Social Media and the Real Estate Professional

The real estate market has been in a slump after the subprime mortgage crisis happened in 2006.  The good news is that some housing markets are recovering and now more and more people are looking for homes.

Add this to the fact that real estate professionals can now turn to social media for help.  A recent survey by Movoto.com has shown that a majority of real estate agents has social media presence.  More than 90% keep a LinkedIn profile, while around half professed that they have a Facebook or Google+ page and a Twitter account.

But even with the high adoption of social media among real estate agents, only 26% of them consider it as a good source of business.  Compare this to 97% who rely on word of mouth and recommendations, 81% who rely on web leads, 59% on online advertising, and 69% on yard signs.

As a real estate professional, if you are not engaging and getting leads from social media sites, then you are losing out.  But just how do you engage your customers and get more sales on social media?  Here are five simple tips!

1. Know the sites you should be on.  For real estate professionals, the focus is two-fold.  One is for the potential home buyer, which means that they need to have a customer-facing presence on both Twitter and Facebook (or any other social networking site that they are looking at).

There are also real estate professionals who can earn from referrals.  They earn from commissions if they refer home buyers to another real estate agent who works in a different market.  For example, a real estate agent selling cash flow properties in Indiana might have previous customers who are looking into commercial buildings.  Instead of flat out saying that he doesn’t sell buildings, the agent can refer him to someone who does.  As a result, he can get a cut of the selling price.  For this, you think that LinkedIn is the best social networking site because it caters to B2B connections.  But it is actually Active Rain.

Active Rain helps real estate professionals connect with other real estate agents and they also provide agents with the resources to succeed in the business, such as blogs and discussion boards.

Aside from Active Rain, another social networking site that is focused on real estate professionals is BiggerPockets.

2. Put up interesting content.  The beauty of being active with Active Rain and BiggerPockets is that you basically have a wealth of information about real estate in general, your market’s situation, and other related topics at your disposal.  You can tap into these resources to come up with your own content that’s tailored to your market.

For example, write about how to get financing in your state, or what the home prices outlook is for your region.  You can also write an objective piece on whether it’s best to just renovate an existing home or build or buy a new one.  You can also write something about how to make your house more valuable when you decide to sell it.

3. Pictures work.  On Active Rain and BiggerPockets, you can have a listing of your properties easily.  But on traditional social networking sites, you may have to be a little more creative.

On Twitter, for instance, you can choose the best room in an investment property you have.  Like when a house you are selling has a cozy fireplace in a very lovely den.  Share a photograph of that den with a link to its listing page, virtual tour or other resources.

On Facebook, you have more freedom.  Instead of just the den and the fireplace, you could add three more photos and it will all show up on Facebook.

4. Video tours are great.  Virtual tours are a great way to show the houses to potential buyers without having to meet them personally.  This is great if you are pressed for time, or if the buyers are not sure that you have a home they like.  Create a tour of your property and upload them on YouTube.  Make sure that you list down the features of the house or show them one by one on your tour.  Include voice-overs or text to fully communicate to your buyers just how valuable the home is.

Don’t forget to share the virtual tours that you have on your social media sites and your website.

5. Use QR codes.  QR codes are a great way to extend your For Sale sign.  What’s great about QR codes is that you could be very flexible about the content you put behind it.  Just add a QR code to your for sale sign, business card or flyers.  Tell your customers to scan the QR code to get more information about the properties that these codes work for.

You could lead them to the property’s information page on your website, or view a gallery of pictures of the rooms of the house, or perhaps you could even link it to a video tour.

The Real Estate Industry is a competitive space.  Add some Social Media in your marketing mix to give you that edge over your peers.  SEO Inc. is a Search Engine Optimization Company who stays on top of all trends pertaining to Social Media Marketing, and how it impacts businesses in all industries.  They have been responsible for creating innovative strategies involving Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+.  Connect with Search Engine Optimization, Inc. on Facebook