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What’s the best way to promote your real estate ‘brand’ on social media? Share your personality, not just your professional activities, suggested two industry thought leaders in a recent webinar with REINSW.
“Real estate is a process of elimination. People want to know who you are and it’s the soft sell that gets you across the line,” said Alexandra Hainsworth, Director at Hainsworth Consulting Company and formerly Head of Marketing at Di Jones Real Estate. “Focus on how much fun you have, how much you love your job and enjoy being a real estate agent. That comes through much stronger than any statistic that says, ‘I sold 10 houses this month’.

“Someone is going to list with you because they like you. Yes, your experience comes into it, but realistically they want to get along with you because minimum they’re going to be in a four-week auction campaign, maximum they’re going to be in a long private campaign,” Alexandra said.

It was an opinion backed by Chantelle Roberts, Owner and Director at Stylus Media Australia and formerly Business Systems Operator at LJ Hooker. “Your profile is your personal brand. It is what people are seeing when they’re logging on to see who you are on a personal, casual side, not necessarily how many properties you’ve listed that week and how many properties you’ve sold.”

Create a clear plan

Alexandra and Chantelle say there are few quick fixes when it comes to successful social media strategy, meaning it’s essential to formulate a clear plan of action and stick to it.

“It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of energy, and it takes a lot of effort to get it right and to get the right voice across,” Alexandra said.

Alexandra added: “You can start with the best intentions in the world, and then real life happens and other business happens, and it directs your focus from it until all of a sudden you have lacklustre social media that’s not really representing you in the best way it can.”

Alexandra then explained the importance of establishing some key starting points before launching into a social media campaign. Ideally you should be able to answer the following six questions in advance:

1. What are your goals? Do you want to use social media to gain followers, drive traffic to your website or sell properties and obtain listings?
   
   
2. Who is your target market? Know who you want to talk to and learn more about that demographic.
   
   
3. What is your competition doing well? Can you do it better or can you do something different to beat them?
   
   
4. What images are currently going viral? There’s always a trend and you need to know what that trend is – either to be involved in it or to stay away from it.
   
   
5. How much are you going to pay to promote your posts? Do you want to set a $40/month budget or $200/month budget, for example?
   
   
6.  How are you going to measure your successes? Number of followers is a reasonable success metric, but ‘level of engagement’ is perhaps a better one.
   
   

Social media tips 

• Stay authentic and genuine – engage with your clients
  
  
• Ask your satisfied clients to add testimonials as visitor posts on your Facebook page
  
  
• Share positive engagements and experiences as they happen
  
  
• Look outside the box for interesting content to share
  
  
• Establish internal social media guidelines
  
  
• Periodically audit social media profiles of staff members
  
  
• Don’t post every single listing or sale – keep your profile fresh and interesting
  
  
• Include links to all social media pages on your business websites, email signatures and business cards
  
  
• Get involved in the local community e.g. support local businesses and use giveaways, promotions, sponsorships etc
  
  
• Schedule your posts in advance around your upcoming events, public holidays etc
  
  
• Be a valuable source of news and information.