Social Media tips you can use for your own global real estate business! 

Top Keller Williams agent Ben Kinney – a social media guru and founder of online training program Internet Marketing Specialist Designation (IMSD) – gave tips on how to generate leads for minimal or no cost.

Here are Kinney’s lead-generating, social media tips:

Agent website

• Use Google Analytics, a free online tool, to track visits to your website. This can help you determine what content is and isn’t popular and where clicks are being driven from (Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, etc.).
• VisiStat is also a helpful tracking tool – it shows exactly where on a webpage consumers click the most often, helping target where on the site to physically place ads or important information.
• Place property listing information at the forefront of the site if targeting buyers. “Most real estate agents’ websites are incorrect,” Kinney said, noting that an agent’s photo and personal information shouldn’t be the first thing seen on the page. “All a buyer cares about is finding a property,” he said.
• Build a form into your website using a service like EmailMeForm. This tool will capture the information of a potential buyer when they email you an inquiry, creating a free lead.
• Use Google’s URL shortener when posting links to your website. Using this tracks the number of people who clicked on your link. This can help you determine whether or not people found your information useful, whether you posted the link at a time of day when traffic was optimal, etc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• When posting photos onto your agent website (property listings, etc.), title the photos with key words and a helpful description, such as the name of the city where the home is. Google will recognize this association and it will appear when those keywords are used by others in a Google search. For example, if someone is Googling photos of Laguna Beach, an agent’s photos of their Laguna Beach property listing should come up. When a consumer clicks on that photo, it drives them to the agent’s website.
• Utilize video to drive traffic to your site. It doesn’t have to be fancy, Kinney says, so video can be shot on an iPhone or a flip camera. “Video does not have to be complicated or expensive,” he said. “People just want content.” Shoot simple, one- to three-minute-long videos of properties or neighborhoods and cities where your listings are or where you specialize in selling. Upload the video to YouTube (which is owned by Google) with a link to your personal website and a “shameless plug.” “Drive all forms of social media back to your website,” Kinney said.
• Paid advertising, like Google AdWords, boosts your website in a Google search. Facebook advertising can target specific niches: for example, target people who “liked” horses on Facebook with an ad for an equestrian property you’re listing.

Craigslist

• Classified ads, like Craigslist, generate more leads for less money. The trick is to post “uglier ads,” Kinney said. Post a listing with simply a short paragraph and just one photo of the property. Provide the link to the property listing on your website and direct viewers there for more information.

Yelp

• Register your business on Yelp. The iPhone app Siri derives information from Yelp, Kinney said, so when someone uses Siri to find a real estate agent in a certain area, your information will be provided.

Groupon

• Create offers directing consumers to your agency through Groupon. For example, Chicago-based Dream Town Realty sold a $25 offer to receive $1,000 back at closing when selling or buying through their agency. The offer sold out and the agency received more than 200 more leads from the offer.

Blogging

• Use your agent website to write blog posts that direct traffic to the site when consumers use a Google search. Write about specific local topics like top restaurants and good schools to show that you’re a local expert who knows the area they’re selling in. When a consumer searches for these topics in a Google search, your website will come up.

 

• ….More at Realtors get social media tips at CAR Expo – OCRegister

More Reading

• Why Your Agency Better Warm Up to Social Media Marketing – RealtyBizNews
• Building a Social Media Fan Base From Scratch – National Mortgage Professional Magazine
• WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Investigate social platforms before using them – SmartCompany.com.au

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Image used with permission, Rob Sacchetto

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