In 2004, when I first started in real estate, I was told to go door knocking, given a list of people to call, and started cold calling. I was also told to sign up for this or that, sit in the office and talk to people as they came in, create a database, and do other things that have been proven to be effective for other top agents.
Most of them still work now, but times have changed.
Technology has been integrated into our everyday lives, making some things easier for businesses. One of them is getting in front of a larger audience for the least amount of time (expense and effort) through social media.
For businesses to succeed, there are several things that need to be present in the business-consumer dynamic:
These are general strategies that businesses use to earn a profit and gain more influence in their respective industries, and social media makes all of that so much easier.
That is why I have been encouraging people in my industry, real estate, to use social media as leverage for their business.
One of the more common stumbling blocks people get when considering how to use social media for real estate is, “What do I post? I am putting my listings on my page, but I am not getting the results I expected.”
The thing is, real estate is a high-trust business. It is a big purchase and a big decision to buy or sell a home and move, and your customers need to be able to trust you as the agent representing them. Trust is not easy to build in a five-minute phone call or a fifteen-minute interview.
With the advent of the digital age, information is more accessible to everyone, and so are scams. People have developed a certain mistrust against a lot of professions that we need to break down slowly, over time.
One thing that consumers want to know is that they are dealing with a real person. They also want to know if you know what you are doing. But more than anything, humans trust other humans that they can relate to and identify with, and these are things we need to keep in mind when planning our social media content strategy.
I’ve talked a lot about the four buckets—or superpowers, pillars, whatever you want to call them—that we use as prompts and guidelines on our social media posts.
The acronym is STAY: Sell with a story, Teach, Advice, and You. And it has worked for us. It helped us get in front of our audience and provide them with value, as well as build trust in us, our expertise, our credibility (both in character and profession), and our business.
Consumers are now more conscious and selective of the “brands” or businesses they want to work with, and for real estate agents, our brands are ourselves. They want more information before making the commitment to work with us, and if you aren’t putting that information out there for them to browse through at their own pace, you’re missing out on a lot.
That is how creating valuable content and posting it on social media works for your business.
The other part of this is building relationships. In order to foster deeper trust between you and the people you connect with, you need to actually communicate with them and nurture those connections.
Our simple engagement strategy is summarized by the acronym LCM: Like, Comment, and Message. It is very simple. You make your audience feel good by letting them know, through your words and actions, that you care about them. And nowadays, they are tired of the “used-car salesman” approach, where everything is just business and no real, meaningful connections happen.
They want to feel cared for and they want to know that “this person has my best interests at heart.”
When you are showing up consistently on their feeds, in their direct messaging apps, and giving them the information that they need and want to know, you develop a credibility that would make them more likely to want to work with you.
How do you do that? Through the thing that connects your interests: real estate.
Sell with a story. Yes, sometimes the products (in our case, properties) speak for themselves, but it is the story that makes people relate to what you are selling. Teach them things they want to know about your industry. As the expert, there are a lot of things you know, about processes, trends, data, and even the simple “stupid” questions like “Where do I find a good plumber?” Answer those questions for your audience. Give them all the information they need to make informed decisions about real estate.
Bring the human part to the equation. Talk about things that interest you. You are more than just a real estate agent, and showing the other aspects of yourself helps your audience relate to you and trust you. People tend to do business with people they feel a connection with and with people that they know and like.
Social media is a powerful tool at your disposal. If you are interested, we have a white paper that comes with a social media content planner. Message me on my socials, and I will send you a download link for free. I also went through some of the highlights of the white paper on my YouTube video (you can click here to watch it).
In my previous interview with Kelly Cardenas, he told me this: “There is only one type of business, and it is the people business.” In any shifting market, when we put people first and establish meaningful and trusting relationships with them, we can thrive. We just have to get a little creative with the how from time to time.
Thank you for reading A Brilliant Tribe.
