17 Jun 5 Real Estate Marketing Strategies That Will Elevate Your Business
The real estate industry is notoriously competitive. In fact, 87% of new realtors fail within the first five years. But why? One of the biggest reasons for failure among agents is because they’re not able to market themselves effectively and efficiently.
As of 2021, the median annual income for real estate agents was $48,340. The lowest 10% earned less than $28,270. However, the top 10% generated more than $102,170. Obviously the goal is to be a top 10% agent, if not better.
One major difference between being average versus being in the top 10% is that the best real estate agents do a hell of a job marketing themselves. Regardless if it’s through a professional agency or not, using optimized real estate marketing strategies is the key.
Today, we’ll be going over 5 of the absolute best strategies used by top realtors and brokers. To be clear, these are not theoretical marketing ideas, they’re (almost) full-proof. We’ll also touch on useful tools that you can use to make the process much smoother.
Following these real estate marketing tips will get your more qualified leads, build your brand, and eventually enable you to close bigger deals.
1. Real Estate Social Media Marketing
Real estate social media marketing is one of the most important strategies, now more than ever. Agents who are successful on social media get more leads, close more deals, and make more money. That said, most agents, especially new ones, struggle with social media.
Alright, you’re game. But how exactly does real estate social media marketing work? Having worked with agents and brokers in the past, we’ve seen great success implementing optimized real estate content for social media. Here’s what you need to know:
Video Content
If you’re familiar with social media, then you know videos have gained popularity. Because we’re focusing on social media, videos should typically be short-form. But just making any old video and posting it isn’t going to do anything. Focus on making educational content while keeping it engaging, and don’t be afraid to show your face on camera. Based on our experience, content with the agents or brokers face on camera performs exceptionally better. Here’s some video ideas to get you started:
- Mistakes to Avoid
- Property Tours
- Real Estate Facts & Market Insights
- Do’s & Don’ts
- How Tos
- Client Testimonials
Business & Personal Posts
Posting nothing but real estate related stories can get saturated and uninteresting. Post a 50/50 mixture of business and personal stories. Doing this shows that you’re relatable and business oriented. Be aspirational and celebratory, but don’t get too arrogant.
Be yourself and let your personality shine, but there are few lines you should never cross. Absolutely avoid posting about politics and opinions on controversial topics.
Hashtags & Keywords
By now, everybody knows what hashtags are. But what about keywords? Keyword optimization on posts, especially Instagram, is often overlooked. All you have to do is search your target keyword in the search bar and see how the app auto-completes the term. Compile a list of 2-3 keywords and try to organically use them in your posts. Remember to never stuff words in if it doesn’t make sense; this will make the caption unnatural and hard to read.
As far as hashtags go, there’s been debate about how many to use per post, or if they even work or not. We can’t say for sure if social media algorithms disregard hashtags. It’s safe to assume that they don’t disregard them, but don’t go overboard. From past experiences in the real estate industry, we’ve seen that anywhere from 5 to 10 relevant hashtags work best.
Education & Engagement
Planning real estate content for social media can be a daunting task if you don’t have a strategy in place. Plan ahead so your feed doesn’t look like a mess. Spread the content out to give the feed a clean and elegant look. Educational posts like market insights and data, tips and tricks, real estate facts, etc. can be a good way to build trust and engagement. As for captions; keep them short and to the point. Generally, we like to stay between 100 to 150 words. It’s a good idea to ask followers questions or for their opinions, when it makes sense. Remember to keep engagement high by replying to comments on your posts. There’s a ton of bots on Instagram right now, so be sure to delete their comments to clean up the comment section.
Paid Ads
Instagram and Facebook offer fantastic audience targeting opportunities. You can target locations, interest, to periods of peoples’ lives, like marriage. Spending money, especially when you’re not making any, is a scary thought. Consider this; people spend a lot of time on social media, and it’s a guarantee that your target audience does too. Don’t be afraid to drop a little money on boosting posts or Facebook advertising. But remember to always optimize your ad creatives.
Analyzing Insights
There’s a saying: “What gets measured, gets improved.” Use the tools available to your benefit, it would be stupid not to. Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter offer professional analytics that let you know which type of content your audiences respond to. It even tells you the time of the day you get the most engagement, making post scheduling easy. We recommend conducting A/B testing the same type of content. For example, one as a video and one as just a feed post.
2. Real Estate Content Creation
Many moons ago, finding an agent was as simple as being a referral, reading an ad or a sign, or scanning the yellow pages. Fast forward to today, and the introduction of the world wide web turned the whole industry upside down. Although traditional methods are still viable, internet search has made it much easier to to reach outside what you know to find an agent or a broker.
That said, real estate content creation is a slippery slope. We mentioned above that social media plays a big role in an agents’ success, but it’s easier said than done. Real estate content marketing and social media go hand in hand.
We’ve explained what type of content you should be making, but how do you make that content? The ‘easy’ method is to hire professionals, like MK Group. An agency can take care of everything for you, from real estate content marketing to color palettes. Where it gets difficult is when you attempt to tackle it on your own. If that’s the case, we highly suggest you follow the methods listed above and do as much research as you can and see what other successful agents are doing. Graphic design can be scary, but with user-friendly services, like Canva, you too can make your posts look super professional.
3. Real Estate Advertising
Speaking of the introduction of the internet…paid real estate ads have become the marketing norm. You can now reach thousands of people with a single click of a button. Make no mistake, just because everything is digital, it doesn’t mean real estate PPC is easier.
Ad copy and images should communicate a crystal clear message so your potential client get the point with just a quick glance. You know the deal; homes with high-quality photography sell 32% faster. The same logic applies to real estate ads.
Focus on these key factors:
- High Quality Photos
- Captivating Ad Creatives
- Engaging Ad Copy
- Consumer Intent
- Audience Targeting
- Location Targeting
- Clear Ad Budget
Real estate advertising can get sticky, especially because it requires spending. Invest into conducting A/B testing to understand who engages with our ads. By doing so, you allow your ad spend to go much further, rather than throwing dollars into an ad that isn’t optimized. However, due to the competitive nature of PPC, sticking with professional pay-per-click services may be more suitable for you.
4. Real Estate Website Development & Design
On the topic of the digital age, websites are by far the most popular and common ‘marketing’ strategy. As a real estate agent or a brokerage, having a website is a must. Think of it as a digital storefront. Websites are a great place to showcase listings, in-depth market data, blogs, and so much more.
As a new agent, a good way to get a website up and running is to use cookie-cutter services. Companies like Wix and Squarespace offer easy-to-use platforms with tons of templates. In our opinion, if your marketing budget is tight, these services are a great way to get your feet wet. However, when it comes to SEO and deeper customizations, Wix and Squarespace fall behind.
With a professional website built from the ground up, you can take advantage of optimizations otherwise not available. Search engine optimization, technical backend tweaks and site speed are just a few of things that can be controlled with a custom real estate website.
In addition, real estate web design can be fully customized to your liking. Without the limitations of cookie-cutter services, everything from font to the color of links can be matched with your brands’ colors.
At MK Group, we pride ourselves on being able to create stunning real estate websites that generate leads. Being partnered with IDX/MLS, we’re able to design and build sites with top-tier lead generation, built-in CRM, market reports, property search, and more.
5. Real Estate SEO
We talked about the benefits of a website above, but just having a website isn’t enough to garner traffic organically. This is where real estate SEO comes into play. What the hell is SEO!? If we talked about it here, this would end up being a 5,000 word blog. Instead, read our article on what SEO is and why you need it.
Search engine optimization is very technical and complex. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy, so going full DIY in this department requires hours of research. Not to say it’s impossible, but it is time-consuming and never-ending. To give you a brief run-down of what you need to optimize on a website, we’ve put together a bulleted list:
- Analytical Tool Integration (Search Console, Google Analytics)
- Site Health & Page Speed
- Competitor Analysis
- Schema Markup
- Keyword Optimization
- Link Building
- Internal Link Structure
- On-Page Optimization (Titles, Descriptions, etc)
- Image Alternative Text
- ADA Compliance
- High Quality Copy & Content
We know, it sounds like gibberish. Luckily, our expert real estate SEO services can help take you to the next level. In tandem with full MLS and IDX functionality, you can have your site ranking with the big dogs in the industry.
Wrapping Up
A real estate marketing strategy isn’t done overnight. It takes time and planning to get to where you need to go. Although all of these tips can be DIY projects, we do recommend hiring a pro real estate marketing agency like MK Group.
Feel free to reach out via the buttons below and we’ll help get you and your brand the exposure it deserves.