by Bridget Kiley | Best Practices, Choosing Content, Client Tips & Tricks, Lead Generation, Marketing Tips, Real Estate Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized
By now, most real estate agents know that social media is a powerful tool to attract leads on a regular basis. How to do it is the next question. As we approach 2019, it requires more than a Facebook and Twitter account that you sometimes post on to have a successful online presence.
In order to be a competitive real estate agent in today’s market, you must implement some tricks of the trade when it comes to social media.
You’ll be surprised at how simple it is to apply good social media tactics once you get started — and delighted when you start seeing more leads roll in.
Don’t Ignore Instagram
Instagram might be something you shied away from in the past because it felt more obscure and less impactful to your audience compared with Facebook or Twitter. That’s no longer the case. Over 100 million people in the U.S. use Instagram, and that number is growing.
As a mobile platform, Instagram is extremely accessible. Users can open it easily on their phones and browse the accounts they follow at leisure. This increased accessibility leads to more likes and engagement on Instagram content, which can ultimately convert to leads.
Also, people are responding more to visual content these days. Instagram is the visual content leader. Every post should feature a high-quality photograph or video. Use this tutorial on how to take Instagram-worthy photos.
Realtors can use Instagram to post breathtaking listing photos, appealing images of the areas you serve and videos and photos from trade shows.
Get on the Video Bandwagon
Video content has become increasingly popular in recent years. If you want to continue to improve the number and quality of leads you receive, look into creating video content. Videos can feature new listings, contests, home-buying webinars — the possibilities are endless. Get creative with the ways you use video and consider the types of content your audience wants to see. This will assist you in making more meaningful connections with new and existing clients.
Check out this tutorial on creating social videos for the first time.
Follow the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 concept has been around for a while, but now that we’re approaching 2019, it’s more important than ever to adhere to this rule if you want to be successful in your social media efforts.
What you post on social media should be 80% content that benefits your audience, such as blog posts about buying and selling, infographics, etc., and 20% content about your real estate business, such as certain milestones and marketing your services.
Since you’re delivering useful information that will help people navigate the housing market, they will be more apt to engage with promotional items from you when you post them.
Hook Yourself Up With a Social Scheduling Tool
Consistency is key to creating a social media strategy that will increase leads in 2019. You cannot post daily for a month and then drop off the face of the earth the following month when things get busy. Nor should you put out all your content for the entire week on one day. That’s a good way to make sure your content gets lost in the shuffle.
If you don’t have time to write new social posts daily, no problem. There are many social media scheduling tools out there that let you write a batch of social posts ahead of time, and the scheduling tool sends them out when you tell it to.
Popular options on the market are Hootsuite, Hubspot and Sproutsocial
Social media is becoming more nuanced but also more powerful. To continue to attract leads through social media, you need to adapt, just a little, to the ways that it’s changing.
Don’t forget! HomeActions sends out real estate newsletters on your behalf so you can stay top of mind with your clients. Learn more about how to get started today.
by Bridget Kiley | Choosing Content, Client Tips & Tricks, Content Marketing, Lead Generation, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized
Where can Realtors go for expert advice? What are the best resources to help agents grow their business?
Real estate agents need a place to gather the best industry advice on the web. That’s why we’ve rounded up the 5 best websites for Realtors to go to for information on housing trends, lead generation, goal setting and more.
RED offers quality content to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the housing market. Many of the articles feature a section called “key takeaways” to help you get the most important information. This is a site that realizes how busy agents are and crafts their content to deliver you fast, beneficial information on the go.
Apart from RED’s headlines, agents also should check out RED’s Pro-Marketing and Pro-Technology sections. These verticals offer agent-specific information to help improve your real estate business. What should you check out on RED?
5 Obnoxious Tactics Used in Real Estate … and What to Do Instead
The BoomTown blog is a great resource for agents. It’s not overly fancy, but on a consistent basis, it provides tips and advice about life as a real estate agent. Articles are easy to navigate and usually include fun GIFs. You will find great content about housing market trends, technology and marketing tips.
Check out on BoomTown: Busted! 7 Myths About Real Estate Leads We Can Finally Put to Rest and 5 Morning Habits of the Most Successful Real Estate Professionals.
Tom Ferry’s blog features varied content about real estate life, running a business, self-improvement and more. What makes this an excellent blog is that it touches on different aspects of work life; it has tons of content about goal setting and improving your quality of life.
Getting down to the mechanics, the blog has simple navigation, the content is easy to digest, videos are high quality and the chatbot is actually helpful. What should you check out first on Tom Ferry? Success Secrets from 3 Of The Most Successful Women Real Estate
A nice mix of blogs, podcasts and videos. They have a very robust podcast series covering lead generation, motivation, buyer agents and more. You can find up-to-date information on what’s trending in real estate in the “Market News” vertical, with a range of content such as Best Neighborhoods for Real Estate Buying and Investing and Bomb Shelter Converted into Luxury Cave.
They also have an entire vertical dedicated to lead generation. It consists almost exclusively of podcasts, but it touches on all types of questions and concerns with regard to real estate lead generation. We suggest checking out this recent podcast: Podcast: Motivational Overdrive To Beat The Autumn Slowdown
Can you blame us for shouting ourselves out? The HomeActions blog is a growing community of agents seeking expert advice on how to improve their real estate business. You can test your knowledge about real estate with our 2017-2018 Quiz. Check out other topics, such as handling client objections and using social media to promote open houses.
It’s our mission to keep you informed about how to stay top of mind with your clients and how to create a thriving referral business. If you haven’t already, check out our post How to Set Goals and Reach Them as a Real Estate Agent.
DON’T FORGET! HomeActions provides automated real estate newsletters for you to send to your clients. We design the newsletter, write the content and send it out on your behalf so you can easily stay top of mind with your real estate clients.
by HomeActions | Database Maintenance, Email List Growth, Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Marketing Tips, Prospecting, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized
Whether you’re a new or seasoned agent, your referral business is a crucial part of the job. However, you can only get referrals if you reach out to the people in your sphere of influence. That is, those within your sphere of influence need to know that you own a successful real estate business through routine communication. But first things first – you have to get your contacts in order and apply good practices for reaching out.
How Can Your Sphere of Influence Help You In Real Estate?
Your sphere of influence is a network of people you know on one level or another. Think of it like LinkedIn – you have first, second and third tier connections.
Your first tier connections are those you know personally, such as a spouse or family member. A second tier connection could be a colleague and a third tier connection might be a neighbor or acquaintance.
Why are these people important to your real estate business? Because they all offer some kind of opportunity related to real estate. Someone in your sphere of influence could be moving or know someone who is moving; your network therefore offers an infinite amount of referral business.
Most agents know how important their sphere of influence is, but few are using it to their full advantage.
Who’s In Your Sphere of Influence?
- Close family members
- Children
- Close friends
- Extended family
- Colleagues
- Neighbors
- Acquaintances
You should also consider your children’s teachers and your spouse’s friends.
How to Quickly Organize Your Sphere of Influence
The simplest way to get your contacts organized is to put them into a spreadsheet. Then you can start organizing by what level of connection they are to you: first, second or third.
It might be odd to assign a numerical value to these people in your life, but it’s just a method for understanding your influence on these individuals and how likely they are to refer you to others.
Include any and all contact info you have for each person in your sphere of influence. Scour Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Facebook, LinkedIn – anything you can think of to collect both email and postal addresses.
Click here for help pulling all your contacts together.
The Best Ways to Connect With Your Sphere of Influence
The initial outreach can be a bit daunting, but realize that this is a much bigger deal to you than it is to them.
Your first outreach to someone in your sphere of influence should be to ask them to subscribe to your real estate newsletter. If you don’t already have one, watch this video about how to get started with e-newsletters from HomeActions.
If you already have some people’s emails, don’t automatically sign them up – ask first, and make sure you reach out to the people in your sphere of influence in a way that feels natural. Don’t email your sister if you talk on the phone with her every day – give her a call!
If you grab coffee with a certain co-worker every day, simply ask if they want to join your e-newsletter mailing list.
For those contacts you do email, check out these examples of great outreach emails.
How To Ask For Referrals
When you ask someone in your sphere of influence for a referral, mention a recent article in your e-newsletter about home prices, for example, and ask some of your contacts if they know anyone who is moving and might be interested in current low home prices in your area.
For help drafting the perfect referral email, check out these templates!
Visit HomeActions.net today to start connecting on a regular basis with your real estate contacts and improving your real estate business.
by HomeActions | Best Practices, Content Marketing, Custom Content Creation, Database Maintenance, Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Marketing Technology, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized
Do you want your real estate clients to keep coming back to you again and again? Real estate agents need to employ good client retention practices, and the first rule of thumb is following up after a home sale. Never assume that the job is done after the sale – not if you want those clients to use your services again. Stay in touch. Follow up. Don’t let them forget you.
Buyers and sellers want to use the same agent for their next real estate transaction. According to NAR, 88% of buyers say they would use the same agent again.
So how do you make sure that they call you the next time they are moving? Communication. You need to keep yourself top of mind with your clients. That doesn’t mean you should email or call every day. Chances are they won’t use you again if you bombard them. Instead, aim to send them some sort of communication, be it by email, phone or mail, just a couple times a month.
If you want to ensure that your past clients don’t fall into someone else’s sphere of influence the next time they need to move, realize that the job isn’t over after you make the sale. There is an art to following up, but it’s not complicated. Here are the best strategies and practices for following up with your real estate clients.
1. Send Your Real Estate Clients a Survey After the Closing
Let your clients settle into their new home first. If you send them a follow-up the same week they move, chances are they will be too busy to give it any attention or respond to you. However, a quick five-question survey about three weeks after they move in is exactly what you want to do. This two-to-three-week time frame is the sweet spot because it gives your clients enough time to get comfortable in their new home so that a survey won’t seem like a chore. If you wait too long to reach out, a survey won’t seem as urgent anymore and they’ll be less likely to engage.
Include a personalized note at the top of the survey congratulating them and then ask for some feedback about how they thought the sale went and if they were satisfied with your service.
In most cases, your clients want to hear from you and will be happy to send you feedback.
2. Reach Out to Your Real Estate Clients on Their Birthdays and Anniversaries
Sending Christmas cards is a popular way for real estate agents to stay in touch with their clients. In fact, it’s a common practice for many businesses, so your card or flyer can easily get lost in the shuffle.
Be a little creative when it comes to mailers. Send a housewarming card and small gift. Send your past clients a card for their one-year anniversary in their home. No one else will remember that but you and them. You could do birthday cards and even pet birthday cards – anything with a little creativity that will set you apart from other business’s mailers is a good way to get their attention. Be sure to make everything you send personalized. Hand-write your cards, use their names instead of a generic, Dear valued customer, and try to put a personal anecdote in there if you can.
3. Be a Real Estate Resource to Your Clients
More than anything, people will come back to you if you position yourself as a resource to your clients. Be a one-stop shop for everything they need related to their home. Once they move in, be there to provide names of landscaping businesses, plumbers, electricians, roofers and more.
Follow up with something relevant to them every so often. You could send notices about home sales in their neighborhood, information about mortgage rates or new developments in their area such as a movie theater or mall. Your past clients will recognize your expertise and want to hire you again because of it. Also, being a resource of helpful information is much more effective than looking like a hungry salesperson. People see through that act. They want to feel like they are hiring an expert who also has their best interests in mind. So personalize everything and offer updates and advice.
4. Get Your Real Estate Contacts in Order – Otherwise Known as Your Sphere of Influence
You have no idea how many people you’re connected with who are moving or know someone who is moving until you get your sphere of influence organized. Your sphere of influence includes your friends, family, current and past clients, neighbors, and everyone you’re connected with on email and social media.
All of those categories combined leaves you with a huge pool of possible real estate customers. You should be reaching out to these people and making sure they know that you are not only a great agent but also a trusted resource for everything related to their home and moving.
5. Tons of Agents Are Utilizing Automated Real Estate Newsletters to Stay in Touch
You can stay in touch with your sphere of influence by sending out your very own automated email newsletter. Real estate email newsletters are one of the easiest and most effective ways of staying in touch with past and potential clients. Your newsletter can offer advice about buying a home, home improvement tips or information about your own listings.
An email newsletter is a soft approach to keeping in touch with your sphere of influence while offering them useful content about everything related to homes and moving. It’s also one of the best ways to position yourself as a real estate resource and stay top of mind with new and existing clients.
However, you will never be able to reach these individuals without organizing your sphere of influence.
A Real Estate Marketing Opportunity Awaits
Real estate agents are always on the move, so it is understandable that you might not have time to organize all the contacts you have in Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more. HomeActions provides a twice-monthly automated e-newsletter to everyone in your sphere of influence by doing the organization part on your behalf. The setup takes no more than 48 hours, and you will be delivered an alphabetical list, organized by where the contact came from (Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), which will be used to automatically send your contacts a newsletter chock-full of great content. Once you have an organized sphere of influence, you can use it however you see fit, such as for real estate farming purposes.
HomeActions offers a set-it-and-forget-it product that you know is delivering your contacts valuable content on your behalf. However, there are tons of options to customize the content as you see fit, and we encourage you to feature your current listings.
Visit HomeActions.net today to start connecting on a regular basis with your real estate contacts and improving your real estate business.
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