How Estate Agents Can Maximise Their Social Channels In 2023

Social media channels are a great resource for anyone looking to buy a home or rent a property, whether for themselves or their business, and it has a significant impact on each step of the buying or renting journey. For estate agents, social media marketing is an excellent way to reach clients early on in their property search and build those relationships, and developing a strong social media strategy can yield fantastic results. Here’s how agents can maximise these channels in 2023 and beyond. 

 

The value of social media for property agents

Social media has completely transformed the property industry, and it’s one of the most effective tools for engagement, relationship building and growing a business. Not only is social media the ideal tool for reinforcing your brand and publicising your values. One of the primary reasons why estate agents should use social media to its full potential is to build their reputation and display their business in a positive way. It serves as a resource to buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants, and leveraging the power it offers enables agents to get their name out there in front of the right people. 

It’s also an effective way to target certain demographics which fit your expertise. For example, if your agency specialises in commercial property or student lets, social media is a great way to find those clients and target your advertising towards these groups. Social media is a cost-effective way to enhance your marketing efforts, offering opportunities to repurpose other content such as blog posts or case studies, and it delivers instant engagement. 

Social media is an effective way to capture the millennial, up and coming buyer market who are starting to settle down and buy their first homes. Similarly, the generate behind will likely be renting, making it perfect for marketing buy-to-lets for landlords and rental homes for tenants. Over 90% of millennials are active on social media, making it a prime platform for marketing and capturing future business. If you’re at the top of someone’s feed on a regular basis, they’re more likely to remember you and that’s ideal for raising awareness of your business and services, and bringing attention to what you have to offer. 

 

Develop your photography skills

Most social channels are image-based, so you need to have a strong visual style to stand out. In 2023, take the opportunity to fine-tune your photography skills to take your images to the next level. Not only is it great for grabbing the attention of users on social platforms as they scroll through posts, but it’s also a skill that can set your agency apart when it comes to showcasing properties in the best possible light. 

When it comes to taking attention-grabbing property photos, you need to do so much more than just point and shoot. Get to know the ins and outs of your camera and what it’s capable of, from shutter speed and aperture to tackling lighting and shadows to make the most of natural light in each room, elevating your photography while making your posts that much more engaging and share-worthy. Not enough can be said of the value of high quality images when it comes to both the property industry and social media, so use the year ahead to really focus your creative efforts towards creating impactful photos that wow your clients and target audience. 

 

Be authentic on video

People need to connect with you and your brand on a genuine level, so rather than outsourcing your video marketing to a third party, carry it out in house. This authenticity is better received by your followers, and they can tell the difference. You may approach social media from the perspective of it being digital and therefore faceless, but the reality is that your followers, and potential clients, will respond much better if your content is authentic and human. 

Showing up on social media as you would in person makes all the difference to how your agency is perceived, and helps build that all important trust and connection to bring in more leads. Highlighting your successes as an agency, connecting with clients and building those relationships means it’s more likely that someone will recommend you to a friend, colleague or relative when they come to move in the future, but more importantly, it humanises your brand and brings personality to your social presence.

Share testimonials

Not everyone is going to find your agency by landing on your website, so utilising other platforms to showcase positive reviews and testimonials is a great way to broaden your reach and get that feedback in front of more people. Trust is so important when choosing a property agency to work with. After all, moving home is expensive and stressful, so clients want to work with people who they can depend on. 

Sharing reviews provides social proof that other people have used your services and had a positive experience, and that can dramatically impact how other people feel about your business. Naturally, reviews shouldn’t be the only thing you post. But it is a good idea to pepper your feed with positive feedback semi-regularly so that people can see you’re a business they can trust. 

 

Promote the area, not just properties

Not all of your clients will be moving locally. Some may be from out of town and moving from further afield, meaning that content surrounding the areas your agency covers is educational and valuable to them. The location is so paramount to where people choose to look for a home or investment opportunity, so it shouldn’t fall to the wayside when it comes to marketing properties. Yet so often, agencies focus exclusively on the property and neglect to promote the location it’s in. 

Most real estate agencies only provide the basics about an area, but why not use your platform to really go in-depth and create detailed guides and videos about each location, from schools and amenities to what the transport is like, the benefits of the area and who the target demographic for those locations is. It will help provide a richer experience and a better understanding of the areas you cover, and showcases your expertise in the process. 

 

Save time with automation

There are various benefits of using automation tools when it comes to your social media accounts, not least that it will save your team time and effort when it comes to creating consistent content. Automation in social media keeps your channels active without you needing to divert your attention from the main focus of your business. It helps to boost productivity and efficiency, while still allowing you to build an active social feed that will work to market and grow your business. 

Use them to schedule posts to different platforms, meaning you can batch create content once and then have it sort itself throughout the week ahead; similarly, you can use templates to speed up the process of creating content that’s consistent in style and looks professional.

Develop short-form video content

Few people would have believed https://rentround.com/setting-up-facebook-ads-for-your-estate-agency/ as it’s proven to be, but for estate agencies, it offers so much potential to capture a whole new section of the market. Short-form videos are now found on virtually every platform because of the success of TikTok, and they’re far from just another trend. Snappy, easy to watch and share, short-form videos are here to stay. 

For property professionals, developing this type of content, whether it’s a local area tour, educational content with a staff member in it or a quick run-through of recent property trends and news, short-form videos are a great addition to your social channels. 

 

Host live home viewings

Using Instagram or Facebook Live is a great way to reach a wider audience and maximise the impact of your content, but it’s particularly useful for home viewings where you can run virtual property videos to an unlimited number of people. It’s an efficient way to showcase a property and because of the chat function, agents can answer questions about the property in real time, which increases the likelihood that people will get in touch to move further through the sales funnel, building engagement and conversions. 

 

Take the opportunity to educate your clients

Property agents need to provide value and offer expertise to clients, so what better way than with social media content that is educational as well as entertaining? Talking about common property pitfalls, rental issues and how to avoid them, how best to promote your property so it doesn’t linger on the market for too long, updates about recent property trends and similar types of content not only make those seeking a new home smarter and it helps clients and agents work together more seamlessly. 

You can use your site blog to create more in-depth content and then repurpose it for social channels, giving you a two-for-one deal when it comes to content creation and posts that can be attached to certain hashtags so that clients can find relevant content. 

 

Don’t overwhelm your strategy with too many platforms

When it comes to your social media strategy, think quality over quantity. Sure, being on every social platform at once may seem like the best approach for reaching as many people as possible, but consider how well you can carry out your strategy if this is the case. It can be hard to create valuable content if you’re posting everywhere, and even harder to do so regularly, so instead it may be beneficial to scale it back. 

Focus on 2 or 3 core channels that are relevant to your industry and are where your target audience tend to gravitate, and put your focus into creating the best content you can with regular postings. It’s better to have a strong following on a few channels than spreading yourself too thin and not really building up momentum on any platform. 

 

What’s your hook?

One of the most effective ways to grab the attention of your target audience is with a hook; something that pulls them in and makes them keen to keep reading or watching. A great hook might be speaking to them directly by addressing them as ‘you’ or it might be a common question that they’re searching for the answer to. Your hook appeals to their curiosity and increases their interest in the subject, encouraging them to click through which increases your engagement. 

One way to grab that all-important attention is by creating responses to popular search terms or subjects that you know your clients regularly, such as the rental process, how to save up for a deposit, finding a commercial property to rent, and so on. Marketing this content with these queries up front will bring people in, which is the key because no-one will watch a minute-long video if they’re not prepared to click and watch the first 3 seconds.

Connect with local vendors

Estate agents are constantly being pushed to lower their fees to match the competition, so it’s important that clients know why your agency costs what it does and the value you offer that others may not. Social media is the perfect platform for offering enhanced customer service and connecting you with your local community, who can vouch for this aspect of your business. One way to do this is to connect with local businesses, such as with joint promotions or shared social media campaigns and discounts. It builds trust and loyalty, and also cements your agency as part of the local area, but it also enhances your reputation and builds recognisability. 

The social media landscape is constantly evolving, and it’s up to property professionals to stay up to date with the latest trends and adapt their strategies to fit what people are searching for at the time. But hopefully, this article will give you some inspiration for how your agency can utilise social media more effectively in 2023 and bring in more clients.