Real Estate Social Media Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide

To be a successful real estate agent in 2023, you need to be utilizing social media marketing. The big question is: how? The impact social media has had on digital marketing can’t be denied.

With seven-in-ten Americans connecting on social media daily, it’s an audience businesses can’t afford to overlook. Social media marketing is valuable and, when done right, easily connects buyers and sellers.

Are you wondering about the value of social media when it comes to real estate agents connecting with clients? Or what are the most effective real estate social media marketing strategies to sell more homes?

That’s what we’re here to answer in this guide. Keep reading for our real estate social media marketing guide.

Real Estate Social Media Marketing: Is It Worth It?

The quick answer is yes. If you’re a real estate agent and you’re still not using social media to market your brand and properties, you’re missing out.

Most social media platforms now offer business profiles. The profiles are identical to personal platforms. However, they come with marketing tips and tools to help users build an audience.

You’ll also get analytical reports and the ability to run paid promotions. On top of that, platforms like Facebook have integrations that connect websites to your social media page.

Let’s look at how to integrate social media into your marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing Tips for Real Estate Agents

Historically you’ve seen your peers on billboards and benches and they seem to be doing okay, so why should you do things differently?

The world is ever-changing, and that means that you need to change with it. Real estate social media marketing is more important than ever as younger people are becoming homebuyers.

Here are a few social media marketing tips to help you out.

Know Your Ideal Audience

Before you even make your first post, you need to remember who you’re posting for. Who’s your target audience? What’s your ideal customer persona?

Many real estate agents make the mistake of trying to market to everyone all at once. Narrow it down so you can market yourself more effectively.

Notice where your target clients spend most of their time online. Older potential buyers may be spending time on Facebook, while younger ones are more likely to be on Instagram.

Avoid using apps like TikTok unless you have a lot of time to make high-quality content. This is where the youngest demographic is, but it also requires the most work to make high-quality content.

Set and Track Goals

What are your goals with your social media marketing for real estate agents? Are you trying to get a certain number of people reaching out to contact you? Do you have a follower count in mind?

While conversions are your ultimate goal, it’s a good idea to set smaller actionable goals along the way. Revisit your goals at least once per month to see if you’re on the right track. If you’re not, re-route.

Focus on High-Quality Content and Interaction

Social media is, at its core, social. Your job is to attract potential customers by churning out high-quality content and then connecting with those potential customers by staying engaged.

Take great photos of the homes that you’re listing. Consider doing an “about me” post every now and again so potential clients can get to know you.

Doing live videos is a great way to engage with your audience and build their trust. You should also always respond to comments when possible. This builds your engagement and further improves client trust.

Choose the Right Social Media Channels

Depending on the market you’re in, the types of clients you work with, and your goals, not every social media channel is the right fit. For example, TikTok could be a great way to reach first-time buyers, but wouldn’t work well for a commercial real estate agent because the audience demographics for that social channel aren’t the same as the people who buy commercial real estate.

On the flip side, LinkedIn would be an excellent way for a real estate broker to establish thought leadership and showcase their real estate agency to prospective agents. When it comes to picking a winning social media channel, finding the right audience fit is key.

Here’s a general breakdown of the most popular social media channels and how they can be leveraged for real estate.

• Facebook: Your real estate business should be on Facebook. Good for reaching buyers and sellers, good for branding, wide audience, and popular across all locations.
• Instagram: Good for agents with a strong photography eye. Good for reaching buyers and other agents, great for branding, not as helpful for selling properties due to lack of links.
• LinkedIn: Great for B2B and commercial real estate, good way to connect with other real estate and home services pros, great for thought-leadership
• Snapchat: Good for developments and subdivisions, good for young buyers and sellers, good for branding for some agents
• TikTok: Great for reaching young audiences, good for brand-building and non-location-specific content, good for thought-leadership
• Twitter: Good for sharing bite-sized thought leadership, much more useful in big coastal cities or for those looking for a non-location-specific social media
• YouTube: Great for showcasing a listing, can provide good thought-leadership and branding opportunities, generally the most labor-intensive social platform

Use Facebook Ads to Promote Your Listings

Another changing aspect of real estate is how and where you list your homes. You can still list them on conventional sites like Zillow and HAR.com, and then you can utilize Facebook ads to promote your listings.

Facebook ads are great because you can specify the demographic that you want to see your ad. Are you selling a home in a young and hip neighborhood? You can tell Facebook to blast the ad out to young first-time home buyers.

Use Instagram to Post Real-Time Listing Updates

Instagram is the ideal social media platform to take advantage of for real estate agents. Why? Because people love to scroll real estate Instagram posts for inspiration, and what better inspiration is there than a beautiful home?

Plus, Instagram is a great way to reach potential homebuyers in real-time. You can add posts with photos of each listing, do a walk-thru on your Instagram story, and share as soon as a home is under contract.

4 Ways to Grow Your Business with Real Estate Social Media Marketing

From growing your customer base to showcasing your neighborhood expertise, there’s a social media channel for everyone and a lot of opportunities to create more leads and win more business. These are just four ways social media can help grow your real estate business.

Show Off Your Listings

Listing agents are always looking for new and unique ways to showcase their new listings and if you’re not on social media, you’re missing out! In the 2021 report of home buyers and sellers, the National Association of Realtors found that 63% of homebuyers were members of Gen X (born 1965-1979) or younger meaning that reaching this group is the key to finding a buyer. A different study by the Pew Research Center found that more than 70% of people in that age group are on Facebook and nearly half of people age 30-49 are on Instagram.

This isn’t to say that all social media channels are equally beneficial for your real estate business. If your business is made up of a lot of commercial real estate or investment properties, LinkedIn may be a great choice for you, but generally speaking, networks geared toward a younger audience like Snapchat or TikTok may not work as well.

Marketing Tip: If you’re using your personal social media page for business, make sure you alter your privacy settings so that your listings are viewable and sharable by others. Another option is to set up a business account which will allow you to see more information on the number of people who viewed your posts.

Create Brand Awareness

One of the best ways to grow your real estate business using social media is through personal branding. This is especially helpful for new agents who don’t have many listings of their own to share. Real estate agents can use social media to establish themselves as local thought leaders by posting real estate wisdom, helpful local tips, or niche-specific information.

When using social media to establish a brand for your real estate business, it can be helpful to start by imagining your ideal client and work backward from there. Are you dreaming of selling nothing but ranches and equestrian properties? Then make sure you have photos on your profile of you with your favorite horse. Want to brand yourself as a luxury agent? It’s time to polish up your profile and ensure all your listings are given the (digital) million-dollar treatment with quality photos and well-written descriptions.

Earn More Trust

Many social media sites have ratings or review features that can be a great way to showcase your happy customers. These reviews are powerful. More than 70% of buyers and sellers only interview one real estate agent before hiring, but often read through many agent reviews before ever making a call. Asking past clients for review should be a regular practice in your business as these reviews, whether on Google, Facebook, Yelp, or another site will help to boost trust in your business.

Marketing Tip: Create an email template with a link to your preferred review website. Shortly after closing, email the client to congratulate them again on their new property and to ask for a review. While it might feel a little strange at first to ask, you’ll be surprised at how happy most people are to review because they read reviews before hiring you!

Create More Client Leads

Prospecting and keeping a steady stream of clients is one of the biggest challenges of being a real estate agent. Social media is a great way to create a strong digital presence and brand as well as collect leads. Posting on social media and sharing your local expertise and listing photos will help improve your likelihood to show up in search engine results as well as help to create a following on the channel itself. Social media channels are a great way to direct people who are viewing your photos or videos to your website, listing portfolio, or preferred channel where you can collect contact information or prompt them to contact you.

Marketing Tip: Consistent posting is required to generate a strong following. Try posting things about your favorite local businesses/attractions and general real estate tips, as well as your listings, to keep your feed diverse and interesting to buyers, sellers, and those who might refer you to others. Want to really pump up your business funnel? Check out Facebook Advertising to gain more exposure and reach new audiences.

Social Media Marketing Is as Valuable as Your Content

Real estate social media marketing is only valuable if you have a strategy regardless of which platforms you use. You can’t post images of houses all day without telling viewers what they are viewing. Talk about the properties in the post and always issue a call-to-action.

Here is what your social media posts should include:

• Real estate hashtags
• Property address
• Specs and amenities
• Contact info
• Website

Always let users know you’ll respond to questions left in the comments. You also utilize messaging apps platforms off.

Ready to Dive in With Real Estate Social Media Marketing?

As a busy real estate agent, it’s likely your calendar is already filled with one-million-and-one things to do, do you really want to spend time on social media, too?

Now is the perfect time to solidify your real estate social media marketing plan for 2023. Trust us, the right strategy can draw tons of new clients straight to you.

When you use professional social media management services to run your accounts, you can spend more time communicating with all of your new clients. For more information, contact us today.