Author: Peris Gachago

Over years social media has become a powerful platform for product/services advertisement and for brand building. Social media marketing is highly commendable especially in the digital world we are in today .It helps you get to reach a large number of potential customers within seconds of posting an ad, helping you reduce your costs. For you to easily manage all your social media channels with ease you need to a social media content calendar.

What is social media content calendar?

Social media content calendar is a calendar of all of your social media posts. It helps you to plan out and organize future social media content to be placed on all your social media networks. It spares your time of coming up with the topic right before it’s time to get down to work and write your next post as the deadline before deadline.

In business, it’s sometimes overwhelming to create an awesome content and to manage your social media accounts. With social media content calendar you will be able to create a central source of truth where you can plan upcoming posts, stay organized, track what’s been posted, and track the performance of each of your social media channels.

Here are some of the benefits of having a social media content calendar in your real estate business.

1.       It help you create and schedule your post ahead of time

You don’t have to worry about what to post every single day. With a well-organized calendar you can plan and schedule all of your social media posts in advance instead of knocking it out on the day of. It helps you to plan posts for the entire week, or the entire month, depending on the calendar you are using, you’re able to reduce your everyday stress of figuring out what to post on that specific day, which is very time consuming and a productivity killer. It is the best way to efficiently manage your time and resources.

2.       Maintains consistency

Consistency is key in social media marketing. Social media calendar ensures no days or weeks will go without a single piece of content being published. It allows you to create a consistent flow of content and develop a brand voice. When you consistently post on social media you keep your audience engaged and this organically creates brand. By being consistent with your followers, you’ll build loyal followers that will share and talk about your brand, you know what they say about word of mouth Consistency is critical in your real estate social media strategy.

3.       It helps you to keep track of your performance

Social media content calendar allows you to track your matrix. With this, you will be able to measure the effectiveness and success of your content and overall marketing efforts. It provides the opportunity to schedule your experiments towards improvement.

It helps you track the following on your social media accounts:

         i.            The number of “likes” to your content

       ii.            The number of followers

      iii.            The number of reach – The number of people, who come into contact with your content,

     iv.            Engagement – How many people interact with your content after their “like” or subscription(comment and shares)

       v.            Conversation – how many people are prompted to act upon seeing your content.

 
4.       It helps you plan each post out for specific social networks.

It can be a real pain trying to keep up with all your social media accounts. Content calendars allow you to post to more than one social network at a time. This makes your followers on various social networks have a balanced mix of informative, educative and entertaining content to keep the engaged.  It also helps you to post same or different content at the same or different times across all your networks. It simply helps you plan each post out for specific networks. It gives a balance for all to networks.

5.       Helps you in brainstorming

It’s quite challenging to generating fresh content every day. Genuine success is not a one-person show.  Content calendar is a tool that will help you gain plenty of time to find new content ideas. It is an excellent tool for brainstorming ideas to create a blog post or other content that will resonate with your target audience. Also by monitoring and analyzing your audience’s engagement and feedback, you’ll gain valuable insights into their preferences which you can later apply to your content and adjust it accordingly. It also allows you synchronize your efforts with the other team members to get the necessary and on-time input from all these different sources. See effective brainstorming activities to build your content calendar

6.       Prepare for special days

Preparing content for specific events such as national observances and holidays is very essential.  Sometimes you get caught up in your work and forget these important dates. Your content calendar will help you plan and prepare before the actual date it needs to publish. You will never miss out on important dates. It will relieve you of posting any last-minute messed up content.

7.       It’s timely

With your content calendar publishing great content regularly and on-time will always be on the front burner your content will be ready when needed. It makes sure that your content is not lost in the newsfeed. Your audience will always get to see the amazing content you’ve created for them every day and at that specific time you have scheduled.

Some of the social media content calendar used in real estate includes

1.       Buffer

2.       Tailwind

3.       CoShedule

4.       Agorapulse

5.       Hubspot

6.       Googledrive

7.       Trello

8.       Loomly

9.        SproutSocial

Summary

Without proper tools for organizing planning and workflows, content marketing becomes difficult to manage in a way that isnt ad hoc. It is therefore important to choose the best social media calendar and build on it. Some are free others while others are paid for. Here is a complete guide to choosing a content calendar.

If you need to set up one, don,t hesitate. Call /WhatsApp us on 0720982982

 In content marketing quality is better than quantity. Agents will see a much higher return on investment by focusing on generating content that potential business leads will be interested in. These are 7 ways in which you can generate leads with content marketing

1.       Understand your target market

It’s not all about creating content, its al about creating relevant content. Do a research online and try to see how other real estate agents are solving their customers’ needs. You can also talk to customers directly to understand their fundamentals. When you understand your target market you will be able to come up with relevant content that will draw their attention and you will have succeeded.

2.       Use the right channels to promote your content

Having a relevant content is not enough. Getting people to see it content is what matters most. It can build or break your it .Look for channels that your targets market engages with your brand.

There different channels that you can use to promote you content. Some are organic- they do not require money to get started and others paid channels. Organic channels include social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumble, LinkedIn, YouTube, Quora. Social media is a marketing strategy that all real estate agents should use.

Organic channels are good, but it takes time to build online authority and credibility. They grow over time and might take a few months before you start seeing significant improvements but at the end of the day you these channels will usher you into places where your prospects hang out. Once you’ve found these venues, you graciously introduce yourself with your content.

Paid channels include Social media ads, Google Ad Words, Native ads-  ones that appear on other platforms , Banner ads, and Content discovery networks -ads for your blog posts that appear in the around the web and recommended stories sections of large online publication. They allow you to reach your target audiences with laser-like accuracy through strategic placement of ads. Next, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to track results. Most of all, you get immediate results in terms of traffic. Paying only if someone clicks the ad further seals an inherently good deal.

3.       Use the right keywords

Keywords are what everything builds upon. Keywords Attract, Convert, Close and Delight your customers. Customers use keywords to search for answers to their questions. Keywords can come in the form of questions, phrases, words, names, business names, products, services or really anything descriptive format that can be typed into a search engine. They help prospects understand what your business does and if used rightly , they can convert visitors to buyers. Create content that includes keywords that are relevant in real estate industry.  It’s good to optimize your keywords, that is, making it easy for a search engine to know exactly what your page is talking about. You can achieve this by matching your headline with the keyword. A person who wants to know more about content marketing they will type, Content marketing in real estate.

4.       Improve your landing page

Landing page serves as an entry point for building relationships with your prospects through the content you offer. Creating great landing pages is an enormous way to increase your lead generation. According to Neil Patel , a perfect landing page must begin with a compelling headline, have a strong and captivating opening and then build interest as readers move down through the copy. He says if you do this, you will create more compelling content for any social media channel you choose to release it on. That means that your landing page should be optimized to generate leads. This is ways in which you can optimize your landing page

         i.            Remove navigation bar- Remove anything that can make your visitors click away from your landing page. A landing page visitor should only have two options either to close the page or convert

       ii.            Make your CTA button visible- choose a color that can attract the attention of your visitors

      iii.            Use a compelling headline- One that attracts customers.

     iv.            Put testimonials  Make it short but to-the-point. Include name, a photo of the person, and the name of the company. This makes you more trustworthy from your prospect’s perspective.

Also see types of lead generation content to put behind Your Landing pages

5.       Provide compelling  lead magnets

If you want to capture leads, you have to first provide value. Provide solutions to your audience and serve as an incentive for visitors to release their personal details. Your lead magnet should be specific to your user so that you can have a high conversion rate. Let it be delivered right away. If the user has to go through a long process before they get the offer, they might not convert. Make it easy if you want to keep your audience engaged. It should simply be irresistible. Some types of content that can serve as lead magnets for your content marketing campaigns include EBooks, Reports, Webinars, Quizzes, Courses and Videos. These are tips that will bring more leads to you website.

         i.            Display your business contact on your website

       ii.            Install instant chat on your website

      iii.            Avoid creating self-serving content at all costs.

     iv.            Automate your email marketing campaign to make it more human

Include visuals content

You have heard this for a thousand times that A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s absolutely right. Visual content are best strategy to drive more people to your site. This is an effective way especially on social media. As a matter of fact, visual content should be shared on social media three times more than other types of content. Common visual content that is shared include:

         i.            Videos- They are engaging. Statistics show that it takes less time to watch a video than read an article or blog posting that spells out the same information.  

       ii.            Inforgraphics  inforgraphics condense a lot of information into an easily digestible format that is useful and shareable by the reader. They spark curiosity and increase the desire to read your content. They also add credibility to your brand and when tagged correctly can help your website to rank highly in image search engines.

      iii.            Memes – Nowadays, memes are most commonly thought of as images that are accompanied with humorous captions. But when used in marketing they ae effective  in capturing the attention of online viewers and generating leads

     iv.            Photos- In blog posts, on social media platforms and wherever brands tell their story, photographs bring a layer of immediacy to their visual content marketing efforts.

6.       Map out your content plan

Content mapping allows you to deliver highly targeted, personalized content at every stage of the buyer’s journey, pushing leads and prospects toward a purchase decision. Content maps helps to point  out what content you’ll publish, by whom, and how frequently. How many days per week will you publish blog posts? When will you offer live webinars? How frequently do you plan to promote your content on social media? Which team members will be creating and promoting the content? Your audience is able to get content that speaks to them at the right moment. See also components of an effective content map

Summary

Content is the most effective way to drive and nurture leads, especially when it is used in combination with CRM and remarketing tools which, again, use content to turn leads into loyal customers. You don’t have to make it overly complicated. The above show how  content marketing generate leads.

It is not the write up or the chatter about the good sized rooms that draws buyers to view your homes. It is always a combination of two things, the location and the photos. Photos are one of the most useful tools for selling your home. They allow buyers to peek inside it from anywhere .It’s like having an open house without opening your house. See main benefits of listing photos in real estate

1. creates positive first impression that lasts.

When homebuyers look at a real estate listing, they spend 60% of their time looking at photos. The first viewing isn’t the one where the buyer steps through the door, it’s the one where they first see the property images with their eyes. Great real estates photos make good first impression on buyer and it’s that first impression that sticks even after they’ve been to look around and sniffed the outdated carpet. If you have photos that show off the quality of the listing, the property will sell 32% faster and with a 47% higher asking price per square foot on average. . Make sure you’re posting only the best listing photos if you expect to make a lasting impression and gain a following

Step Guide to Getting Started in Real Estate Drone Photography

2.       Offers a virtual tour

A virtual tour is a visual tool that replicates the experience of visiting and walking through a property. it is a 360 degree view of any location. It basically allows you to view any side of a property as desired i.e turn left, right, up or down to see any side of the property.it  allow prospective buyers to interact with the home and look at features in detail without having to be on-site. After taking all the property photos, upload your images into your software program to create your virtual tour create your virtual tour by stitching images together. Another way you can take panoramic images. They are usually at 360 degrees ready to be listed.

3.       Best to targeting millennial

Millennial is a visually focused generation and they have made up the biggest population of homebuyers. They start their search online and they expect to see amazing, professional photos. They will look at the photos first before even looking at the property description. They spend 60% of their time studying the photos, 20% reading the features and 20% the descriptions .No matter how good your description is if the photos don’t appeal to them they will not even look at it. That is why it is very important to have high resolution images both property and personal. See a complete guide on how to take good real estate photos. 

4.       Saves your time

Having professional photos on your listing saves your agent a lot of time. One can easily give people a good experience while looking at your property’s photos through persuasive photography. Any potential buyer or tenant will jump at a chance to experience being in a potential house without truly being at it before deciding and coming to a final decision. This saves you a lot of time as a seller in the sense that a site visit will be the last step for the buyer. The buyer I already persuaded and site visit will be confirm in just some few things.

5.       They help in brand building

High quality photos shape your brand and real estate business.  High-quality photography can help generate leads; increase referrals market your brand, and deliver a memorable client experience. They also provide quality content that still helps in marketing your property. A consistent and professional brand image gives you the confidence to go to a listing presentation and demonstrate your worth to prospects.

Summary

Even while working with an agent, buyers still typically do their own searches. Whether it’s print media or online, the images used to market your property can make or break how prospects view your property. When potential tenants can see what a property looks like, they’re more likely to fill out an application. Having quality images allows them to imagine themselves in the kitchen, making dinner, hanging out in the spacious living room, or tucking the kids in at night in each of their rooms. It’s important to use a professional photographer in your real estate business.

Technology has become a major part of lead generation and management in real estate in recent years Check out these 13 tried lead sources for realtors that every real estate professional should be utilizing.

1.       Referrals

Referrals are one of the easiest and cheapest lead generation ideas. According to the NAR, 64% of sellers found their agent through a referral from your former clients, real estate professionals, real estate referral companies a friend, neighbor, or relative or used an agent they had worked with before to buy or sell a home. It works because most people believe the word of mouth from these people they now

Bernice Ross, CEO of Brokerage UP!, and Inman top 25 real estate coach said “Referrals cost you nothing  all you have to do is stay connected with the people you know and make sure that you’re top of mind when they or someone they know decide to transact.

Most successful real estate agents get almost half of their income from referrals. It is a reliable source and in most cases it’s absolutely free. All you have to do is maintain a good relationship with your contacts so that you’re first in mind when they have a friend or colleague who wants to sell their property.

2.       Search Engine optimization strategy

SEO is one of the best real estate lead generation idea. Today, 44% of real estate buyers start their home search online, and 95% use the internet in the buying process. The good thing is, 60% of those searching are likely to click on the top three results on Google.

 At any given time, there are people in your farm area using search engines to find answers to their real estate-related questions. With a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you can put your website in search results, answer common questions that show your expertise and trustworthiness, and capture new leads. Local SEO helps your business to show up in search engines when a user is looking for help to buy or sell a property. It is a long-term strategy that can consistently bring you new, highly targeted leads without ongoing time and effort. Blogging can also help you to drive targeted traffic from search engines as you create targeted content for your business. You can write content that shows website visitors different aspects of your business. You can create short guides about places in your city to keep your audience informed.

3.       Build social media presence

Depending on how you approach it, social media can either be a major time drain or a brilliant way of nurturing your connections. It offers an incredible return on the investment of your time. With a strategic social media marketing plan, you can increase your reach and create a profile that displays your expertise to potential leads as soon as they click on your name. To start generating real estate leads through social media, you’ll have to decide which platforms to focus on. One of the easiest and commonly used channel is Facebook. With some well-informed optimization techniques, consistent engagement, and regular status updates featuring photos and videos of your listings, market, and clients, you can generate more interest in your brand. With Facebook ads, you can target the right audience by location, demographics, and interests. Facebook makes it easy for you to find the right clients fit for any property you are trying to sell, be it brick and mortar or even digital. Other channels through which you can generate leads are Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn, Pintrest etc.  Learn more on how to effectively use social media marketing

4.       Leverage the internet to advertise

Invest in paid online advertising. Websites like Zillow offer advertising options for realtor’s smart move since the share of home buyers who used the internet to search for a home increased to an all-time high of 97% in 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The best real estate lead generation websites make it easy for agents to find clients and close deals. This is because most of the websites generate enormous monthly traffic. For instance, premier Agent, Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com all generate about 80 million unique monthly visits between them. These are the traffic you need to get to convert to leads.

Dor sale by owner (FSBO) listings are properties that are listed for sale by their owners rather than by a real estate agent. Consequently, they’re classed as warm leads to target because you already know the owners want to sell.

5.       Your own website

Though offline marketing methods, such as networking and word-of-mouth, are good ideas to get new clients it’s still essential to have your own website. This is because a lot of potential clients are going to want to check you out before they get in touch. This one way you can generate leads online. Ones you develop your website you need to optimize it. See how to optimize your website for lead generation

Your website should be Fast. Study found that 87% of visitors will bounce if there is a load time of over two seconds. Use a page speed tool to get a sense of your website speed. Your website should be clean. Let your website be user friendly and one that  looks modern. Another important thing is to make sure your website is  mobile-optimized: he mobile version of your website is likely the first impression you have to a potential lead.  See also why companies need a good real estate website

6.       Farming in busy street strategy

Farming is a marketing approach in which real estate teams tailor their methods and tactics to target a specific area or community. This strategy is designed to position you as an area’s go-to agent using high-quality marketing targeted to homeowners in a specific neighborhood.  When we talk about farming it’s all about taking time to nurture relationships and then waiting patiently for those relationships to pay off by turning into hot leads and ultimately into closed deals. Learn how to farm for leads and see results

7.       Reviews and testimonials

When people see that other consumers have had a positive experience with your business, they’ll feel better about giving their contact information in exchange for special offers. A positive review is a powerful tool for businesses. Most people now read online reviews. Positive reviews are now considered treasured referrals for real estate agents.

Facebook has grown to become an enormous platform for not only social interaction but also a place where users go to research and learn more before buying products they’re interested in. It is one of the most powerful marketing tools for real estate. Here are 5 powerful ways of how to generate real estate referrals through Facebook.

1.       Provide value

Buying or selling a house isn’t a snap decision and takes time. Get to know your audience well so that you can provide them with the information they need to make a decision. It might take a few weeks or months to convert, but the relationship you’ve established with your audience will ensure they come to you when they’re ready to move forward. Share things that are relevant to your business and your audience, and that are informative and interesting.  The following are some things that you should share as a real estate agent

i.                    Great photos of your listings

People looking to buy a new home start with an internet search to research their options. They aren’t going to call you until they have a good idea of what type of house they want. The first thing that attracts buyers is good photos. Therefore the photos should be stunning enough to motivate clicks and calls .  Learn how to take real estate photos

ii.                   Real estate news

Keep your audience updated. Let them know what’s  happening on real estate industry.

iii.                Good content

One of the primary ways to grow your audience on Facebook is by posting content that engages them, This is likely to cover a wide range of potential content topics and types of posts including blogs covering all aspects of life, inforgraphics , text such as a few sentences as well as images and videos

iv.                 Provide knowledge

Share tips that give your audience context and help them more fully grasp your expertise. People may believe you when you say you’re a real estate expert, but if you share examples of how your expertise can help them get a better house or make more money, they’ll reach out to you at the first opportunity.

v.                   Engaging questions

As questions that can inspire or intrigues your clients, on both personal and professional topics about goals, leadership, personal growth, relationships, and even mental and emotional health.

vi.                 Fun

If you can make your intended audience laugh with your Facebook posts, they’ll naturally be more comfortable with you. Use these real estate memes to gather ideas and inspiration.

2.       Reviews

Customer reviews are one of the most effective ways to generate leads for your business.  When potential customers see that others have had a positive experience with your business, it can help them feel more confident in doing business with you. By showing that other people have enjoyed doing business with you, you’re able to establish trust sooner than if potential buyers and sellers didn’t have a frame of reference. Customer reviews let you prove your worth as a company over the competition. Positive customer reviews can drive more people to visit your site, which is particularly helpful during peak buying season. Let people review your business page. See how Customer reviews help lead generation and why they’re important.

3.       Join Facebook groups

Groups are the most powerful free tool for the Facebook algorithm, and they are often full of highly targeted groups of people, such as people who live in specific neighborhoods or work in a certain city or region. Facebook Groups are a viable and potentially important way to cultivate digital marketing leads over time for your business. Facebook groups are about community.

Join as many real estate Facebook groups for they are a great place to share listings with a targeted audience .Even when you aren’t sharing listings, you can benefit from being a part of groups. For example, many people post asking for recommendations for local real estate agents, creating the perfect opening to introduce yourself.  You can also ask friends and former clients to tag you in Facebook group posts and comment threads.

4.       Referral incentive

If you ask your customers to refer you to other potential customers without giving them anything in return you’ll find that they will hardly take action. If you want them to take action, you need to give them a reward. Find an industry-related gift, such as a home decor gift card, to make the contest feel more personal or a discount from your sales. To increase your real estate leads, incentivize referrals by setting up a rewards program through Facebook and boosting posts on your Business page about the program.  You could host a monthly giveaway where every referral counts as an entry. Referral marketing doesn’t have to be exclusive to referrers. , if you only reserve rewards to referrers, your leads may not sign up or purchase from you.  Reward your leads as well. Providing past clients with a valuable reward will remind them of their positive experience with you and will prompt them to refer others.  See top 10 ways to use referral marketing to generate new leads

5.       Build trust

Trust is, above all else, what really leads to referrals. Prospecting on Facebook is all about building trust among your target customers.  It is a key to creating a positive brand image.

 If you’re comfortable using your personal profile to connect with clients, agents, and vendors, you can let them see your past real estate life and into your personal life. Let them see the real you, share your photos. Make sure that before you showcase anything you know what you are saying and doing. You must be an expert in your niche to be able to establish authority. By this you will build trust to your potential customers. Answer people’s questions and help them solve their problems. Learn how to build trust on Facebook

Summary

As a real estate agent you have to provide excellent customer service during and after the transaction. You must earn your client’s trust and work hard to keep it. And after closing, you need to continue a steady flow of touches to stay top of mind.