Shake Up Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy With A Social Media Martini
In today’s post, Emily A. Hay shakes things up with a social media martini for real estate investors…
Since Patrick’s blog shares “techniques, tips, & tools for the creative real estate investor,”I can imagine that innovative marketing techniques involving social media is an important area to focus on. Patrick is a strong example of a real estate investor who has effectively leveraged social media to build a network of like-minded individuals. He consistently creates valuable content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks – the primary objective of social media or word-of-mouth marketing.
In my guest post today, I am sharing some techniques & tips to make sure your real estate investing business is set up to have an effective online presence.I know that many real estate investors are already using the various social media platforms such as Facebook & Twitter… in fact; the real estate business has some of the most active social media users in any industry around. But did you know that these profiles are just pieces of a larger social media picture? Learning how components of social media can tie together to form a strategy is critical for your real estate investing business to reach your target market. I know your time is incredibly limited as a business owner; therefore, when you dedicate your time to your social media marketing, you want to be sure you are using your efforts to yield results. The rules of engaging with prospective new customers haven’t changed; the tools simply have.
Without further ado, I’ll jump in by saying I am a huge fan of analogies and I like to think of your social media strategy as a martini.
The main ingredient in any effective social media marketing presence starts with a blog, just like a martini starts with vodka as the main ingredient. (I personally am a fan of WordPress.org platform –the large “W” icon in the middle.) Your blog is the central representation of your real estate investing business, and it ties all other social media channels together.
A lot of people get confused about the concept of a blog for business mainly because the term “blog” originated from the words “web log”; however, the concept of a blog has evolved to be so much more than a personal online journal.
Blogs are incredibly flexible and can be incorporated into your existing website as a tab for example with a few quick steps. Some real estate investors have completely migrated their business sites over to WordPress since it allows greater ease of use and customization from ecommerce capabilities to embedding videos & photos right from your Smart Phone.
Perhaps you are wondering, “If I blog for my real estate investing business, what should I actually blog (or write) about?”
As a real estate investor, it’s important to think of your blog content as a CONVERSATION about your business. Your blog can be leveraged to share information regarding what you focus on in your investing business (such as rehabs) or other areas you want to increase business in (perhaps you want to create informational products).
Here are some examples of various topics you could effectively “blog about”:
* Videos of your current rehab projects
* Insight from local investing groups you are a member of
* Tips for how to structure a deal
* List of people you should have on your team (realtor, contractor, title agency, etc)
* How to find motivated sellers
* How to generate prospective buyer leads
* A current success story of yours
* A past failure story (it shows your vulnerable side)
* Happy buyer testimonials
You could even build up the launch of a house for sale through video blog posts tracking the progress of a renovation project. Get comments and feedback along the way.
When you blog about topics like these above, you become a resource for prospective buyers/sellers and other investors. When people know they can turn to you for valuable advice and information about your properties for example, they are more likely to want to do business with you.
So now that you have visualized a blog as the “vodka” in your martini, its time to look at the other ingredients that make up your social media strategy. The various social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & YouTube can be compared to the enhancing ingredients in a perfect martini. Without them, your end result just tastes a bit “off”.
These social networking platforms are communication outlets to introduce your business and share content through. Just like various ingredients in a martini have different flavors, these social profiles give you different opportunities to engage and network with people in ways that enhance the overall end result.
Also, as part of an effective social media strategy, you will see a twist of Facebook ads, which offer a great deal of enhancement to your social media presence. Facebook ads are a more advanced concept to some but its good to know they provide an incredibly targeted & economical tool to invite people to engage with your business page and ultimately – your blog.
Similar to when an olive is stuck right through your entire martini, the messages about your real estate investing business need to be thought out and spread strategically throughout your entire social network. You want to be thoughtful and selective with the kind of messages you send out. Nobody likes to receive large amounts of spam or junk mail messages in their email inbox. The same principle applies in a social media situation and may apply even stronger. People will be turned off to your business very quickly if you routinely send “hard sell” messages about your properties without knowing anything about the person or what they are looking for. You don’t want to do a disservice to your business. Just like talking to a prospective seller in person, you need to build rapport before you have any business trying to make an offer.
It’s important to think of these profiles as “enhancing ingredients” – not the main ingredient – because if you only communicate through the various social platforms, you end up watering down the impact of your blog – the hub of your social media presence. I did a blog post recently about the importance of not putting all of your “social media eggs in one profile basket”. If you were only sharing information about your real estate investing business via Facebook, what would you do if your Facebook account was ever hacked into and completely lost?
When using the social media profiles to expand your network of buyers/sellers & investors, keep in mind “quality over quantity.” Additionally, by keeping an active blog, you are building a broader story overtime about your real estate investing business, which leads to broader relationships and opportunities for more business!
I hope that this post provided some you with some overall tips to set your social media presence up for success. Remember, if you are aware of how these components come together to make social media effective for your real estate investing business, you are already ahead of a great deal of your competitors!
Thanks for reading!
Emily A. Hay
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Emily A. Hay is a Blogger & Social Media Manager specializing in working with small businesses. She helps business owners discover and implement specific tactics to grow through social media.
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