CHALLENGE: Make your social media look flawless in 7 days

In March’s Marketing and Branding Month, we’ll go deep on agent branding and best practices for spending with Zillow, Realtor.com and more. Top CMOs of leading firms drop by to share their newest tactics, too. And to top off this theme month, Inman is debuting a brand new set of awards for branding and marketing leaders in the industry called Marketing All-Stars.

There’s never been a better time to put your best face forward. As part of Marketing and Branding Month, we invite you to take our 7-day challenge and report back on your progress. Take the challenge, and give your marketing a refresh, from bio and headshot, to website, to social media and more.

Social media marketing is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it provides an almost unlimited potential audience at little or no cost and the ability to target your marketing with virtually unparalleled precision. On the other hand, it can be a total pain to manage, and if you do it wrong, it can actually do more harm than good.

In addition, it’s tough to know which sites to use and which to ignore. It seems like there’s always something new on the horizon, and it’s easy to start a profile and then gradually forget about it. That means that over time you end up with outdated and inactive accounts across a variety of social media platforms — and no cohesive plan.

The good news is that you don’t have to be active on all of your social media pages — you can reboot your brand by choosing one or two, committing to them regularly and then building from there. 

Focusing your efforts

One of the biggest misnomers about social media is that you have to embrace every new platform that comes along, going all-in and becoming a power user. Unless you have a media team behind you, the odds are you won’t have the bandwidth to do that while also running your actual real estate business.

Instead, you can focus on the platforms that work for you and that you enjoy using. After all, you’ll always be more effective when you like what you do.

Where do you have lots of fans and followers? Where do you get a lot of engagement? What platforms do you use personally, even when you’re not promoting your business? Those are likely the ones that you’ll be most effective on for your business.

Check your analytics, and see what has worked for you in the past. Is there a certain type of content that works well for you? Lean into platforms that reward what you’re already good at.

Platforms worth looking into

Here is a big-picture overview of the platforms you’ll probably want to choose from:

• LinkedIn: Professional content, including long-form blog and informational writing. Great for connecting with colleagues and industry leaders.
• Facebook: Community involvement, glimpses into your personal life and sharing new listings. Great for connecting with your sphere of influence and with folks in the neighborhoods that you serve.
• Instagram: Visually oriented with posts for evergreen content, Stories for quick shares or day-in-the-life video content and Reels for short-form video. Helpful for establishing your brand and raising your professional profile.
• TikTok: Playful and informative short-form video content. Connect and lead gen with a younger crowd of Gen-Z and millennial clients.
• YouTube: Primarily long-form informational video content plus YouTube Shorts for short-form videos similar to TikTok or Instagram Reels. YouTube search results rank high on Google, so good for building brand authority. Helpful for out-of-towners moving to your area and for community-based content.
• Twitter: Commentary and content sharing. Twitter results rank high on Google as well. Useful for branding and distributing other content.

Should you delete unused social media accounts?

The short answer here is “No.” There are a couple of reasons for this:

• If someone ever spoofs you online, the longevity of your account will help you to establish yourself as the real holder of the brand or business name.
• If a potential client is looking for you online, it’s better for them to find something rather than nothing when they search.

Suppose you decide to stop managing one of your platforms. In that case, you can always leave the current feed as-is and then pin a post to the top (if this option is available on the platform) or add a note in the profile letting people know where they can find you for updated information.

For example, say you’re planning to discontinue using your Twitter account. Your pinned tweet could say something along the lines of:

I’m taking a break from Twitter, but please join me over on Instagram at @writingrealestate.

Ready to update your social media feeds this week? Here’s where to start

Sign in to each of your accounts with new passwords and enable two-factor authentication for enhanced security

  Update your profile picture with your new headshot

  Update your cover photos or banners

  Make sure all profile info is complete and up-to-date, including address, hours, location, website URL, your new bio, etc.

  Create or update any auto-messaging responses

  Take a look at who you’re following and unfollow as needed

  Revisit the hashtags you commonly use, and revise as needed

  Update branded graphic templates, boilerplate copy, frequently used graphic elements and other content as needed

  Audit your feed for outdated content or content that no longer reflects the brand story you’re telling

  Update inactive accounts that you no longer plan to use with a pinned redirect message to the platform(s) that you plan to keep active moving forward

  Spend time checking out the competitors in your market to see what they’re posting, when they’re posting and what trends they’re leveraging

  Brush up on new features that have been added to your favorite platforms, and learn how to optimize them

  For accounts that you plan to use regularly, create a content calendar for the next six months, and set reminder notifications. Don’t forget to account for holidays and important milestones in your market or business

  Time-block sufficient space on your calendar for updating or pre-scheduling your social media content either daily or weekly

Social media doesn’t have to be a dreaded chore. When your social media accounts are up-to-date and you have a plan for using them, management is simpler, and your social media marketing is more effective. In addition, by focusing on one or two platforms instead of trying to be everywhere at once, you’ll feel better about the process and the results.