Social Media Marketing for Real Estate
Social media marketing can be immensely profitable. Many of our Australian clients see $12+ for every $1 spent on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
But most real estate marketers and business owners don’t know how to use social media to find clients. They might try running ads or creating content… But they usually see no results and give up within a few months.
Lucky for you, this isn’t going to be your story. We’re Megaphone: Australia’s #1-rated digital marketing agency. On this page, we put together our best, most proven tips for marketing real estate on social media.
With 82.7% of the Australian population active on social media, this is a blog post you can’t miss. Read on so you can multiply your money and grow your business using social channels. We’ll cover platform selection, strategies, and best practices.
Let’s dive in by starting with…
3 Key Platforms for SMM for Real Estate
Not all social media platforms are created equal. You need to identify the best ones for your real estate business and focus on them.
Two major things that set social platforms apart are demographics and content format. For instance, TikTok is popular with young people while Facebook is used by folks of all ages. Twitter’s content format is short texts; Instagram is all about photos and videos.
Keeping these differences in mind, choose platforms that suit your audience and fit your business. Your 3 top choices are…
Facebook is Australia’s most popular social platform, with over 15 million users. It also happens to be the best platform to target home buyers.
The dominant age group using Facebook is between 25-34. This is the same group that makes up more than half of home buyers in Australia.
The second-most dominant age group on FB is 35-44, followed by 45-54. These two groups form the second-highest number of home buyers in the country.
Looking at these figures, it’s clear that Facebook has a wide audience of Australians ready to buy or sell a house. Marketing your business here puts you right in front of your prospects.
Even better, the platform makes it easy for realtors to create business pages and interact with potential customers. You can add property listings, allow interested customers to book calls, and respond to messages on your business page.
Instagram has 12.75 million Australian users, with a demographic profile that looks similar to Facebook.
Users between the ages of 25-34 make up 30.4% of the audience, while the 35-44 age group comprises 19.3%. These are the age groups making up most of Australia’s home buyers.
Instagram is a highly visual platform, making it perfect for real estate. While shopping for a home, people naturally want to see as many photos and videos of a house as possible to see whether it’s fit for them.
While photos and videos also work on Facebook, note that on Instagram, aesthetics matter more. Take time to curate the most eye-catching images so that users are tempted to take a second look instead of scrolling past.
TikTok
TikTok has around 3 million Australian users. 60% are 24 or younger (Start.io). Since people this young rarely buy homes, TikTok is less than perfect as an SMM channel for real estate.
That being said, there’s one big advantage to TikTok. You can publish a lot of your Instagram content there, and vice versa. So if you’re smart, you can use TikTok and Instagram with no extra effort.
(Alternatively, you could ask us to help you create incredible TikTok content!)
One thing to note with TikTok is that users love entertaining content. They’re less interested in informative and educational videos, and more into having fun.
LinkedIn is mostly limited to professionals and has a much smaller audience than Facebook and Instagram. That being said, it’s essential for networking with out-of-town realtors who can refer business your way.
LinkedIn also puts you in front of clients looking for corporate real estate. This is the social network for decision-makers in many companies, so if they notice you, it will be easy for you to sell corporate space.
9 Real Estate Social Media Ideas to Attract Clients
To benefit from social media marketing for real estate, you’ll need an optimised content strategy. Don’t wing it – here are nine content ideas to get you the right audience and build a loyal following:
1. Share new listings in your content
Source: Real Estate
‘Houses for rent’ and ‘houses for sale’ are among the top real estate search phrases on the internet. This shows that many people are looking for property for rent or sale. With that in mind, posting new listings is the no.1 way to attract prospective clients to your social pages.
Add plenty of high-quality photos and videos when posting new listings to your social pages. Display as much of the property, from the exterior to the interior, as possible. Cover all features that could interest potential buyers.
Good visuals are not just useful for bringing in interested buyers. If they are photogenic enough, your followers could share them on their pages. They may also recommend you to friends or relatives who are home-hunting if they like what they see.
In addition to the images, provide crucial information such as location, prices, and contact info. Just from looking at your post, your audience should get enough information to determine whether the house is suitable or not.
While describing the listing, avoid sounding salesy. Instead, focus on your audience. Help prospects imagine themselves in the space you are showing instead of just listing prices and features.
2. Cover market news
Source: Domain
Many things affect the real estate market, from the economy to interest rates and government policies. The impact of these shows up in home prices, average time on the market, and demand and supply fluctuations – all of which matter to your clients.
This is why sharing relevant market news with your followers on social media can drive business your way.
For example, suppose a homeowner is interested in selling their house for the best possible price. If you provide reliable reports on price fluctuations and market demand throughout the year, you’ll be top of mind when they decide to sell.
Always present news in an easy-to-understand way; for example, as an infographic. You can also make videos talking about the state of the market in more detail.
Sharing market news can also make your social media page less salesy. The more useful information you share, the more likely you are to build a large following of prospects.
3. Publish neighbourhood guides
Source: Domain
When considering individual properties, home buyers also look into neighbourhoods. In fact, in most cases, the search for a suitable neighbourhood precedes a home hunt.
This makes creating and posting neighbourhood guides a clever way to attract attention to your business.
In your guides, highlight local amenities such as schools, daycares, health facilities, shopping malls, and other appealing features. Prospective clients will also want to know about security, transport amenities, and public spaces.
Videos are the best way to present neighbourhood guides. Include shots of all neighbourhood points of interest and accompany them with engaging descriptions.
Even better, live stream videos while walking around a neighbourhood to give your audience a real-time view of the area. Interact with your followers as they can ask questions while you stream. You can save and later upload your live streams onto different social platforms.
Posting informative neighbourhood guides is one of the best ways to build a reputation in your area. Home buyers want a realtor who can find them exactly what they are looking for, and sellers want an agent who can find the right buyers.
If you can present a neighbourhood well, both sides will trust in your ability to meet their needs.
4. Provide educational content
Source: Commercial Real Estate
Buying or selling a home can be daunting, but with the right information, the process gets much easier. Post educational content on your social media to help buyers and sellers have an easier time.
For example, you can make posts on tips on how to sell a home fast, mistakes to avoid when buying a home, and the best times to put a house on the market.
Knowing this beforehand can get rid of common frustrations associated with buying or selling homes, and your followers will love the advice. Providing valuable educational content is one way to build a strong brand reputation.
5. Host virtual open houses
Virtual open houses gained popularity due to the Covid pandemic, which made in-house visits difficult. Realtors turned to social media to film and show their clients available property listings.
This practice has since become very popular. Even without Covid restrictions, virtual open houses still play a big role in real estate marketing. They involve streaming videos while you take a walk around the property and show it off.
One of the main advantages of virtual open houses is that they save potential clients time. After seeing an open house virtually, they can decide whether a property is worth a visit. This makes the home search easier and more fulfilling.
Another advantage is that virtual open houses help reach more people at once. The number of people who can tune in to your virtual open house is high. It puts your business in front of a wider audience and more prospects than you’d get otherwise.
6. Client Testimonials
Provide social proof by sharing client testimonials on your social channels. Often, home buyers or sellers turn to people they know to refer real estate agents to them. But a high percentage of consumers also trust reviews by strangers online.
Share screenshots, photos, videos, and use storytelling to show the experience your past customers have had with you. While serving your clients, provide as much value as possible since only satisfied clients will be happy to recommend you.
7. Post Consistently
Posting consistently helps build a following on any social media platform. The more updates you make, the more opportunities you get to engage with your audience. Social platforms also favour and reward creators who publish content regularly.
Use social media management tools if you are too busy to get on social media constantly to make new posts. There are tools you can use to create and automatically schedule, publish, share, and review your content on multiple platforms.
Examples are Sked Social, Outfit, Pur Social, and Pally. With these tools, you can create several posts during your free time, then schedule them for later publishing.
8. Run Social Media Ads
Growing a following organically can take time, but running ads works immediately. For 48% of real estate agents, they are the most effective form of advertising they use.
To run a successful social media advertising campaign, set up a target audience based on factors such as age, location, and income.
Familiarise yourself with your audience to know the kind of listings they are interested in. Create good ad copy to accompany your ad photos or video, ensuring it resonates with your audience.
Run split tests by creating different ads for different target audiences to find which ones have better results.
For a full, in-depth guide on social media ads, check out this blog post.
9. Interact with Your Audience
Source: Hotondo Homes
Interacting with your audience is essential to connecting with them on social media. You can do so by streaming live videos and responding to comments and messages.
Also, write copy that talks to them directly when making posts, motivating them to engage with your content.
Actively participating in conversations on your pages keeps your brand on top of your followers’ minds, making it likely they’ll bring business to you when in need.
Don’t Leave Without Reading This
Social media ads have revolutionised marketing for many businesses, and realtors are no exception. You can make a killing in both commercial and residential real estate on networks like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Want to get fast sales for your real estate business – and grow your bottom line – with SMM experts?
Then you may want to sign up for a free strategy session with Megaphone: Australia’s #1 marketing agency. We’ll review your business and help you figure out an SMM strategy that works.
If you’re interested, sign up today while free strategy sessions last!
