can also go a step further by asking people to comment with their recommendations or suggestions to encourage even more engagement.
Spotlight Local Businesses & Tag Them
Still thinking local, think about sharing details, recommendations and highlights from other local businesses. This might be a local cafe or the place that washes your estate agency vehicles.
If you’re posting things like this, use good quality photography and don’t forget to “tag ” the business. This means that this business will receive a notification that you posted about them and may be inclined to share your post (which increases the number of people who will see it) and perhaps even reciprocate the favour one day!
Property Walk-Throughs
A property walk-through for social media might involve filming one of your agents walking through and describing the property and it’s features.
This can be a great idea as it’ is “humanising” your brand. Showcasing your agents at work helps to build trust and can also fill potential vendors with confidence in your ability to sell!
When creating video for social media, make sure the sound is good as people are very unforgiving of bad sound.
Share An Interior Design or Staging Tip
Ideally, you’ll use images of you own listed properties to do this as then you’re able to add value whils promoting at the same time.
Interior styling is a hot topic on social media across platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest so it’ something a lot of your potential clients could find very valuable.
Use Polls
On Facebook and places like Instagram Stories, you can create polls that encourage people to actually engage with you. The more regularly people physically engage with you by partaking in a poll or leaving a comment, the more likely they are to remember you and continue to keep consuming your content.
An example could be sharing a Dusk photo of one of your properties and asking “Sunrise or Sunset ”? Another might be sharing a pro photo of one of your propertyÂs gardens and asking “Grass or Paving?”.
You can use polls to ask anything but keep it engaging and interesting for the people who are looking.
Engage More & Always Respond To Social Media
As well as posting on your own profiles, it’s a great idea to join the conversation elsewhere. This could be jumping in on a question someone asked on Twitter or leaving a comment on someone else’s Facebook page.
It can also be a good idea to join relevant Facebook groups for the same reason. Remember, the goal is to demonstrate your expertise and build rapport with potential clients so be helpful and informative.
If someone comments on one of your posts, sends a message or communicates in any other way – always respond! Y ou should aim to do this as quickly as possible but don’t lose an opportunity to engage someone.
This applies even if they had something negative to say. If this happens, use the opportunity to apologise, provide more insight or otherwise resolve the issue. Remember, this is a public display of your levels of customer service.
Our final reminders for your social media marketing plan is to keep it regular, use automation software like Hootsuite where possible and use paid features like “Boost Post” to reach ore people as often as your budget allows it!
Even if you only use a few of these tips you should get good engagement on social media.