Social Media is a concept that we are all extremely familiar and comfortable with. It is a collection of interactive technology platforms that allows us to share thoughts and ideas through mediums like written words or photos, and build a social community. It has evolved over time to become more than just a means of entertainment, and has a variety of other uses too.
One of the most significant uses of social media that is being newly explored is the potential that it holds as a source of marketing. Social media is an effective medium to capture the sentiments of its countless users, and brands can use these sentiments to convey their stories and make themselves memorable for consumers. The global network of social media presently comprises 4.55 billion users, and this network can be channeled towards social media marketing.
What is Social Media Marketing?
In simple terms, it is the process of using various social media platforms to advertise, market and promote goods and services. Social media provides a large platform of potential consumers for businesses, and hence it is an invaluable source for marketing.
Social media marketing can be extremely beneficial for almost every commercial activity, and real estate is no exception. Real estate social media marketing is a crucial tool for real estate agents and developers alike to showcase their various projects and services, and generate maximum leads from the large user base of such platforms. This is supported by data which has shown that 47% of real estate businesses reported generating highest quality leads through social media.
Like any other marketing strategy, real estate stakeholders who wish to explore this source of marketing must develop a cohesive plan and align their activities according to it. Here are some of the best strategies of social media marketing for realtors:
- The Power of Multiple Touchpoints:
- The type of users active on the platforms
- The type of content (textual, visual etc.) which is suitable for the platform
- The Power of Paid Ads
- The Power of ‘Word-of-Mouth'
- Instilling confidence in the brand by hearing and reading positive stories of its work
- Knowing that other prior customers have had a good experience with the brand will encourage more users to avail its services
- The credibility of the business is enhanced by sharing real stories
- The Power of Informative Communication
- Users will have a better understanding of the real estate sector
- The business can create a good reputation for itself as being aware of the functioning of the sector, which will help in acquiring customers
- The Power of Virtual Site Experiences:
- The Power of Networking:
- The Power of Consistency:
The phrase ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ is applicable to social media marketing, and hence choosing the right platform is essential for the success of any strategy. The term ‘social media’ includes several platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc. Hence with social media marketing, there are various touch-points which ensure that the consumers are engaged effectively. Though all these platforms are classified as social media platforms, but they are each very distinct marketing mediums in terms of:
These factors must be considered while implementing a strategy because only then will it be able to reach the target audience and engage the users.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a feature for running paid ads, which can boost the reach of the brand by allowing a much larger audience to view the content uploaded by the business, as compared to the organic response that it would have had. Paid ads expand the reach of social media marketing for real estate agents, and also make marketing more interactive since users can comment, share and like the content of the ads.
As the name suggests, social media marketing is reliant upon the thoughts, opinions and feelings of the users. A personalized approach to marketing will hence be highly beneficial, and this can be achieved by sharing success stories and client testimonials. This will help the business in a variety of ways such as:
A successful strategy that can be adopted for real estate social media marketing is to make the content informative and educational for the users. Real estate is a nuanced sector, which has a lot of different aspects associated with it. For a lucrative marketing strategy, content should be created to tackle these aspects. Informative communication will have dual benefits:
Site experience is an important aspect of any real estate sale, because it allows consumers to witness and experience the project. This will help them make informed decisions, and it is an important part of marketing. Live videos are a unique aspect of social media platforms, and it can create an engaging, interactive and enhanced site experience for users.
Social media marketing for real estate agents can be helpful in networking, since connections can be formed and nurtured through interactive actions on posts, and messaging features. Direct Messages (DM’) are another way that realtors and developers can maintain contacts, and they can also encourage social media users to subscribe to emailers through social media.
One of the easiest and most effective strategies for impactful real estate social media marketing is having a structured and consistent flow of content. This allows the users to stay connected with your brand and its content, which will lead to higher engagement rates.
If the strategies mentioned above are incorporated in a marketing plan, it can lead to successful outcomes for businesses. BeyondWalls - an integrated PropTech ecosystem is an end-to-end real estate marketing company. It also provides pre-sales, sales and post-sales support, and it is the ideal partner for real estate agents and developers for all their requirements.