Real estate companies today depend on their online presence more than ever. Home buyer research is now beginning online instead of at the real estate office. This change has caused real estate companies to focus their marketing resources to reaching potential buyers online and becoming a leader of real estate virtually. A great tool real estate companies are using to reach new audiences and potential buyers is social media. Although this tool can be useful if managed properly, many real estate companies and agents feel that social media is too time consuming and there is no way to measure results; in reality, this is far from the case. Social media monitoring can be time consuming if certain tips and tactics are not used in the process. Wondering how your real estate company can succeed with social media without logging long hours online? Use these social media monitoring tips to improve engagement and gain more followers!
Use a Social Media Management System: To monitor your accounts, your real estate company needs to be on social media. Creating and managing these accounts is easier with a social media management system. These systems enable realtors to post to many different social media networks in one place instead of logging into each account individually. Many systems provide you with account feeds, allowing realtors to monitor their Twitter and Facebook feeds from one spot. Examples of these programs include HootSuite, Sprout and HubSpot’s social media management tool.
Set Goals: The first step to improving your monitoring is to set goals for your networks: what are you trying to accomplish through social media? Are you trying to drive traffic to your website, promote specific homes or increase your overall real estate presence in a specific area? This will help you determine where you should be spending your time on social media and what networks will work best for your company.
What to Monitor on Each Network: Now that you have determined the networks that work best for your real estate company, what should you be watching for on these networks?
- Twitter Mentions and Hashtags: Determine relevant hashtags to your industry and specific area and follow these feeds through Twitter. This will help you see and retweet relevant information to your followers and others following the handles you use in the retweet. Any time your real estate company is mentioned in a tweet, be sure to respond to show that your company appreciates the recognition.
- Facebook Comments, Messages and Shares: Follow relevant pages through Facebook and be sure to share the information you deem important with your followers. Be sure to respond to and comment on your posts to show that your company is engaged on the network. It is also a good idea to comment on other posts occasionally to help promote your company as a leader in the industry. *Note: Be sure to respond to negative comments as well. If you handle these comments properly, your company can use this to show that you do care about customer service.*
- LinkedIn Groups: Find real estate and professional groups that your target audience frequents. If you are active in these groups and provide relevant information for the groups, the members will appreciate the information and remember your company when it comes time to purchase. These groups also offer a wealth of information that you can share throughout social media.
- Google+: Google+ often has many in-depth articles and blogs that provide information your target audience desires. Follow relevant hashtags on Google+ (as you do in Twitter) and share the great content with your followers.
The monitoring mentioned above may seem tedious, but if your real estate company sets up feeds within your social media management system, tracking these feeds takes very little time and you are able to share with your networks quickly. Using these ideas can reduce the time spent on monitoring, giving your company more time to spend on other marketing efforts. Do you have social media monitoring ideas not mentioned in this blog? Comment below and let us know your great ideas!
