Similar to many other businesses, digital marketing is becoming the norm in real estate. According to the Real Estate in a Digital Age 2019 Report of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), last year 76% of buyers found their home using a mobile device. This means that in 2020 and beyond real estate agents and brokers will need to step up their game by developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to beat the competition.
Here is a list of the 6 best tips to help both new and experienced agents generate more leads and grow their business through digital marketing.
Start a Blog
Whether you have your own website or use the one of your brokerages, you should start a blog. Creating and publishing high-quality content serves two equally important functions. First of all, this is one of the most cost-efficient ways to drive leads to your website. If you have some free time and possess good writing skills, you can create the content on your own. In case you are overly busy or can’t write too well, you can hire a part-time content writer to help you.
Having unique content with the right keywords for your niche and location will place your website among the top results for the online searches of your future clients. This increases the rate at which new potential clients see your website (rather than your competitors’ websites) when looking for the best option to buy or sell a home.
Second, writing blog posts in which you share your knowledge of the local housing market is an excellent opportunity to show leads that you are an expert. From leads’ point of view, this means that they can trust you with the purchase or sale of their home.
Make Real Estate Videos
Digital marketing experts, including such figures of authority as Neil Patel, highlight the exponentially growing importance of video marketing. Many digital marketers agree that videos will become the dominant form of content marketing in 2020. As an ambitious real estate agent looking for the best ways to grow your business, you need to jump on the bandwagon.
There are many different types of videos that you can create as a real estate agent. The most popular and successful types include educational videos and videos of real estate listings. In addition to your blog posts, videos are another great outlet for sharing and demonstrating your expertise to your leads. The combination of these two forms of digital content will allow you to cater to different audiences and get maximum exposure. Moreover, shooting short videos that highlight the best features of your new listings is the optimal way to attract the attention of future clients. Simply posting images and written descriptions will not suffice in 2020.
Use the Power of Virtual Reality
While making videos is a must in the real estate business, it does not suffice to position yourself as a top agent in the local housing market. Another major aspect of your digital marketing plan should be the creation of virtual tours. Even the traditional real estate industry has been disrupted in the past decade, and virtual reality is at the forefront of this technological disruption. As people spend more and more time on their computers and smartphones, that’s the natural first place where they will look for their new home.
Many agents have already adopted virtual tours as part of their strategy, and you should do that too in order to stay competitive. Luckily, there are many software tools which help agents create impressive virtual tours of their listings and require only basic technical skills. Moreover, you can hire a professional to do the job in order to optimize the quality of the video and make you stand out from the competition.
One of the most important benefits of having virtual tours is that you can attract buyer’s leads from out of state. Virtual reality allows buyers to explore homes for sale in any housing market, no matter how far it is.
Be Active on Social Media
You probably already have accounts on various social media platforms. However, that’s not enough to market yourself as a real estate agent in 2020. You have to share interesting content on a regular basis – preferably daily – in order to generate leads for your business. You don’t need to start with anything overcomplicated which will take up the majority of your time, energy, and marketing budget. Instead, start out with these simple tips.
First, make sure that you share all your blog posts, videos, and listings across different social media channels. Each platform attracts different users, so that’s the best way to expand your reach. Second, re-share local news and events which businesses and influencers in your community post on their social media. This tactic will show your commitment to and engagement in the local community, and real estate leads appreciate this trait. Third, post photos with your happy clients when closing a deal. The saying that “A picture is worth a thousand words” is absolutely true in this occasion. Last but not least, do a quick online search for the best hashtags for real estate agents and include them in all your posts. Make sure that you also use hashtags which are specific to your local housing market, such as #LosAngelesrealestate or #Miamirealestate, for example.
Don’t Forget Your LinkedIn Profile
As a professional platform, LinkedIn is particularly important for real estate agents. No matter how leads find you – from your website, through social media, or from friends – they will most likely check out your LinkedIn profile before contacting you. That’s one of the fastest and most efficient ways to assure someone’s professionalism and experience.
Thus, you should spend some time on optimizing your profile and making it as professional as possible. Fill in all available fields, and upload a professional yet friendly photo of yourself. Don’t forget to highlight the brokerage at which you work.
Moreover, once you are done with your profile, you should engage with the LinkedIn community. The best way to do that is to share your digital content in addition to reacting to and commenting on others’ posts. Building relations on LinkedIn is a two-way street, just as everywhere else. Furthermore, you can also reach out to some of your acquaintances and ask them to endorse your skills and share their experiences with you on your profile. This will really help boost your credibility and make homebuyers and sellers choose you over other real estate agents.
Make Your Website Mobile Friendly
This article started with a simple statistic from the NAR: namely, that in 2019 about three-quarters of property buyers found their home online. This simple figure reveals important information for real estate agents: mobile devices are already dominating over computers in the industry.
In practical terms this means that you should make your website as well as all content that you create and post online mobile-friendly. While you might not have the necessary technical skills to do that, it pays off to hire a specialized developer who can help you out in this regard. These upgrades will give a push to your ranking on search engines and place your website on the top of mobile searches. In turn, this will bring more traffic to your website and social media accounts, which ultimately means more clients for your real estate business.
Digital marketing is an ever-evolving game, and real estate agents need to master the rules in order to succeed in this highly competitive industry. With these 6 simple tips, you will be able to get ahead of the competition and generate leads at an unprecedented pace.
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