Over the past couple of years, realtors are investing a good deal of time on social media marketing. Finally they have realized that their clients are looking for properties on the digital space as well.
Let’s put it straight. Home buyers are the easiest to convert. Whenever they find a suitable result in their home-hunt mission, they end up taking an action.
And social media plays a key role here.
- 90% of home owners researched online before they bought the property.
- 84% of potential buyers contact a realtor after running a search on social media.
(Source: REAL Trends 2013 Online Performance Study)
Contact us to know about the possibilities and endless campaign ideas for your real estate business.
Why social media is a must?
Here are the reasons that would drive you to enter into social media marketing, if you have not already.
People, who search for homes online take around 2 weeks to close a deal. And people, who choose the traditional path take over two months to take a final decision. The simple reason is, online buyers clearly know what they are looking for and browse through a thousand options sitting right in their living room.
Here is another good reason for you to go social.
96% of Generation Y are on social media and they are the main target group for any real estate agent, at least for the next few years.
Your clients are there. Where are you?
Sprout Social conducted a survey on various industries over the Consumer Engagement Index. The aim was to see which industries get the maximum amount of engagement from their niche audience or target group on social media.
Real estate industry is at second place. But if you are wondering why social media is not working for you like others, may be you are doing it WRONG.
Let’s have some examples of realtors, who have made it through to social media.
Century 21 American Homes maintains a beautiful blog, targeting their existing and potential clients. They often come up with unique blog ideas that you would have never thought of. It’s an excellent strategy to connect with their audience as well as create a brand recall. Here is an example.
Look at the unique concept and how it’s being loved on different social networks.
Bond Real Estate - New York Condo, Co-op and Home Sales takes it to the a next level to market the neighborhood, they operate. They often post interesting images, facts and upcoming events in the neighborhood on their social media pages.
This not only shows their knowledge and passion for the locality, but also signifies how much they want to interact with their audience.
ApartmentHomeLiving.com makes it easy for a future home-buyer to search right on Facebook from their Find a Place tab.
Anyone who comes to the tab, and fills in the required information, gets a complete list of properties available in the neighborhood.
The Corcoran Group uses Pinterest to its greatest potential. They have understood that images play a viral role to catch the eyeballs of their potential buyers.
They offer home decor ideas for different styles and themes and then carefully redirect their audience to their website listings. There Twitter presence is worth a mention too.
Keller Williams Realty is a real estate franchise company and has a YouTube channel with over 20,000 subscribers.
They share monthly real estate reports, offer real estate tips and advice and post latest industry news on YouTube.
Social media contests to acquire clients and increase brand awareness
Prometheus is a California-based real estate company. They often conduct innovative Facebook photo contests for their fans.
This contest is for pet lovers in the neighborhood. Their fans were asked to dress their pets in Halloween costumes and then post the images on the page. The photo with maximum number of likes wins the contest. The first three winners won $50 Visa Gift Card and $25 Visa Gift Card while the pets were treated with their favorites.
Dream Town Realty used Facebook contest for crowd-sourcing. They asked their fans to give ideas for their next contest.
The winner got $100 home depot gift card. They tactfully marketed their Google Plus page with this contest, as they asked their fans to like the page to know about the winner. Clever, isn’t it?
Selfies are in! Then why not using them for your real estate contest?
This selfie contest of Ben Marion Real Estate deserves a special mention.
This CA-based real-estate company asked their fans to take a selfie. But the contest is little different than others. The selfie had to be taken in front of a Ben Marion Real Estate signboard outside their respective offices. The person with maximum Likes gets tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert. The campaign increased their brand awareness.
Clients want to get heard.
There is one problem with real estate agencies on social media, and that’s social response. Sprout Social surveyed about various industries and the major issues they face on the space.
It appears that even if people want to talk to the realtors, they are not talked back. Real estate stands at the 13 position, when it comes to social engagement. Quite poor!
Here are some stats that would show you the real scenario and help you understand where you stand:
- 89% of online users said response time is a premium factor to choose a real-estate agent.
- 45% of your clients expect you to respond to their queries within 15 minutes.
- 56% of them expect you to respond within 30 minutes.
- 45% of online real-estate inquiries never got a reply.
Social media strategy for realtors:
We have helped many real estate companies in their social media marketing efforts; right from providing campaign ideas to running social media contests; from maintaining their social media pages to monitoring the online reputation.
Contact our team to discuss about your business and its future on the digital space. Fill in the form below to get a free, no-obligation analysis of your business.