How to get more followers for your real estate business

take your profile off private

Having a respectable number of followers is one of the first hurdles (if not the first hurdle) you need to overcome when making a good first digital impression with your customers.

Your social media profiles are the first places new clients are going to look when researching your business and your offer as a realtor. Once you have made first contact through a Google Ad, flyer, in-person conversation or phone call, they will immediately check their favorite social media platform to see how you measure up.

Just like making a first impression in the offline world, making too much of an effort will only put your client off, and making no effort at all will result in you being totally forgotten.

When a potential client visits your Instagram profile for example, and sees you have 25,000 followers, the chances are they won’t be as impressed as you think. Having 25,000 followers isn’t a bad thing, but customers may leave with the impression that you spend most of your time cultivating your social media image and not selling houses.

Likewise, if you have 53 followers and a handful of poor-quality images, they will leave with no impression at all.

What’s a good number of social media followers to have?

What we’re looking for here is a middle ground of 5,000 to 10,000 followers. If your social media profiles grow organically into something bigger, there’s no need to start removing followers to land back in that sweet spot. Just be transparent about how you got so many followers, show you’re still in business for the client and don’t put too much emphasis on your social fame.

So, why is 5,000 to 10,000 followers a nice medium for most people? As well as being a relatively achievable milestone, this number says the following things about your social media activities:

1. I see the value in social media, but I’m not obsessed with collecting followers.
2. My followers are a small group of real people who are interested in my offer.
3. I focus my time on being a realtor, not an influencer; this number is the result of that.
   
   

So, if you’re looking to get into that Goldie Locks zone of not too hot and not too cold, then here are a few tips for building up your social media following.

 

 

Promote your social media accounts anywhere and everywhere

Starting with the obvious. If you’re putting effort into social media, you want that effort to pay off and to get yourself in front of as many past clients and new prospects as you can. Here are a few easy-to-tick-off ideas to get you started:

1. Take your profile off private and set up a business account. We want people to actually be able to see you!
2. Feature your social icons on your homepage. Most website backends will allow this in either the ‘header’ or ‘footer’ of your homepage.
3. Include your social icons in your email signature. It’s best to do this in both your newsletters and personal email correspondence.
4. Add social media handles (the name you can be found under on social media platforms) to your business cards.
5. Take the best performing piece of content from each week and boost it in your area.

 

 

Don’t let your social media profiles gather dust

Posting consistently counts when trying to attract new followers. Remember, people curate their newsfeeds, recommended videos and suggested articles very carefully, and may only commit to following your account after a few weeks of seeing your high-quality content.

Posting every day might seem like a big task to begin with, but as long as you schedule your content at least one week in advance you will be surprised to see how easy the routine becomes.

Don’t let your accounts become derelict. When potential new clients and followers see you are posting regularly, they will have faith in your business and your offer.

Join the conversation 

Be sure to put aside a few minutes each day to respond to comments on your social accounts, and to leave some on other people’s. This is a great way to boost organic engagement on your content and show that you’re more than just a provider of quality content, you’re also a person your followers can speak with.

 

 

Let your personality shine through 

Don’t be afraid to show a bit of your personal life, share a professional joke or a touching moment that happened to you or your clients. You could even work these themes into your content schedule. 

For example, Mondays are for motivation; Tuesdays are for listings; Wednesdays are for posting jokes; Thursdays are market updates; Fridays are inspirational stories. It’s always best to give people something more for the weekend, such as a long blog article or podcast. 

The important thing to remember is to keep it appropriate for your audience. It should go without saying but steer clear of politics, divisive topics or anything that could reduce the chance of somebody doing business with you.

And there you have our quick guide to building your follower count on social media!

What are your best practice tips for social media? 

Generating your own voice and your own results on social media takes time, routine and learning from what your audience is telling you. There are a few things to keep track of, but as more and more people turn to social media to find their new home, you need to be ready to meet them there.

How are you using social media for real estate, and what tips do you have to build up an organic and responsive community around your brand? Let us know via our social media channels below.