Get Seen. Get Sold.
Get Seen. Get Sold.
Article By Dylan Hasson
“We’ve ‘boosted’ a couple of posts for $20, but nothing really came from it..” – I’ve heard this phrase (or along similar lines) more than a few times over the years when talking with business owners and consultants about using social media as a form of marketing. My response: “When you ‘boosted’ those posts, what were you hoping would happen?” is usually answered with something along the lines of: “Well, the post was to offer appraisals to people looking to sell their property, it reached over 3000 people but I didn’t get a single response.” Does this sound familiar?..
During my entrepreneurial career, I’ve used social media to promote a transport company, a concrete manufacturing company, myself as a real estate consultant, a trailer & vehicle hire company, a restaurant, and now real estate again.. Although these were very different industries, using social media as a form of marketing had the same realization, IT WORKS! However, I’ve found there is no “one size fits all” solution.
The reality is though, that there is A LOT more to it than simply ‘boosting’ that appraisal post. Who are you promoting your content to? Are you making sure you’re promoting in the correct areas? (It doesn’t help much if you finally get a response to appraise a property, but the vendor lives far away) Are you promoting to the correct age groups? (A very common mistake I see many real estate offices making) Are you narrowing down on your target audience’s interests/ behaviors? (This can be very tricky) And is your content eye-catching enough to prevent your potential client from scrolling by? By getting these right, it can be a lot more effective to reach just 100 people who might be looking for your service than reaching 3000 random people who don’t.
Below, I’ll break down a few key elements to making your social media more effective:
1) Know What Your Goal Is.
Are you wanting people to call you about an offer? Are you aiming to drive traffic to your personal website? Are you trying to promote a specific property? Or are you aiming to gain as much exposure as possible so that people remember your name? Different posts on your social media channels will likely appeal to different people, ie; investors, people looking for a home appraisal, people looking for a rental property, etc. So before spending any money on that ‘boost’, you need to have an understanding of who that post is likely to appeal to and, if it does appeal to them, what action do you want them to take? Call you? Visit your website?
By having a desired outcome in mind, you can design your advert accordingly. Keep in mind that your advert first needs to catch the attention of a potential client/ customer in order for them to stop and actually take the desired action. Once they start the action, are they completing it? I often see real estate agencies doing paid campaigns for potential clients to complete a contact form which then ask for a lot of private information – I’m not saying they don’t work, however, how likely is it that a client would provide (accurate) personal information to a company without first building an element of trust?
2) Understand Who Your Target Audience Is.
One differentiating factor of Property365 which I believe really sets us apart is the thought behind who the target audience is for each paid post – A large family home for sale or to rent is likely going to appeal to a family with kids, whereas a city studio for rent is likely to appeal to a single professional or student at a nearby university (or an investor, if it were for sale).
By really trying to understand who the target audience is and how to reach them, you’re able to make the most out of any money spent on the advert by ensuring it’s shown to the right people. These are simple examples, yet so many agencies are spending money and not narrowing down their audiences.
For fun: Let’s imagine you listed a beachfront section in a small ‘holiday’ town – Who would you promote this listing to and how would you narrow down the audience?
3) Long Term Consistency Is Key!
Much like building up a successful business, it’s going to take consistency and it’s not going to happen overnight. I often suggest to people that if they’re not going to actively post content on their business pages, then perhaps consider removing the page and focus on the areas where they are active – if a potential client were to find their social media and see the last post was over a year ago, it may give the wrong impression that they’re not active in real estate.
You may also be thinking “I don’t want to post videos of myself talking to the camera, it’s embarrassing.” No worries, you don’t have to, there are many other ways to create engaging and informative content without needing to talk to a camera. However, if you are comfortable creating videos of yourself, then it can be a very effective way of engaging with potential clients who may start feeling like they already know you a bit more personally without actually having met you, besides, embarrassment is often the cost of entry to something new and although I often see people in real estate posting some ’embarrassing’ content, they are also doing more than those who aren’t trying anything.
Real estate is an industry where the average person may only have a real estate need a handful of times during their lifetime. So although it may feel demotivating to see your post reached 3000+ people, but you didn’t get a response, it’s important to consider that there’s a very high chance that very few, if any, of those people had a real estate need at that time of seeing your content. This is why a long term plan should be a part of your social media strategy, you may post content for several months, before someone who regularly sees your content may have a real estate need, and when they do, you want to be top of mind of who to speak to. Many people start strong with good intentions, realize that active social media marketing requires a fair amount of work then stop after a few months.
4) Not All Industries Are Equal.
As mentioned earlier, I’ve done social media marketing for various businesses in different industries. Real estate is, unfortunately & fortunately, one of the more challenging industries to promote on social media as the type of content can often be perceived as “boring” by those viewing it – It’s a lot easier to promote burgers and shakes to hungry people than it is to make those same people sit through a 3 minute long video.
This is why a long term approach to social media is important in real estate, it takes time to build trust with your audience and for them to remember you as the ‘go-to’ person or office. People also relate differently to the style of marketing, some people prefer a ‘suit & tie’ business approach to real estate and others may prefer a softer ‘homely’ style – there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution (or at least I haven’t found it yet) to real estate and it takes time to create your identity and how your audience perceives your brand.
5) Not Many People Are Interested In Your Offer.
“How Much Is Your Home Worth?”, “Contact Me For A Free Appraisal”, “Take A Look At My Listing For Sale.” – Although these are likely important elements of your real estate business, they’re also likely not very important to the people you’re promoting to and therefore, very few people are probably going to be interested in what you’re offering at that moment (It’s nothing against you.)
Instead of feeling demotivated by the lack of response on your one-off paid for ‘Free Appraisal’ post, look for ways of getting creative with your content. We’re involved with running the social media pages for the office I work at, Barfoot & Thompson Ellerslie. We’re a real estate office, but I aim to show our audience things such as what we’re doing in our local community, I like to promote our team of people and celebrate their successes, as well as share what other local businesses and organizations are doing. This is also the strategy we aim to use with Property365, not only promoting listings, but also the offices, salespeople & property managers behind the listings. This approach allows for more relatable content with your audience, they start remembering your brand and name and when the time comes that they have a real estate need, they already have an element of trust with you and your office.
6) Don't Rely Solely On Social Media.
It’s very possible that you do everything right, creating and posting great content for months. Someone who has been viewing your content is finally looking to sell their property, but before they can get in touch with you, they sign with another real estate office because that salesperson did a door knock at the right time or happened to cold call earlier that morning.
Social media marketing can be an invaluable resource, but it also has it’s drawbacks such as it lacks that personal touch of having a real conversation – it’s a tool that could lead to obtaining that conversation or meeting with a potential client. So although it can be a powerful way of reaching new people, I would always recommend that social media marketing be one part of a comprehensive marketing plan.
Final thoughts…
Although I’ve tried to cover a few key elements of using social media marketing in your business, different social networking platforms are better than others for different goals and objectives – it can all be very confusing and overwhelming at first.
We live in a very digital age with easy access to almost anything, so obtaining and holding people’s attention has become the goal so many companies are competing for. Catching attention, delivering your message as simply as possible and having the right person take action sounds easy enough, but it can be a lot more challenging to execute effectively. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions of using social media marketing more effectively in your business.
Dylan Hasson
Licensed REAA 2008 Real Estate Salesperson at Barfoot & Thompson Ellerslie.
Thank you for reading my article.
If you're in the Auckland area and would like to seek real estate advice or discuss your real estate needs, please feel free to get in touch with me today.
Thank you for reading my article.
If you're in the Auckland area and would like to seek real estate advice or discuss your real estate needs, please feel free to get in touch with me today.
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