The pandemic has changed the way Realtors market themselves. The days of open houses and door knocking are behind us and while they may return in the future, your marketing machine has to work now.
While it’s becoming more difficult to generate leads in real life, now is an opportune time to deepen the relationships you already have using email marketing and social media to stay in touch and help build trust and credibility.
Your past clients (and prospects) are spending more time on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn so it makes sense that you should beef up your presence there. But how do you know if it’s working? It’s unlikely (though not unheard of) that a single post will lead to a sale. However, consistency and repetition will create recognition for you and encourage people to reach out.
Here are three metrics you can use to gauge your success.
Is your following increasing? The number of people who are following you should be constantly on the rise. It won’t be dramatic, but your numbers should be going up steadily.
The three social channels I recommend agents be active on are Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. The approach to building a following on each of them is a little different.
On Facebook, you want to start out by inviting the people you’re connected with personally. If you’re not already connected personally with past clients, connect with them as a friend, and then (not immediately, though!) invite them to like your business page.
On LinkedIn, chances are you’re connected with more colleagues than clients, but you can be strategic and reach out to clients who will be happy to accept your invitation to connect. From here they’ll start seeing your posts.
On Instagram, you have to be pro-active and follow people first. Begin by following people you know (Instagram will show you connections). Once you follow someone, they get a notification and there’s a good chance they’ll follow you back.
Next, follow people strategically. Do a search for the kind of people you want to work with. Searching by hashtag, you can find people who live in specific areas or who have certain interests. As long as you’re posting interesting content (not just listings) many will follow you back and start seeing your posts.
Bonus tip for all three channels: Make sure you have links on your website and in your email signature for all your social channels so that when people come across you online, they have the opportunity to follow you.
Engagement: Engagement is critical to social media success. If you’re not receiving likes, shares and comments, you need to revisit the sort of content you’re posting. Even in a best-case scenario, the engagement is going to be low, but it should be there.
Go into the analytics on each channel. Instagram allows you to check the analytics on both individual posts and your account. Facebook has insights and on LinkedIn you can look at each post and see how many people you reached. The benefit of paying attention to these numbers is that you start to learn what kind of posts people are interested in, which will help you refine your future content.
Conversations: In your post, pose a question or ask for comments to help start those conversations. Make sure you’re responding to comments, questions and direct messages. It is called social media and people expect a response from you. One easy way to stay on top of this is to make sure that notifications are enabled on your phone.
If you would like to go deeper into any of these topics, please get in touch. I also offer free webinars on email marketing and social media. If you would like to know more, let’s talk!
Mark Brodsky has been working with Realtors since 2008, producing monthly newsletters and social media management. Send him an email or visit his website.
