Social media is increasingly prevalent today, and most people make use of at least one social media platform on a regular basis.
Some may use a professional platform, such as LinkedIn. Others may use Instagram, Facebook or others for both professional and personal use. While these platforms may be used commonly to connect and stay in touch with personal contacts, such as friends or family members, they also can be used by businesses to extend their reach, maintain contact, announce promotions and more. In the real estate industry social media is destined to become increasingly important to both consumers and industry professionals.
[Tweet “#SocialMedia is destined to become increasingly important to both consumers & #RealEstate profs.”]
Launching Your Real Estate Business
After you have completed your real estate training and you have your real estate license, you may be looking for a faster and easier way to get the word out about your business. For many new industry professionals, initial clients will largely be friends and family members who choose to work with you. You may be able to find a few clients by answering phones and assisting with opening houses, but most will be those who you already know. Therefore, announcing your new business online through social media platforms is a great way to get the word out to those who know and trust you.
Establishing Your Reputation
[Tweet “After you have launched your #RealEstate #biz, you will need to focus on building your #business.”] One way to do that is to establish your reputation as a trusted, honest and hardworking real estate agent. You want to showcase your ability to get results, post comments from satisfied clients and highlight your successes. Through Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, you can more easily accomplish this goal with regular posts and tweets.
Promoting Listings and Sales
You can also use social media to assist your existing clients with their needs. For example, you can create a listing on a social media platform for a property that you are working on. This may be a coming soon post or an active listing post. Your listing may be seen by other real estate agents as well as by your own contacts, and this can generate more interest for those who are in the market to buy a home. Likewise, you can promote your sales to highlight your successes and to show your ability to sell inventory for your clients.
[Tweet “Use #SocialMedia to assist your existing clients with their needs. #RealEstate “]
Getting Started With Social Media
One of the questions that many new agents have after completing their real estate training and earning their real estate license is how to create a business or professional presence through social media. Essentially, you will create a professional account in a similar fashion as you may have already created a personal account. For example, with Facebook, you can open a new and free account (check out this post to set up a facebook page), but you may use your existing personal contacts to announce your business and to request them to follow you and to like your posts. This can have a ripple effect as their own friends and followers so their likes and new contacts. Be sure to post regularly without being overbearing or bothersome in order to keep the buzz going about your business.
Social media is a great way to expand your marketing reach without paying a fortune on marketing costs, and this is incredibly beneficial for new real estate agents who may have limited financial resources to work with. As you can see, there are several different ways that you can use social media to launch your new real estate business and to continue to benefit from it going forward. If you are not already using social media for marketing purposes, consider opening accounts to get started today.
