Thanksgiving is a time to be well…thankful. Real estate professionals have a lot to be thankful for this year: great interest rates, competitive markets, and, of course, wonderful clients! What else are you thankful for besides your beautiful family and health? How about your social and online strategy? Being thankful for social engagement, a sound online reputation, branding, unique content and world-class social support is no joke! These are all aspects of a social strategy that can help make a difference in your business this holiday season and into 2017.
Social Engagement
The center of any Thanksgiving meal is almost always a decadent turkey. Much like the turkey, the center of your social strategy should be growing your community and keeping your audience consistently engaged with your content. The traditional way to grow any social network starts small: connecting with personal friends and bringing them over to your dedicated business sites. You could connect via email and send out direct page links to various contact groups, such as past clients and prospects, but that can go stale fast. You need to look towards other methods, such as paid social advertising. Paid advertising helps your page reach new audiences you may not have been able to previously reach, and helps connect you with an audience that wants to connect back with you—it’s a win-win for everyone! Running ads on various social sites can be quite a chore for real estate professionals, and the costs can quickly add up, especially if you’re not sure how to target, how much to spend and what results to expect. You need a social expert to help connect you with more buyers and sellers delivering the results directly to you and your social sites.
Sound Online Reputation
Being thankful for a sound online reputation is no small feat. The online world can bring about a cornucopia of comments and reviews that are anything but appetizing. Staying on top of reviews and where to find them can be a daunting task for a busy professional, which can result in less face time with your clients. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you have a reputation management service that allows you to easily see multiple directory sites in a convenient way, and monitor any reviews you may receive. You can also directly solicit online reviews by emailing your integrated contacts to help boost your online reputation and credibility. Now that’s something to be thankful for!
Branding
Your branding is the first impression you make to the world—make it count! You want your banners and profile pictures to represent you and your business, and tell a narrative of success. High quality images of the beautiful areas you serve, past listings and even your well-deserved credentials and accolades are what makes for stellar branding. You worked hard to bring in new prospects to your page—dazzle them with graphics that are as equally spectacular as the services you provide! Sure, a picture of a random house is fine, but what does that say about your business? Get on the gravy train and brighten up your professional branding presence! You’ll thank me later. 😉
Unique Content
Market reports are awesome and they help assert your credibility and knowledge; however, your audience wants variety. Give the people what they want—you wouldn’t serve a dish at your Thanksgiving meal you knew no one would eat (unless it’s your favorite dish and you’re saving it all for yourself. Smooth move). It’s the same with content. Give your audience articles that are easy to digest and fast reads—they are bombarded with non-stop content, so make it something they want to dedicate five minutes of their lives to read.
You know what else your audience wants from content? A fast way to connect with you! Tack on your direct phone line or website to key pieces of content so folks can reach out to you for questions that may come from what you shared. It’s all about getting your name and branding out there, and having stellar content to back up your knowledge of the real estate market.
Social Support
You’re a real estate professional, not a social media marketer. You’re going to have questions from time to time, and can’t always rely on the one millennial in the office to be available (or knowledgeable), or even your children to have the patience with you that you once had with them. (I get it, I do.) Social media is a tricky landscape to navigate—you’re a settler coming to tame a new land, and the journey isn’t always easy. A strong support staff helps make a difference in your social presence! They establish a sound strategy to the best prospects, and assert your authority as the local expert.
If you’re not thankful for all of these things, maybe it’s time you look into what benefits a dedicated social media program can do for you as you head into 2017. At Homes.com Social Fuel, we offer all of this, and more! Our agents see success and receive top-notch service from their dedicated social media expert. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and be thankful for all that social media can do for your business this year!
For more information, please visit connect.homes.com.
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