If you’re a Realtor who has taken advantage of any of the free ways online to promote yourself and your business: Facebook, Youtube, a blog, Twitter, even Instagram – awesome job! So what’s your online content strategy? Coming up with ideas about what to share and write online can seem easy at first, but it’s harder than it seems and sometimes you just don’t feel inspired.

Social media is almost a necessity now for anyone who works in a relationship-based business, and that means especially real estate, where your leads and business should come in a large part from the growing, active network of people you’re cultivating. 

First things first – what are your goals when you’re reaching out to potential clients online? Start with a list of those, and think about your list or post it next to your computer to remind yourself why you’re posting content in the first place. You’ll probably have something like this:

• Making friends: becoming that known, liked and trusted face
• Generating new leads
• Solving real estate problems your clients may have
• Positioning yourself as an expert in real estate,
• Marketing yourself as a specialist in your area

Now, think about the following 6 types of content that you can put together:

#1: Reminding people you’re a figure in YOUR community

One of the best ways to reach people is by letting them know that you love where you live, and that you’re involved and active in your community.

What makes good community-focused content? Community event information and dates, causes in the areas and topics you’re interested in, posts about YOUR hobbies and lifestyle. Remember, you’re building a friendship with your ever-growing sphere.

You can try making videos or posting images of:

• Tours of your neighborhood
• Interviews with local business owners and community figures
• Short videos or posts about local events you attend, or want others to know about 
• Client testimonials, or positive interviews with people you’ve worked with who want to talk about why they love their neighborhood (bonus-you helped them find a house here!)

#2: Helpful, free content that establishes you as a Real Estate Expert

Think about free information or services you can provide, while gently reminding contacts that you are an expert, with all of the real estate information they might need at your fingertips. Of course, ask for an email so you can add any of these requesters to a contact list- or you can follow up with them later to provide more info relevant to what they requested from you.

You could put together a post (or a Facebook Ad) for something like:

A free list of homes. If someone requests the list, do a custom search in your MLS system and then email the prospect a link or a print-out of the search results.  

A free report. Try topics like: Tips Every First-Time Homebuyer Needs to Know, How to Go From Renting to Selling, etc. Remind people that they can request these reports for friends, too.

Any free in-person service. When someone requests a service you’re offering (how about a ‘Maximum Value Home Audit’- a special name you give to your CMA?) schedule a time to meet with the sellers to fulfill the free introductory service.  

#3: Interesting content that doesn’t have to do with real estate

The reality is 80% of your contacts probably aren’t looking to buy or sell real estate right now. They likely aren’t going to look at “just sold” or “new listing” content. This means it’s important to keep them interested and engaged, so they click on your content or read what you’re posting even though they don’t need your services right now.

Read something that you find interesting or made you think? Share it! These kinds of posts may even get the most interaction on your sites, and it establishes you as a real person with real interests, not some random face trying to sell people something. During your regular week, save articles and tidbits you come across that YOU like and share those, maybe with an intro from you about why it’s important to you, why you like it, or ask a question that’s relevant. Direct questions to your contacts boosts interaction.

Talking about ‘non-real estate’ content leads to…

#4: Your monthly newsletter

Of course, you’re going to want to post your monthly newsletter! The optimal time to keep people reminded that you exist, and that you’re a Realtor – is once a month. While the highest quality and biggest open rate is direct mail, you’ll also want to maximize that newsletter by posting it on all your social sites and your website.

Through years of testing, we’ve found that the best-performing newsletter is full of great information that isn’t specifically about real estate, that appeals to the widest range of readers, along with jokes, useful websites, trivia and more. Our newsletter Service For Life! is a marketing system that provides that type of content, and looks like you put it together yourself. You don’t have to do it yourself, though – you can save time and have it done for you.

#5: Fun quotes or motivational memes

While this might just be a ‘once in a while’ kind of thing to post, you can test out sharing quotes and memes to your sphere to see if it boosts interaction. You’ll probably want to use ones that stand out, and ones that really apply to you – not the generic motivational ones that you see everywhere. Example: If you’re not a regular runner – you might not want to post a quote about running. It will seem, and be, less genuine to your contacts.

You can find good quotes on sites like https://www.brainyquote.com/, organized by topic.

#6: Finally, listings and market statistics

While you don’t want to overdo the “sales” posts – simply because most of your contacts and database aren’t buying or selling real estate right now – you’re here to sell real estate, and posting your listings is also an important part of your marketing plan.

You can do video tours of your listings, you can post open house info or do a Facebook Live from the open house, or you can put together a weekly “market/area snapshot” using video, a blog, a downloadable file, etc.

Scheduling Your Online Content

Because you aren’t always going to feel inspired, or might be drawing a blank about what to share today, it’s helpful to create a schedule where you post the same things on each day of the week. How about “Motivation Monday” and “Interesting Quote Wednesday?” This way, you’re always sure what you’re posting about.

Does all the scheduling sound like too much? There are online tools you can use to help post scheduled content, emails, and blogs. Try: https://hootsuite.com or https://meetedgar.com/– you can also use Google Calendars to put a schedule together yourself. It will just be a little more work to log in to your accounts and post them.

Measure What’s Working

Once you’ve got your schedule down, start measuring what’s working with your contacts. A great free tool for your website or blog is Google Analytics: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/

You can also pay attention to what online content your clients and friends interact with the most. How many likes and shares are you getting? Make sure to respond to every comment to continue the interaction. How many video views have you gotten? How many leads? If you offer something like a free report – look to see how many downloaded. 

If you want more info about online leads and conversion- check out this 3-part series about just that.

We’d love to hear what you’re doing to come up with content that works, and how you manage your interactions online. Share with us in the comments below!