As a skilled real estate agent, you are always seeking ways to build and grow your business and relationships with those around you. One effective way of doing this is by taking full advantage of social media for real estate agents. You may be thinking social media is easy, but in reality, there is a right way and a wrong way to leverage it in order to make it work for you. There is a significant difference between just having a presence on social media and using it in the correct ways to build your real estate business. As a real estate agent, you will need to focus on attracting more buyers and sellers, keeping the interest of your current “followers”, be able to generate new real estate leads, and offer people what they need – helpful, informative content they remember long after they have read it. While we literally have hundreds of top social media practices real estate agents should follow to grow their business, let’s focus on these top three for now:

1. Taking the “I” out of social media – One of the quickest ways to lose followers or the interest of those on your social media pages is to flood their feeds with posts about you, your listings, your products, etc. Of course, you will occasionally put these items in your posts, but using them in every post defeats the purpose of social media. Social media is about building relationships with others, paying attention to what people are looking for, sharing, and offering content that others can’t wait to read. Get people in your feeds involved, ask questions or ask for their opinions on real estate related items, run a poll, share an intriguing news story related to real estate, post a funny yet appropriate real estate cartoon, hold a contest, etc. There are so many ways to truly connect with those on your social media feeds, and it is through those connections that relationships are built. In the future, when one of your followers is looking for a knowledgeable, engaged, good-humored real estate agent that takes the time to ask others questions, guess who they will call?
2. Create and share effective content – When people are scrolling through their social media, it is epic content with catchy headlines that catch their eye. Once a link is clicked, it is informative, meaty content that keeps them around…and keeps their eye on future posts from your account. Readers wants content that teaches them something, offers a new spin on an old idea and offers value. Think about some of the top questions you are asked as a realtor – perhaps you can write informative, catchy articles on those topics to start with. Be sure to add an eye-catching, high quality graphic to your content, as this (and a catchy headline) are the first thing to grab one’s attention.

   In addition to creating great content, another area many fall short on in social media is not sharing content from others. Let’s use Twitter as an example, and let’s say you currently have 1,000 followers. Find other real estate agents whose page you enjoy and whose content is valuable, effective and can offer something to your followers. Begin to share the content you like and in turn begin a relationship with that agent. When you post your incredible content and it begins to be retweeted by the agents you have built relationships with, instead of it only hitting your 1,000 followers, you have now increased your visibility to all of their followers as well. Again, it comes down to building relationships. Don’t view these other agents as competition, but as social media vehicles that can grow your brand and get your name out there.

3. Don’t forget Google + – While many people think of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn when the words social media are spoken, be sure to also take advantage of Google+. This social media outlet has a variety of ways to turn your contacts into real estate leads. First, you can categorize them into different “circles” and share targeted info to the interest of each circle. Google+ also offers Hangouts, offering you a quick and easy way to interact with others through real-time chat rooms. And be sure to post all of your content through Google+ just as you would Facebook or Twitter – search engines will quickly pick up your posts and help you get your content in front of many potential clients.

For Sale Marketing can help you build an effective and creative social media plan that will help you increase your visibility and make you stand out amongst the rest.

Contact For Sale Marketing today at 954-866-1133 to learn about real estate social media marketing, blogs, websites and more.