I speak to agents across the globe each day, and they ask me, “How do I get more followers and likes?”
The truth is, they aren’t important.
They are the wrong metrics to look at.
Most sane humans don’t want to follow an agent on social media, which leads me to my first tip for building a world-class brand and dominating your marketplace on socials.
Be human first and an agent second
If you have a huge agent brand or key market share, you can get away with just being an agent.
But for most agents, being a real person is critical.
Research shows you’ll increase your engagement 84 per cent just by including a photo of a person in a post rather than just a property.
No one cares about a signboard with a sold sticker, but your engagement will climb if your picture includes a happy human.
Remember, social media was built around celebrating magical moments in people’s lives.
If you don’t have a personal brand or human elements, it’s hard to build engagement and a following.
You should still have key strategic property campaigns and show your listings, but to generate true engagement, you need to be more human and less agent.
It’s about the right followers and likes
You can buy followers and likes, but they won’t make you any money.
Rather than focusing on likes and followers, concentrate on having your content seen.
This can be achieved through a Facebook paid media strategy. There are three campaigns you should run.
- Listed campaign – ideally through vendor-paid advertising.
2. Sold property campaigns – but never give away all the information (such as the address and price). Ensure the ads run as a consideration campaign to drive conversations through your social media channels.
3. Brand awareness and appraisal campaigns – make sure you have a monthly budget to drive ads to your marketplace.
These should not just be about you but should drive people to discover what their home is worth while promoting your brand.
It’s best to engage an ad strategist if you want to go next level, as Facebook ads are a complex space.
Don’t focus on how many likes you get but how many people engage with your content.
Focus on creating conversations and people engaging with your content in the area you are trying to win listings in. For most, that’s around 6000 to 10,000 people.
Facebook ad campaigns are now vital for you to win market share.
Engage with community influencers and support local
Who’s your local butcher? Or what about that chatty coffee guy?
Find your talkative community heroes, get to know them and start taking photos with them.
The other key to winning local support is running competitions with local businesses.
Many agents try competition campaigns on social media but never really think of the local angle.
Find a local restaurant or business and offer a giveaway.
The key here is to ensure you don’t ask people to like or follow your page.
Instead, drive traffic to the post by encouraging them to tag a friend who they’d love to celebrate and share the prize with.
Aim for a monthly competition and ensure it’s local to your marketplace.
The key to social media domination is not looking at vanity metrics but focusing on 100 engagements and 30 social media conversations from those living in your marketplace.
Be a human first and an agent second, and start being an influencer in your community.
