The Social Media Secret to Getting 2.5x More Leads
In the past, you've heard about the importance of social media when developing a business brand, finding new clients, and providing virtual tours or open houses. If you're evaluating your social media performance and creating a social media plan, you'll likely consider the classic social media dilemma: Do I focus my social media efforts on organic posts and engagement with potential clients? Or do I put my resources into paid social media advertising to turbocharge my lead generation? Here's the secret: That's a false choice. Agents should pursue organic and paid social media together, leveraging engaging, authentic, organic social media content to market themselves and their properties — while also pursuing paid advertising on social media platforms. We know this strategy works: Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have hundreds of millions of users and provide opportunity for direct contact with potential clients. Meanwhile, agents who buy paid ads see positive results, exemplified by Homesnap's data scientists' finding that agents who buy Facebook ads through Homesnap receive 2.5 times more leads from Facebook than agents without paid Facebook ads. That's why you should approach social media as a virtuous cycle: By creating strong organic social media, you can engage with consumers, demonstrate your expertise, and build your brand. Then, with paid social media, you can generate leads for specific listings and direct more people to your real estate services. Read on to learn how to create compelling organic social media and why consistent investment in paid social media will benefit your business. Use EAT Framework for Organic Social Media The first step to optimize your social media should be to burnish your social media profiles with organic content that follows the EAT framework. The first portion of EAT is engagement. With engagement, agents should focus on regularly posting on social media channels and responding to consumers' comments on the posts. Agents should also ask questions to spur audience engagement. Consider asking questions such as "Carpet or hardwood?" to get people talking about their preferences, or "What homes are catching your eye this fall?" to learn about why people are entering the market and the homes they're most excited to tour. The second component of EAT is authenticity. By producing authentic social content, agents can tell honest stories about the home selling and buying processes and the real estate market in general. For example, agents shouldn't solely post videos and photos of fully staged homes and tours. Instead, consider posting before and after photos, or a video of your open house preparations. This way, consumers see that buying or selling a house is a process, and that you're dedicated to the work necessary to make it happen. The final part of the EAT framework is thought leadership. For agents, social media provides the opportunity to display subject matter expertise, which is especially valuable knowledge to share in a complicated time for the real estate market. Consider the value that the EAT framework provides. For one, social media content that follows EAT principles helps you maintain a relationship with consumers and hear directly what questions or concerns they have about the market. Also, EAT content allows you to demonstrate your own knowledge about real estate, and establish yourself as a trusted voice about the market. More broadly, following the EAT framework ensures that when people view your social media content, they see a credible, engaged real estate professional. If a consumer sees one of your paid advertisements and later searches for your information, strong organic social media may help reassure them that there is substance behind your advertisements. With engagement, authenticity, and thought leadership at the forefront of your organic social media efforts, you can develop a solid foundation for social media success. Invest Consistently in Paid Social Media Advertisements After laying the groundwork with strong organic social media, you can use paid social media to draw large numbers of leads into your sales funnel. Our data scientists crunched the numbers and found that consistent investment in paid advertisements pays off for agents. In fact, agents who buy Facebook ads through Homesnap earn 2.5 times more leads from Facebook than agents who use social media but do not buy paid ads. Consistent paid social media ads will generate leads. And if your paid social media is complemented with strong organic social media, you will be able to introduce leads not just to a specific property or listing, but to an agent brand. Learn more about how Homesnap Pro Ads can complement your organic social media without breaking the bank or your schedule. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

Free Templates to Help you Create Social Media Market Updates
The media narrative during a changing market does little to instill confidence. Clickbaity headlines, based on national and regional statistics, speak to recession worries, a real estate bubble and even a real estate crash. However, if you take a step back and look closely at the data, it's clear there is much more of a story to tell. Real estate is local, and it always has been. This is why as a real estate pro, you should use your social platforms to cut through the confusion and deliver expert local advice. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other media platforms are the perfect place to add your voice with local market insights to earn the trust of your followers. And to help on this sharing journey, RPR (Realtors Property Resource®) has the perfect solution: new housing market charts and graphs. This collection of data, metrics and statistics is incredibly helpful in explaining local market trends. What market type are we currently in? Is housing inventory picking up? What are the month-to-month inventory changes? Are home prices softening? These are all questions your prospects and clients have on their minds. Share Regular Market Updates to Cut Through the Confusion RPR reporting is not always perfectly suited for sharing on social media. For starters, there can be too much data to share on your feed at any one time. Consider picking one or two data points and adding some context around them. And to make sharing easier, we've created a bunch of new templates that will cut your design time in half, and still come off looking polished and professional. We've created these templates in Canva so you can easily apply your colors, fonts, and even images when needed, to have aesthetics that match your brand. The How-To: Creating and Sharing Market Updates Found in RPR's Neighborhood pages, the new Market Trends chart helps to tell the underlying story of any market starting with the type of market (Seller, Balanced or Buyer), inventory trends, list-to-sold price ratio, median days on market, and the median sold price. Moving over to the Housing tab, you'll get a granular view at what's driving your local market. Here you'll see the activity and trends are broken up by each key status: New Listings, Active Listings, New Pending Listings, Pending Listings, and Sold Listings. Rounding out this section, you can also dive into Month's Supply of Inventory, which allows you to view inventory trends throughout the years and make any needed comparisons. Each chart is interactive, too! When you click on a tab, the chart updates with the underlying data. Now that you understand the new datasets available to you, it's time to deliver this important information to your sphere. Check out this collection of market trends templates that will help you showcase the data you're sharing. Browse through and choose your favorites. They're all professionally designed, and you can grab them for free. Once you have selected a design, simply search the neighborhood you are reporting on. Now write down the current metrics you'll be covering. For example, let's share the Market Trends for Scottsdale AZ 85255. We can see the zip code 85255 has 2.14 Months of Inventory, which is up 20.9% month over month. Homes are selling slightly below list price at 99.3%, which is a decline of 2.5% since the previous month. And homes are taking around 18 days to sell, which is an increase of about 20% in the last month. And the Median Price of sold homes is hovering around $1,150,000. With these numbers in hand, now click on the Canva template you'll be editing and begin to enter your numbers. Also, take a moment to click on any colors and update the layout to match your brand. Once you've finished updating your template, click "Share" in the top right corner of Canva. Now choose "Download" and select your file type. For social media, PNG will work great. But remember you can explore different formats based on your goals. The Wrap Up Delivering market updates through social media is a great way to let homeowners and potential home buyers in your market know that you are a local real estate expert. Right now, consumers have lots of questions about the market and their home values. Posting these social media market trends helps to position you as the go-to source for up-to-date information. To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

How ActiveRain Helps Real Estate Professionals
Have you ever thought about a website that connects thousands of professionals in the same field? Where can they share their thoughts, ideas, and questions? ActiveRain created this type of social networking website created in 2006. ActiveRain is a great platform for every real estate professional. But have you ever thought about how it helps real estate agents on their road to success? Here are the top eight ways that ActiveRain helps real estate agents: Community of Professionals Above all, ActiveRain is a community of professionals. Thousands of real estate agents actively use this platform to share their ideas and daily blogs to teach others and connect. Informative Blogs A variety of voices exist on ActiveRain! Each blog contains different useful information for real estate agents, brokers, and other professionals. Zoom Meetings Real estate agents try their best to explain different subjects to newcomers. They do it by posting blogs, answering various questions, and scheduling Zoom meetings related to various topics. Individual Contribution What makes ActiveRain the best platform for everyone interested in this industry? Quite simply, the community. These are the people who directly contribute to the development of this platform. Question and Answers Every registered user on ActiveRain can post a question and get answers from professionals. This section allows beginners and professionals to fulfill their knowledge, get answers on different topics and more. Do you have any questions related to the real estate industry? Post a question and be assured that you will have a good answer in a few minutes, posted by professionals. Trends and News Knowing all the news, information and trends in your area of activity is one way to achieve success. But where can you find useful information about news and trends? ActiveRain is a great place for real estate professionals to connect to any news related to the industry. Tips and Tricks Do you want to become more professional in the real estate industry? There are a few things you should know about that you can find on ActiveRain. First and foremost, there are tips and tricks to help you be more productive. This includes communicating with clients, making deals, and running a well-structured real estate website. Tech-based Information Technology is evolving, and so is the information about it. Real estate professionals, especially those who run real estate websites, should be aware of the changes, news, or tips and tricks related to web technology. On ActiveRain, you can find hundreds of blogs related to technology. Last Several Words Being a professional in the real estate industry requires knowing the professional community. As already suggested, ActiveRain is a strong platform for doing just that. Are you interested in blogging on ActiveRain? Check our article on how to write for ActiveRain and get more points. Do you have a real estate brand? Then you should check our article on how can ActiveRain improve your real estate brand. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

LinkedIn SEO for Real Estate Agents
LinkedIn is a platform that many real estate agents are using nowadays. But are you using it correctly? More importantly, are you harnessing the features and possibilities of LinkedIn? From the day LinkedIn was launched, it served its followers as a platform where they could establish valuable connections. Often, it was used as a glorified resume and nothing more. But many of us forget that LinkedIn is as much of a social platform as Instagram and Facebook. While the LinkedIn algorithm might play by a set of different rules, that doesn't mean we should ignore such a huge platform. We all know that buyers and sellers search agents online before making an important decision on who should represent them. We already know that Google ranks your real estate website based on how optimized it is, how well designed the on-page and off-page SEO is. But what many of us don't know is that social media channels are also search engine platforms that can rank our social media as well. In order to be first in the search results, it's important to have an optimized social media account. In this article, we will take you through the process of optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Let's get started. Optimizing Your URL Just like other content, your LinkedIn profile needs to have an optimized URL. What does that mean? It means if you have an option to claim a URL with your name in it, you should do it. Adding relevant keywords like real estate agent or broker will help you to differentiate yourself from other accounts with your name and help you rise above your competitors. So let's say your name is John Smith and you're a real estate agent. Your Linkedin profile URL will look like this: www.linkedin.com/in/john-smith-real-estate-agent. Using Keywords We already mentioned the importance of using relevant keywords. LinkedIn SEO is not that different from our usual perception of real estate SEO. Using keywords signals to LinkedIn what your account is all about. Your LinkedIn profile is somewhat similar to website landing pages. Therefore, it's important to not only add keywords in your profile link, but also to use them in your profile copy. Profile copy consists of many parts. We will mention the most important ones: Headline – The headline is a section where you indicate who you are and what your working experience is. The headline is more about precision rather than creativity. So be clear about who you are and use relevant keywords. For example: John Smith - Real Estate Agent/REALTOR, Real Estate Marketing Expert. You can even indicate the link to your website. Although we mentioned that the headline is mostly about precision, a little bit of creativity won't hurt. LinkedIn gives you about 120 characters for the headline section, so if you have some space left, let's not waste it. You can add a small promotional sentence about your services, indicating how you help real estate sellers and buyers find the best property for them. Summary – To understand what the summary is all about, just remember the About Us section that we've all seen in other websites. You probably have one too. It's one of the largest sections on LinkedIn where you can add even more information about yourself. Remember to first think about what your clients might be looking for in a real estate agent and try to write a summary considering these factors. Optimize your summary by adding how your clients can contact you. You can add a contact form or link to your website's contact information. Experience – This is a section that most of us use as a simple resume. We simply list our work experience, forgetting that that's not what our clients want to read. How might your clients benefit from your experience? What are the highlights of your working experience? These are the questions you should be asking yourself. Skills – Profiles that have skills indicated are most likely to be found. Education, Licences and Certifications, Accomplishments – All these sections indicate how qualified you are as a real estate professional. Profile Photo – There are a lot of opinions about profile images. Some say that a profile image should consist of a professional headshot. Some say that it should be casual. Whatever the case—casual or professional photo—it's important for it to be good quality. Endorsements – Endorsements are a way of showcasing that your skills are valued by others, and that they vouch for you. It's important to get many endorsements and endorse others as well. Endorse and be endorsed. LinkedIn Keywords So, how can you find the right keywords for your LinkedIn profile? As many of us already know, there are many ways to find relevant keywords with the help of Google. One of these ways is exploring the search bar. Since LinkedIn is not only a social media platform but a search engine as well, the same approach applies to it. We suggest checking out the search bar function on LinkedIn. You can use filters to broaden your search. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

Why Real Estate Agents Still Need a Facebook Business Page
Real estate is all about building personal connections, and the relationships you create today are the commissions you earn tomorrow. So, then, why should you NOT use your personal Facebook profile for real estate? Here are four reasons why you SHOULD NOT use your personal page: 1. Your Personal Profile is Personal To keep your sanity, you must be able to balance your work and personal life. This applies to social media, too. Using your personal profile for business will hinder you from keeping that balance. It will prevent you from sharing family photos, personal thoughts, or memes that might not be work-appropriate. If you build a friendship with your real estate clients, then by all means add them to your personal page! For new business, let your carefully curated real estate business page and IDX website be their first impression of you as a professional. 2. You Don't Have Analytics Despite some complaints about the algorithm, there are some real perks of using a Facebook Business Page. One of them is being able to see important statistics of your post and your page. You can measure your success based on the reach of your posts. Maybe people aren't commenting or liking your post, but maybe they are sharing it with others that you can't see due to privacy settings. By knowing which posts your audience is responding to positively, you can create similar content to help boost your engagement over time. 3. You Don't Have Access to Facebook Ads Facebook Ads can be confusing, but by adding a little bit of marketing spend, you can generate real estate leads easily. They have made a few changes on how you can target these ads to stay compliant with equal housing opportunity laws that might affect how you used to run ads. If that seems too complicated, Zurple can run ads for you to attract seller leads in your target market. 4. It Looks Less Professional There's a reason one is is called a "Business" page and the other is called a "Personal" page. Sending a friend request to a potential real estate client to be your personal Facebook friend is the equivalent of inviting them over for dinner with your family, instead of for a quick chat over coffee. For the people who value their privacy, they might not be quick to accept friend requests from everybody. With following business accounts, there is less pressure. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

How to Successfully Market Yourself on Social Media
Have you reached a plateau in your real estate career where the prospect of improvement or progress seems unattainable? Are you struggling to connect with past clients or feel overwhelmed with the idea of lead generation? There may be several reasons for this, but social media can help. Social media plays an important role in how you market yourself as a real estate agent. This, however, has to be executed with care. 1. Post regularly, but be mindful of the content you post Put this into perspective. According to Facebook's statistics, over half of the population in the U.S use Facebook. Chances are, many of your clients or future prospects are active on their phones and are also active users of Facebook and other social media on their mobile devices. Posting regularly will help you get your name out into the public's eye. This could be a quick showing of a featured listing or a post that focuses more on client interests. As a result, your clients will see that you stay current, connected and openly communicate. Balance is important. Once a page becomes too business-y, it may repel your clients or future prospects. You may want to avoid trying to sell a home in every post. Follow the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your posts are focused on lifestyle content. This will prioritize your clients' needs over your own business needs. 2. Post more photos and videos and less words If you wish to stay current, you have to accept that much of your audience will not commit time to reading lengthy posts. A lot of what you post may be skimmed and disregarded. Focus on posting content that is more visual and less word-oriented. Your own video of a listing on Facebook or Instagram, or an article, accompanied with a quick and eye-catching key point rather than an extensive paragraph. All of your hard work and writing will be overlooked, so it's better saved for a blog rather than your social media. Put yourself in the viewer's shoes. 3. Be responsive. Period. You've set up your social media channels, you post regularly, and you post the right content. Now what? Why isn't your following growing, or perhaps, why aren't you hearing from your existing clients? Lack of responsiveness could be the reason. Social media is all about interaction and if you fail to respond, you'll turn people off. Any questions, concerns, positive or even negative comments need to be addressed promptly on your social media. Lack of responsiveness or response to only negative comments will hurt your image and people will lose faith in you. Summary Follow these key steps to build your social media following, position yourself as an authority on all things home and real estate related, and stay connected with your clients, and prospects. And when you do this, quality leads are guaranteed to follow. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

4 Social Media Fails and How to Avoid Them
Social media has become a key asset in business growth and development, which isn't surprising with 3.5 billion daily users. Over half of these users not only use social media for entertainment, but they are also using it to research products and services. It's clear that social media needs to be part of your marketing strategy, but are you utilizing it to the best of your ability? Did you know that there are some things you may be doing on your social media to turn away potential customers? Have no fear! We are here to help you identify those no-no's and make sure you avoid them in the future. Tone There is a certain tone businesses should and typically use when communicating with its customers and clients. Many real estate agents, however, don't share this same tone. Too many real estate agents come off as impersonal or pompous. You can be proud of your accomplishments, but you need to remember you wouldn't be where you are without your loyal clients. Next time you are about to hit send on that post boasting about what a great Realtor you are, maybe reword it to thank your clients for helping you obtain that success. Timing Throwing up a post at any time isn't enough anymore. Social media is inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of posts that are extremely similar to your own. You need to make sure you are posting with purpose, and that requires some extra work to see what days and times your post will be more successful. Play around with your posts and see which ones are most successful! Attention Social media is centered around... being social! A mistake a lot of real estate agents make is that they focus too much on what they're promoting rather than who they are promoting to. Focus on using social media to strengthen and establish relationships. Instead of talking about a new listing, try offering solutions to a problem some clients may be facing. This presents you as someone who cares about their customers. Responses When someone responds to your story, comments on a post, or direct messages you, make sure you respond! Keeping the conversation going is really important to relationship building. The faster you can get to those messages, the better—you want to still be on their mind! To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

TikTok: Video Makes the Real Estate Star
TikTok became a rising star in social media at the start of 2020, and it has been going strong ever since. With more than a billion active users, it has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, and creative real estate teams have found many interesting ways to integrate TikTok into their social media marketing. If you're new to TikTok, consider this your introduction to the platform and your guide for how to get started. Introducing TikTok, the Newest Social Media Sensation Before we dive into the details of how to use it, we need to answer one important question: What is TikTok, exactly? In short, TikTok is a social video-sharing platform focused on short-form content, which allows you to create, edit, and share quick video clips. Originally the platform allowed you to post videos up to 15 seconds in length, but the limit has since increased to three minutes. TikTok was first established worldwide in 2018 and surpassed two billion downloads for the first time in late 2020. Today, it ranks behind only Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in terms of active users for social media platforms. The fact that TikTok videos are short, to the point, and easy to share has made the platform especially popular among younger users. So if you're trying to do more to reach Gen Z and Millennial clients with your real estate brand, TikTok is an excellent place to be seen. While mastering TikTok takes time, its popularity also comes from how relatively easy it is to get started. You can quickly shoot videos on your phone, use editing features within the app to customize your video, and post it to the world. Video content is already such a great fit for real estate marketing, so TikTok is a natural place to invest some of your social media efforts. Want to Build an Audience? Start with Consistency While TikTok hasn't been "figured out" to the same extent as Facebook or Instagram, we do know some things about how the platform's algorithm works. For example, one of the most critical factors in growing your audience is posting content consistently. Like with many social media platforms, it's helpful to create a posting schedule. This might mean posting a video every day or posting a few times a week. Whatever schedule you establish, try your best to stick with it. Consistency doesn't mean overnight success, but it's a big key to growing your audience over time. Keep It Short and Sweet While the video length limit was expanded from 15 seconds to three minutes, the most popular TikTok content is still short, sweet, and to the point. The length of each piece of content that you post will naturally still depend on the topic. For complex topics, a longer video may be more fitting. But for most content, shorter is better. There are a few reasons why shorter videos tend to be more popular. First, TikTok started as a platform for sharing concise videos, and that's how many users still see it. But there's also the simple fact that your audience is more likely to watch a short video to the end and engage with the content. As you make more videos, your analytics will tell you more about which lengths work best for your audience. Be Authentic and Show Some Personality Whether you're browsing TikTok or watching a commercial about the platform, it quickly becomes clear that TikTok is all about self-expression. That means celebrating the authentic version of who you are, and many of the most popular TikTok accounts do just that. Put another way, it's hard to succeed on TikTok by pretending to be someone you're not. So, don't be afraid to show some personality, give people a peek behind the curtain at what life is like as a real estate agent, and be authentic with your audience. Make Complex Content Relatable Educational content is quite popular on TikTok, but users aren't necessarily looking for long, complex content that overwhelms with detail. The most popular real estate TikTok accounts tend to break down those complex ideas to make them as relatable as possible for their audience. YouTube might be the place for a 15-minute deep dive on a real estate topic, while TikTok is the place where you take the same idea, break it down to the essential concepts, and explain it in a quick, accessible way. While the shorter length of TikTok videos makes things easier in some ways, it can be challenging at first to break down big ideas into relatable concepts. Practice, check out what other agents are doing on TikTok, and experiment to see what types of videos work best for you. Experiment with Themes and Series to Keep Your Audience Coming Back No matter how well you break down a topic, some big ideas just won't quite fit within the 3-minute limit for TikTok videos. And that's okay! Creating a series of short, relatable videos about the same topic can be a great way to educate your audience and keep them returning to your account to check for fresh content. Themed posts are another powerful way to grow your audience while making it easier to stick to your posting schedule. For example, you could post advice for buyers on one day, home improvement posts on another, highlights of local attractions on another, and fun, personality-driven videos to cap off the week. The possibilities for themes are nearly endless, so it's well worth experimenting with and researching themed post ideas for real estate. Use Relevant Hashtags to Help Interested People Find Your Videos Now that you have some ideas for how to make great TikTok content, we'll close with a topic that will be familiar to any agent who's dipped their toes into social media marketing. Like with most social platforms, TikTok is big on hashtags. By tagging your posts with relevant hashtags, you can reach people looking for content related to those hashtags. Relevant is the key word there because you're trying to connect with people interested in real estate content. Using popular hashtags that aren't related to the actual post may provide an initial, artificial traffic bump but won't result in people sticking around to see what you have to say. The Bottom Line for TikTok Success One of the biggest themes of our TikTok advice is that it's crucial to experiment and find out what works for your brand. This is because TikTok is still a relatively new platform, but also because authenticity and self-expression are such integral elements of TikTok success. Of course, the agents who have already found success on TikTok are also excellent sources of ideas. Don't be afraid to check out their content, discover what works for them, and adapt the best ideas to fit your needs. By carving out a TikTok niche, you can ride the wave of the most popular new social platform in years while building connections with the Gen Z and Millenial audiences that are quickly becoming the largest demographics in real estate. To view past Real Estate Marketing and Technology articles and read more from the February 2022 issue, click here. Get a free, 30-day trial of DeltaNET 6 here. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

[Podcast] Decoding Real Estate: Social Media Marketing with Travis Thom
For many agents, social media and digital marketing as a whole are tough concepts to grasp, and they tend to have more questions than knowledge: How do I get started? Where do I get started? How much should I spend? What techniques help drive lead generation? One listen to Travis Thom, and you'll have the answers. He's the founder of Elevated REM, a full-service, digital marketing agency that specializes in helping real estate agents find their voice in the social/digital world. In our latest episode, Travis gives tips and shares strategic insight on how to break into social media marketing, what platforms to adopt early (hint: the clock is Tik-ing), and breaks down digital terms such as pixels, code, cookies, funnels, retargeting, discovery cycles and storytelling. It's everything you need to know to start or fine-tune your real estate digital marketing plan. Decoding Real Estate is hosted by Reggie Nicolay and Genie Willett. Subscribe/Follow And be sure to check out these helpful and relevant links: Elevated REM The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Lead Ads for REALTORS® Realtors Property Resource To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

20 Engaging Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Facebook Page
Our everyday lives have been increasingly reliant on the internet, including making house-hunting decisions. People search for their dream home on the internet. They match houses by watching YouTube videos, making social platforms a key point for prospecting and lead generation. With the number of people using social media each year, sites like Facebook, which has 2.23 billion monthly users, are a great way to reach out to more people and create more leads. Even the right social media hashtags can lead to a variety of options and results! Get innovative and discover new ways to connect with users on your Facebook page. To get started, here are 20 engaging content ideas for your real estate Facebook page. 1. Increase Page Traffic by Adding New Listings You never know who is next to buy a house. If you've completed the initial marketing and brochure development for your properties, post them on your real estate Facebook page and other social media platforms to draw in new home buyers. Fill in essential information about the property. How many bedrooms and baths are there? What does the interior and the exterior of the house look like? Finally, attach a link to your website listing. 2. Gain Insights Into Your Audience With Polls and Quizzes Polls and quizzes compel the viewers to participate directly and express their thoughts. This necessitates them doing more than simply reacting to a post and moving on without fully digesting the details. Make any insightful polling or quizzes about real estate or something else that is interesting to your target audience. When using polls and quizzes, you gain an understanding of your audience's likes, dislikes, and expectations, allowing you to understand the customer experience and design growth. You can connect your poll to a current linked article or a photo, or you can share it on your Facebook and Instagram stories. 3. Post Real Estate Testimonials Post testimonials of your successful real estate transactions to build trust with your clients and prospects. Let your customers talk about your past projects and how you assisted them in buying or selling their new home. Let your content stand out by using visuals and links to the post on your website. 4. Share Real Estate Tips With Your Audience Finding realistic tips on social media is often helpful, particularly for working clients who don't have time to do their research. Keep the list short, sweet and straightforward to make it easy to read and follow. 5. Keep Your Readers Updated by Sharing Blog Posts If you update your blog posts regularly, share them on your real estate Facebook page. Share topics that you know your audience is interested in — such as price trends, how to get a mortgage, and what to watch for during a home inspection to entice them to stop and read. 6. Post Neighborhood Features and Local Businesses Are there any attractions that your target audience will enjoy in the areas where your properties are listed? Potential customers want to view their neighborhood and see if it suits their personality and lifestyle. Be sure to post information about neighborhood features and highlight thriving businesses in the area. Post information about upcoming activities in the neighborhood. With this strategy, instead of scrolling down without absorbing any details, your followers are more likely to stay on your real estate Facebook page to get complete information on the neighborhood. 7. Post Pictures of the Major Features of the Community Another post idea for your real estate Facebook page is photographs of local businesses. Similar to sharing photos of key attractions and features in a city, post images of the significant features of the community. For example, you can add pictures of features such as schools, gyms, shopping centers, hospitals and pharmacies to your page. What's most important is identifying your audience's preferences and showing them your listings near the right business amenities. 8. Post Videos of Neighborhood Guides and Video Tours of Homes Uploading videos of home tours or community guides may draw prospective customers who cannot view a property in person. If you don't have any video shooting experience, it's okay! Several videography companies can do the job for you. 9. Share Your Business Info On your Facebook page, there is a section for information about your company. As a result, when people click on your page, they will immediately know where to find you and how to reach you. Another way to share more about your company is to blog about it. The more details about yourself and your staff that you share with your audience, the better. Before they work with you, the audience needs to learn about you. It establishes confidence and strengthens the bond between you and your clients. 10. Regularly Organize Giveaways Avoid presenting the page as if it is just a business promotion. Organize giveaways regularly for your loyal followers. Offer giveaways that consider the season and information that your followers are likely to be interested in. Timely giveaways provide the audience with something they can use right away, such as a summer home decor giveaway. Simply state the contest rules explicitly, reply instantly to inquiries, and don't forget to post a picture of the winner afterward. 11. Post a Weekly or Recurring Series Posting at least once a day on Facebook is vital for successful social media growth. An active account highlights your commitment to your audience and encourages them to return for new posts. The challenge is to create fresh content that is not just another listing. Starting a daily series is a perfect content idea for your real estate Facebook page that will keep your followers engaged. You can post a featured home once a week with key features that your audience will appreciate. This allows you to post a wide array of content beyond just listings. 12. Post Helpful News or Information on Your Real Estate Facebook Page Establish yourself as a reliable source of information. You should post real estate news or snippets about buying or selling in your region or the industry in general. Whenever you share any news, add some personal thoughts about it or add an excerpt from the article. Remember that people are most likely be interested in reading anything if it is informative. 13. Post Funny Content It can be as easy as asking a question about real estate or just any real estate joke to have your users and prospects laughing. The aim is to get people's attention and provide a foundation for constructive interaction. 14. Share Home Decor Inspiration Staging homes to highlight their best qualities is an essential aspect of selling them. In reality, staged homes are more likely to sell than unstaged homes. Though staging is worthwhile, it will cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Share tips with your audience on how to decorate their homes without breaking the bank. This will have your followers checking in often for new content and tips. 15. Share Posts About How You Serve the Community Are you personally involved in making your community a better place? It's not a bad idea to let people see what you're passionate about. However, don't put too much emphasis on your good deeds. Instead, concentrate on the cause and organization to raise social awareness. 16. Share Whitepapers to Generate Leads Remember that your target audience does research online before approaching you. They're reading blogs, studying various neighborhoods, and comparing bank rates. Share whitepapers with them to assist with the process. For example, share a homebuyer market study. Quick details will help your customers in their purchase decisions if this is what they're looking for. 17. Post Good Real Estate Memes Your posts don't always have to be business-related. Have some fun and share a few memes about real estate that your audience can relate to and enjoy. Memes have been increasingly common in recent years due to their ability to capture our interest, encourage a sense of belonging and connectedness with the one who shared it, and inspire us to share the meme with others who can relate to it. 18. Share Fun Facts Break up all the real estate chatter by sharing fun facts about your community or real estate in general. Fun facts about real estate don't always have to be boring and too serious. Add any trivia about the homes you sell that you wouldn't usually mention in your sales pitch. Finally, choose an appropriate and high-quality image to make the fun facts fun to look at. 19. Include GIFs in Your Posts GIFs are common on social media because the brief, looped clip is enough to capture the interest of your viewers. GIFs are casual and personable, and they allow you to interact with others who see them. Your audience's attention span can quickly dissipate. Thus, using GIFs in your feed to get them to stop scrolling and pay attention is an effective content idea for your real estate Facebook page. 20. Post Company News Have you started a new campaign? Have you and your team assisted an unprecedented number of buyers? Were you in the news lately? If that's the case, post it on your Facebook page. Conclusion While posting on social media can seem trivial, it will win you loyal followers and clients when done correctly. As you can see, there's plenty of content ideas for your real estate Facebook page. Start with these tips, tweak your posts as you go, and add more real estate social media content over time, and you surely will land the clients you're looking for. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

Why You Should Hire a Social Media Manager
Social media is one of the best ways to find new customers and keep past customers coming back. Having social media accounts is a great first step, but having someone who knows how to run those accounts and platforms to optimize your results is the best way to ensure the success of your business through social media. Most large companies have a social media expert working around the clock, monitoring social media for new trends and opportunities. As a real estate professional running your own business, you need to ask yourself if this is something you can do yourself or would you be better served finding someone to help. Here are a few things that your social media manager should be able to handle, whether that is you or someone else.

Market Like a Social Pro in 2022
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 11:00 AM PST Have you ever heard the saying "It's not WHAT you know, it’s not WHO you know, it's about WHO KNOWS YOU?" This is a fundamental truth when it comes to marketing your business and your brand - you have to ensure current and potential clients know who you are, what you do, and why you matter! In this one-hour session, top social media trainers Stephanie Alfonso and Dylan Handy will showcase the top trends for social media marketing as we head towards 2022. Walk away with actionable knowledge: The hottest social channels for building brand awareness. Effective blogging principles to drive website engagement. What you should (and should not) be including on your real estate website. Should you consider pay-per-click lead generation. And more... 2022 is the year to turn your social media from a toy into a powerful marketing tool! Register now!

16 Real Estate Facebook Groups for Lead Generation and Advice
Are you leveraging Facebook for your real estate business? Facebook Groups are an agent's watering hole for real estate leads. Many prospective buyers and sellers seek out the advice of others online. Agents can use the world's number one social media platform not only for lead generation, but also advice. Use these groups below to grow your real estate knowledge and customer base. Join these 16 real estate Facebook Groups for lead generation and advice: Facebook Groups with Buyer and Seller Leads Buy, sell, rent your dream home (Closed Group) DIY Home Improvement Projects (Closed Group) Credit Secrets (Closed Group) The Holiday Edit (Closed Group) Flipping Houses Like a Ninja (Closed Group) (Insert City or State) Buy Rent Sell (e.g., Buy Rent Sell San Diego) (Insert City or State) Real Estate Investment (e.g., DFW Real Estate Investment, California Real Estate Investment Professionals) First-Time Home Buyers (Insert Your City or State) (e.g., Florida Panhandle First Time Home Buyers Group) For Advice from Other Real Estate Professionals Lab Coat Agents (Closed Group) Real Estate Rockstar Agents (Closed Group) Real Estate Closers (Closed Group) Real Estate Entrepreneurs Group (Closed Group) Next Level Agents (Closed Group) WhatsUp for Real Estate Resale Brokers (Closed Group) Tech Savvy Real Estate Agents Foreclosure and REO Tired of prospecting cold Facebook leads? Zurple's uses Facebook ad space to generate leads within your target markets. Check for availability in your market. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

How to Actually Generate Good Quality Leads on Facebook
We all know that Facebook is a social media giant. But what if you started to look at Facebook as an inbound marketing channel that can pull in leads for you -- good, quality leads. Would you invest more time in it? Treat your Facebook page as an inbound marketing channel Inbound marketing focuses on creating quality content that naturally attracts people to your business. It uses digital content such as blogs and social media to create brand awareness and attract new clients. By aligning the content you publish with your target client's needs and interests, you can naturally attract inbound traffic that can be converted, closed and delighted over time. So, how do you actually do this on Facebook? Run Facebook Lead Ads Lead ads on Facebook (and Instagram) help you collect information from people interested in your business. The ads are designed to let people show their interest in your service by filling out a form in the ad with their details. By doing so, they are allowing you to follow up with them. The information collected in a lead ad includes, but isn't limited to, names, email addresses and phone numbers. You can even ask people custom questions that you care about (e.g., What services are you interested in?). To promote form completion, we suggest keeping questions short and sweet. Collecting names and email addresses may be perfectly sufficient to get the ball rolling. When you create your ad, use a high-quality, eye-catching image with minimal text and a clear call-to-action. Write a clear and engaging caption to accompany your image. An effective caption might look something like this: "Imagine coming home to this gorgeous 4-bedroom home in Lawrence Park. Click for listing." Before you launch your ad, view how it displays on desktop as well as mobile. You want to ensure that it looks great on both. Use Facebook Videos to Promote Lead Gen Offers Did you know that video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts? Video gets solid engagement rates, and they are a great way to connect with your clients in a more interactive way. Create videos to help introduce and promote lead-generating content, whether they're offers, open houses, or something else. In addition to the text CTA, you can add your CTA in the video's description. Remember to also add a verbal CTA to the video. Remind your followers to "sign up for my newsletter" or "visit our open house," both early in the video and at the very end. And if you are hesitating because you feel awkward putting yourself on camera, guess what? So does everyone else! To conquer your fears, practice recording yourself at home, plan out what you're going to say in advance and work at getting more comfortable being on screen. Create multiple takes if you have to until you feel comfortable with the result. And remember, your video doesn't have to be perfect; believe it or not, people tend to respond well to authentic, uncut video. Post Relevant, Valuable Content When you attract new followers to your Facebook page, you want to keep them engaged so that when the time comes for them to buy or sell, they approach you to help them. Building trust with new prospects can take time, and posting relevant, valuable content on your Facebook business page can help. Content that "sells" your services, including your listings and testimonials, should make up less than one-third of all content that appears on your Facebook business page. Keep things interesting by posting a variety of topics on your page. Post relevant industry or local news, new blog posts, videos, photos, helpful tips, and other types of content. Think about the issues that are important to your target audience and create posts around those. Switch up your ads regularly so your audience is always seeing fresh content. Nurture, Nurture, Nurture The lead to customer conversion timeframe for a well-optimized Facebook Ad campaign is anywhere from one to 12 months or more. This means that at least 50% of the effort needs to focus on how you nurture your leads after getting them. Once you have acquired precious email sign-ups from your Facebook ads, build your relationship with these contacts carefully. Segment your email list, deliver targeted email content and avoid making these common mistakes. Facebook is a powerful tool for lead generation when used strategically. Even if you don't have a ton of "likes" on your page, if you start approaching your Facebook page as an inbound marketing tool you can build quality leads and watch your email list soar. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

The Best Facebook Ads to Target Real Estate Buyers
Facebook ads are a popular way for real estate agents to market their listings to potential buyers. But like any widely adopted advertising tactic, efficacy varies. Some agents generate scores of high-intent leads from each and every campaign. Others struggle to source a contact or two. As we've run tens of thousands of successful Facebook campaigns on behalf of our agents, we wanted to shed light on what strategies lead to greater resonance with buyers and more effective lead generation. High-quality photos With every agent carrying a state-of-the-art camera in their pocket, there's no excuse for a lack of crisp, high-resolution property photographs. It's the only standard, really. Many buyers, especially younger, more digital-adept ones, assume that poor photos are a deliberate attempt to obfuscate a less-than-desirable property or features. As a result, ads with poor quality photographs receive fewer clicks and, in turn, generate fewer leads. Read our tips for taking better listing photos. Inclusion of video A year ago, video wasn't an expected component of any real estate listing advertisement. After the pandemic, though, it's the norm. Why? Prior to the pandemic, prospective homebuyers would attend showings and open houses if they had even so much as a passing interest in a property. Facebook advertisements were essentially teasers, designed to get an agents' name out there and entice buyers into attending an in-person showing. No buyer expected to see every corner of a property displayed in a Facebook ad. But because of Covid, homebuyers are more choosy when it comes to in-person attendance. They'll only visit a property if they believe there's a serious chance they'll make an offer. Videos provide a way to approximate that in-person experience. Essentially, without video, you run the risk of a consumer not seeing enough value in the property and opting out of further pursuit. Read our tips for optimizing your video marketing. Immediacy + Humblebrag = Winning Copy Facebook (or social media in general, really) is never a place for humility. Successful agents leverage their past successes in their advertising. So, for example, when promoting your listings, try highlighting how a particular property won't be on-market for too long because your previous listings went under contract in days in your advertising copy. You'll convey both your prowess as an agent and create a greater sense of urgency. Highly targeted Facebook allows you to build multiple custom audiences. To do so, upload contact information for people you know, such as your sphere and any leads you've generated. Facebook will match the data to its user base and allow you to target this specific group of people (if they have a Facebook account). There are three advantages to making a custom audience for all your ads: It will keep you top of mind. The next time someone in your sphere is looking for a real estate agent or has a referral, your ads will remind them that you're an active agent. You'll build brand awareness for leads and cool prospects. Repetition is key if you want them to remember you over competitors. It improves the opportunity for organic reach. People who know you are most likely to hit the share button, giving you free placement in their feed. Only 3.5% of real estate agents target their sphere. But they are the best performing agents. Leverage lookalike audience feature Similar to the custom audience, Facebook's lookalike audience is infrequently used (only by 7.5% of campaigns). To access this feature, you must first create a custom audience as we described above. Facebook will mine that data for common characteristics so it can find a group of similar users who are most likely to be interested in your ad and services. This type of audience is more refined than blanket-targeting people based on interests and demographics. You can also layer location parameters on top of the audience to ensure your ad stays local. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How to Create Instagram Posts for Your Real Estate Business with Canva
Ready to start sharing engaging real estate content with your network, but not sure where to start? If you want to share neighborhood market stats, new listings, open houses and client testimonials, this article will get you going. What is Canva? Canva is a simple to use, online design and publishing tool. With it, you can easily create designs without having professional design skills. All you need is an understanding of your brand colors and fonts, along with a clear idea of what you want to share. With a free account, you'll be able to use the templates shown in this article. But it will take a Canva pro account, or pay per download, to export the designs as graphics you can share on Instagram. If you're just kicking the tires, try signing up for the Canva Pro 30-day trial. That will allow you to have all of the features, free for a month. Benefits of Canva Templates With premade templates, you're not starting from scratch. You'll simply find designs that you like and then modify the overall look and feel as needed with your brand colors, fonts, and imagery. Simple Tips to Edit Your Canva Design Agents active on social media platforms such as Instagram often share market stats for their geographic farm area. So for this article, we're going to break down the how-to and provide a few specific templates to make the job easier. Change Colors Click Neighborhood Market Update to access one of our Canva Templates. Select "Use Template." If you have a Canva account, you'll be prompted to log in. If you do not have an account, you can create a free account using your email address. Click to select the element that you want to edit. Then click on one of the color tiles that appears on the toolbar above the editor. Then from the color editor panel, click the color that you want to apply. To choose a different color, click "New color" or the rainbow tile from the editor side panel to use the color picker. Add or Change Image With the template design open, look to the far left side panel. Click the "Photos" tab. If it's not showing, click the "More" button to locate it. Look for images by typing keywords into the search bar. Once you've found or uploaded an image, add it to your design by simply clicking on it. Any image you've added can be adjusted from the top toolbar. Make sure you've clicked on the image and then choose: Effects, Filter, Adjust, Crop or Flip. Social Media Friendly Market Update with RPR and Canva Now that you understand the basics of editing a Canva template, let's focus on customizing a Market Stats template using data from RPR. First, click this link and then select "Use Template." The design shown below will open. Next, we need to get the data from RPR to update our graphic. You'll need to visit RPR and search for the area you'll be covering. If the area is a neighborhood, try using the RPR Neighborhood search tool, or create a Market Activity report for any geographic area. For this example, I'll generate a Market Activity report for a neighborhood and we can use the data from there. Within RPR, select "Research" from the main navigation and then choose "Map Search."(Note: If the map is open to the correct area, simply pan or zoom the map as needed to get centered on your area. If it's not, use the search bar to enter your area.) From the top of the RPR map, select the "Show Geographies" pull-down. Select "Intermediate Neighborhoods," and neighborhood outlines will display on the map wherever available. Locate the neighborhood you'll be covering. In my case, it's called "Lake Forest neighborhood in Lake Oswego, OR." Select the area, and it will turn an orange color, and a map balloon will display. Click "Create Market Activity" report. Once the Market Activity report has been generated, open it and navigate to page #2. We'll use the Median Estimated Home Value and 12-Month Price Change for this template. Next, navigate back to Canva with the Market Update template open. Double click on the blue median estimated home value text. It will become highlighted. Now type the correct number from your Market Activity Report. In this case, it was $690K, so type that amount in. Then repeat this for the "Change Over the Last 12 Months." In this case, that was 26.11%, so type that now. See how easy that was? Now update the colors and image as needed using the directions from the start of the article. Downloading Your New and Finalized Sharable Design Once you've updated your colors, imagery, and market stats, it's time to export your design. With the design open, tap the "Download" (or down arrow) icon at the top right corner of your screen. A menu will open, then choose a file type for your download. Wait for the export progress gradient to complete. The design will immediately save to your computer or camera roll. Download 6 Free Canva Templates for your Real Estate Business We created a few real estate-themed Canva templates that are free for your use. You'll need to add your own colors and images, where appropriate, but these designs mean you'll spend less in design mode and more time sharing content in your feed. RPR and Canva—a Match Made in Real Estate Marketing Heaven Well, now you know the secret of how other agents create such beautiful, professional-looking images for their social channels. Combining Canva's low cost, easy-to-create image templates with RPR's data will make you look like the go-to neighborhood expert you are. Next time you post on Facebook or Instagram, remember this how-to and take your post to the next level. Your social posts shine and they'll get plenty of eyeballs, too. Good luck! To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

Twitter and Facebook Newsletters, Google Core Update: Everything Real Estate Agents Need to Know
The year 2021 is rich on updates. Many new features and updates rolled out this year, including Twitter and Facebook newsletters and a Google core update. Twitter Newsletter for Real Estate Agents Creating a Twitter Newsletter is possible with the Revue platform. This Netherlands-based company was acquired by Twitter in 2021. If you're interested in email marketing, this is the news you definitely need to check out. With the Revue platform you can: Compose and schedule newsletters – What is good with Revue scheduling is you can incorporate other social media links, like Facebook or Medium. This will help you get more visibility for other social media channels with just one newsletter. Create your own newsletter template – You can create your own design, choose the color scheme and the layout of your content. This feature is available in The Design tab under your Account settings. Email Lists – Aside from having the option to grow your email list with just native Twitter subscribers, you also have an option to import any email list you have acquired over these years. You own the rights to this list despite it being uploaded on the Revue platform. Analytics – Twitter Newsletter also gives you an opportunity to evaluate how your newsletters perform, by providing you with the insights data. You'll be able to check average open and click-through rates, unique opens, subscriber growth, as well as engagement and much more. How to Access Twitter Newsletter Function? To access this function you just need to do a few things. Sign up for a Revue account. You can sign up with both your Twitter and email account. Give Revue permission to access your Twitter. The next step requires you to create a profile URL to add the title of your newsletter, and to choose your country of residence. Twitter will provide you with the steps you need to follow. Note that for now Twitter newsletter is visible only through a mobile browser and not with the mobile app version. Paid and Free Newsletters Twitter Newsletter has a free and paid newsletter option. If you decide to have a free newsletter, Twitter won't take any cut from you. In case of the paid newsletters, Twitter will take a 5% cut from the money generated through Twitter paid newsletters. Facebook Newsletter for Real Estate Professionals Email marketing is on a roll this year. Yet another platform, Facebook, added a newsletter function. Bulletin is what the new newsletter is called, and it was created for people to find their audience, maximize their reach and monetize the content. What is cool about the new service is that Facebook doesn't get a cut from the money you accumulate through Facebook newsletter. So, if you're a real estate coach, or just a real estate agent trying to find an appropriate platform for your content, Facebook Bulletin is worth checking out. Aside from having an option for posting blog content, there is also an option for podcasts. Visitors don't have to log into Facebook to access this content. For now, Bulletin isn't launched worldwide and the number of content creators who can apply to Facebook Bulletin is limited. To learn more about Facebook Bulletin, check out their official website. Google Core Update As an owner of an IDX real estate website, the Google core update is directly impacting you as well. Recently, you might have noticed a spike or downfall in traffic. This might be caused by the new Google core update that is rolling out these past few months. What does the Google core update target? First and foremost, spam websites – Google is becoming more and more focused on a safe and secure experience for users. Websites that can't provide that are going to see a huge downfall in traffic. IDX website speed and load time – A positive experience is what matters now, and no positive online experience can be achieved without a good page loading time. Check out our article on page load time, and learn more about what you can do to improve it. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

How to Crush It on Pinterest for Real Estate
Kyle Hiscock, a top real estate agent in Pittsford New York, shares tips on how real estate agents can leverage Pinterest to grow their business. Here's Kyle: Here's How to Use Pinterest for Real Estate: A Realtor's Guide to Pinterest If you're in the real estate industry, you've probably heard the buzz surrounding social media. Real estate agents are killing it on many platforms. With the abundance of real estate marketing techniques to choose from, it's important that real estate professionals put their eggs in the right baskets. Here's how agents can use Pinterest to increase their online presence. Create Catchy Graphics In order to get your real estate brand recognized on Pinterest, you'll need catchy graphics. Pinterest is all visual. Graphics that are poorly designed or easily forgettable will result in poor results and a quick exit from Pinterest. It's vital to your real estate success on Pinterest that you create at least 2-3 memorable graphics relating to the topic you're writing about. There are several user friendly websites and programs that are available that make it easy to create great, eye-catching graphics. One website I use to create graphics for my content is Canva. Canva is a free website that allows users to create graphics of all sizes and also purchase photos for their graphics for as little as a $1. As a rule of thumb, the longer the graphic, the better it will perform on Pinterest. All of my articles are accompanied by at least three graphics that are 800px by 1200px. Here's an example of an article I wrote discussing why Realtors® ask for a pre-approval letter and matching graphics. These three graphics have been pinned almost 1,000 times, which is almost half of the 2,100+ shares. It's important to use only photos you have the rights too (either royalty free photos, or those you paid for). There are a handful of websites that allow you to get royalty free graphics and others that offer graphics as cheap as a couple dollars, such as Canva. Think Local Pinterest provides real estate agents the opportunity to showcase their local communities. Agents can easily gain a strong online reputation amongst community members by focusing on topics relevant to them. As one of the top real estate agents in Rochester NY, Pinterest has allowed me to show off not only the city of Rochester, but also the surrounding communities that I do business in. Pinning attractive photos of local establishments, landmarks, and other points of interest is social proof that you're in tune with your local community and further proves you're the local expert. Create Local Boards Your local boards shouldn't only be filled with your greatest and latest listing. These local boards should provide people who are interested in learning about your communities with some helpful information. On my Greater Rochester NY Pinterest board, I've pinned graphics regarding the local dog parks in Rochester, local real estate market reports, information for people who are moving to Rochester, Rochester landmarks, and other helpful Rochester related pins. In most cities, there are many surrounding towns, villages, and neighborhoods which you can also create seperate boards for. Join Group Boards One of the best ways to effectively use Pinterest in real estate is to join powerful group boards. There are dozens of excellent real estate group boards on Pinterest. Group boards are essential to Pinterest success, because the group boards expand the audience of pins. For example, if a group board has 10,000 followers, any pin you share with the group board will now have the ability to reach these 10,000 followers. Follow Other Agents Regardless of your reason for using Pinterest, all agents should follow other real estate professionals. This will not only help build your real estate brand, but also provide you with great ideas. There are several resources and articles that discuss who the best real estate professionals on Pinterest are. As you discover these real estate professionals on Pinterest, evaluate how they are using Pinterest. In most cases, these professionals are more than happy to answer questions you may have about Pinterest. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'" is a great saying to keep in mind as you're building your Pinterest presence. Don't Be a Super Sharer One of the most common reasons why real estate professionals don't succeed at Pinterest is because they are a super sharer. You're asking yourself, what is a super sharer? A super sharer is someone who pins content to one of their boards, shares it everywhere, then never shares it again. A super sharer on Pinterest will pin their graphics on their own boards and all of the group boards they belong to at once. This is a huge missed opportunity to reach the a large portion of the potential followers of these boards. Unless these group board followers happen to log in to their Pinterest account in the near future, your pin will likely go unseen by them in notifications. A great tip for Pinterest in real estate is to sprinkle your pins over a long period of time. For example, once I publish an article, I'll share one of my graphics on a couple group boards immediately. For the next several days, I'll share the same pin to a couple different group boards, keeping in mind to space the pins apart a few hours. This greatly improves the chances that more people will see my graphics, which will hopefully result in them pinning my graphics to their own boards. Some Final Advice Successfully leveraging Pinterest can be a game changer for your real estate brand. Building a strong Pinterest presence isn't exactly rocket science, but it does take time and effort. Good luck pinning! For the original post and more from Kyle, visit his blog at RochesterRealEstateBlog.com. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

Keeping Your Facebook Strategy Up-to-Date in a Social Media World
Facebook is the most powerful social media platform for real estate agents, bar none. Why Facebook? As the real estate industry embraces digital marketing, it has become the no. 1 resource for building and maintaining long-term relationships. Twitter can be good for prospecting, LinkedIn is a gateway to luxury buyers, but nothing beats Facebook's overall utility. With nearly 2.4 billion monthly active users, including approximately 255 million in the United States and Canada, Facebook is still the go-to social media site for most people. Facebook also owns the photography-focused platform Instagram, a natural fit for real estate agents and brokers. If you master Facebook, you'll have an easier time maximizing Instagram. Many of the core features are similar, so it's almost like learning two different networks at once. Among the younger generation of real estate agents, many careers started with creating a Facebook page. Of course, most established agents and brands have also set up a Facebook business page. But what comes after that? All too many real estate pros haven't taken the opportunity to get hands-on with their account. And even if you use Facebook regularly, there are always ways to get more momentum from it. Facebook has evolved quickly over the last few years, and even experts don't always use it to the best of their ability. So, as the real estate market revs up for its post-pandemic bounce, now's the ideal time to take a second look at your social media strategy. Start by Tweaking Your Facebook Fundamentals Every social media network has profile elements you have to fill out to be taken seriously. Not having these is the equivalent of trying to sell homes while looking like the generic Twitter egg. However, once you set up all the different facets of your profile, it's a good idea to revisit and see how they reflect you now. Your headshot makes a vital first impression. It should convey confidence and professionalism, laying a solid foundation for trust. A high-quality, well-lit photo is essential. And it should be current: Even though there's no deceit involved, an image that's more than five years old can still smack of the old dating profile switcharoo. Your unique value proposition also comes through in the copy that accompanies your profile images. That includes both the plain text on the page and the cover image, where you can include your brand name, slogan, and a call to action. It's a great idea to showcase recent events or time-sensitive offers in your header, too. Ensure your text makes these points crystal clear: What you do Who you do it for What makes you different No one can be all things to all people, so give your ideal client something to connect with right away. Your Facebook page is the perfect place to publicize lead magnets, such as detailed local real estate market reports. Last but not least, be sure your Facebook page reflects your values: That is, the why behind what you do. When clients choose between two businesses that look similar to them, the one with values that resonate is usually the one they contact first. That's equally true for both large agencies and one-person operations. Consider an Interactive Cover Image Facebook has recently expanded the types of cover images you can choose from. In addition to the static cover images of yore, you can also design a video or slideshow cover. To qualify, your pre-recorded video must be: At least 820x312 Under 91 seconds long A maximum of 1080p In MP4 or MOV format Less than 1.75 gigabytes Music and other audio are allowed, but all videos start with the sound turned off. Users will have to click on your video to un-mute it, and many won't, even if they are interested in your message. With that in mind, aim to communicate without the need for audio. If you include dialogue, use subtitles. Video covers are effective because the majority of people browse Facebook on their phone. Videos are the most popular content on mobile devices: They can be consumed quickly and are far more memorable than plain text. Still, there's another visual option that's easier to set up on your page. To create a slideshow cover, all you need is a few beautiful, branded photos saved to a folder on your computer. Click the camera icon that appears on the upper left corner of your cover image, then upload your files in the exact order you would like people to see them. Voila – your new cover is ready. Technically, what Facebook offers is a "slider," not a "slideshow." Users will need to manually click through the images to view them. Still, you might be surprised just how many people do so, whether they're visiting your Facebook page on mobile or desktop. Make sure your shots are enticing! Add an Interactive Call-to-Action Button Many people write out a text-based call to action on their cover image, but Facebook has a built-in solution that may be more elegant. As you edit your page, you'll find "Add a Button" on the top right. This brings up a selection of targeted CTA buttons you can choose from, like "Schedule an Appointment." Name Your Page With a custom username, you can give your Facebook page a short, branded URL that visitors are more likely to remember. From your main business page interface, you'll find the "Create @username" option below your page's name. A short, catchy name that fits with your current branding is your best bet. Set Up Your Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply Facebook has big plans for Messenger as a primary point of contact between businesses and users. Messenger is being integrated across Facebook's digital properties on a variety of levels, and it can help you make a strong impression even when you're not around. One powerful way to use it is Auto-Reply. An Auto-Reply response can be directed to anyone who sends you a Facebook message from your page. In your "Manage Page" column, click on "Inbox," then "automated responses." In the right column, you'll see an option that says "Instant reply." Click the "edit" tag under this header and write your desired message. Configure Your Notifications If Facebook is a cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy, you'll want to optimize it to be highly responsive to activity on your page. Facebook provides options to receive a notification any time someone "likes" your page, makes a comment, or posts a question. Notifications can be in-app or issued to you as texts. At the left of your screen, find the "Manage Page" bar. From there, click on "Settings," then "Notifications." Select the option to get a notification any time there is activity on your brand page. Then, scroll down and pick text messaging as your preferred notification style to help you avoid notification clutter. Use Automation to Keep Your Facebook Page Active and Engaging You have a lot of information to share — but you probably don't have hours to update your page! Facebook automation is the answer. With a social media automation tool like Facebook Connector, you can easily configure instant, event-based updates. That means new listings, important property updates, and open house announcements will appear right on your Facebook page as they happen. DeltaNET® 6 users can also take Facebook to the next level with automation through the platform. Combine automation with these other crucial tweaks, and you're on your way to unlocking the full value of Facebook. From first impressions to closing day, your Facebook page can be one of your most versatile tools. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET 6 FREE for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

How to Start a Facebook Group
Already mastered the art of Facebook advertising and content creation? Ramp up your Facebook strategy by creating and managing your own Facebook Group. How to Start a Group Starting a Facebook Group is easy. Start by clicking the "Groups" button in your menu on Facebook. This will open up new options. Look for and select the one that says "Create New Group." From there you can input your group name, decide whether you want to make your group public or private, and invite people to join. Once you're happy with the initial details, click the create group button to publish your group. After your group is created, you can edit the details of your group from the Manage Group menu. Some items you can consider setting up include whether or not you want new members to automatically be allowed in or if they should be approved. You can also schedule posts, set up group rules, and update your group settings through the menu. Be sure to visit the Settings section of your Facebook Group to customize your Group's URL, manage membership, set up posting rules, and access additional features. Facebook Group Ideas Having and running a Facebook Group can be a very rewarding business move, but you have to have a goal and audience in mind. Here are some groups your Facebook Group can target to help attract buyers and sellers or to help grow your real estate business. Niches Having a real estate niche is a good way to start building relationships that can lead to referrals and new business. Consider starting a Facebook Group for pet parents, seniors, veterans, or whichever niche you specialize in. That way, when the time comes that someone in your group is interested in finding a home, you'll already have a connection with them. Agents Many real estate agents work alone, but that doesn't mean you can't find people to support you. There are already popular Facebook Groups, like Secrets of Top Selling Agents and Labcoat Agents that you can join to discuss the latest industry news and ask questions. However, you can also get a lot of value from creating a group for local real estate agents, mortgage lenders, and builders to connect and collaborate. Education Buying or selling a home can be confusing. Help clarify the process and meet people who self-identify as being interested in buying or selling by creating a group for prospective buyers, sellers, or investors. To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.

Win Clients with Real Estate Photography and These 6 Features on Facebook and Instagram
In real estate, buyers and sellers hope that the perfect home is out there—ideally, it's within an arm's reach. In 2020, 76 percent of home buyers initially viewed the homes they purchased online using a mobile device. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Pew Research says seven in 10 Americans consider using Facebook as a part of their daily routine. Knowing this, it's no wonder real estate agents cited social media as the best source for high-quality leads, followed by MLS websites. Now the question is no longer "should" you use social media for your real estate listings. Instead, it's "How do you use social media to portray your experience and personality in one shot?" For most real estate agents, the secret to a professional social media presence is using extraordinary photography. Done right, it gets high-value clients to envision working with you by bringing their thumbs to a screeching halt. From there, your job is to move the conversation into the real world. In this post, you'll learn how to use features of Facebook and Instagram to captivate serious buyers and sellers. It's a good idea to save this page now, so you can refer back to it as you learn the ropes of social media. Why Are Facebook and Instagram the Best Platforms for Real Estate Agents? Facebook and Instagram are two of the most widely-used social media platforms. There's a good reason for this: Here, content creation is user-friendly, versatile, and appeals to multiple generations of buyers and sellers. Research shows that people on both platforms, young and old, are more likely to interact with visual content like photos and videos. More importantly, people remember information better when it's paired with relevant images. That means people will remember the way a stunning house listing made them feel—days after the first impression. Facebook and Instagram both use multiple computer learning models, or algorithms, to personalize what people see on their news feeds. In other words, these social media platforms distribute your content based on how viewers interact with it—or don't. Social media success doesn't always come easy, but using professional real estate photography can help you conquer algorithms and delight homebuyers. For social media to be a worthwhile investment, you must know who your ideal client is, and what they're looking for as a buyer or seller. The visual component simply gives your hard work the credibility it deserves. 3 Features for Success with Real Estate Photos on Facebook Facebook is an enormous network—only second in the country to YouTube—with a user base of mostly adults between 30 and over 65 according to Pew Research. It's the most popular social network for older folks, and its steady growth means it's not going away any time soon. As a real estate agent, you need to create a Facebook Business Page. This is separate from the personal profile you might use to share family pictures, vacation photos, and information unrelated to your work. What People Like to See on Facebook People like Facebook for its informative approach to community development. There is more room for text, links, and smaller images. You should use Facebook to influence existing communities where your potential buyers and sellers are already active. According to the social media pros at Buffer, Facebook users want to see content that is immediately relevant to them, so it makes sense that the current algorithm for posts looks like this for most people: Family and friends Subscribed pages and groups Suggested pages and groups Paid advertising When using Facebook to promote property listings and other content, keep these features in mind: Facebook Reactions: Post extraordinary photos to influence emotions Facebook Groups: Connect with local enthusiasts Share Links, Multimedia: Create your business page experience 1. Facebook Reactions: Post Extraordinary Photos to Influence Emotions Scrolling through Facebook updates can be an emotional roller coaster. People enjoy aimlessly scrolling because the ups and downs of emotional reactions are seriously entertaining. Facebook users can react to posts and comments with a full slate of emotions — Like, Love, Care, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry. The more emotional reactions you get, the more favorably your content is sorted by the algorithm. Few things evoke emotion like stand-out photography! Aim to flaunt the "stunning curb appeal" of your listings by opting for professional real estate photos that stand out with color, perspective, and a dynamic composition. The concept of Facebook emotions seems silly, but it drives decision-making in the real world. It only takes one 'Wow' or 'Love' reaction to influence the high-quality leads of serious buyers. Other ways to get more emotional reactions with real estate photos: Write your brand story: Share advice, industry tips, and lessons learned as a real estate agent. Use photos from previous listings, or re-share posts from years past to celebrate new milestones, memorable properties, and advice for best practices 2. Facebook Groups: Connect with Local Enthusiasts When you manage a Facebook Business Page, all of your home listings and regular updates about work should be posted there. You can take your Page a step further by using it to join Groups of people with shared interests, locations, and careers—to name a few. The example shared here is from "Fairfax County Realtor Forum," a public Group with 5.4k members interested in what real estate agents have to say about the housing market there. Regular Facebook users can join these groups too. You should use your Business Page—not your personal profile—to join or start professional groups. This way, people interested in working with you have an appropriate place to contact you. In using social media, a little good judgement goes a long way. Some Facebook Groups are specifically made for networking, and others have strict rules against soliciting or self-advertising. You can still build a positive reputation and gain followers by joining conversations that aren't directly about buying and selling homes. This is a great way to ensure your page following keeps expanding. Learning more about your community can also give you good insight on what people are looking for in a home. You can learn to anticipate who's moving in, who's moving out, and the problems folks encounter along the way. One common problem for sellers doesn't appear until their items are long gone from the property. It's harder to generate interest in homes that aren't staged with furniture. It's easy to see why a buyer would hesitate to pass on an online listing where the function and feel of a space just aren't there. You can use virtual staging to show buyers how the rooms in a property will effectively end their search. A couple of Florida-bound retirees will be looking for a completely different layout from a young professional who needs a home office. At HomeJab, our team can take the lead on virtual staging, or real estate agents can choose some particular pieces or styles of furniture and decor from an online catalog. More tips for interacting with Groups: Use photo posts as conversation starters: Asking open-ended questions gets your followers sharing their ideas with you, and chatting with one another. Start a new group where one doesn't exist yet, if you see the need and the opportunity. Tag the people, businesses, and locations where relevant and appropriate: This can help grow your network of followers. Your clients get the satisfaction of sharing official updates for things like buying or selling a home, while you get an instant referral for like-minded friends, family members, and acquaintances that are seeking a good realty experience. 3. Share Links, Multimedia: Create Your Business Page Experience Stunning aerial views of this unique property are worth a double-take. The real estate agent here includes multiple photos, and links to different resources with information that Facebook users will appreciate. Another great way to expand your Facebook Business Page audience is to spend as much time sharing useful information and posts from other relevant accounts as you spend creating your own content. Link sharing is one BIG advantage Facebook has over Instagram. When you share links on Facebook, it is formatted with the information, pictures, and headlines you want to share. Sharing links directly to your Page gives people a reason to keep following you. It diversifies the type of content people see from you, making your Page more useful to your followers, and more favorable for the algorithm. That's why HomeJab introduced Property Pages to help real estate agents drive traffic to one convenient branded profile. Sharing this link on your Page gives your followers a way to share home listing information with their network—without the hassle, distractions, and tediously retracing steps. One of the best perks of having a Business Page on Facebook is the Insights tools, where you can get a clear picture of your social media performance. At the same time, you can keep an eye on the Facebook Business Pages of competitors to quickly compare your data with theirs. And it's not a bad idea to occasionally share the news updates and personable posts from your competitors. Doing this can actually boost your reach—the number of people who engage with your content. Plus, watching and learning from other successful Pages—especially ones that are successful in your niche—is a great way to inspire and re-shape what you do. It's an easy way to assess your audience's interest without completely straying from your social media strategy. More on sharing likable links: Multimedia content is key – A healthy mix of text posts, images, and interactive content is best for a better algorithm. That means sharing a blend of links to your home listings, albums of home walkthroughs, and video content will keep you cycling in more feeds. Experiment with the built-in features like Facebook Marketplace and Targeted Ads when your strategy allows. Video Engages Audiences – When you upload videos of home listings directly to Facebook, your engagement can skyrocket. Videos should be between 3-5 minutes for a favorable algorithm treatment. Remember that Facebook is all about effectively sharing information worth revisiting later. Managing a Facebook business page should enable your clients to keep you in the loop, and contact you as seamlessly as possible. 3 Features for Success with Real Estate Photos on Instagram The Instagram user base is largely made up of younger adults aged 18-29, and older adults are significantly less active on this platform in general. It's considered more of a niche platform, but don't underestimate the value of it—millions of people are on Instagram at any given moment. What People Like to See on Instagram Importantly, the Instagram algorithm does not favor timeliness, so creating relationships is as important as creating content. The Instagram algorithm is determined by these factors: Interest – General topics, themes, and lifestyle trends that users follow. Recency – How often a user is on Instagram, relative to the accounts they follow. Relationship – This is measured by the number of comments, tags, and shares between accounts. Less frequent users will simply get a brief "greatest hits" feed with just a few posts that are relative to the factors above. Use Instagram to share your all-time favorite photos, and aim to foster an intimate audience connection. On this platform, you can share photography with minimal distractions. The interface is best suited for mobile devices, where graphics take up the majority of the screen. Here are some features to keep in mind when posting real estate listings to Instagram: Explore Feed: color welcomes viewers to your listings Carousels: More images, more fun Link in Bio: Inspire with your call-to-action 1. Explore Feed: Color Welcomes Viewers to Your Listings Each user on Instagram has an Explore feed. Find yours by tapping the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your home feed. This feature looks like a digital quilt of posts from other accounts you may be interested in following. Here, it's the sunny blue skies or hazy purple at twilight that will lure curious homebuyers to your posts. The professional photographers at HomeJab can take care of the color grading for you with a virtual dusk treatment that highlights the property, and maintains its real-life features. HomeJab has digital photo processing down to a science, so you'll receive a package of photos ready for posting. Consistently using professional photography in your real estate listings means you don't need to worry about getting the filter right. More ideas for showing up in the Explore feed: Follow and interact with accounts like yours, and the clients you want to attract. Pay attention to the hashtags folks in your niche are using, and cycle through them with your own posts. The Instagram algorithm favors posts that use hashtags relevant to the text in the post Celebrate Social Media Holidays – It's the best place to make vibrant, thematic posts celebrating social media holidays like #NationalHomeownersDay 2. Carousels: More Images, More Fun When you post multiple images—up to 10 at once—you can encourage users to thumb through them with the carousel feature. Seeing a home online is always going to be different than seeing it in person, but convincing people to take that step is vital! You can get creative with the strategy behind using a carousel to inspire action. One of the most difficult things to do on Instagram is to entice people to interact with you beyond the platform. Imagine seeing the first few images of a stunning virtual tour or an upcoming open house—swiping through a carousel of photos that show just the outside of a beautiful home could be what convinces someone to seek a full walkthrough. Here are more ways to play up the interactive elements of Carousels: When you make Carousel posts, re-share them in the app with Stories. This is another great way to link your followers directly from their home feed to your profile. If you have a wide-angle photograph that doesn't quite fit into one Instagram slide alone, split it up into multiple images for one carousel post. The easiest way to do this is by going into your photos and saving the original image to your phone three or four times. Make a Carousel to progressively show the wide angle photo. Oddly satisfying—right? Add minimal graphics that give details about the listing. The 'Just Listed' digital sticker here subtly adds to the impact of the photo. Canva is a free and simple graphic design tool. 3. Link in Bio: Inspire with Your Call-to-Action If you don't see the level of engagement that you want from Instagram, consider rewording your messages to ask for it. It can be tough to convince people to navigate away from Instagram because there aren't many ways to share direct links. That's why having a consistently updated and relevant link in your Instagram profile—your *link in bio*— message is so important. If you're ever worried about the ephemeral nature of social media, you're not alone. But that investment of time and resources doesn't have to be wasted just because a home listing goes off the market. From there, it becomes useful for your branding and portfolio as a real estate agent. That's why it's important to—as often as possible—plan and create 'evergreen' content in bulk. This kind of content is always going to be relevant to your audience's needs, and it's always going to be worth sharing as a part of your brand story. Good evergreen social media content can include photos from your successful sales, like the example used here. This is an effective way to throw in a personal anecdote, a quote, or experience that represents your philosophy on the industry. Here are more ways to make the most of your bio link: You can make the bio link more dynamic with other free services like Linktree. This is an effective way to link relevant new listings, news and market data, links to your contact information, and your other social media profiles. Or, skip the separate link service, and routinely update the link in your bio with a limited-time feature. Of course, this means planning out the details behind posting and removing a link when it's time, but it's one way of pressing the urgency of clicking the link to a limited-time offer, like an event page for an open house. These are just a few of the features on Instagram that naturally attract high-value homebuyers and sellers seeking representation. You can use Instagram to help others envision what a dream home looks like. Remember: Time + Consistency = Success How long will it take to be successful with Facebook and Instagram? Your success depends on the quality of posts on your platform, and how closely you tailor a strategy to use it. Use professional real estate photos consistently to build your following from the ground up, whether you're revamping an old business profile or starting from zero followers. You will always benefit from learning the ropes of real estate and communication in the online market. Choose a social media platform, and explore all of the built-in features to make your profile stronger. Over time, you'll enjoy the free or low-cost marketing opportunities social media brings. Contact HomeJab for Picture-Perfect Real Estate Listings At HomeJab, we know that one snapshot can completely change the first impression you make on clients. Social media is a free or low-cost tool you can use to exponentially grow your marketing audience. Hardly anything compares to the reach and convenience of a strong social media presence. Our team will set you up for success in representing buyers and sellers by raising the bar for professionalism in real estate. Contact HomeJab to learn more about what captivates serious homebuyers who are searching for that picture-perfect home. To view the original article, visit the HomeJab blog.

How to Strengthen Your Real Estate Business Using Facebook Groups
Trying to keep up with the latest trends in social media can be a difficult, but vital part of your job as a real estate agent. Facebook, for example, favors the content and the building of engagement in groups. Facebook Groups can be fun, but you have to get members in the group and get the content rolling in. Now is the time to tackle Facebook Groups and begin to incorporate them into your strategy as a real estate agent. Why Facebook Groups? Facebook Groups are featured prominently on users' newsfeed. This means that the content from users' groups will is prioritized over content from regular pages they follow. As an agent, creating groups that focus on your local area can help you interact with your Facebook followers and establish yourself as the local expert for real estate. What Is a Facebook Group? A Facebook Group is just what its name implies: a group that is found on Facebook. In a Facebook Group, you can create content that is geared towards a specific audience. Depending on your goals, that audience could be a group of local residents, fellow real estate agents, or DIY enthusiasts. There are endless possibilities for what you can do in your Facebook Group. What Kind of Group to Create There are many different reasons to create a Facebook Group. Before you begin, try to think about what your goal is so that you can target the audience you are trying to include in the Group. To start, we have some suggestions of groups that you can create. Specific Neighborhoods: A group focused on a neighborhood could be a great place for you to start. As mentioned before, think about the audience that you wish to target. Invite past clients who live in the neighborhood to join the group and have them share that group with their neighbors. Then, get the conversation started by asking members to recommend their favorite spots around town. Buy, Sell, Trade: You can also make a group that is targeted to buying, selling, or trading goods, otherwise known as a BST Group. A group like this can help create a sense of community, especially if members regularly engage in the group. You also have an opportunity for group members to organize a group or neighborhood sale. There are numerous ways for you to bolster engagement and exposure when creating a Facebook Group, and it's a great way for you to reach new clients. To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.

Social Media Marketing 101 Guide (Free Download)
You know you NEED to be posting on social media, but knowing WHAT, WHERE and WHEN to post can be challenging for busy real estate professionals. That's why Elevate created this all-inclusive guide to creating great social media content. It even includes a four-month content marketing calendar that you can use as a guideline to get started. [ DOWNLOAD GUIDE ] Your FREE Social Media Marketing 101 Guide includes: Social Media Statistics Tips from Elevate's Success Coaches Best Days and Times of the Week to Post What Good Content Looks Like Quick Social Media Best Practices Four-Month Content Calendar And more!

Facebook Turns the Table on Lead Gen: You don't go after leads -- leads come to you
Online lead generation has created new business for many real estate agents for more than a decade. The major portals alone have collected hundreds of millions of dollars in annual ad revenue selling online leads to agents. Early on, agents who bought leads from the portals generated big business. But buying online leads from portals has become more and more expensive and can cost $200 per lead. And the national average conversion rate for internet leads is widely reported at only 2-3 percent. Social media sites, like Facebook, are turning the tables on traditional sources of online lead generation or lead gen. The old model of lead gen captures a lead, and then you go to them. With a social media channel like Facebook, your future leads are already checking you out, and when they are ready, they come to you. This shifts the focus from targeting people you don't know – online leads – to people who know and like you. The concept isn't new: historically, most agents generate the majority of their business from referrals, most often from past clients, friends and family, and others in their sphere of influence. Facebook makes this process possible online. Facebook and real estate According to the National Association of Realtors, 76 percent of members are on Facebook for professional use, and 78 percent use Facebook for personal use. However, NAR says only about one-in-five agents use Facebook to market their listings. Yet, the opportunity to generate leads from Facebook is enormous. Facebook continues its reign as the number one social media site. Nearly two billion people use Facebook every day worldwide. And the average time spent on Facebook exceeds any other social site, a whopping 58.5 minutes per user per day. Engagement on Facebook remains off the charts. Every minute, Facebook users create four million likes, and every second, more than six people sign up for Facebook. More importantly, for agents, 35 million people update their statuses on Facebook every day. Agents are attracted to Facebook, as it is the easiest and most efficient way to stay visible with their clients, friends, family, and community. The fact is most, if not all of them, are on Facebook. There is no more cost-effective way to use sphere marketing to reach clients and future ones than on Facebook. Facebook also meets HUD fair housing requirements for advertising as real estate agents must mark boosted posts as a "Special Ad Category" and select "Housing" from the pull-down menu. Facebook won't approve a real estate ad or boosted post without it. This makes certain agents are complying with fair housing rules that prevent specific geographic and demographic targeting. Turning the tables Perhaps the best part of using Facebook as an agent to generate leads is that in the long run, it is easier. Agents who are most successful in generating leads from Facebook do more than drive-by "liking" of other people's posts. The key is to share relevant comments and content. It's also essential for you to be you. Agents attract customers who are like them, as chemistry is vital in any business relationship. Through Facebook, people in your community get to know you, while your sphere gets to know you better. It's also important to be consistent. As a busy agent, it's sometimes hard to find a way to post to Facebook regularly. One of the best ways to be consistent is to use Facebook to market your listings. This includes paying for "boosted" posts. Paying Facebook to expose your listing post to more people helps your exposure in the market. More importantly, you are delivering value to your sellers by increasing exposure to more potential buyers. What changes is the way you generate leads. Using Facebook to promote your listings and expose your sphere to you and your business, you maintain top-of-mind awareness. When someone in your sphere is ready to buy or sell, they are more likely to contact you because of your Facebook activity. That turns the tables because instead of paying someone to send you an online lead and tracking them down to see if they are interested in working with you, Facebook leads are people who already know you. And they contact you, instead of the other way around. Isn't that the kind of lead every agent wants? Final advice: if your MLS or association offers Tech Helpline from Florida Realtors as a member benefit, you can get technical assistance with Facebook. If your MLS or association doesn't provide Tech Helpline, encourage them to contact Tech Helpline at info@techhelpline.com. Tricia Stamper is Director of Technology at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity.

The Golden Rule for Your Real Estate Social Media Strategy
In 2021, your digital presence is more important than ever. Consumers begin (and often end) their search process online and if they're going to choose to work with you as their real estate agent, your social media, website, and business pages need to be executed flawlessly. You have to build trust, respect, brand recognition, and rapport with your leads. So, as you're building your brand following on your website, social media, and business pages, remember the following – content is king, but consistency is key. When you're building and executing your social strategy, remember to be consistent in these three specific ways:

Where to Post Social Video for Real Estate Agents
So you've discovered that the camera on your phone isn't just for still photos. It takes decent quality video, too! Some agents might not be taking advantage of this as they should. Video is a great way to show off your personality and build likability before meeting your future clients. But where on social media should you post your videos? Here are the social networks that real estate agents should post video to:

How to Create Real Estate Facebook Ads that Work
Facebook is a powerful platform to advertise on. Not only are you guaranteed an engaged audience--nearly three-quarters of U.S. users scroll their news feed daily--but, if you know what you're doing, you can take complete control over your ads' content, budget, placement and delivery. But control has its downsides, too. When you run your own ads, you're accountable for their performance. To ensure they do well and that you don't waste money, you really need to learn the ins and outs of Facebook's advertising platform. Then once your ads are live, it's important to monitor them and make adjustments as needed. This, of course, takes time away from your other responsibilities, like working with clients or prepping for things like listing presentations and showings.

The Social Realtor: How to Grow Your Facebook Audience
As a Realtor, growing your social media presence can be a powerful tool for growing your client base. Growing your reach and engagement through Facebook is a great way to get started. Facebook is the largest social platform, with 2.45 billion users and 1.6 million people using their account on a daily basis. Today, we'll lay out how to reach Facebook users organically without the use of paid advertising. This will also help increase your engagement through likes, shares and comments.

Real Estate Content Marketing: 5 Easy Tips to Follow
When you're investing in content, you're focusing on providing value to your potential clients. This makes content marketing one of the most effective ways to generate seller and buyer leads. Wondering how to make real estate content marketing right? Check out the five tips below. They will focus on the most effective content types to give you a headstart.

Social Media for Real Estate Agents: Do's and Don'ts
It's no secret that a killer social media game should be an an important part of every real estate agent's marketing strategy. But the thought of posting on social media can make even savvy real estate agents start to sweat. There's lot of social media platforms and each is a little bit different, but some similar rules should govern your interaction with all of them. Get started on your social media strategy with confidence using these do's and don'ts of social media for real estate agents.

[Best of 2020] 5 Social Media Habits Agents Should Leave Behind in 2020
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published in March and is #7 in our countdown. See #8 here. Social media algorithms are placing greater emphasis on personal, meaningful content over vanity metrics like numbers of followers and likes. Make those algorithms work harder for you this year by ditching these five detrimental social media habits.

Creating Social Content to Get Engagement
A successful social media presence has to have content that will bolster engagement. To create content that is engaging, you first need to understand what exactly engagement is. What is Engagement? If someone has engaged with your social content, this means that your followers have done something like: Retweeting or mentioning your content if using Twitter. Commenting or liking your content on your social media channels. Clicking your links if you're running ads. Using your branded hashtags.

What to Post During COVID? Do's and Don'ts for Social Media Right Now
It's no secret that a killer social media game should be an important part of every real estate agent's marketing strategy. However, as COVID-19 continues to sweep through the United States and in-person lead generation is cancelled, a robust social media presence is a must-have for real estate agents. There are a lot of social media platforms, and each is a little bit different. However, some similar rules should govern your interaction with all. Get started on a social media strategy that's appropriate for current conditions with confidence using these do's and don'ts.

Navigating Today's Political Climate on Social Media as a Real Estate Agent
Woooo... to say the world has changed would be an understatement. Things that should not be a polarizing issue have had a clear line drawn between them. You want to join in on the conversation because you have strong feelings, but how do you go about doing it without getting "cancelled"? Here are some good practices to follow when it comes to posting on social media as a real estate agent.

7 Mistakes Agents Make on Twitter: Social Media for Real Estate Agents
Social media should be a crucial part of every real estate agent's marketing strategy, but posting can feel high-pressure for even the most seasoned agents. Twitter is a great social media platform to post content that your clients and fellow real estate agents will appreciate--and a great place to interact with other agents and clients. Not sure where to start your Twitter journey and how to master social media for real estate agents? Check out these seven mistakes that real estate agents make on Twitter, and get ready to create a professional account that dodges these common pitfalls.

11 Ways to Increase Facebook Likes as a Real Estate Agent
Consider this: 68 percent of all adults in the U.S. are on Facebook. Of those, 74 percent use Facebook daily. That is some 140 million people logging into the same site everyday--liking pages, commenting on stuff, etc. As a real estate agent, you might be asking, "How can I get more of the action on my page?" Any great networker will tell you it takes effort and strategy to build a robust Rolodex. Increasing your Facebook likes is no different. But as a real estate agent, you have an advantage. You have highly valuable information about the housing market and you have great visual content that is easily shared on social networks. Increasing your Facebook likes involves utilizing this information in clever ways. To get you started, we've listed below 11 ways to increase Facebook likes as a real estate agent.

5 Important Tips for Posting on Your Real Estate Social Media Accounts
Chances are, if you have been in real estate for years, or are even new to real estate, you know that social media is paramount. When it comes to marketing, there are endless opportunities to showcase your real estate business, with email marketing, text marketing, drip campaigns, agent websites, etc. However, social media has come to be one of the most dominant and effective marketing tools used by real estate agents, especially when it comes to gaining leads.

Should Real Estate Agents Be on Instagram? The Pros, Cons and How to Get Started
Even if you're active on social media for marketing, you might still wonder if real estate agents can use Instagram to help promote their business. On one hand, Instagram seems like a perfect fit considering that it's image-based. What better way to show off your latest listing than photos? But Instagram isn't quite like other social media marketing platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, and it can take real estate agents a little getting used to before they get the hang of putting it to work for their marketing.

7 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Use Facebook Groups
Have you ever thought about how real estate agents can use Facebook groups? You might already be part of a Facebook group for your high school graduating class or your favorite hobby, but think about adding a few groups for real estate agents to your roster! There's a whole bunch of Facebook groups dedicated to helping real estate agents succeed, get up to date with recent technology (and even reducing stress and generating some well-needed community). Scroll down to see seven ways real estate agents can use Facebook groups.

The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Lead Ads for Realtors
Ever wonder how your colleagues and competitors are scooping up warm leads in the digital world? One answer is Facebook lead ads. This article will break down the ad type, with step by step instructions.

How to Run Instagram Ads for Your Real Estate Business
Promoting your real estate business on social media is a solid part of online marketing campaigns. The abundance of platforms, however, creates a paradox of choice for real estate professionals. They often have to spend a lot of money advertising on various social media until they can find the most efficient one. Despite the fact that, ultimately, there are no perfect options, Facebook and Instagram are viable choices since they have a huge amount of ad features and a great audience. In this guide, we will take a look at how we can run Instagram ads for real estate. But first, let's talk about why we should post ads on Instagram.

Is TikTok a Good Social Media Platform for Realtors?
TikTok is a social media channel that has become very popular recently. Many business owners who want to take their business to the next level are on TikTok now. Even Realtors have started using the social media platform to get noticed and target certain market segments. But how and why should you use TikTok for real estate? In this article, we will provide you with some examples and arguments.

Let Listing Pictures and Video Do the Talking on Instagram
Are you searching for a new and exciting way to connect with potential buyers in your market? Instagram is a perfect resource for real estate agents and brokerages. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Instagram is a treasure chest. Imagine showing your target market every delightful property in your portfolio without seeming intrusive or overly "sales-y." Sharing great listing images on Instagram isn't difficult. In fact, developing this type of content and seamlessly integrating it into your current marketing strategy is easier than you'd believe.

Use Live Video to Communicate with Real Estate Clients
Strengthen Your Real Estate Brand on Social Media with Video With recent world events, customer communication has become even more important. Keeping in touch with past clients, leads, and supporters is essential given recent world events. These audiences are attuned to live video. With live video on social media, you can speak to hundreds and maintain the personal touch. Savvy real estate agents often use multiple social platforms. Each has its own features that help you showcase your value. Likewise, each one has enabled experts like you to reach the world through shareable video. Let's look at today's three main social video platforms:

The Newest Tool for Your Virtual Real Estate Business: Facebook Messenger Rooms
Facebook, the leading social media platform in the world, has come out with a new video tool available to members of the Facebook community: Facebook Messenger Rooms. These "Rooms" were made to increase the usage of the Facebook platform and engage community video discussions. Available through Facebook Messenger, these "Rooms" can hold a maximum of 50 guests per chat. The best part is that this is a free tool that can be used directly on Facebook. Now, you are probably wondering how you can use it for your real estate business.

When Should You Use Instagram for Your Real Estate Marketing?
Note: The COVID-19 pandemic has made marketing on Instagram cheaper than ever. If you're considering advertising on the social media platform, now is an opportune time. More than one billion people use Instagram every month. However, the appeal of the network isn't so much its outsized user base, as impressive as it is, but rather how well the platform lends itself to marketing, and in particular, real estate marketing. Consider:

How to Use Virtual Selling on Social Media to Get Clients to Chase You (Instead of You Chasing Them)
We had a great chat with Ryan Hartman, VP of Marketplace at Engagement at Inside Real Estate during a recent Coffee Chat. He showed us all the best ways to create "surround sound" marketing so that your prospects and clients see your ads everywhere they go via a concept called retargeting. Take 30 minutes and hear from one of the most experienced social media marketing experts about the right way to succeed with virtual selling. Here are three key takeaways from Ryan's Coffee Chat: 1. Most agents only follow up with their hottest, "most ready to move" opportunities, and forget about the other 90% or so. When these people are ready to buy or sell, they end up working with another agent (usually a top producer who is taking a longer term view of things). If you're going to succeed with virtual selling, you need to nurture relationships with your local sphere regularly—and long before and after they want to buy or sell a home. 2. It's 2020, not 2012. If you're registering people on your website and then signing them for a generic email marketing campaign with recipes and non-specific articles, you are not going to be able to breakt hrough. Instead, you have to think about more effective and unique ways to differentiate yourself. Using a "multi-channel" approach to build top-of-mind status is where it's at today. They have to see you everywhere so they believe you are THE most well-connected local agent they can work with. 3. Animated, property-specific ads on Facebook and Instagram, complete with a way for the reader to ask for more information about the property, is the way to go right now. Click on the image below to see a highly effective animated social media ad. 4. An effective "multi-channel" online marketing effort includes many of the following components: Facebook / Instagram "Lead" Ads Google PPC Ads YouTube, Facebook and Instagram Video Retargeting Branded Google Display Retargeting Voicemail Drops Personalized Video Follow-Up (BombBomb) Automated Search Alerts Watch the Coffee Chat recording below: If you would like to learn more about being a smart broker and enabling success for your agents' team, check out the following FREE resources: Virtual Training Summit (lots of FREE training) Inside Real Estate Success Strategies Facebook Group If you want to be a great virtual seller, but would like to outsource the effort to a company proven to nurture success for its customers, click here to schedule a demo. Don't Miss These Upcoming Coffee Chats! Friday, May 22 Learn How to Capitalize on the Pent-Up Demand with Jack Markham of Zurple Tuesday, May 26 Things You Should Be Doing in Your CRM During Quarantine with Brandon Wise of Wise Agent Wednesday, May 27 Get More Done by Leveraging Virtual Assistants with Bryan Bowles of Transactly If you would like us to sign you up for all upcoming coffee chats, email michael@wavgroup.com and he will get you signed up. If you would like to get notifications every time a Coffee Chat recording is published, subscribe to our YouTube channel, RETechnologyInc. Then hit the bell next to the Subscribe button and receive notifications every time we publish new educational videos. Get Recordings of All Coffee Chats If you would like to binge watch all of the Coffee Chat recordings, click here. If you would like a FREE 3-month trial of RE Technology, go to retechnology.com, click Create Account and then use one of these coupon codes: COVID-19A COVID-19B COVID-19M

Build a Social Media Calendar for Your Real Estate Business
Social media is an essential part of any real estate pro's lead generation efforts. Like other forms of content marketing, social media builds trust with your followers. That's especially vital for the many people you meet who aren't ready to buy or sell a home but will be soon. Without a clear strategy, though, social media often disappoints.

How Many Hashtags to Use and 6 Other Instagram Tips for Real Estate Agents
Social media isn't just for high-schoolers, celebrities, or big businesses. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram are all free, easy-to-use tools that, when managed correctly, can be a powerful way to build your brand and create a reliable source of new rental leads. Social media is especially important for the "digital natives" — all the Millennials entering the housing market — but 69% of all US adults have a social media account. A lot of agents probably are already using social media, so we all probably recognize its potential, but don't know what to post, when to post, and what tools are at their disposal. Don't worry. Rental Beast is here to help. We've developed a guide to Instagram tips for real estate agents.

Analysis: Agents Should Double Down on Facebook and Instagram Ads as Advertising Costs Drop
As agents feel the effects of the novel coronavirus on their business, they'll instinctually want to cut spending on digital advertising--but our latest analysis implores worried agents to do the opposite. In our latest whitepaper, Agents Need Online Advertising Now More Than Ever and They Should Double Down on Facebook and Instagram, we analyzed recent advertising data on four online advertising platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Google and Waze. It makes sense that online advertising would become more lucrative as consumers are spending more time at home to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus – but what digital advertising networks can move the needle for real estate agents who need quick strategies for keeping their business running? Our biggest takeaways: