Are you leveraging your social media spending in the right ways? Real estate professionals with the highest earnings know how to track the return-on-investment from their marketing dollars, especially when it comes to social media. If you want to be a top earner in today’s market, a strong social media strategy is something you can’t avoid.

If anyone knows the power of social media, it’s Mike Schulte, a Citi Habitats real estate agent from Queens. In 2018, a client slid into his direct messages with a multimillion-dollar transaction. Schulte never met the guy, and still doesn’t know what he looks like.

“Every time we connected was through social,” says Schulte.

Schulte is one example of a growing trend in real estate: It’s impossible to ignore social media.

“If you’re not playing where everyone’s paying attention,” Schulte says, “you may still be relevant today, but in 24 months, you’re not going to be relevant anymore.”

Everyone, according to Schulte, is paying attention to social.

“Think about the amount of time people spend on their phones,” he says. “Now think about how much of that time is spent on social media.”

How Do You Improve Your Social Media?
Several years ago, Schulte came to the realization that he needed to double down on his social media efforts to maintain relevance. Especially when marketing to millennials, social media is essential.

“I started posting every day,” he says.

His goal? To be helpful.

“Information has always been so closely guarded to the chest. People don’t share. I realized there was an opportunity there,” he says.

Schulte decided to focus on two areas in which he is an expert: real estate and New York City. Schulte was born and raised in Queens.

“The videos I put out early on were very specific to the industry and a lot of the dynamics that go in with transacting,” Schulte says.

However, it wasn’t long before he added another element to his strategy.

“There is some other value I can provide in telling the story of New York,” says Schulte.

Schulte has a videographer who follows him around daily to document his working style and record video clips for social media.

Where Many Agents Falter
Schulte says that other agents don’t find success in social media because they are too focused on selling, and they’re putting their money toward promoting themselves in the wrong way.

“When people spend money, they’re spending money on the wrong things,” Schulte says. “They’re spending money on promoting their listings instead of spending money promoting the message they’re putting out.”

Schulte’s social media goal is to develop a relationship.

“Your purpose is actually to pull people into your real world where you communicate with them normally,” Schulte says.

To do that, he finds ways he can give value instead of focusing on how to sell.

“I provide an insane amount of value and really don’t ask for anything,” Schulte says.

Only about one in 30 of his posts showcase his listings.

“What I’m trying to do,” he says, “is become one of the reputable sources because I believe we’re moving away from a desire to get information from networks and we’re going to start trusting individuals more. I’m trying to position myself to be one of those individuals for New York City, for real estate. It’s telling that story and telling that journey.”

Alexis Petersen is the director of Content at Real Estate Express, the national leader in online learning for pre-licensing, continuing education and professional development. For the last seven years she has been educating real estate professionals on how to successfully launch and advance their career. She’s also a seasoned marketing veteran, with nearly 15 years of experience.