 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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 Would you like to win a free Starbucks card? How about a gift certificate to your favorite restaurant? Or even have a chance to win an iPad?! Of course, you would! After all, who doesn't like winning free stuff? And that's the basis of an incredibly powerful – yet underutilized - marketing tool for mortgage lenders, Realtors, and any small business owner that I’ll talk about today: Contests, giveaways, and raffles on social media.  Psychologists have found a nuance of human behavior that's nearly universal: we love to win just about anything, and we love free. In fact, studies prove that people vastly overvalue an item, good, or service if the word "free" is attached. Such is the case with an advertising campaign conducted by Krispy Kreme years ago when they offered a free donut to each patron on one particular day. The lines were so long that people had to wait up to two hours just for one donut (how much is two hours of your time worth?). The promotion was so frenzied that the donut retailer ended up having their most profitable day ever! You can use this same psychology to promote your business, albeit online and without the donut (eat that yourself). To give you a broad definition, we’re talking about giveaways, raffles, and contests (I’ll refer to them as GR&C) as interchangeable since they’re basically the same thing despite subtle differences. Likewise, these all can be conducted online via your website, Facebook, Instagram, or any social media account, email blasts, or any combination. Today, I'll mostly talk more about GR&C's for Facebook, but contact me if you want strategies for promotions on Instagram or email. The basic premise is simple: we offer something of value for free for the winner(s) of these GR&C’s as a way to promote your brand and business. The benefits to you will include:
 What might a GR&C look like on Facebook? Here are a few ideas to get started: -A quiz or trivia contest -Caption contest -Help us name (something) contest -Fill in the blank contest -Funniest GIF contest -A random drawing for new people that like your page -Random drawing for all of your followers -Fan/Client/Follower of the Week -Funniest/best selfie contest -Choose your favorite _____ contest -Raffle off something -Vote for something -Transformation (lose weight in 30 days, best before and after makeover, etc.) -A social media scavenger hunt, where you give clues and people have to take a photo at those places around town or per your instructions My favorite GR&C’s involve some form of a photo contest: -Take a funny selfie -Take a selfie or photo somewhere recognizable in the city/neighborhood you live in -Take a photo of a DIY home improvement or decorating project you did -Take a selfie or photo in front of one of your For Sale signs -Take a photo of a home you’ve helped buy or sell -Take a photo of the funniest/best/most creative ______ you can find -Take a photo from a certain event or holiday (Christmas/back to school/baseball game, etc.) The possibilities for great GR&C’s involving photos are endless, giving you important social proof, humanizing your brand, and also gaining far more interest than text alone. You can also extend this to videos but realize that you'll get fewer participants.  What can you give away? Prizes can range from free (you can bake cookies and deliver them!) to ridicuslouly fun and pricey. I once ran a promotion where a client gave away two tickets to a Justin Timberlake contenst! Here are some other ideas:
The key to a good GR&C is that you make it simple and document the rules clearly. That includes:
 To promote your GR&C: Create a nice graphic that clearly explains the contest, the prize, the terms, etc. You can also post about the GR&C on your blog, website, all over your social media, and via email blast. When the deadline ends for submissions, there are several ways you can decide the winner. It can be a random drawing based on names-in-a-hat or random number selection (which you can video and post), or you can simply choose your favorite. But my preferred method for picking a winner is by posting all of the photos from the participants (assuming you ran a giveaway with photos) and let your followers vote for their favorite. The photo with the most likes wins! That also encourages participants to share their photo/your post to encourage their other friends to like your page, follow you, and vote. Cross-promotion with a popular brand or local business To step up the promotion for the sake of enhancing your business, partner with a local business in the city or neighborhood where you operate. Businesses will often gladly give away a restaurant coupon for a free meal, a free car wash, a free massage, a free coffee, etc. just because of the advertising it will yield them. By bringing in a local business, you also encourage them to share it with their extensive customer database on Facebook and elsewhere, so you’re really gaining massive new exposure to a new audience.  Before you fly off and start setting up GR&C’s on Facebook, there are some rules and regulations you should be aware of: From what I’ve read, you can only run these GR&C’s on your business page (not personal). You also have to clearly define the terms and rules, who is eligible, and share a standard Facebook disclaimer that states that Facebook isn’t involved in any way. You also CAN’T ask contest participants to:
Here are Facebook’s specific rules for promotions like this: E. Promotions 1. If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including: a. The official rules; b. Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and c. Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals) 2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following: a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant. b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. 3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend's Timeline to get additional entries”, and "tag your friends in this post to enter" are not permitted). 4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.  Final notes: My advice is to start small, with a simple Starbucks card giveaway or random drawing. But start to do it regularly – like a Free Giveaway Friday, as an example, or on the first day of every month. Eventually, people will flock to your Facebook page regularly as word gets out and they realize that you're consistently giving great prizes away. And remember – you share these same giveaways, raffles, and contests on Instagram, through your email, and elsewhere. Give it a try – and contact me if you want to game-plan and get some help! Norm :-)  
There’s little doubt that you’re using Facebook as a platform to tell people about your business and attract new clients. But, if you’re like most Realtors, mortgage lenders, and even small business owners, you’re probably using your personal Facebook profile to do so, at least to some extent.
Uh oh. Sure, you created a Facebook business page a long time ago (about half of all real estate professionals and business owners do), but I’m guessing it’s now an afterthought. Instead, you prefer to interact, post content, and share your day-to-day business on your personal page. That’s a mistake. You’re wasting invaluable opportunities to market, promote, and grow your business. In a field where even one or two more home sales, closed loans, or new clients makes a huge financial difference, it’s critical that you not only set up a Facebook business page but utilize it correctly. I know what you’re thinking – but the people I know interact with me more on my personal page, and I don’t want to abandon that and start over with a business page. I have a quick and nearly-effortless solution that’s a win-win, so scroll down to the end if you want to see it. So, what are the benefits to a Facebook business page instead of just your personal profile? I’ll cover 10 important reasons why they are better than personal pages here and 10 more reasons in part two of this blog. 1. No limit to the number of fans Facebook personal profiles are capped at 5,000 friends, which you can reach pretty quickly if you have a growing business or practice. But with pages, there is no limit on the number of fans and followers you can engage and interact with. (Samsung is the top brand with 159 million likes, followed by soccer star Cristiano Ronaldowith 122 million likes.) While you may never reach Samsung/Ronaldo status on Facebook, don’t sell your business short by capping its potential growth at just 5,000 people. 2. Reach a Targeted Audience This is so important. If you’re a real estate agent, growing a social media following with people who live 100 miles away won’t do you any good. But you do want to market hard to your city, the 10-mile radius around your office, or even a certain neighborhood. And if you’re a mortgage lender, most of your business may come locally, but you can close loans throughout your home state. Likewise, local business owners need to carefully zoom in or out on a geographic target market to optimize business. Facebook business pages allow you to do just that, pinpointing your social media presence on the map. (I’ll talk more about targeting with ads and boosted content in part two of this blog.) 3. Facebook Insights With a Facebook page, you don’t need Google Analytics, as Facebook Insights will do the job for you. With Insights, you can access a mountain of data about your viewers, audience, reach, etc., using it all to improve your reach. You can even download a custom Insight report for more detailed stats and data, but this is only available on pages – not personal profiles. 4. Facebook Tabs You may notice on sophisticated and well-built Facebook pages that there’s a tabbed area under the cover photo, like a horizontal menu on a website. You can customize those tabs (sometimes with the help of third-party apps) to do just about anything, from Search Now and other call-to-action buttons to newsletter and blog opt-in forms, giveaways (we’ll talk about that next), video introduction, featured listings, and much more. Sorry – can’t do that with your personal profile. 5. Run contests, raffles, and giveaways Facebook is pretty specific with their rules regarding contests and giveaways on personal profiles – you’re not allowed to do it. But Facebook pages are the perfect place to run these special offers and fun contests, energizing your audience, creating a buzz, and feeding your marketing funnel (gathering emails, etc.). If you’re not doing some of these on a regular basis, you’re missing out on a HUGE opportunity (just make sure to check DRE for any regulations). 6. Reviews and testimonials Garnering 5-star reviews and glowing testimonials are so important in the real estate, mortgage, or small business game, where establishing social proof and building trust are paramount. You can do exactly that with a Facebook business page, but the only one leaving you a testimonial on your personal page is your disgruntled ex. 7. Connect to Facebook Places When your Facebook business page is optimized correctly, that page will connect automatically to the appropriate Facebook Place. Not only will that display all of your professional contact info, but it allows your clients and friends to check in. Check-ins are huge for growing your business because they show their friends that they’ve using your services, even in a mobile business like real estate, as well as sharing photos, videos, comments, and reviews of your services. That’s a very valuable promotional opportunity – and free with Facebook Places. 8. Contact info and other nuts and bolts I can’t tell you how many times consumers find a business website, page, or other social media account but can’t locate the most basic of info, like their phone number, email, address, website, and hours of operation. There is no good place to highlight these things on a personal profile, but with a business page, all of that will come across loud and clear – helping eager home buyers or sellers find you! 9. Enhanced privacy Business pages offer many more ways to monitor, screen, and filter the content that others are sharing on your timeline and page. Likewise, since your business page deals with your vocation and not your personal life, you’re creating a safety buffer to protect your identity, data, and even your family. I can’t stress that need enough as these days, being cautious and safe is so important for all Realtors, but especially female agents and business owners who might be working alone. 10. You can convert your personal profile to a business page Have you invested years of time and work into your profile, building it up to a few thousand friends? If that’s the case, then you definitely don’t want to lose that social media account, but the good news is that you can convert your personal page to a business page seamlessly, keeping your existing friends but opening up to all of the benefits of a business page. (However, you will lose your past content, so download all of your Facebook photos in a zip file first.) *** Here’s the easy solution I promised you: Don’t want to split your attention between your personal profile and a business page? Post content to your business page first, and then share it to your personal timeline. It will still reach your personal audience but also help make them aware of your business page and promote it, garnering likes, comments, and more interaction. Boom! Look for part two of this blog soon with 10 more reasons you NEED to use your business Facebook page. -Norm :-)  Download and share your high-quality PDF version: 
 Why do we post what we do on social media?
For some of us trying to engage and attract consumers online, we post whatever content catches our eye or comes to our attention, including a constant stream of funny cat memes, before and after diet shots, and photos of our lunch. We might even mix in a testimonial, listing photo, or interest rate alert every once and a while. However, when done correctly, a successful social media campaign is far from random or impulsive, but a well-planned and orchestrated strategy to grow our online brand. So, instead of talking about the How, What, Where, or Who of your social media campaign today, I'd like to talk about the "Why." In general, I think there are 12 purposes to social media posts, images, videos, and content we share. Each of them has a unique purpose, like to reach, inform, engage, or even dictate action from your audience. Here are the 12 purposes behind your social media posts: 1. Show ‘em whatcha got! No, I’m not talking about your aspiring model photos or your lunch, but show your audience what you’re selling and why you’re in business. For Realtors, that means a steady stream of photos, videos, etc. featuring great houses, neighborhoods, home amenities, and designs, etc. If you’re a loan officer, financial planner, insurance agent, etc., show your audience the features of your service and the benefits to working with you. 2. Entertain Just like real life, make sure it’s not all serious! Lighthearted, humorous, relatable, and genuinely human posts often get more likes, followers, and engagement than our “business” content! 3. Engage The goal is not to talk TO your followers on social media, but talk WITH them. Therefore, use plenty of questions, polls, surveys, true or false, caption contests, etc. to elicit feedback and promote interaction. 4. Get local People don’t live in a vacuum, but on and among neighborhoods, communities, cities, and regions. Especially for real estate post plenty of content that speaks to the local geographic area you’re focusing on from many angles. Want to become a neighborhood expert and DOMINATE your local market? Read this. 5. Cross-promote Most sales people/brands/and companies think of ME, ME, & ME when marketing. But you can create unique opportunities and incredibly lucrative relationships by highlighting other professionals, beloved brands, notable and famous people, etc. A great way to do this is through short interviews, profiles, testimonials, and infographics, but it’s also the perfect way to gain access to a whole new huge audience – theirs! 6. Educate Breaking down what we do, how we do it, and the benefits to the end user on a super-simple level. Never stop sharing the “ABCs” of your profession through a series of tips, stats, hacks, simple definitions, and other resources. 7. Demonstrate social proof Human beings are still pack animals who look to others for signs of social acceptance, and that’s also true online, where testimonials, reviews, success stories, case studies, sharing, etc. go a long way. 8. Clearly spell out benefits I love the old sales mantra, “We’re selling holes, not drill bits.” What that means is that you should always focus on the benefit to the end user, not just the feature in fancy business speak. Make sure you post plenty of content that clearly spells out the benefits to working with you from a consumer perspective. 9. Solve problems The famous Zig Zigler used to say, “Help enough people get what they want and you’ll get everything that you want.” So, instead of just posting social media content about your products and services, spend ample time exploring the problems, challenges, and frustrations of your audience – and help by offering solutions. 10. Find your tribe If our target demographic is first-time homebuyers, for instance, we should create and share content that specifically speaks to their needs, goals, challenges, and lifestyles, etc. Your tribe may also be likeminded people who you really connect with who can help your audience, too, or become referral partners. 11. Establish credibility You should be (subtly and humbly) sharing content that establishes you as an industry leader in your field, including articles you’re quoted or featured in, awards, certifications, top-rankings, etc. 12. Gain trust When it comes down to it, trust is really the most valuable commodity we can offer our clients and audience, but it’s also hard to earn and hard to win back. So always be genuine, authentic, truthful, and transparent with your dealings, especially on social media. I hope these 12 purposes to social media posts help you have a more well-thought out social media strategy that brings in a whole lot more clients! Contact me if you’d like any more help or advice. -Norm :-)  As a Realtor, mortgage lender, or any business owner, you have a lot on your plate when it comes to marketing. For instance, by now, you have a Facebook page and a business Instagram profile (if you don’t, then contact me ASAP!). Instagram will soon surpass Facebook in terms of prevalence and reach, and it’s a perfect way to engage the under-35 demographic of home buyers (about 80+ million strong!). So, you really want to grow your following on Instagram as well as cross-promote to your existing friends, past clients, and database. Luckily, Instagram has a new feature that makes it easier to spread the word about your IG account and get new followers: Nametag. Playing off of the QR code technology, it’s basically a digital signature in the form of an image that shows your Instagram profile name. You set it up in about 30 seconds through your Instagram (I’ll show you how at the very bottom of this blog) and then, can share the image anywhere you like – Facebook, Pinterest, your website, via email or direct message, etc. You can even print out the image and people can scan it and follow you! Some smart agent will eventually put their Instagram Nametag on a billboard! When people see the image, they only have to go to their Instagram and scan it and voila! They are following you. When you go to the Nametag screen, you’ll see the default color background. But you can change colors, use fun emojis in the background to stand out, or even take a selfie and use your own image for the Nametag (even better for personal branding!). Once you’ve set up your Nametag image, Instagram lets you save it to your phone’s camera roll, share it, or email it. When someone sees your new Nametag (like let’s say you share it on Facebook), they only have to go to their own Instagram account, go to the nametag feature, and press the “Scan a Nametag” feature at the bottom of the screen and then hit Follow. Again, the QC scan technology is pretty versatile, so you can now share your Nametag image through: -Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media -On your YouTube channel -Email (how about on your email signature?) -Text message -On the sidebar of your blog -On your website -On CMAs or other special reports -Even in print form, like on flyers, a sign in your office window facing the street, on envelopes, attached to gifts or gift baskets, on banners at fairs, festivals, conferences, client appreciation dinners, networking events, etc. -On your business card! -Or even on a magnetic sticker on the side of your car! -As part of a free giveaway, raffle, or contest? -How about at open houses or home buyer workshops? Sorry, I’m getting a little too excited about the possibilities for outreach and brand awareness through Nametag. Remember that marketing is just math, and if you have a 10,000-person database that you’re touching frequently with quality content, you’re bound to sell far more homes and close more loans than if you had a 1,000-person database. Think BIGGER and use tools that help you get there, like Nametag. Contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or want some help! Best, Norm. :-) P.S. Oh, and here's my Instagram Nametag for the account @RealEstateMarktingHelp. See if you can scan it and follow me!  How to set up your Instagram Nametag: Here is how to do it: 1. Go to your Intagram account on your mobile device (doesn't work on the desktop version). 2. Click the menu icon in the top right corner.  3. Click Nametag  4. Instagram will produce an image like this:  5. You can change the style/colors etc. by hitting the Color button or save/share the image by hitting the button in the top right corner. 6. Save the image to the Camera Roll on your phone. 7. After saving the image to your camera roll, simply email it, share it on social media, print it out, or whatever you’d like!   If you’re a Realtor or mortgage lender, you’re probably active on Facebook as a way to connect and engage with potential clients. It’s definitely a vital platform for marketing, with more than a billion Facebook users in the world and 128 million active users every day in the United States. But you also have some stiff competition, with 18 million business pages on Facebook – many of them belonging to other real estate agents and loan officers – not to mention people doing business via their personal profiles.
Just getting the attention of your Facebook friends and followers is half the battle, with the average user seeing about 1,500 stories and pieces of content showing up on their News Feed with every visit. So, how can ensure that the content you post is reaching the greatest number of users? It’s important to understand how (and why) Facebook content appears on a user’s timeline. In fact, each social media platform has its own algorithm for determining the placement and relevance (and, therefore, exposure) of your posts and content. And no algorithm is more complex than Facebook’s, with more than 100,000 factors that play into how each and every photo, post, or update ranks with other users. While it would be impossible to evaluate them all, we do know that posts are given preference based on how other users react to them in certain ways. Facebook’s algorithm has also undergone recent changes, moving on from a system called Edge Rank that followed a (slightly) simpler formula. Edge Rank gave prevalence to content according to:
Posts in your Facebook News Feed will also rank based on:
Furthermore, posts are weighted according to these factors: -Average time spent on content. Websites rank much higher on Google when viewers spend more time on them, as the search engine algorithm deems them more useful and helpful to users. The same is true with Facebook, which rates a post by the average amount of time a user spends viewing or engaging with the post. (For instance, a video post will rank higher if the average user watches the whole thing instead of clicking away in the first few seconds.) -When it’s posted. Posts that go live at peak times (when more users are online and using Facebook) receive more weight. So, posting in the middle of the night may mean you have less competition for your viewers’ attention, but it will also rank worse with Facebook’s algorithm. Type of content. Facebook assigns a different value to various forms of content. For instance, we know that live video gets priority with their algorithm, followed by video, then posts with photos, posts with links, and, finally, all text. Furthermore, Facebook gives credence to those who post a variety of content, mixing it up and not posting the same form all the time. The completeness of your page profile. If we’re talking about a business page (not your personal account), the more fields you fill out and the more complete it is, the higher your content will rank. That makes sense as it signals to Facebook that your business is legitimate, and you’ve invested more effort and care into your page. How informative the post is. Facebook’s algorithm underwent some significant changes in 2016 and again in 2018, revamping how it perceives informational posts. But what still holds true is that useful, informative, and factual (hopefully!) posts show up higher on other users’ timelines. Clicking on ads. Facebook's algorithm for how ads show up in your timeline is totally different than how organic content appears, but the latter is somewhat influenced by the former. So, if you click on an ad for fishing rods and a friend posts a photo and story about their day at the lake fishing, it will more likely show up higher on your timeline. Your device and even Wi-Fi speed. I didn't know this, but Facebook actually gauges what device you're using and takes into consideration the strength of your Wi-Fi signal! They do that because certain content (like high-res live video) requires a strong internet signal and also may not be playable on older smartphones or mobile devices. Last Actor & Story Bumping. Facebook recently rolled out two innovations. Last Actor measures your last 50 Facebook interactions and uses that as a guide for what to show on your feed next. Meanwhile, Story Bumping actually gives older posts a chance to reappear in News Feeds when they get new likes, comments, and other interaction. *** Need more help with Facebook and the rest of your marketing? Hit me up! [email protected]  Instagram for Realtors: Why real estate agents need a professional profile on the world's fastest-growing social media platform.
Facebook may be still be the world’s most popular social media platform, but Instagram isn’t far behind—and in line to be called the best social media platform very soon. It’s also a terrific resource for Realtors and real estate professionals who are looking to market and gain a bigger client base (and who among us isn’t?). In fact, Instagram had 800 million monthly active users last year. This year, they’re expected to easily pass the one billion user mark. That's also more than twice the number of monthly active Twitter users, and more than three-fold over active Facebook Messenger users (but not Facebook, itself.) It’s estimated that each day, there are 500 million active users around the world. Of course, Realtors only care about active users within the United States, but 77.6 million Instagram users are from U.S. – more than one-fifth of the entire population! Instagram has now also surpassed Twitter as an effective forum for companies and brands to market themselves – including Realtors. Here are 7 other reasons why every smart Realtor should have a (business!) profile on Instagram: 1. Reaching the demographic of homebuyers today (and tomorrow!) homebuyer Homebuyers are trending younger in a big way, and Instagram is their social media of choice. For instance, 68% of today's homebuyers are under the age of 39, and that number will increase even more in coming years as Gen Y enters the workforce and is ready to buy. Additionally, 59% of 18-29 year-olds use Instagram, and many say it's the most important platform in their lives. It's worth noting that Instagram is also predominantly mobile, which follows the graph of a younger and growing audience who uses social media and the web from their smartphones (including searching for houses!) 2. Showcases houses with photos and videos Since Instagram is centered around photos and videos, it’s a perfect portal for real estate agents to display their product: homes, neighborhoods, and everything in them. In fact, Instagram videos receive 200% the level of engagement (clicks, likes, comments, shares, etc.) than photos or videos on any other social media platform. With Instagram, you can really get creative, personal, and have some fun documenting what you see every day as a Realtor, without spending significant time or energy. There’s really no limit to the kind of photos you can take to attract a bigger audience and new clients! Incredible Instagram fact: There were more photos taken last year than the previous history of the world combined! Let that sink in! 3. Instagram users don’t mind advertising or marketing at all While users may get a little annoyed at all of the sponsored posts or ads on Facebook, YouTube, and others, studies show that they actually welcome marketing on Instagram! Consider these statistics:
In that way, Instagram is a lot like a hybrid between Pinterest and Twitter than it is Facebook, and that's GREAT news for Realtors who can market boldly and unapologetically on Instagram! 4. Market to your home city or even neighborhood with Instagram’s geo-location Part of Instagram’s vast utility for real estate agents comes from its unique geolocating feature, or Location Tagging. In a study of millions of individual photos and videos, researchers found that Instagram posts that were tagged for location received 79% more engagement than those without! Since real estate agents work in such hyper-local markets of regions, cities, or even sub-markets of neighborhoods, it's easy to establish yourself in your area and reach those who live, work – and want to buy a house there – too. 5. Easy to be specific with hashtags Even better than just laser focusing our marketing with location tagging, Instagram’s utilization of hashtags allow Realtors to connect with users based on interests, products, organizations, trending topics, values, or even life experiences. In fact, posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without. You’re allowed a whopping 30 hashtags on any Instagram photo or video (and there’s a great way to maximize all of those without just listing them all in your original post, keeping an organic appearance.) You can also tag other user accounts, which is fantastic if you want to include a lot more eyeballs from other credible sources, and hashtags are also the most effective way to quickly grow your following there. 6. Less competition Realtors and real estate agents who start using Instagram to market their services have a HUGE leg up on the competition. How is that possible, since it seems like just about every Realtor you know already is on there? We’re talking about business accounts – not personal profiles – on Instagram! You shouldn’t be posting photos of your abs, your vacation, your lunch, or your dog on your professional Instagram if you want others to take you seriously. Yes, there are almost 80 million Instagram users in the U.S. and 25 million businesses or brands, but ONLY 8 million business accounts, so Realtors would be remiss if they didn’t get on board! 7. Undervalued paid ads and analytics Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk recently named Instagram paid ads the most undervalued resource for advertisers anywhere on the web! In fact, mobile ad revenue through Insta is expected to hit $7 billion in 2018! The relatively-new Instagram business profile also gives smart Realtors a huge advantage over just having a personal profile. Professionals can include their company name, phone number, and address, and also feature easy-to-use post boosting and targeted ads, as well as detailed analytics that allow you to refine your ad campaigns. In summary, tomorrow’s top-producing real estate agent is starting to take Instagram seriously today!  Like no other professionals I can think of, Realtors and loan officers are responsible for not only performing their duties of representing clients, but also acting as their own full-time marketing and advertising agencies. In fact, about 60% of the average real estate agent or loan officers’s time is consumed with marketing, promotions, prospecting, and trying to land their next client.
These days, there is no better way to grow your audience and reach potential new home buyers & sellers, purchasers & refinancers than on social media. However, too often, Realtors and LOs fail to grasp and execute the fundamentals of social media marketing. It’s understandable, considering it seems like there are so many platforms, options, and advice when it comes to social media, and not all of it in agreement! Today, I wanted to present you the basic guidelines, stats, best practices, and useful notes on the world’s top social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Linkedin. Start by implementing these basics, and you'll be on your way to the best year of your career! Key stat: Photo albums have 180% more engagement than other posts. Profile photo dimensions: Must be at least 80 x 180 Displays at 160 x 160 Thumbnail will appear on screen at 32 x 32 Display at 140 x 140 pixels on smartphones Cover photo dimension: Must be at least 399 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall. Displays at 828 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall on your page on computers, and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels on smartphones. File under 100kb is optimal. Best times to post: 1 pm most shares 3 pm most likes The highest level of user activity between 9 AM and 7 PM Best days to post: Thursdays and Fridays Extra features:
Notes:
Key stat: Tweets with images receive 18% more clicks than those without pictures. Profile photo: Will be cropped square Recommended size 400 x 400 pixels (px) Displays at 20 c 200 px Header photo: 1500 x 500 px recommended Maximum file size 10 MB Use png (best), jpg or gif photo file Best time to post: 1 PM most retweets 12 PM and 6 PM highest activity and usage Best days to post: Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays Notes:
Key stat: Instagram users engage 25% more with brands than on other social media platforms. Profile photo: Appears as 292 x 292 on a desktop computer and 160 x 160 on mobile app Thumbnails display as squares (but your original image doesn’t have to be square) Photos are also 292 x 292 Best times to post: Peak Instagram usage times are 3-4PM Best days to post: Instagram shows consistently good engagement all week long, with the exception of a slight dip on Sundays. The highest day for engagement is Saturday by a small margin. Notes:
Key stats: Linkedin posts with images get 98% more comments, and posts with links have a 200% higher engagement rate. Thumbnail photos 160 x 160 Feed images 350 x 250 Best times to post: Between 10 AM and 11 AM Best days to post: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Notes:
YouTube Key stats: 84% of consumers were convinced to make a purchase by a brand’s video, yet only 63% of businesses are recording videos to connect and inform their audience. More than 50% of all YouTube views are on mobile devices like smartphones. Channel Cover image: Full-size displays at 2560 x 1440 Video uploads: Must maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio Must be at least 1280 x 720 quality as HD resolution For highest quality, upload videos at 1920 x 1080 resolution and 4k resolutions Best time to post: 12 PM – 3 PM Around 5 PM – 6 PM Best days to post: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays Key stats: 93% of Pinterest users use the platform to make purchases, and Pinterest users spend 15x more money than Facebook users. For that reason, Pinterest drives 25% of all retail website referral traffic! Profile photo: DIsaplays at 165 x 165 on the homepage Displays at 32 x 32 everywhere else Maximum file size of 10mb Pin sizes: Pins display at 238 px wide, but their height automatically adjusts to the image. Expanded pins have a minimum width of 600 px. Board display: 222 x 150 px (large thumbnail) 55 x 55 px (smaller thumbnail) Best times to post: Pin between 8 PM – 11 PM Peak time 9 PM Best day to post: Saturdays Notes:
*** Need more help with your marketing and client acquisition? Contact me for a free ebook that will explain the essential pillars of marketing for every real estate and mortgage professional! |
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