It's all about the connection: How top producers use social media to connect with clients

It’s all about the connection: How top producers use social media to connect with clients

by Stephanie Sims and Natalie Terchek

February 05, 2018

Social media is a great tool for professionals: it’s not just for your Uncle Don to share his quiz results or your college roommate to post pictures of her fancy dinners.

Top producers use these tools to engage with former clients, inform current clients and leads, and reach new audiences that they otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to. Whether they’re posting the stunning interiors of a new listing to Instagram or sharing sales reports relevant to their local market, agents who want to reach the top of their game need to cultivate an interesting and informative online presence.

Still, many agents have had difficulty leveraging social media to boost their sales and position themselves as industry experts. A 2016 study from Sprout Social revealed that real estate is the fourth-most annoying industry on social media, according to consumers.

So how can agents shake this stigma and evolve into valuable sources of home and industry information?

Post about your neighborhood

Buyers and sellers like a well-rounded agent who’s knowledgeable about the entire industry, but what they really like is an agent who knows their particular neighborhood like the back of their hand. Demonstrate your expertise by posting candid photos of the neighborhood, any news about incoming developments in the area and even links to local events.

Engage your audience

You could have the most expertly groomed social media presence, but if your followers aren’t showing you love in the form of responses, likes, shares and more, it’s a missed opportunity.

Getting feedback and response from your posts can be as easy as using hashtags — whether they’re specific to geographic location, a listing or an actual image — to not only catch the eye of current followers but extend your reach beyond that typical audience.

But if hashtags aren’t really your thing, there’s a tried-and-true method to getting reaction: asking questions. Ask followers what they think of a certain housing trend. Ask them how a certain news story. Ask them how their weekends were. Ask them anything — within reason, of course — to establish a connection.

Don’t be shy

While it’s critical to establish a relationship with your audience and let them know there’s a real person behind your screen name, don’t forget that your accounts have an ultimate goal: to sell homes. Don’t overwhelm your followers, but be sure to make your listings easily accessible to anyone looking at your profile, whether Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Dante Bruzzese, an agent on the Eric Rollo team at William Raveis, is sure to let his followers know what he currently offers so they don’t have to go hunting for any information and possibly lose their motivation.

Boston real estate agent Dante Bruzzese routinely posts links to his current listings, making it so current and potential clients will check out the offerings.

“Social media helps me connect with others who may be on the other side of the world,” he said. “Connecting with as many people as possible brings new ideas and new waves to real estate and makes me an all-around better person. Social media gives my future clients a sense of what I do, without even having our first phone call yet!”

But be sure to remember the golden rule of social media — 80 percent of posts should be about things relevant to your clients’ interests while just 20 should be about you and your actual product.