Personal brand is everything in real estate, and one of the best (and underused) ways is to launch, grow and amplify your profile through linkedin.com. LinkedIn is the largest directory of professionals in the world, with over 3.6 million active users in Australia. Colin Anstie of Raging Digital explains how you can make it work for you.
Creating a good profile on LinkedIn is an excellent way to reinforce your personal brand. Here are 10 steps to ensure your LinkedIn profile is noticed for the right reasons.
1 ADD A PHOTO
The best-performing photos are professional shots, smiling, that capture mid-chest height upwards. Wear exactly what you would wear to meet a new client; if you normally wear glasses and a tie, make sure you wear those for your photo. You are 76 per cent less likely to be found on LinkedIn if you don’t have a photo.
2 YOUR HEADLINE
You only have 120 characters to impress your audience, so pay close attention to your headline; it’s one of the first things people will see. Think of it like a front page article in a newspaper that’s all about you. What would it say?
The person viewing a search result containing your profile needs to be able to understand immediately what it is you offer, how you can help them and where you service. Here’s a great example:
Leading Real Estate Agent | Sales Consultant & Auctioneer | Servicing Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs
Your LinkedIn summary section has an enormous 2,000 characters. Imagine there are 100 people lined up outside the door to your office; each one is your absolutely perfect client. Write them an open letter which includes the pains or needs of your target audience, your value proposition, expertise and experience, details of your organisation and a strong call to action with your contact details.
Write them an open letter which includes the pains or needs of your target audience, your value proposition, expertise and experience, details of your organisation and a strong call to action with your contact details.
I recommend writing your summary in the first person; it will perform much better. Inject your personality into your summary with personal achievements, interests, volunteering, hobbies and memberships.
4 YOUR NEW DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD
The contact and personal info section of your LinkedIn profile is now your digital business card and it influences how your profile ranks online. LinkedIn considers profiles with contact information, a physical address and website to be more legitimate than those without. Make sure you include your work email address, work phone number, work physical address and website address.
5 CONNECT WITH ALL RELEVANT PEOPLE
The number of connections you have is the one of the most important factors that influences how easily your LinkedIn profile can be found. The quickest way to grow your connections is to add everyone you know. Check your phone contacts, email contacts, business cards, existing clients, suppliers, colleagues, family, friends and anyone else who is relevant to your real estate business.
6 LINKEDIN SEARCH: A GREAT PROSPECTING TOOL
We all use Google to find websites; LinkedIn is the way to find humans. LinkedIn Search is one of my favourite tools on the planet and is the core value of LinkedIn. The tool offers a phenomenal ability to search for precise people and organisations that you’re looking for, in exactly the geographical areas you’re looking to target, making it a wonderful tool for identifying prospects.
You can search for people based on their job title, company, location, school, first name and last name, among others. Once you find your perfect clients in your target area, go and connect with them using a nice personalised connection request, such as:
“Hi Rob, Hope you’re well. I came across your profile and noticed you’re the CEO at Icon Water. I also noticed we are mutually connected to Mike Weller and Peter Holding. I’m a leading real estate agent in Canberra. I’d like to connect on LinkedIn. Regards, Holly.”
7 SHARING AMAZING CONTENT
Always think about your audience first; this is the key factor that determines what is considered amazing content.
Imagine you’re giving a presentation to a room filled with your ideal clients. What would you speak to them about? What would you tell them? Consider if you only had their attention for 10 seconds, 30 seconds or one minute, would your message change?
Recent changes to creating, posting and sharing content on LinkedIn include the ability to see how many people have read your posts, allowing you to measure the success of your attempts to reach your core audience and adjust to suit.
The best-performing content for real estate professionals centres on statistics, trends, new infrastructure, new ways of selling homes, sales success and being the known expert in your geographical area on topics such as schools, shops and transport.
8 DOWNLOAD YOUR LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS
Yes, you can get the name, email address, job title and company name of each of your connections! Download them now by:
- Click the Me icon at top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown.
- Under the Basics section of the Account tab, click Change next to Getting an archive of your data.
- Then select Fast File Only, and click the button Request Archive
If you’re ready to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level, go to ragingdigital.com to arrange a hands-on LinkedIn training session.
Example Profiles:
linkedin.com/in/hollykomorowski/ and linkedin.com/in/melissafoggin/
