Three Key Elements to a Successful Social Media Strategy

In Episode 3 of the Future of Real Estate, Ed Hutchinson focuses on building trust with his audience and maintaining consistency with his social media channels. It gives a real inside look at Ed's day-to-day, his California lifestyle, personality, and daily real estate grind. It also gives his commentary about the properties, demonstrating more of his expertise.

That makes this video very consumer-focused, looking to build trust with people both living in and interested in relocating to his neighborhood. Now when they see Ed or one of his listings on social media, they will already know something about him.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we were working to reach as many people as possible by running ads on every episode to Ed's market, as well as promoting the episodes on all of our social media channels. 

Remember, our goal was to help Ed reach 30 million in sales. Our method was social media.

When we started working with Ed on the Future of Real Estate series, we both agreed that there would be three key elements that would make the experiment successful: staying consistent, building a strong personal brand for Ed, and reaching outside his network to help build his audience.

In this post, we'll take a look at these three key elements, and why they are essential to a successful social media strategy. 

Posting Consistently

You'll want to make sure you're keeping a consistent presence on your social media channels. If you're simply checking in from time to time, whenever you feel like it, you run the risk of being forgotten. Your followers will want to know when and what you'll be posting. They'll want to know that they can count on you for new and valuable content. You'll want to consistently create content and also develop a posting schedule to stay top-of-mind, attract new business, and generate leads.

The more consistently you post valuable content, the more your audience will begin to recognize your posts. This awareness will build trust and loyalty for your business, drawing in new prospects and starting conversations.

Consistency means different things on different channels. For example, on Twitter, you'll want to share content at least twice per day to stay active, while on Facebook and Instagram, one or fewer posts per day will suffice. 

Ever since Ed started building his business with his social media channels, he posted at least once per day, and more often on his stories. In addition to his consistent posts, he also maintained a strict schedule of posting a new LA mansion tour every Tuesday. Because his audience knew when to expect this content, it was much easier for them to tune into the content they loved.

A Strong Personal Brand

When it comes to being a real estate agent, personal branding is extremely important. The truth is, it can make or break your career. After all, it's not just houses that you're selling- you're also selling you- your personality, your skillset, and your negotiating power.

As a real estate agent, you are the service you are selling. You want your clients to trust that you will be their best representative and fully recognize then represent their needs.

To accomplish this in today's extremely competitive real estate industry, it's important to define your brand's image.

Defining your brand may seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. All you have to do is be yourself and in the process, find and capitalize on your niche. Focus on your true passions and then use them. Share them. Record them. Speak about them. Hone in on your interests, values, and hobbies and you'll naturally define your brand, which will help you grow your contact circle and build your sphere of influence.

In the Future of Real Estate Series, Ed successfully narrowed down his niche, establish his personal brand, and use it to build contacts and secure new clients.

One defining aspect of Ed's brand? He wears a suit every single day to work. While most real estate agents in the LA area dress casually, Ed is one of the only agents that consistently wears a suit. It's become a recognizable symbol of his personal brand and one his network can count on. Ed may wear a suit every day, helping him appeal to his professional, business-minded customers, but he also has a laid-back side. Every morning Ed goes surfing and shares these surf sessions on social media, allowing him to identify with a whole other crowd in the LA area.

Whatever your brand is, stick to it. Everything you do and say on social media should be consistent with your brand's voice. If your voice is "all over the place," your audience won't know what to expect- they won't be able to form a connection with you or feel like they know you. This brings us back to the trust component mentioned earlier. When your audience is able to identify consistently with your brand, you'll begin to grow trust.

In the world of real estate, trust is everything. It’s what brings you loyalty and more referrals, which then creates more sales down the road. A good personal brand for real estate agents is, therefore, priceless.

Reaching Outside your Network with Facebook Advertising

Posting consistently will help boost your organic exposure, but if you really want to expand your reach on social media, investing in Facebook advertising is crucial.

There are several strategies you can use with Facebook advertising, depending on your goal. If you're looking to build your audience, a campaign for awareness or reach is a good place to start. Try using an engaging video that showcases your expertise as the creative!

If you need to generate leads for a listing or open house, you'll want to set up a campaign that features the property, a clear call to action, and ideally a lead capture form. 

There are numerous ways you can use Facebook advertising to grow your business. If you're new to Facebook advertising, check out our post on how to get started with Facebook ads.

Throughout the Future of Real Estate Series, you'll see Ed implementing these three main strategies. Stay tuned for Episode 4, where we'll dive into Ed's trip to London and how he uses this to share more of his personal life with his audience.