If you are a real estate agent or Realtor who has not tapped the potential of digital marketing, you’re missing out on a world of opportunities. Digital marketing has brought about massive change in the real estate industry, and with millennials making up 92 percent of today’s homebuyers, it’s high time you implement digitalization in your business.
Buyers today are tech-friendly and often use the internet as a go-to consultant for answers when they want to invest in a property. With digital automation looming large on us, people are totally dependent on the internet, making digital marketing even more lucrative for real estate industry.
Read on for seven ways to use digital marketing to get more leads for your business.
1. User-friendly website
According to the National Association of Realtors, around 90 percent of buyers between the ages of 25 and 36 used the internet to find their homes, and 42 percent of all real estate buyers surf through the internet first to check for houses on sale.
You get the hint, right? To be in the rat race, you need a website that is captivating and smooth enough to cultivate leads for your business. Since it’s real estate that we are talking about, you must remember that the website needs to be visually appealing. The solution for this would be getting an IDX website.
While word-of-the-mouth still counts, you would want to make your online presence felt too. The website should be professional and responsive so visitors can veer through without any technical hassles. A home is a very personal buy, so make sure the visuals on your site send out vibrant and positive vibes to prospective buyers.
2. IDX app
A website is just the first step toward digitizing your real estate business. After getting your website rolling, the next move is investing in a mobile application. Since the number of mobile phones users is increasing by the minute, it’s imperative that you’re ready.
We are in a “mobile-first” world now where cell phones are used for everything. Even if your website has a mobile-friendly interface, people still prefer mobile applications that are feature-packed and easy to use.
Do you really want to miss out on the thousands of leads you might generate through a high-functioning mobile app? While investing, make sure you go for an IDX provider for your app too.
3. Facebook
It seems like almost everyone has a Facebook account. If social media is ruling the world of digital marketing, Facebook is definitely topping the list. Even if you only consider content marketing, Facebook can work wonders for real estate agents who share both pictures and other content like market reports relating to the homes for sale.
You can even share your recent blogs on Facebook. Just make sure you do not use your personal account. Instead, create a separate page for your business and share the offers, discounts and sale details through Facebook.
Having an account isn’t enough — you must also stay active on Facebook, so maintain consistency in your posting activities. In addition to this, respond quickly when you get a positive review or a request for a quote. It is through interaction that you will be able to generate and convert leads for your business.
Along with this, you can use Facebook Live to give a virtual tour of the homes listed for sale, or try out the 360-degree feature for photos.
4. Other social media
When we talk about social media, we don’t mean just Facebook. There are so many great social media platforms that are not appropriately tapped. Let’s start with Instagram, shall we? Instagram is mainly for the pictures, and since so many buyers want to check vivid photos of the houses they are interested in, Instagram is tailor fit for the job.
You can post pictures of open houses and even create short stories to keep your prospective buyers engaged. You can even create polls and A/B testing on Instagram, which will help you to build your marketing strategy according to the preferences of your clients, thus bringing in new leads.
Twitter is a great platform to share market reports and blogs. You can even create groups and keep close contact with people through WhatsApp. Plus, a Google+ account can help you have a more professional outreach.
5. Video marketing
Did you know that videos generate 4 times more listing inquiries? In this wake of digitization, video marketing is considered to be a significant part of a real estate marketing strategy. You don’t have to hire a professional for the job — just search for some online video-making tools that can help you create small but quality videos.
Although the content is important, a video speaks better than an infographic or a blog post. So, keep a gallery of both long and short videos ready, so that you can connect with your audience on a more personal level. And at the end of the videos, make sure you have a call-to-action so that people know what to do right after.
Start a YouTube channel and ask your viewers to subscribe to your channel, give feedback or visit your website for more details. You can then go on to promote your YouTube video on every possible platform.
6. SEO
Every component of digital marketing comes back to one determining factor: Search engine optimization (SEO). Unless the website, the videos and the blog posts are made SEO-friendly, all your efforts are sure to go down the drain. SEO will help your website visibility on search engines, thus enhancing your chances of generating leads from the search traffic volume.
Since Google makes up about 64 percent of online searches, make sure that you use Google Analytics to get a better listing. At the same time, don’t neglect other big search engines like Bing and Yahoo.
Get an SEO analyst to work on the relevant keywords that are used by consumers to find houses in your area and base your content on such keywords. “It is only when your domain, the website and the content on it will have the right keywords, bringing in more leads for your business,” Mark Swain, SEO analyst for assignment help site MyAssignmenthelp.com, says.
7. Email marketing
If you think emails are a thing of the past, you’re wrong — and you’re making a huge mistake. Nowadays, most people access their emails through their mobile phones. Long gone are the days when people had to switch on their desktop to check their emails. We can now sync our mail accounts to our phones in less than a minute.
According to eMailmonday, very soon 75 percent of email will be opened via mobile devices, making laptops and desktops a little more dispensable. So tap the potential of email and create a newsletter to send to prospective buyers regularly.
Email marketing leads you to better contacts and also helps you stay connected with other customers. You can notify your clients about offers and discounts, new posts and events through emails.
Digital marketing is a lucrative option for generating leads, but it is necessary to be very wise before you foray into the field. Almost 48 percent of the total buyers aged 18 to 34 have complained about the repetitive ads on their smartphone. So choose your marketing channels very carefully, and do not forget to try the above-mentioned formulas to see prospective buyers flocking to your door. All the best!
Ela Lewis is a graduate from London University who found her passion in academic writing. She has been a great source of essay writing guidance to many students through Myessayhelp in the UK. Apart from this, she runs a successful blog to enlighten the students about the essentials of essay writing.
