What is effective social media content?

Scheduling and curating content can be a big hassle for anyone who are running online marketing campaigns.

While businesses of all shapes and sizes can benefit from a smart social presence, the importance of social media for real estate really can’t be overstated.

According to a recent study from the National Association of Realtors, social has become integral to scoring clients and closing deals across the industry. Here’s a brief snapshot of the report’s findings:

• 77% of realtors actively use social media for real estate in some way, shape or form
• 47% of real estate businesses note that social media results in the highest quality leads versus other sources
• 99% of millennials (and 90% of baby boomers) begin their home search online (as opposed to in-person referrals)

What's that mean to you? Social media can be a goldmine to growing your business if you're doing it correctly. 

Can't I just hire someone to do social media for you? Well, yes, but be careful who you hire. 1) Your personal brand and what you post is one of your two biggest assets in the success of your real estate business over time. 2) Just because someone is young and "knows social media" does NOT mean they can be good for your business. In fact, many "social media experts" can and will harm your business. Make sure anyone you're letting post to your account has effectively run social media and/or marketing fo businesses like yours before or has been the mentor to dozens, if not thousands, of businesses just like yours for their social media.

There are ONLY 2 overall categories of social media content for effective real estate marketing.

• Content relevant to your clients when they ARE actively buying and selling.
• Content relevant to your clients and potential clients when they are NOT actively buying and selling.

When you scroll through most agents social media feeds, it looks like new listing, new listing, open house, reminder on open house, picture of a cat/dog/kid, picture from the open house, close, new listing, etc. etc. etc.

If you consider that your clients only move every 5 to 10 years, why would that content be of interest to them when they are not actively buying or selling? It wouldn't be. Based on the 5 - 10 years buy/sell cycle, that means that your average client is only actively wanting that type of content for 10% - 20% of their time. 

==> What happens in the other 80% - 90% of your clients' lives? They'll unfollow you if that's the only content you post.

Ideas for content that is relevant to your clients and potential clients for the 80% - 90% when they are NOT actively buying and selling:

• Property photos. Not as a listing but as community interest. People like market reports and go to open houses even when they are not buying/selling to know what's happening in their area, to get ideas for their current property, and many other reason.
• Unique successful stories. As an example, a friend of mine posted a story about a husband that had invested in a medical marijuana company, without mentioning any personal information, he shared how that added complications to the mortgage process and how they navigated the issues. Another time, he shared about a couple that had started a venture-backed startup that had raised $1M but was still pre-revenue. This "non-standard" job had some of the same pre-approval and closing issues that many small-business owners have. Both of these stories (done as short videos he recorded on his iPhone) got a LARGE amount of engagement because many potential clients did not know how those decisions could impact their house buying process.
• Content from your journey as a business owner/Realtor. This isn't sales/listing content. It's literally you documenting your journey and letting people see inside your day-to-day. It can be GREAT for keeping you top of mind and will lead to more referrals.
• Industry and market news
• Local events: Both upcoming events and coverage of events as they happen. This does NOT include open houses.
• Home tips and renovation ideas

Ideas for content that is relevant to your clients and potential clients  when they ARE actively buying and selling

• Property photos
• Success stories and client testimonials
• Company milestones
• New listings and properties
• Open houses

In the next lesson, I'll give you almost 100 pieces of free content that you can share over the coming weeks and months.