4 Areas of Digital Marketing Real Estate Agents Should Invest in for 2023
We’re well into 2023, and most of you must have started with your personal resolutions checklist. But what about your real estate business strategy checklist?
Surely, you have goals for your business to excel further this year. But as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a celebrated French writer once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” So what’s your real estate digital marketing plan for 2023?
As a realtor, you must have experienced that the real estate industry has gone through a drastic transformation, thanks to digital marketing. The pandemic in the last couple of years has only pushed the digital agenda forward. The point to be noted is that some of the marketing areas have surfaced stronger than ever after these changes. So, it’s time to break the vicious cycle of focusing on real estate marketing only when you’re not busy with real estate deals.
In this blog, we are covering four important digital marketing areas that every real estate agent should invest in this year.
Let’s have a look at what you’ll learn here –
- IDX Website
- What is an IDX website?
- How to Build an IDX Website?
- Social Media Marketing
- Why is Social Media Marketing Needed in Real Estate?
- How to Plan a Real Estate Social Media Marketing Strategy?
○ Set Up Your Accounts
○ Start Conversations About Real Estate
○ Be Consistent
○ Use Branded Visuals
○ Build Relationships
- Video Marketing
- How Much Does Real Estate Video Marketing Cost?
○ Aerial Videography for Real Estate
○ Time-lapse Videography for Real Estate
○ Lifestyle Videos for Real Estate
- Email Marketing
- What Should Your Email Tool Offer?
○ Signup forms
○ Segmentation
○ Email automation
5. The Final Thoughts
Marketing Areas You Must Invest in 2022 as a Real Estate Agent
1. IDX Website
There was once a time when a real estate business was offline. Banners and offline listings to advertise your business, phone calls for cold marketing, face-to-face meetings for every follow-up, and manual records of client data were a regular part of a real estate agent’s day.
Cut to 2023, digitization plays a crucial role in the real estate business. The business operations are automated, and even customers reach out to you online. Take last year’s data, for instance. 97% of buyers used the internet to search for a home in 2022. The best part is that the demographics not only include GenZ and Millennials but also boomers and the silent generation. Moreover, Ruler Analytics’ Marketing Attribution and Reporting Analysis 2021 states that websites are the most popular marketing channel. It solidifies the fact that every real estate agent needs to have an online presence in the form of a real estate website.
But not just any website. As an agent, you need an IDX website.
What is an IDX Website?
Let’s first understand…what is an IDX, or Internet Data Exchange.
IDX is a technology that allows real estate agents and brokers to display updated real estate listings from the MLS database on their websites. It came around in the early 2000s when the Internet was in its infancy. By providing online access to MLS listings, agents get more opportunities to promote listings, attract leads, and close deals.
What does IDX do?
It establishes a data connection between your real estate website and the MLS, imports listings, and displays them on your website. The listings are updated multiple times a day every 15 minutes or so, keeping your listings just as fresh as the MLS website.
We believe joining the dots to understand what an IDX website is won’t be hard now.
To bring it all together, an IDX website receives an automatically updated feed of listings from your MLS through a third-party IDX provider. As a result, buyers have a similar experience browsing your website as that of an MLS website.
How to Build an IDX Website?
- Sit and plan what features you want in your real estate IDX website. Think of adding map search, video backgrounds, blogs, lead capture, home valuation pages, pop-ups, and more.
- Pick a web hosting company and a domain name.
- Install WordPress on your new domain.
- Choose a full-featured third-party IDX plugin for WordPress.
- Install an IDX-ready WordPress theme and customize it.
2. Social Media Marketing
According to the 2021 Real Estate in a Digital Age survey by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), 52% of agents said they got their best leads from social media. Also, another 50% said they use social media to build and maintain relationships, as well as to promote listings.
That reestablishes the belief that real estate is a people’s business. And social media is a platform that allows digital marketing and networking to mingle.
Why is Social Media Marketing Needed in Real Estate?
Do you remember how some industries boomed while others were forced to pivot to survive during the pandemic? Regardless, everyone embraced social media for it had become everyone’s top focus, including real estate agents and their target audience.
Additionally, social media is an active contributor to the top sources of new business for real estate professionals via word-of-mouth and referral-based marketing. It is an untapped goldmine for getting boosts and referrals in the digital space.
How to Plan a Real Estate Social Media Marketing Strategy?
i. Set Up Your Accounts
There are multiple social media platforms, all brewing with different audiences. They require different strategies and buzz with new content every moment of the day. Decide which ones are most relevant for your brand and your audience.
These are the most common social media platforms real estate agents use –
- Tik Tok
- ActiveRain
ii. Start Conversations About Real Estate
As we pointed out above, your real estate audience is buzzing online. So start conversations with them where they are. Engage with your audience in the comments sections of relevant posts, whether they be your own or someone else’s.
You can also send potential clients a private message. Remember to hit their pain points.
iii. Be Consistent
If you want to develop a reliable social media presence, consistency is the key. Posting content regularly might feel like a task, but it’s how you can please your audience and social media algorithms. Use automation tools to drop the manual labor and post conveniently.
iv. Use Branded Visuals
Most social media platforms are visual, so you need attractive and smart visuals. Moreover, human psychology leads us to connect more with visuals and images than text.
Plan your branding by adding your logo and brand colors to the creative. You can use design software or take help from a graphic designer to get professional posts.
v. Build Relationships
Remember, you’re not on social media to sell; you’re here to build and maintain relationships. It will eventually lead to sales.
So engage with your audience, keep track of the conversations you’ve had, and cultivate those relationships by following up.
3. Video Marketing
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth millions.
Real estate video marketing is hotter than ever, and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down in 2023.
Wondering why?
Well, a thriving video of the property is a rather powerful marketing tool for those who want to invest in real estate. Moreover, it allows you to share your story about your brand in a personal way and position yourself as an expert in the real estate industry. And you can’t deny the statistics — a 2021 report says that video content can help generate 1200% more social shares than images and text combined.
How Much Does Real Estate Video Marketing Cost?
Alas! The burning question.
Video marketing costs vary depending on several factors, primarily the type of videography. Let’s discuss a few of them down below –
● Aerial Videography for Real Estate
Aerial videography is shot through a drone to cover not just the home but also the neighborhood and surrounding areas in detail. It gives sellers more exposure by showcasing their homes from above.
Videographers charge $2,000 on average for 5-7 minutes of footage.
● Time-lapse Videography for Real Estate
If you want to show how the season or different times of the day affect the look of a home, time-lapse videography can help you.
The average cost for time-lapse videography is $100. However, do note that it can go as high as $500 depending on the number of videos you need and the length of each video.
● Lifestyle Videos for Real Estate
Lifestyle videos feature the property itself and other parts of the property, such as the kitchen or bedrooms. You can showcase homes in a light, fun way through these. It includes at least three different shots of the property.
The average cost of a lifestyle video is $300 or less, but it will depend on how many you need.
4. Email Marketing
We probably don’t need to stress much about how competitive the real estate industry is. 87% of real estate agents leave the industry within five years because they fail to earn enough in the competitive market.
The only way to stay afloat in real estate competition is to be on top of mind for potential leads and grow your network with supreme strategies like email marketing.
However, email marketing is not everyone’s forte. With only 35% of real estate agents feeling confident about their online marketing skills, there is a need for an email marketing tool. It will help you collect new leads, grow your sales with well-timed emails, and save time and manual work with email automation.
What Should Your Email Tool Offer?
i. Signup forms
Signup forms will automatically collect and organize new leads for you. They will also direct them into groups to create a personalized experience for subscribers.
ii. Segmentation
With different kinds of subscribers in your email list, you need to segment them on their dynamic characteristics, such as geographical location. It will allow you to craft and send tailored emails that perfectly fit their situation.
iii. Email automation
Let’s face it, acing email marketing is not easy. Manually sending emails daily at precise times to all the members of your subscriber list is impossible as your business grows. So automate most of your standard emails, such as welcome emails, viewing follow-up messages, or check-in emails for happy buyers, with email automation. You have to set them up once, and then they’ll do all the hard work for you.
The Final Thoughts
Digital marketing strategies are helping real estate agents flourish. But if you align your strategy with marketing trends, it will result in more lead generation, more reach, and more money for your real estate business. The four digital marketing areas listed above worked well for real estate agents in 2022, and it’s exciting to see how you will use them to your advantage in 2023.
We’ll be signing off today with just a little tip – be consistent with your strategic marketing efforts — they will compound & help you score quality leads in the long run.
And if you need help with your marketing efforts, pair them with the most advanced tools. ZipperAgent offers end-to-end digital marketing tools for real estate agents and brokers. Get in touch with our experts today.
