Social media wasn’t always part of a solid real estate marketing strategy. It used to be viewed as an “add on”. Today, it’s clear that social media platforms are here to stay and using them to amplify your brand can be extremely effective.
Fidelity Phoenix recently hosted a unique panel discussion at Videoloco Studios featuring top local real estate professionals. Panelists shared their proven social strategies for building brand awareness and getting more leads.
The live Q&A discussion was emcee’d by Frank Gerola, founder of the GilbertNow Facebook group.
Panelists included:
- Curtis Johnson, Curtis Johnson Division of Revelation Real Estate
- Brandon Hunt, Show Appeal Realty
- Merrill Jencks, Big Helper Team
- Jason Wells, PressPlay Realty
- Becky Kolb, The Kolb Team
- Mike Schude, The Schude Group
- Nick Bastian, The Nick Bastian Team
- Tristan Ahumada, Lab Coat Agents
- Jonas Funston, Videoloco
- Chelsea Peitz, Fidelity National Title Agency
Panelists received 35%-100% of their business from their social media efforts.
Facebook is Top Social Media Platform:
While many panelists used multiple social outlets, Facebook by far was the top platform mentioned.
Facebook Business Pages:
The goal of your Page is to create a professional brand presence and serve as a conduit that moves people from your Page to your site (with a lead capture form on it!). Consistently creating original content beyond the typical “Just Listed” or “Just Sold” posts is critical to stopping the scroll.
Panelists’ best performing content included blog articles and video about the community showcasing their expertise in an authentic and relatable way.
An easy but often overlooked strategy for maximizing your Page is simply completing all of the editable areas. Add as much information as possible in your About, Services and Reviews sections. Treat your Page like a mini website and include appropriate keywords to increase searchability.
Recently, Facebook debuted a new retargeting option called “Page Engagement” within their ad platform. Now, you can now easily serve ads to people who have already interacted with your Page.
Facebook Posts:
Facebook’s algorithm is in charge of determining which posts you see and when. Based on your preferences you will only see a fraction of the possible available posts in your Feed. It’s more important than ever to create thoughtful content that will attract your target audience.
The consistency of your posts and the number of reactions, comments and shares received will effect how often and to whom it will be shown.
What kind of posts are getting the most engagement?
- Education – Positioning yourself as the resource and establishing authority in a subject.
- Entertainment/Humor – Being vulnerable – blooper reels and Live video received the most engagement.
- Nostalgia – sharing photos of your community from your childhood asking “who remembers this?”
Facebook Groups:
Facebook groups are where the engagement magic happens. Owning a group for the local community is an excellent method of becoming the “Digital Mayor” of a town. Creating a group where you are the ONLY agent can be a huge benefit and lead source.
Panelists agreed that proactively contributing to a group was helpful for brand exposure and networking. Creating a group provided much more engagement than only using a Page. The most successful groups were focused on community and collaboration, not posting listings.
Content that works: Live streaming a weekly “show” sharing education about the community or interviewing local businesses and tagging those Pages for additional exposure.
Facebook Ads:
All of our panelists included Facebook ads within their online lead generation strategy. While Facebook offers a ton of demographic data, many found that targeting a “warmer” audience yielded better results. Uploading their personal client database into Facebook to create a “Custom Audience” and serving them ads was an effective way to stay top of mind.
Using the Facebook Pixel to retarget website visitors also proved to be immensely powerful to continue to reach consumers already familiar with their brand.
Video ads about the community NOT customer testimonials seemed to be working for this group. Many panelists included subtitles for silent autoplay in the feed.
Top takeaways included: the importance of split testing ads, building a lead funnel with landing page, “lead magnet” and email drip campaigns and using AdEspresso.com to run split testing on up to hundreds of ads at a time.
Social Video to Amplify Brand:
Communication is evolving and so are all of the social platforms into a “Camera-First” strategy.
No surprise here! All of the panelists had implemented some form of video marketing from Facebook Live to Snapchat to professionally edited cinematic quality videos.
Becoming the expert in a niche area or demographic and creating content to attract that audience was much more beneficial to their business growth. Videos on specific aspects of one community at a deep level was successful.
The main focus for social video was to be AUTHENTIC and to share less business and listings and more of your personality and passions.