With over 3.8 billion active social media users worldwide, there’s no question that social media is a non-negotiable in any real estate agent’s marketing strategy.
However, simply creating a social media account and posting generic tips and listings isn’t enough if you want to be a modern real estate agent.
To truly stand out and connect with your audience, it’s essential that you do this:
share personality-driven content that prominently features your face and/or voice.
Here’s why you need to show up in your social media content:
Build Trust and Credibility
When clients are looking to buy or sell a property, they want to work with someone they know, like, and trust. By showing your face on social media, you are putting human context into your brand, which can demonstrate to potential clients that you are knowledgeable, professional, and trustworthy.
Make a Personal Connection
Social media is all about making personal connections, adding value to your audience, and engaging with your community. Consider the different types of content that you post: educational content, personal/behind-the-scenes content, local content, and property updates/promotional content.
When you post a generic graphic, you might be educating your audience and providing them with value, but you’re missing out on the opportunity for people to see and connect with you as a human. Educational content will go a lot further if you’re also leveraging your social media presence to tell stories: about you, your clients, your successes, and your challenges. Good stories evoke emotion, which can nurture relationships, increase brand loyalty, and lead to more business in the long run.
Stand Out from the Competition
The only original content in the world is your face and your voice. When you can turn your social media channels into your clients’ window into what it’s like to work with you, you’ll stand out from other agents because no one can ever be you!
You are able to show your audience that you are not just another anonymous real estate agent, but a real person with a unique personality and style. Take Kellie Kintigh, a Chicago real estate agent with @properties, for example.
“My client called me because she drove by an open house that she wanted to attend and her husband wasn’t available to meet her there,” she said.
“I was out riding bikes with my daughter and brought her to the open house. We were super casual and I let my client know up front, but she was thrilled and we all took a selfie for Instagram stories. So many people commented on that post because it was real and authentic.”
Increase Engagement
Have you ever noticed that the quick photo you snapped of you and your dog gets more engagement than your most important listing?
That’s because we as humans are more likely to engage with a post that features a person than one that doesn’t!
Your audience wants to see you and connect with you, which can lead to increased likes, comments, and shares, which can help you reach a wider audience and ultimately generate more leads.
Now, are you ready to get started? Here’s how you can start incorporating more of YOU into your social media content.
- Make sure your profile photo is well-lit, in focus, and clearly showing your face.
- Use Instagram or Facebook Stories to give behind-the-scenes glimpses of day-to-day work.
- Create an introduction video to pin to your Instagram profile.
- Collaborate with a mortgage lender or another industry colleague on a live chat.
- Host a Q&A session or ask-me-anything (AMA) session on Instagram Stories.
- Share photos or videos of yourself doing something fun or interesting outside of work, such as cooking a favorite meal, walking your dog, or doing your favorite workout.
- Post photos or videos of yourself in your workspace.
- Share a part of your daily routine.
- Snap behind-the-scenes photos or videos of yourself working on a project or with clients.
- Jump on Instagram Reels or TikTok to create short, entertaining videos that showcase your personality and humor.
Okay, who is ready to level up their social media!? Which of these ideas will you try first?
