As a consumer, if we are looking for any kind of product or service, we google it. Typically, at the top of the organic search results, it’s the social media profiles - Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn that appear not only on the first page but at the very top.
These channels spend a lot of money to ensure that they are on page one of any search result, so it’s important that we embrace our social media channels and leverage off their investment!
Smart agents have embraced social media. Those agents have built businesses that put them into a position of being a listing magnet. One that directly leads to more warm and hot leads. They’ve built businesses that have allowed them to make outdated systems of prospecting and cold calling somewhat extinct.
So why aren’t all agents embracing it? The factors of overwhelm or confusion are leading them down to the path of not doing anything. Or they may not see it as a priority or perhaps they see it as an admin task for their PA to handle.
If you’re an agent that has social media profiles set up but are not dedicating time to it, haven’t checked if it is representing your brand and aren’t posting regular education content, it can have a negative impact on your brand. If your social media profiles aren’t up to scratch, they’re not hidden. They’re appearing and representing you at the top of a google search!
So, I have to ask is if you were getting a lead a day from your social media accounts, how differently would your typical workday and perhaps even your ideal week look? And how differently would you see social media as a tool in terms of writing more GCI revenue and listing and selling more properties?
So, first thing first, audit your social media channels. Is your cover image viewable on both desktop and phone? Is your profile picture up to date and modern? Are your details all correct? Is your latest bio loaded onto your page? View it from how a potential client would look at it and make any changes.
Next is setting up systems and processes to incorporate it into your business.
- Add it to your email signature, website and personal marketing.
- Incorporate it into your sales process – on launch ask your vendors to share your post on their social media channels.
- Use it for testimonial requests – send your buyers and sellers your link to load directly to you social media channels.
- Use it as part of your vendor paid advertising (VPA) strategy.
It’s also time to start prioritising your social media and viewing it as a form of prospecting.
Every single lead whether it's via an email enquiry, at an open home or a networking event and not only to your CRM but your social media accounts too. Your social media account is another database for you to work and like your CRM it has the capability of getting your messages out on mass.
Enter your database from your CRM into Facebook and LinkedIn and you can then create target and lookalike audiences that you could advertise to. You can build brand campaigns to advertise your properties for sale or even your services.
To build an engaged audience, you need to make your social media channels, not about you, but more about them. What information can actively help your consumers on their real estate journey? Think market information, product knowledge, interior and exterior design, landscape design, how to buy at auction, what to look for in a loan. there are so many topics that we can help by providing them information about. Think about your client base and what questions they’ve asked you and go from there. Then weave in information about your listings and sales. Social media is all about delivering what your marketplace and what your audience is looking for.
So how do we systemise this process to add it into your already busy week?
It’s about working in advance. Build a content bank, complete with images, copy, hot topics videos, and ads that are ready to go. We can then directly schedule this content, these posts directly into Facebook, or use other posting tools such as Hootsuite, Planoly or Plannable to create weeks and months of posts in advance. With all forms of prospecting, remember consistency is key here, so it’s important to be scheduling it into your ideal week and forward planning.
If you’re looking for a content upgrade and you’ve nailed all the above, here are a few extra strategies to use to build an even bigger social media empire.
- Number one: Work your stories on Facebook and Instagram. Comment and interact with other people’s stories and start conversations by sliding into their DM’s. Be really consistent with this.
- Number two: Post a weekly blog on your LinkedIn. This doesn’t have to be unique; it could even be what you’ve written in your newsletter or re-worked from what you are sharing on your other channels. LinkedIn has such a different audience to Facebook and to Instagram. You never know where your buyers and your sellers could be hanging out!
- Number three: Something a little different – create playlists for your sellers, for your open homes and housewarming and barbecue playlist for your buyers to use. If you're not really sure where to start or if you're looking for inspiration, go and check out my playlist, all you need to do is to hop on Spotify and just search for me, Sherrie Storor and all of my playlists will pop up.
- Number four: Lastly and there is a huge opportunity to be an innovator here, Tick Tok has really come out guns a-blazing. What I love about Tik Tok is that it is creative and just a whole lot of fun. So, if you can create a Tik Tok account and post some really kind of witty and hilarious videos, I think that you really have an opportunity here to grow a huge marketplace. I haven’t seen anyone in our industry doing this as yet and it can be done in a really cool professional, but a fun way.
If your part of the #BuildYourBestLife Coaching Program in the next live webinar on the 18th of June, you'll also learn how you can build your content, what to post. I’m going to be giving you a little sneak peek into how I built mine, how I brief my photographers and the content writers.
If you’d like to find out more about my social media strategy, listen to episode #13 of the ‘Build Your Best Life’ Podcast. I go further into detail and talk about all things building your social media empire!
You can find the episode on your favourite podcast channel below:
Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BuildYourBestLife_ApplePodcasts
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BuildYourBestLife_GooglePodcasts
If you are looking for more sign up the #BuildYourBestiIfe Coaching Program to reboot your 2020 here: www.sherriestoror.com/bybl