As a brokerage, building your company’s online presence is critical. Millennials and digital natives are entering their prime home buying years, and they aren’t reading newspapers, listening to the radio, or even watching broadcast television: they’re on social media. Having social media pages that boost your business and generate leads is more important than ever for continued success. According to John White, quoted in Inc.com, millennials make up 66% of first-time home buyers and 34% of home buyers overall. The majority of them are searching for homes online.
Without a quality social media presence, you won’t reach the people you need to be reaching. But being on social media doesn’t just mean you only post about your listings. Social isn’t all business all the time: it’s about generating and sharing quality content your leads and customers want. There are so many ways to engage your readers and get more leads, you just have to get creative!
Here are our top 10 favorite ideas for what your brokerage can post on your social media pages other than your listings.
1. Pictures of your community
If you’re not showing off your community, you’re missing an incredible opportunity. Buyers and sellers want to do business with brokerages and agents who really know their market, and sharing community content is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and showcase other local businesses that might do the same for you in return.
2. Hot home trends
Posting about what’s trendy in homes right now might not seem intuitive for a brokerage, but it’s a surefire way to engage your leads. These types of posts spark conversations to drive people to your website, improving your organic traffic and getting your listings in front of consumers.
3. Tips for first-time homeowners
First-time homeowners are those most in need of a real estate professional. Sharing tips, tricks, and advice on buying homes and what type of homes they should look for is a smart way to demonstrate the care and attention your brokerage gives to first-time buyers, which means they’ll be likelier to give you a call.
4. Answers to common (local) questions
Buyers and sellers have lots of questions. Do I need to be prequalified? When is the best time to list? How do I valuate my home? What kind of property can I afford? By answering top questions, especially hyper local questions about your specific market, you build trust with customers—both old and new. If you’re there to answer questions for them online, they’ll trust that you can answer them offline, too.
5. Home staging ideas
What do all sellers have in common? Wanting to get top dollar for their home. According to NAR, 23% of buyers’ agents said that home staging raised the dollar value offered between 1% and 5%, compared to similar homes on the market that hadn’t been staged. By sharing top staging ideas, you’re helping your leads sell at the highest price possible and making your agents’ jobs easier, too.
6. Seasonal content
An easy way to keep your feeds current and fresh is to share seasonal content. Live in the north? Post about fall home improvement and winterizing tips in October and spring cleaning guides in March. You can also share holiday content that reflects the community you serve. Seasonal posts are a simple, easy way to drive traffic to your site.
7. Dream homes
We can all dream, right? Even if luxury dream homes might be out of reach for most of us, they’re still fun to look at and can help you create discussion about how your readers can find their (realistic) dream home.
8. Décor ideas
This is the perfect low-hanging social media fruit. Everyone decorates their home, especially after buying a new one. Drive the conversation and generate interest by posting about trends in home décor, beautiful homes your brokerage has listed recently, and DIY tips for beautifying your home on a budget.
9. Daily real estate tips
If you post a tip a day about buying or selling a home, potential customers will notice. They’ll be able to use that information for their current or future home search, too. They’ll credit you for the help and will hopefully call you when they’re ready to make a move. Can’t post daily? Make it a weekly tip instead! Consistency is key, and quality information trumps quantity.
10. Video testimonials
Words and pictures are great, but have you thought of using video? A quick 30–60 second testimonial from a customer about how you helped them is one of the very best advertising tools you can have. Posting videos on YouTube is an amazing way to boost your SEO and make your brand even more visible. Most satisfied customers will be happy to oblige, especially if they’re walking through the doors of their brand-new home for the first time after closing.
Keep these tips in mind to make sure your social media content is fresh and engaging to drive clicks, generate leads, win listings, and satisfy your customers.
Automate your brokerage social media
What if your brokerage had a tool to help you post about all these topics and more, without even having to think about it? It’s possible with Reach Social, our social media management solution. Our library of more than 40,000 (and growing) unique content pieces are branded for your brokerage and posted automatically on your schedule, keeping you and your agents top of mind.
