 Business owners and entrepreneurs are fully on-board with using social media to promote their brand these days, and that certainly includes Realtors and mortgage lenders. In fact, more and more real estate pros are turning to social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, lead funnels, and their websites as tools to generate leads. So, I thought it was valuable when I came across a recent national study that breaks down how people are using social media to market their business and generate new clients and closed deals. Today, I want to share six stats that I cherry-picked as particularly useful to you. By no means is this a list of best practices, nor is this study geared only towards the real estate and mortgage industry. But we can learn a whole lot about what’s working, what’s not, and the most effective and popular strategies for drumming up business via social media. It’s also a key look into what your competition is doing to capture new leads online!  Do you have a specific plan in place for generating leads from social media? Yes 64% No 26% Not sure 10%  What social media platforms are best for lead generation in your experience? Facebook 82% LinkedIn 48% Instagram 43% Twitter 15% Pinterest 9% Other 5% Snapchat 4%  What type of content/tools on your website have generated the most leads for your business? Blog posts 40% Videos 38% Original studies/research 25% Infographics 19% Other 16% Webinars 14% Direct messages 11%  What types of posts are best for social media lead generation? 41% Still image 40% Video 11% Stories 4% Text 3% Other  Would you consider automating (certain elements) of your lead generation process? Yes 69% No 23% Not sure 8%  Do you do your own marketing or hire a professional/company/team?
Hire someone 63% Do it myself 31% It depends/Don’t know 6% *** If you have any questions or need some help, just contact me – and feel free to share these graphics. Your friend, Norm :-)
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 You can be the best real estate agent, loan officer, or business owner in the world, but If you don’t have enough clients, your business will die – and quickly. In fact, prospecting, networking, lead generation, and sales constitutes about 85% of your actual time and energy! (Or, it should.) So, the golden question for any sales professional is, “How can I exponentially increase my pool of potential clients?” While there are no magic tricks in marketing, the closest thing you’ll find is publishing a book. I wrote the book on ______. It's also a damn-good way to leave your competition in the dust. Envision this - you walk into your next listing appointment/home loan consultation/sales meeting and end with, "Oh, by the way, I literally wrote the book on _______." and then plop your newly published work down on the table. Effective, huh? I’ve written and self-published eight books myself now and co-authored or worked on at least twice that number for clients. So, I know how any Realtor, loan officer, or business owner can utilize it as a powerful lead magnet and secret weapon for closing more deals! To be clear, you aren’t going to make money selling your book. If you think you’ll amass significant coin by peddling your eBook for $2.99, forget about it. (I'll share an awesome marketing system using your book to generate leads.) But, done correctly, publishing a book is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that will allow you to:
Your book will serve as a powerful lead magnet! There are far more benefits to publishing a book in your field:
Plus, a book release party will be damn fun!  Let Amazon.com and Apple market for you!
On Amazon.com – the world’s largest bookseller between print and Kindle eBooks – 200 million people shop or browse EVERY SINGLE DAY! Apple Books (formerly iBook), Barnes and Noble.com, Nook, and other smaller distributors see tens of millions of people searching for books and content every day. That’s a monumentally huge untapped resource of consumers who are actively looking for information and content in a particular subject. That includes the subjects of buying or selling real estate, getting a home loans, real estate investing, market updates, How To’s, or whatever field your business operates in. Think of it like this – so far, you’ve probably been fishing in a small pond (and doing well), but think of the sales potential now that you’ll get a chance to cast out into the ocean! Don't worry - it doesn’t have to be Moby Dick! I’m not talking about penning your juicy real estate tell-all memoir (although that would be entertaining to read!) In fact, it doesn't even need to be 100 pages long. We can call it a “book” for the purposes of this article, but writing and self-publishing content can come in many different forms, including:
Some of these can be as short as a dozen pages, or as long as short as you’d like since the material will be instructive and professional. Here are some examples: The First-Time homebuyer’s Handbook, by __________ (Do you think that might generate more than a few first-time homebuyer leads?) 10 Mistakes Home Sellers Make That Kill Their Profits, by_________ 25 Things Every Consumer NEEDS to Know About Home Loans, by________ 10 Tips to Save Money on Your Mortgage, by ___________ It’s even better to get super specific in your niche and add geo-targeting if you only do business in your local city or region: Your 2020 Sacramento Real Estate Report & Forecast, by _________ Investing in Sacramento; Everything you need to know about real estate for profit in the 916, by_________ Your California Down Payment Assistance Report, by _________ You get the idea – and the possibilities suddenly get our pulse racing. The goal is to get your name, face, messages to the largest number of people who are eager to read what YOU have to say and get YOUR help. But I don’t know how to write a book (and I don’t have the time)! Yup. That’s where I come in! And you’ll be amazed when you see how efficient and cost-effective it can be to write and publish your own content, from A to Z. (Not to mention, your potential ROI is through the roof when you sell real estate or home loans). Feel free to hit me up if you’d like more information or just to chat about the possibilities. -Norm :-) P.S. Look for part two of this next week when I break down the perfect marketing system to leverage your new book into emails, leads, prospects, and closed deals!  Back in the day (which was only about 15 years ago before most marketing migrated online), it took a lot of legwork to become a local expert – literally.
Realtors walked the neighborhood and knocked on doors, introducing themselves, hosted open houses in the area, and sent out (expensive) postcards to a "geographic farm." These days, there's a much more efficient path to becoming a neighborhood expert and dominating your local market, whether you're a Realtor, mortgage lender, insurance agent, chiropractor, or any business owner. To get started, I've made a list of ways you can do just that - largely utilizing the internet to reach large numbers of people in your target area and convert them into followers then clients. Here are 25 ways to become a neighborhood expert and dominate your local market: 1. Of course, a great place to start is a monthly blog or graphic that covers the real estate and housing market for the area, with key stats like median prices, days on market, price per square foot, the number of listings, and if those numbers are trending higher or lower since the previous month or year. 2. You can also create a fact sheet for buyers that are new to the area, with info about schools (just no school rankings or qualitative data), local parks, community centers, hospitals, and utility providers so they can easily get services like water, trash, electric, cable TV and Wi-Fi turned on. 3. Self-publish a short neighborhood guide, handbook, special report, or checklist on Amazon.com and iBook. (SUPER opportunity!) 4. Write up your own top-10 list for:
By the way, a great way to set these up so that no one is #1, #10, etc. and feels put off or offended is just listing the top 10 alphabetically. 5. Write about any interesting facts or trivia about the neighborhood. 6. You should also definitely cover the history of the area or specific neighborhood as far back as you can find it, and people LOVE historic photos! 7. Document the economic data for the area, such as employment stats, the percentage of white vs blue collar jobs, the largest industries, biggest employers in the region, etc. 8. Produce a blog post that shows interesting and fun maps for the neighborhood (such as a hand-drawn map that highlights the best coffee shops, restaurants, and other amenities). 9. Highlight the Neighborhood Watch (without getting into crime statistics). 10. Do a Back-To-School or graduation special post or blog for neighborhood schools. 11. Email out a newsletter with community information, that weekend’s happenings, and fun events. 12. Write up a quick profile on a referral partner or other business that is well-established in the area. By getting them on board and sharing it with their followers, too, you'll instantly get name recognition with an exponentially larger audience - and earn their thanks! 13. Create a profile on the public parks in the area. 14. Go into the farmer’s markets and health and fitness options in the area, like a profile on golf courses, the best gyms, etc. 15. Write up a holiday calendar. 16. Start your own hashtag or Facebook or Instagram page for the neighborhood – not just for you. 17. You can also post a local interest photo and ask people to submit a funny caption or hashtag it. 18. Run a weekly contest or raffle with a neighborhood angle. 19. Cover special events like block parties, parades, concerts in the park, festivals, fairs, etc. 20. Make a fun post about your “Perfect Weekend” in the neighborhood, with all of the places you’d go, establishments you’d dine or drink in, etc. 21. Cover any local pro athletes, celebrities, or other notable people that either are from the area or live there now. Document the different types of architecture and design elements you find in that neighborhood (works best in older areas). 22. Do you have a local radio show, TV station, magazine or community newspaper? Create a profile about them (and ask about a free ad in exchange for the promotion!). 23. Interview or profile on the police chief/police force. 24. Interview or profile the local Assemblyman, politician, or even the Mayor! 25. Of course, you can also set up a weekly email or post(s) that highlight the nicest and best homes for sale (in your estimation) in the area, promote any open houses (if you’re a lender, or listings with your same brokerage if you’re a Realtors). Even if they aren’t your listings, you can sure attract buyers that are interested in that neighborhood! *** I hope that these prove helpful! If you need any help getting started on these ideas or have a great idea of your own you’d like to share, please hit me up at [email protected]! -Norm :-)  Hey Realtors - if you’re making three or more of these mistakes, you’ll need to make some big changes to stay in business!
1. Not building a high quality team. To be a truly prolific in real estate, it’s vital you build a core team of vendors and professionals who are really good at what they do. Of course you’ll want to do business with a great lender, very adept title and escrow people, and even pest inspectors, home inspectors, handymen, movers, etc. Referring great people to your client to serve their needs is a fantastic way to add value and ensure they have a good experience. 2. Not holding themselves accountable. Especially for new agents, it’s important that when you go to work every day you know exactly what activities you’ll be doing. Part of that success is a solid marketing plan and a time management skills, but the real winners hold themselves accountable to follow those plans. For that reason you’ll want to carefully track all of your marketing activities and measure results. Only then can you discern what is working and what is not, and make the appropriate shifts. 3. Not treating it like a business. Remember that as a Realtor, you don’t just have a job; you’re building a business. Yet many real estate salespeople forget this and fail to draft a business plan, a marketing plan, strategies for growth, schedule their time properly, and plan their finances accordingly. 4. Not utilizing tech Dedicated professionals understand that technology is a big part of the client experience so it should be embraced – not seen as a threat. Therefore, they stay up on the newest relevant tech developments and serve as a guide and educator for their clients when it comes to that aspect of their job. Of course this doesn’t mean they waste time on social media or very niche tech that won’t help their clients- quite the opposite. 5. Including a Call To Action on all ads and marketing. A surprising number of real estate professionals make this mistake. They pay big money and put a lot of effort into developing their website, blog, social media accounts, flyers, radio ads, etc., and then send them out into the world. But even if that marketing does reach the intended audience, there isn’t a call to action – a place for them to go or something for them to do. Asking them to sign up for updates, subscribe to an email newsletter, call for more information, schedule consultation, or request a free eBook or report are great Calls to Action that will actually capture leads and boost your marketing results exponentially. 6. Not developing a marketing plan or tracking results. If you’re a new agent, it’s essential you make a detailed marketing plan that maps all of the avenues you’ll use to reach potential clients and bring in new business. But don’t forget to track those results and document your findings as you go. That will allow you to reevaluate your marketing plan every 90 days, making changes based on what is working well and what is a waste of time. 7. Not taking advantage of training and education. Without fail, the professionals I see who make the most money and have the greatest success constantly invest in themselves; reading books, listening to tapes and podcasts, going to seminars, and even tirelessly perfecting their craft - sales – and their knowledge of their product, real estate in local markets. 8. Not creating systems. Like the old saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll always get there.” So successful pro’s build a detailed business plan and execute that plan with discipline. They also create systems so minor tasks can be automated and important functions of serving the client are never missed. But instead of making things mechanical, systems free them up to focus on personal relationships with their clients and give them more time to be a better business person and human being. 9. Not specializing. When you start out in real estate, you may hold the perception that you should chase all types of business and never turn down any deal. But in reality the most successful Realtors specialize in one area of expertise. That may be luxury homes, first-time buyers, short sales, or selling homes in a particular neighborhood. Of course you’ll help other clients, but focusing on one thing helps you establish expertise and differentiates you from the competition. 10. Not savings and budgeting. Realtors can make a great living and easily earn a six-figure income if they work hard and do the right things, but one downside of that earning potential is the time lag inherent to the business. From prospect to paycheck, serving a client and closing a deal could take months. So make sure you budget and work with a solid nest egg of savings so you won’t be financially desperate when you go to work. Clients may pick up on your motivation for short-term profit instead of thinking long-term about adding value and filling needs, which is when great business usually starts rolling in. 11. Not making prospecting your #1 priority. When you sit down at your desk with your To Do list every morning, do you start with the easy items? If you want to be successful, you better start with the most important activity any Realtor can undertake – prospecting. Working to generate new leads and business each and every day is the #1 way to not only survive but also thrive in this business. 12. Not separating YOU from your business. As much as Realtors work, it’s hard for them not to not take their work home at night. As difficult as it will be to turn off “work mode” the top-producing Realtors know there needs to be a healthy separation between work and personal life. Scheduling time for family, exercise, self-improvement, and relaxation and down time is essential if you don’t want to maintain a high level of energy and focus instead of burning out. *** While I can't save you from all of your mistakes, I CAN help you with a critical piece of your success: online marketing that brings in new clients. Contact me at [email protected] for more information! |
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