In the competitive real estate business, content marketing really help to differentiate you from other realtors. Content marketing is a useful tool to help you make your presence known online, drive more traffic to your website, and establish you as a trusted resource in your neighborhood or specialty.
You probably already know that content marketing can help you win business. But what kind of content marketing should you be focusing on?
Here’s a guide to six places you can invest your energy and marketing dollars, for maximum impact.
6 Pieces of Content Marketing Every Realtor Should Invest In
1. Blogging (but be strategic and don’t just focus on houses)
A blog is one of the most basic yet essential tools in any realtor’s content marketing arsenal for a number of reasons (stats care of Social Media Today):
- Blogs generate leads. Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than those without.
- Websites with blogs have 343% more indexed pages (meaning they can help your business get picked up by search engines)
- 60% of consumers feel a company’s positivity after reading a blog
- 70% of consumers learn more about a company through blogs than through ads
Blogs are also a great way to showcase your knowledge of the real estate market and provide helpful tips to potential clients. You could blog about everything from how to stage your home to the best season to sell your home.
Don’t forget to focus on experiences. People don’t just buy houses—they buy homes, a place that will mean something to them for years to come. Look for ways to tap into that emotional connection in your blog themes, such as “X reasons why you should move to this town” or “X things the community has to offer for families/millennials”. You could also invite guest bloggers from local businesses or preschools to share what they have to offer and why the area is so great.
Then, take that content and amplify it on social media and in your email marketing. Check out my tips for how to blog to boost business growth.
2. Video marketing
Video is a great tool for introducing yourself, your real estate team, and your company to the world. Video lets you share your story, tips, and tutorials; showcase homes and communities; and brings a multimedia element to your website, social media, and email outreach.
All it takes is a smartphone and a little preparation. Commit to posting a new video once or twice a month, even if you’re just repurposing existing content, like summarizing tips you’ve shared in your blog. You could also ask a happy client for a testimonial (focusing on things like how you went above and beyond for them), showcase community tours, or share insights into the latest real estate market trends (home sales, mortgage rates, etc.)—the possibilities are endless.
There are a number of apps that make it easy to capture and share video to your website and social media, including Animoto, WeVideo, and Flixpress. Read more about using video to market your real estate business.
3. Helpful checklists and cheat sheets
Buying and selling a home is a complicated business. Offering helpful real estate checklists and cheat sheets for potential clients is another way to position yourself as a useful resource. Offer them as giveaways on your website (in exchange for an email address) and promote them in your blog, email, and social media.
4. Infographics
We’re all better at absorbing information when it’s presented visually and succinctly. Infographics are a great way to do this.
Use shareable, eye-catching infographics to convey key information, such as survey results, market statistics, your firm’s statistics, and tie these together to tell a compelling story about why they should “act now” or use your services. Infographics are also highly shareable on landing pages, blogs, and social media.
Not sure where to start? There are a ton of tools out there, many of which are free. Check out these 10 awesome tools for creating infographics.
5. eBooks
This one can seem daunting, but an eBook could be as simple as a collation of a series of blog posts (perhaps you wrote several blogs about staging and showing a home—pull them together with an intro and you’ve got an eBook). eBooks can range anywhere from 5–20 pages and should be easily digestible. Again, offer them online in exchange for an email, either in PDF format or work with a pro to create a flippable format.
6. Email newsletters (but only after you’ve done some of the above)
No realtor’s content marketing strategy would be complete without email, but be sure you have something interesting, relevant, and engaging to say or readers will quickly unsubscribe. This is why it’s important to have a content plan and assets in place before you send a single email (and why I’ve placed this last on the list).
Sharing information about your current featured properties is great, but try to offer readers something more than just another vehicle for advertising your listings.
Include snippets and links to your blog, videos, and other content. Encourage readers to follow you on social media. Hosting any special events? Promote them here. And spend some time on the design—make sure it reflects your brand, is clean and simple with plenty of white space for an easy read.
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