The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing for Realtors

Social media marketing is a powerful tool for realtors to build their brand, showcase listings, and connect with potential clients. However, knowing the best practices and pitfalls to avoid can make all the difference in achieving success. In this article, we’ll explore the essential do’s and don’ts of social media marketing for realtors, helping you maximize your results and avoid common mistakes.

1. Do: Be Consistent with Your Posting

Consistency is key when it comes to building a strong presence on social media. Regularly posting content keeps your audience engaged and ensures that you stay top-of-mind when potential clients are ready to buy or sell. Creating a posting schedule can help you maintain this consistency.

Why It Matters: Posting consistently helps build trust with your audience and ensures that your followers see your content regularly. It also signals to social media algorithms that your account is active, increasing your visibility in users’ feeds.
How to Do It: Create a content calendar to plan your posts in advance and maintain a consistent posting schedule. Aim to post several times per week, mixing property listings, real estate tips, client testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content. Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later can help you schedule and automate your social media posts to stay consistent.

2. Don’t: Overwhelm Your Followers with Too Many Listings

While showcasing property listings is an essential part of social media marketing for realtors, overloading your audience with listing after listing can make your content feel too promotional. It’s important to strike a balance by mixing in valuable content that provides insights, education, and entertainment.

Why It Matters: Posting only listings can make your feed look too sales-focused and lead to disengagement from your audience. Offering a variety of content keeps your followers interested and positions you as a well-rounded real estate expert.
How to Avoid It: Limit the number of listing posts to avoid overwhelming your followers. Instead, mix property listings with other engaging content, such as homebuying tips, market updates, or local community highlights. Use tools like Canva to create visually appealing posts that incorporate informative and educational content alongside your listings.

3. Do: Engage with Your Audience

Social media is a two-way street, and engaging with your audience is crucial for building relationships and trust. Responding to comments, answering questions, and interacting with followers shows that you’re approachable and invested in their needs.

Why It Matters: Engaging with your audience fosters connection, builds trust, and encourages followers to stay engaged with your content. It also helps improve your visibility, as social media platforms prioritize content with high engagement.
How to Do It: Set aside time each day to respond to comments, direct messages, and questions on your posts. Encourage interaction by asking questions, using polls, or hosting Q&A sessions in your Instagram Stories or on Facebook. Tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite can help you track and manage your social media interactions efficiently.

4. Don’t: Ignore Negative Feedback

Negative comments or feedback on social media can be discouraging, but ignoring or deleting them can harm your reputation. Instead of avoiding these situations, take the opportunity to address concerns professionally and show your commitment to client satisfaction.

Why It Matters: How you handle negative feedback speaks volumes about your professionalism and customer service. Addressing concerns openly and respectfully can turn a negative experience into a positive one and demonstrate your dedication to resolving issues.
How to Avoid It: When you receive negative feedback, respond promptly and professionally. Acknowledge the issue and offer a solution or further assistance. For example, “Thank you for your feedback. I’m sorry to hear about your experience. Please send me a direct message so we can resolve this matter.” Tools like Podium or Reputation.com can help you manage online reviews and track client feedback.

5. Do: Use High-Quality Visuals

Real estate is a highly visual industry, and using high-quality images and videos is crucial for creating engaging social media content. Whether showcasing properties or sharing educational content, visually appealing posts are more likely to capture attention and encourage engagement.

Why It Matters: High-quality visuals make your social media profiles look professional and polished, helping you stand out in a competitive market. They also increase the likelihood that users will interact with and share your content.
How to Do It: Invest in professional photography and videography for your listings. Use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to post carousel images, video tours, or property highlights. You can also use tools like Canva to create visually appealing posts, and InShot or CapCut to edit videos for your social media channels.

6. Don’t: Post Without a Strategy

Posting randomly without a clear strategy can lead to inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities to engage with your audience. A well-thought-out social media strategy helps you align your content with your business goals and ensure that you’re reaching the right audience.

Why It Matters: A lack of strategy can result in wasted time and effort, as your posts may not be optimized to achieve your goals. A well-planned strategy helps you create content that resonates with your audience and drives results, such as lead generation or increased engagement.
How to Avoid It: Develop a social media strategy that outlines your goals, target audience, content themes, and posting frequency. Identify the platforms where your audience is most active and tailor your content to each platform’s strengths. Tools like Later or Hootsuite can help you plan, schedule, and analyze your social media performance to ensure your strategy is working.

7. Do: Use Paid Advertising to Expand Your Reach

While organic content is essential, paid social media advertising can help you reach a larger audience and generate more leads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer advanced targeting options that allow you to promote your real estate brand, property listings, or services to a specific audience.

Why It Matters: Paid advertising allows you to reach potential clients who may not already follow you on social media. It helps increase brand visibility, drive traffic to your website, and generate leads more quickly than relying solely on organic content.
How to Do It: Create targeted ad campaigns using Facebook Ads Manager or LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Use location-based targeting, along with demographic and interest-based filters, to reach your ideal audience. Tools like Canva can help you design eye-catching ad creatives, and Hootsuite can track the performance of your ads to ensure you’re achieving your goals.

Tools and Services to Help You Manage Social Media Marketing

Here’s a quick roundup of tools mentioned in this article to help you create and manage your social media marketing efforts effectively:

Hootsuite, Buffer, Later: Social media management tools that allow you to schedule, track, and analyze posts across platforms.
Canva, InShot, CapCut: Design and video editing tools for creating high-quality visual content and video tours.
Sprout Social, Reputation.com, Podium: Platforms to manage audience engagement, track reviews, and respond to feedback.
Facebook Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager: Advertising platforms for creating targeted ad campaigns to expand your reach and generate leads.

Summary

Social media marketing offers real estate agents an opportunity to connect with potential clients, build brand awareness, and showcase their listings. By being consistent, using high-quality visuals, engaging with your audience, and creating a solid strategy, you can maximize the impact of your social media efforts. Avoid common pitfalls, such as posting too many listings or ignoring feedback, to ensure a positive, professional presence. Tools like Hootsuite, Canva, and Facebook Ads Manager make it easy to manage, track, and optimize your social media marketing for better results.