Aside from playing a significant role in modern culture, social media has become a powerful marketing tool for realtors. It connects them to where potential clients on a platform that they’re already active. This article will highlight common Social Media Mistakes by Real Estate Agents
Social media is any website and application that enables users to participate in social networking by creating and sharing content.
Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, to name a few, contain endless opportunities for success. Still, there are some mistakes that realtors make that hinder social media success.
These mistakes equate to wasted time and resources, get a bad reputation, and un-following of their pages by potential clients. This article points out common Social Media Mistakes by Real Estate Agents and how best to avoid them.
1. Poor Engagement
Social media gives realtors an abundant amount of opportunities to interact with potential clients directly, so engagement is critical. Don’t just blast information but interact with your audience in the post comment section. For example, if people commenting and asking questions on your post, don’t take two or more days to reply as this can be annoying, and your potential client(s) will take their queries elsewhere. Always provide timely and informative responses to all your post engagements. Turn on post alert notifications on your smart phone or any other electronic device so that you get notified in time for you to get online and respond accordingly. Something as simple as “thank you for commenting” can leave a good impression on a potential client.
2. Forgetting To Engage Existing Clients
Finally converting a prospect to a client does not mean that the relationship between you two has got to end. Now that your clients have firsthand experience in doing business with you encourage them to share your posts and put a spotlight on your brand to people in their networks.
You can also give them incentives to provide you with referrals from friends, colleagues, and family. On social media, they can also provide compelling testimonials of your services which will help your business grow and possibly increase market share. Always engage with your previous clients with as much energy and enthusiasm as you’d engage with potential clients.
3. Inconsistency In Branding
To maximize exposure, real estate agents should make great use of various social media platforms. However, remember to maintain personal branding on each account/page consistently. If you have six different social media accounts, use the same profile and cover photo across all accounts/pages to present a unified brand. However do not post copy-pasted content from one social media platform to another. Customize your posts to complement the different audiences you may have across your various social media accounts.
4. Monotonous Posting
Clients are attracted to informative and beneficial conversations before property listings. Don’t make the common mistake of only posting listings as this could reduce engagement on your posts and you can loose potential clients. Be creative and versatile with your social media accounts/pages; have a content schedule to help you organize your posts much better. For example, if you post two listings in a week, have one the posts compose of question & answer sessions. The next post can have valuable content that addresses buyer or seller concerns such as, “ What is something that all lounge areas should have?” . This plan is good enough to spark an engaging and conversational post.
5. Over-Posting Unoriginal Content
Sharing content from other real estate bloggers and content creators from time to time is acceptable. However, if all you do on your social media pages is post links from other blogs and sources rather than putting in some effort to create your material, your business page will eventually go stale, and you could lose your followers. Invest time in generating original, creative, and engaging content for your audience. Strive always to have a balance between third-party and original idea content. If you’re too busy and you don’t have time to create original content, then hire a blogger or a team of writers who can do so for you.
6. Paying for Testimonials
Positive real reviews have the power to increase a realtor’s brand and credibility. With this in mind, there could be realtors who will post fake positive reviews and testimonials generated by third-party agencies. Fortunately, thanks to advancing technology in the social networking industry, fake positive reviews can be well recognized and users notified of them. Instead of paying for fake positive reviews, politely ask an existing client if they can provide a personal write-up or a video commentary about their experience on working with you. One authentic review will always be better than 1000 positive fake reviews!
In conclusion, low engagement, inconsistency in branding, (link) spam posting, and over-posting of unoriginal or rather third party content are some of the most common and disastrous mistakes that realtors make while using social media. Additionally, paying people or third-party agencies for fake positive reviews should never be a level that any real estate agents stoop down low too; eventually, users shall know that the reviews are not authentic. Losing existing and potential clients and credibility while simultaneously gaining a bad (brand) reputation is never worth it. Create content that sparks conversation and remember to be present (online) to respond to potential clients’ concerns and queries on the post within a reasonable amount of time. Be honest and stay consistent, and you will enjoy social media success with time.
