All real estate is local real estate. And no platform helps to emphasize that more than social media.
As Strategic Creative Director of nm+u, the Agency of Record for advertising and social media at Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, I can say that BHGRE® not only has incredibly strong brand recognition, but it is a brand that resonates with consumers 365 days a year — just look at the magazine in every checkout line. And that magazine partnership helps validate the brokerage as an “approachable lifestyle brand.”
So the challenge for BHGRE affiliated agents is to translate that strong recognition into local differentiation. My job is to help empower them to use social media and stay on top of trends that can help them effectively grow their local brand.
What’s changing in social media marketing?
First, let’s look at video. People have become more comfortable with “cell phone” quality video and no longer view a lack of high quality as a sign of reliability. In fact, people are more likely to see a highly produced video as less authentic, which means it’s perfect for anyone with a cell phone and something to say to become trusted content creators.
Personal content is another trend. Authenticity is everything. If you aren’t genuinely engaging or engaged in your own topics, it’s a guaranteed fail. People need to find their niche on social media, to celebrate what they’re personally passionate about and own that. Not only does it resonate with other like-minded individuals, but it makes creating content much easier, as it doesn’t feel like work to do so.
The last trend to think about is frequency. Our team has noticed a continual increase in the amount of content being shared by users and brands on almost all channels. Where best practices used to say one post every other day or so, that trend is moving toward two or more pieces of content a day to keep up with the demand of the hungry scrolling thumbs everywhere.
Meet ‘familiarity marketing’
The more you see something, the more familiar it becomes. And familiarity breeds trust. Agents have been using some form of familiarity marketing for years and years. Before the world went digital, you could tell who the big players in a market were by spotting them on billboards, benches or shopping carts.
But today, social media can even the playing field.
At the lowest cost-per-thousand reach of any media, high-frequency visibility is now within the reach of anyone. Combined with a personal, engaging approach, that strategy not only showcases your face but shares your personality, your knowledge, and even your effectiveness.
Social media marketing is a way you can ‘scale the handshake.’ Where you used to have to make personal calls to check in or be out and about in your communities to see potential (or past) clients on a one-on-one basis, social media done right is now a way to reach dozens, or hundreds of clients, with a single post. An Instagram photo featuring a well-prepared latte accompanied by a great biscotti from the newest neighborhood café reaches far more people and invites far more comments/interactions than the one or two people you might see in person just by going there.
However, this kind of constant curation can be very time-consuming, taking you away from other business-critical activities. That’s why BHGRE affiliated agents can take advantage of the BHGRE Social Tool to aggregate content from custom sources, then schedule it to help speed up the process while still delivering daily, relevant, thoughtful comments to their followers.
Content generation for the content generation
On the BHGRE Facebook page, you can watch a video where I dive into familiarity marketing and social media even deeper. I’ll talk about the importance of generating thoughtful, personal, stand-out social media content in today’s extremely saturated media market.
Plus you’ll get a closer look at the proprietary Social Tool the brand has built to help support affiliated agents in doing that while streamlining the process so it’s more effective, but with less of a time investment.
Tune in to AllThingsRE now and start watching!