Real estate marketing is something that many realtors do not want to focus on, because it can be time-consuming and at times tedious. Yet there are many parts of the real estate marketing and communication process that can be made simpler and more efficient with automated real estate solutions. These solutions are simple for realtors to use, without any special training, and they can shave hours off your workday.
If you have an automated real estate solution, or you are thinking about investing in a solution, we have gathered some ideas about how you can get the most out of the solution while also saving time and building engagement, trust and loyalty with clients.
Use Multiple Channels to Spread Your Messages
Email is not enough any more. Your clients use many different channels to communicate, and you need to follow suit. Select automated real estate software that allows you to contact your clients and potential clients through some of the most popular methods, such as email, voicemail, text message and social media.
When you can reach out to clients in a way that is convenient for them and you, you will save time and contribute to higher client satisfaction. Why try to chase down a client with numerous voicemails if they never check their phone? However, they're on Facebook every day so a Facebook message will reach them almost instantly.
Using multiple channels for marketing means that you can reach out to more potential buyers and current clients. By presenting a brand consistent message in your advertising, email newsletters, social media pages and so on, you can make your real estate agency more visible and memorable.
Get Your Real Estate Brand Out There
How do potential buyers find out about your real estate agency? How do they know that you are helpful, trustworthy real estate agents who really know their stuff when it comes to buying and selling? You need to get your agency's name into people's minds and follow up with consistent branding.
There are many ways to do this, including traditional methods of advertising. Yet there is a relatively new and surprisingly effective way to increase exposure and recognition for your real estate agency brand: social media.
The more quality content you post on social media, the more your audience sees your agency as active, engaged and relevant. This builds recognition and trust in your brand, and is a great way to reach new buyers who are looking for a great real estate agency.
Social media is especially useful for realtors because anything you post can be shared with an infinite number of people, so if you have a hot property you can get lots of exposure for it quickly.
Learn More About Your Audience
With any automated real estate software, you will get a wealth of data that can be analyzed to see how your audience is reacting to your marketing messages. When you post messages on Twitter or Facebook, you want to know if it is getting any interaction from your visitors. You can see exactly how many people viewed, liked, tweeted, shared or commented on your post.
Reviewing your data in detail allows you to see which posts received the most interaction so you can see what type of content your audience is most likely to interact with. You can see data for any messages sent out, including emails, text messages, surveys and more.
Virtual Real Estate Home Tours
Attractive pictures of homes have been used effectively by realtors for years, yet you may not have thought about posting videos. A virtual tour of a home can give potential buyers a much better sense of the size and layout of the home, and generates more interest and interaction than just static images.
There are some things that just can't be explained with a photo, like the sound of waves lapping the shore on that new beachfront property. A quick video can help people imagine what it is actually like to live in the home. Videos of the surrounding neighborhood or the bustling market down the road also contribute to drawing in visitors and building interest in the property.
What it's Like to Live Here: Real Stories
Another great way to engage visitors to your real estate social media pages using videos is to create videos of the current homeowners talking about their home. Potential buyers want to hear what the home and property is like straight from the owners. What have they enjoyed about living there? Why are they selling? These videos can also be used for telling stories and giving the home more life, just like the old "smell of cookies baking" trick.
Increase Real Estate Client Referral Rates
When the buying or selling process is complete, don't lose touch with your clients right away! They can be a valuable source for quality, trustworthy referrals, but you need to ask. After the sale, send out an automated online survey and ask your clients to rate your services and their realtor. Include a text box in the survey where clients can enter additional comments, information or referrals. You can post your results online so new potential clients can see the satisfaction rates of previous clients.
Providing real feedback from actual clients makes your real estate agency seem more trustworthy and open to new clients. Seeing that previous clients were happy with your services and reading honest referrals can encourage visitors to your website or social media pages to try your services.
Provide Text Message Information
Text message marketing can be used to generate leads from people walking by a listed house. Include a text message number on the sale sign and let people know that they can text the house number or address to your number to receive additional information on the house or to book a viewing. What could be quicker or simpler? The potential client receives relevant information quickly, and you don't have to do anything because the information is triggered and sent automatically.
Boost Your Search Engine Ranking
Many people find real estate agencies and properties online. You need to ensure that your website can be easily found. You also need to double check every page and use SEO optimization software to ensure that there are as few errors as possible. If you have spelling mistakes, incomplete pages or other issues with your site it can have a huge impact on your ranking.
Your ranking is where your website appears when people type various search terms into a search engine. Let's say you have an agency in Toronto. If people type in search terms that are highly relevant to you, like "real estate agency Toronto," you want your agency to be on the first or second page of search results.
Why does ranking matter? In general, the higher your search engine ranking, the easier potential clients can find your real estate agent online. Think about it: have you ever done a search and clicked through to the 20th (or even tenth) page of search results? No? Neither will most potential clients. If you don't have a high search ranking, you will have to rely more on word of mouth and good reviews to get your agency known.
You will have to do research on relevant keywords and invest in some quality SEO tools in order to boost your ranking, but it is often very worth it. The more true leads that visit your website (many who found it through searching relevant terms), the more clients you can gather.
Nurture Leads with Relevant Information
Sometimes a client is looking to purchase a property but they haven't found one that interests them yet. They want a perfect property and they're picky. Rather than going back and forth about what the clients want, let them fill out an online form and select their property preferences. Once they have entered what they want, an email will be sent out containing images of relevant properties and links to more information.
Your automated real estate software segments clients' preferences so that the most suitable properties can be sent to the clients. Clients can update their preferences at any time, and all the data is categorized automatically so you don't have to do anything.
Try automated real estate marketing for yourself.
