The benefits of producing and distributing real estate content are clear: save time, generate more and warmer leads, build your expertise.
But how do you get started? And how do you get more effective?
Here in this post, get answers from 9 experts to this question: If a real estate agent wanted to be more consistent, intentional, or effective with their content marketing efforts, what one tip would you provide?
1 Marc Davison: 10 Content Tips
1. Think editorially. Know your brand, your voice and marketplace and produce content that is always on brand and provides value to your viewer/reader
2. Don’t publish for publishing’s sake. Too often, agents feel like they need to make noise and show up so they post nonsense. A meme. A quote of the day. A picture of their food. If your brand is about frivolity, then this is ok. But if you are trying to build a serious brand, post less, say more.
3. Be consistent. Pick a niche and focus on it. I read a lot of content on design and branding. If a design blog I read decided to blog about politics or religion of something off topic, I’d leave and most likely never return.
4. Stay within your category. This bolts on to #3 but agents who sell real estate should create content that plays somewhere within this category not outside it.
5. Write like you mean it. Just because you want to write and like writing doesn’t mean you can write or should. Nothing kills compelling like bad grammar, poor punctuation, bad sentence structure, etc.
6. Design your content like you mean it. Blurry pictures. Poor use of typeface. Self-generated arts and crafts like design scream amateurish.
7. Use an editor. No great, smart, successful, compelling writer accomplishes that without help from experts. Find someone you trust to run every bit of content through before it goes live.
8. Wait 24 hours before hitting send. Nothing you post is an emergency and no one is sitting anticipating your next round of content. Whatever your write, design, create, when you think it’s done, wait a day and revisit it. 99% of the time, you’ll notice things that you can tweak to make even better.
9. Create an editorial calendar so you know what you are going to write and when. This helps keep you focused as a content producer and enables your audience to stay with you as you create.
10. Don’t do what you suck at. Just because real estate gurus overzealously preach content creation, this doesn’t mean you need to listen to them. They get paid to cheerlead. They aren’t you. If you don’t like writing, or taking photos or creating content at all – don’t do it. Put that energy into what you are good at and invest everything into that. Apple doesn’t create content. They design and build incredible products. It works for them, this advice will work for you too.
2 Katie Lance: Pick a Day
One tip for someone who is starting to be purposeful would be to pick a day you are going to publish content and stick to it.
It doesn’t matter which day but when you are consistently doing something like publishing a weekly video, a weekly blog, or a weekly Facebook Live – people will start to take notice.
Consistency counts as well as consistently promoting that content across email, other social media, Facebook ads, etc. Promotion is the name of the game!
3 Travis Robertson: Consistency for Success
Consistency is critical. Most people don’t put out consistent content and, therefore, never get very good at it. This, in turn, keeps them from putting out content. The more they put out, the better they get and the more they are able to create. It’s a flywheel in either direction.
4 Kelvin Krupiak: Narrow Your Focus
The reason I see a lack of consistency or intent with respect to digital marketing is the agent either doesn’t believe in its potential or they’re overwhelmed. Now if they didn’t believe in the power of digital marketing I assume they wouldn’t be reading this, so let’s say they’re overwhelmed.
The solution here is to narrow your focus: if you’re trying to figure out blogging, video, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and email marketing all at once you’re going to get frustrated and give up. Focus on one platform at a time and add another into your marketing strategy when you’re comfortable. Get consistent with Facebook: grow your audience there, learn how to post to groups, learn how to run ads, get reviews and testimonials on your Facebook business page. Then move to something like creating video since it’s going to become the most dominant form of media in the next two years. Video can then be used to further increase your success in a medium like Facebook or email.
If you’re going to survive in an industry being flooded with new marketing ideas, tips, and strategies narrow your focus.
5 Kendyl Young: Be Yourself
It sounds cliche, but there’s no other way to say it – “Be yourself.”
Lean into who you are. “You don’t need to be that outsize personality in order to leverage some of the tools we have in video and social media.”
“Be yourself and be authentic.” (NOTE: this means you have to figure out who you are!)
6 Valerie Garcia: Tell a Story
It sound trite, but it’s true: Tell a story!
Don’t just tell me about a product or a service. Tell me how it’s going to change my life, or make me laugh, or solve a problem. Tell me about how others use it or love it or hate it. Tell me about the way I am going to feel if I use it or buy it or live in it.
Going that extra step to take your message to a point where I can relate it to my own life is going to make all the difference.
Every single product, service, or home has a story. As a marketer, it’s up to you to find it and tell it.
7 Justin Stutz: Be Local
Be local. “When I think about some of the best content I receive from businesses, it’s extremely localized. That’s what’s meaningful to me.”
International, national, and state information is all well and good, but ”when it really comes down to my business partners, I want them to bring information that has to do with the neighborhood I live in, with the city and state I pay taxes in.”
“One advantage real estate agents have that platforms like Zillow don’t is that they can be local connectors and local problem solvers. That’s just something the big boys are never going to be able to compete with.”
8 Andrew Fogliato: Promote Other People
“Look for people in your area you can help and promote.”
Match local business owners with common consumer questions to promote the area, promote the people, promote the businesses, etc. Don’t just promote yourself!
When you help and promote others, you get better reach, better response, and better results.
9 Jared James: Start
Nobody starts as an expert.
That’s it. Nobody starts as an expert.
Don’t get thrown off by someone you watch who is soooo good at delivering great content or is great on video or whatever. We all sucked at some point. My first YouTube video is so bad that I unlisted it.
Becoming an expert is earned by starting, sucking, and then getting better. Effort matters and the more you try, the better you will get. Just like nobody starts as an expert … nobody who quits ends as an expert either.
Get the Guide to Compelling Real Estate Content
A huge THANK YOU to these 9 experts for sharing their tips and insights.
Get more from them – and from 8 others, including:
Chris Smith & Jimmy Mackin from Curaytor
Kelly LeClair from LeClair Real Estate
Michael Thorne from TMB Real Estate
Seth Williams from RETipster
Teri Conrad from Agent Quest
Justin Tucker from West/WFG
Seth Price from Placester
Every one of these real estate content pros answers: How do you define compelling real estate content? and What’s one tip you would provide to someone who wants to be more effective?
To get your guide, visit the BombBomb Blog and enter your email address at the end of the page!