Real Estate Marketing Spend: 5 Essentials for Agents

Real estate agent marketing is more of a necessity now than ever. You must be communicating with your sphere, fans, and followers across all your platforms.

Changes to the way real estate agents prospect and sell homes have been dramatic in the past year. If you are a real estate agent, you know that the market competition is fierce. In today’s digital age, you will need to have both experts online and offline marketing skills to set yourself apart from the pack. Whatever the iBuyer and alternate market theorist may say, real estate agents are still vital in the home buying and selling process. Though indeed, buyers are increasingly looking to do more leg work online before involving the local real estate experts. Ninety-two percent of buyers use the internet to begin their home buying dream underscoring the crucial need for an active online presence by real estate agents. Active engagement and networking are fundamental for real estate agents. Actively, engaging, and networking online is a necessity. So, if you are not, then you are missing out big time. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, following best practices in running your business virtually and observing social distance protocols will net you more business.

This article will talk about the FIVE ESSENTIAL real estate marketing areas you must spend for a robust online presence.

Marketing Spend on Social Presence
Marketing Spend on Website Presence
Marketing Spend on Landing Pages
Marketing Spend on Millennial Clients
Marketing Spend on Virtual Business

Real Estate Marketing Spend on Social Presence

Leverage the power of social media. If you haven’t already done so, set up business accounts on the major social media apps – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. If you take a lot of house pictures, you must share them privately or publicly, as appropriate with your audience. Engage with users, share good press, and promote your properties. Remember also that social media is designed to be social first and foremost. Do not just post pictures of homes. Share articles about the neighborhood, pictures of you and your family, your likes and dislikes. People want to know you, like you and trust you before they will do business with you. This is part of real estate marketing just as much as a post about an open house.

Everyone—first-time home buyers, potential buyers, and past clients—search for homes online, making social media and online real estate marketing a beneficial combination for real estate agents. Different social media apps and platforms can help you reach potential clients with various interests, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Yelp.

Here are three powerful social media strategies that get you more

Instagram Poll

The Polling feature in Instagram Stories will get homeowners to signal their intent to move. When you know and ask the right questions, much this can happen before they even contemplate reaching out to an agent, giving you a head start to win the listing.

Suppose you are asking yourself what ideas for real estate stories you can create. I would ask you what can’t you create? The ideas are endless. Do an A/B poll. Copy and the images of two different homes of home features and ask respondents to select and vote on their preference.

Here are some ideas:

Modern or Classic landscaping. Which do you prefer?
Shaker style cabinets or French Provincial? Which do you like better?
Which bathroom would you want? Option 1 or Option 2
Roses or Lilies?
Would you want this island in your kitchen? Yes or No?

I am sure you get the idea. This is a fantastic vehicle to showcase your own listings without actively selling.

Facebook Live

Scaling your business is not about continuously creating new business from scratch. Instead, it is about capitalizing on the business you already have. With a simple Facebook Live strategy that can turn one listing into two, three, or you are becoming the go-to expert throughout the whole neighborhood! Consider holding an open house on Facebook Live. A little advice about viewership. Do not worry about how many people are tuned in to your Facebook Live event at the moment. When the live event is over, you can decide to post the video to your Facebook page and select when it expires. More often than not, the video will get substantially move views after the event is over. A good practice is to monitor that viewership to see what is working and what needs improvement.

LinkedIn Groups

To reach local community members, join or create groups. Many LinkedIn users do not realize the platform also has Groups that allow users with similar interests to interact with one another easily. Search LinkedIn for groups related to real estate and join. Private groups mean you need some form of approval to join. Public groups are open to anyone. Wither group is fine if it includes people that are in your target audience. The act of communicating with others in real estate and consumers will help build your internet presence and credibility as a real estate agent.

After you have found potential groups to join, research the members of the group to see if they fit the persona you want to work with. You can research their other social media accounts, which can provide valuable insights regarding their personal lives. These accounts may indicate if they are in the market to buy or sell a home, You may even find the income bracket they fit into. Once you find the right personas communicate with them outside the group. Be certain to respond to their questions and answers. You want them to get to know you.

When people hire a real estate agent, they not only want someone who can navigate the buying and selling process, they also want a local expert. Stories are a great way to show off how well you know your community while also building relationships with businesses in your area. Snap a photo of that coffee you got at your neighborhood coffee shop, the takeout you ordered from a restaurant, or the plants you picked up at your local nursery. If you’re lucky, tagging the business may spark a re-share, which also gets your post in front of their followers.

Here are some other ideas to elevate your social media real estate marketing efforts:

Using responsive layouts (for desktop and mobile devices) and simple share buttons makes sharing easier
Ensure that reviews and ratings on your social media sites are enabled
Live Check out this example from Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LikeZacMcHardy/videos/298256420787779/?t=134 )
360-degree videos for properties you are selling. See this example
In your social media posts for listings use hashtags
By using a sponsored post, you will get your open houses in front of verified local residents

When using social media, your goal should be to get people to engage with you because you sparked their interest. Make it easy for people to click on pictures, videos, and links that direct them to your real estate website. Have a clear call-to-action. People will not do what you want them to unless you tell them what action you want them to take.

Observe real estate website best practices

Your first step to attracting new leads and building your contacts database is to set up a real estate business website. The NAR reports that MLS websites and apps are among the most valuable technology marketing tools that generate the highest quality of leads to real estate businesses. https://business.nextdoor.com/local/resources/top-5-real-estate-marketing-ideas-for-2020

To get your website to stand out to and generate a consistent flow of leads, you need to follow a few best practices f search engine optimization (SEO):

Create eye-catching layout and design

Plan your website to be easy to navigate and mobile-friendly
An IDX-optimized search bar is a must-have
Make sure that all photographs, videos, and infographics are professional quality on your website
Write, or have written for you, outstanding property descriptions that spark interest (These resources may help Upwork or Fiverr )
Free real estate related resources and neighborhood information
Effective call-to-action (CTA) buttons
Develop the institute an SEO marketing strategy for higher rankings in Google searches s
Make it easy to be contacted include your email, phone and mailing address
Have a newsletter, a subscriber button, and links to your social media profiles
ZipperAgent has one of the most modern and customizable IDX real estate website technology. You can check them out here.

Use multiple landing pages

Landing pages have two functions in real estate marketing. First, they are created to squeeze information from a prospect. Information you may retrieve includes name, home address, phone number, and more.

A home value landing page: Very often, people will visit this type of page to get a rough idea of the value of their home. By typing in an address, they want the information on and their email,l so you can deliver the report to them, they receive a free home evaluation.

A free content landing page: Create an eBook, infographic, guide, or other free content. They can download the information n exchange for their contact details. For example, click here.

A home search landing page: Let visitors browse listing in any area you cover, but only after they register for your site.

Every time you get a new listing or close a sale, you can create a landing page to drive social media and search traffic to that landing page. Tell a story and explain why some should work with you in listing their property. Set up a different landing page for each social media post and channel. Doing so will tell you which channels deliver the most leads to your website.

Community Involvement land page. Work with a local charity. Have a landing page that talks about the charity. This is a great trust builder, which is essential to gaining the confidence of your clients.

Marketing Spend on Millennial Clients

According to a recent NAR Home Buyers & Sellers Generational Trends Report, Millennials made up 37% of all home buyers. The older generation of Millennials (born 1980-1989) represent 26% of those purchases, and the younger generation of Millennials (born 1990-1998) represent 11% of those purchases.

Your brand needs to be active where your customers are. To reach millennials, that means being on social media. You want to catch the attention of this generation casually and conversational at first. Being active on social media will keep your brand top-of-mind with the Millennial audience, and consequentially they think of you when in need of a real estate agent. Pick your social media channels and stay active on them with engaging content and interact with them as well.

Focus on social proof, not advertising. Millennials have grown up reviewing, commenting, and engaging on social media. Interacting with Millenials on social media will, in and of itself, provide you with social validation. An advertisement is you telling me you are awesome, but 20 five-star reviews on your Google Business profile is other people telling me you are awesome. Having an engaged Instagram following is viewed as other people telling me you are awesome. ,8,000 views of your YouTube video is other people telling me you are awesome- that is how you win over the hearts of Millennials.

Just know that from 2020 forward Millennial real estate marketing is where the majority of real estate buying and selling will be taking place. It is a shift in which generation is dominant in the market, not a trend.

It is one strategy for creating awareness among Millenials, and there are others. Do some research on your own or talk to one of our specialists.

Marketing Spend on Virtual Business

As a real estate agent, you are used to going out and meeting people at houses and walking through and having a good time. But all that changed in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic crisis set in. As an essential business during the current pandemic, real estate agents across the United States of America, and elsewhere, are redefining the way they do business.

Initial client meetings – move them online as much as possible using Zoom or Google Hangouts.

Promote a listing by having a virtual open house. Broadcast it across several channels using Livestream.

Think about hosting a Zoom wine tasting hour with some of your favorite clients. Doing something to stay connected during this unusual time will make you stand out.

While walk-throughs will never be totally replaced, giving the consumer more digital ways to view a home and minimize personal contact, the better for buyers, sellers, and you as well.

Before you start using the most valuable resource you have (time) on a prospective buyer, verify that they are pre-approved for a mortgage if they will be using one. If they are not, refer them to a loan originator that you have worked with. Don’t waste time by moving to the next step until the pre-approval is in writing.

Technology means that people do not have to go to the office for meeting or to sign documents. Leverage the technology you have, or seek out new technologies that can help you minimize physical interaction.

Prospecting actions to consider during the new normal:

Buy gift certificates from local businesses that your top clients will appreciate receiving t
Snail mail thank you notes that are personalized
Stay at home parents probably have cabin fever by now. Reach out to them—Inquire about how they are.
Call people. Some people out there are sorely missing human interaction
Follow your business plans.

As a real estate agent, you must learn to lean on technology more than ever. Now and in the future, people may be buying a home without ever walking in the door. You should strive to be prepared for this.

To summarize the topics, we covered:

Marketing Spend on Social Presence
Marketing Spend on Website Presence
Marketing Spend on Landing Pages
Marketing Spend on Millennial Clients
Marketing Spend on Virtual Business

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