Real estate social media: why you should have a professional profile
A professional social media profile allows estate agents to reach potential clients during their daily leisure time, communicate directly without corporate distance, run targeted ad campaigns, showcase their property portfolio to a broader audience, and collect client testimonials. According to 2021 statistics from Sprout Social, these platforms connect agents with massive global audiences: 2.9 billion users on Facebook, 2 billion on Instagram, 1 billion on TikTok, and 810 million on LinkedIn.
Advantages of working your social media for real estate
You and we both know that the daily work of an estate agent is already demanding enough, which is why CASAFARI’s solutions for estate agents are built to streamline daily tasks. Thus, if an agent needs to take on a new task, especially one that requires dedication such as content creation for real estate social media, it must be worthwhile.
Then, let’s see why starting a social media profile is worth the time and effort.
Be where your target audience is
Younger couples, single well-paid professionals, middle-aged investors with grown children: the social media have reached them all.
For Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, young adult professionals represent the largest share of active users. However, this does not mean only young people use these networks. Since 2020, younger users have concentrated on TikTok and Snapchat, while older demographics remain active on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, with a balanced distribution between men and women.
They are there to share their thoughts, to follow what’s going on in the lives of their friends and family members, to share amazing moments with their following, to learn, to stay informed and for many other reasons.
Working with social media for real estate means being part of the content your potential clients consume on their day-to-day routines, opening a new channel to reach out to your target audience.
And there’s another interesting point to consider, if you think about when are you getting in touch with potential clients. If you wait for them to come to your website or find your properties on real estate portals, you’re reaching these people only when they are thinking about buying, selling or renting a property.
Your time window to convince them to buy a property on your portfolio is rather short: not only are they searching for your competitors as well, but these potential clients can change their minds and focus on another task at any moment.
Whereas, if you work with social media marketing for real estate, you get to reverse the order of things: you actively reach these people (instead of being found) when they’re in their leisure time, scrolling through posts and relaxing. Meaning: you create a new moment to talk to them about your work.
You can surprise them with great, useful and unexpected content (more on that later!), make them feel excited about a possible new property and inspire the desire for doing business with you.
Talking straight to your potential client
While your agency’s website can feel standardized and distant, on your social media for real estate you can step aside from the corporate language and communicate in a way that shows more of your personality. This will make your audience feel more connected to you as a person and maybe even more willing to talk to you as a professional!
The same goes for where you communicate with them. While the contact form on your website or on an email there’s some distance and formality between you and the potential client, social media is quite the opposite. It’s where they go to exchange points of views, send personal messages and communicate openly.
So, when potential clients come to you in the comments or in the inbox of your real estate social media profiles, make good use of this moment. Listen to their doubts, insecurities and expectations about the real estate market and the process of buying or selling a property. Also, take the time to explain how your services can benefit them, customizing your answers according to each one’s needs.
It allows you to:
- develop a closer relationship with potential clients,
- understand which kind of content would be helpful for your audience,
- give them a “sample” of how would they be treated once they’re your clients
- and show them your knowledge of the market, positioning you as an authority.
This creates an ideal foundation for building trust.
Running ads with endless options to find the ideal target
Most, if not all, social media offer companies and content creators the chance of running ad campaigns to target users with chosen characteristics and broaden your audience. And the criteria you can use to set your target are endless, really.
On Facebook or Instagram, for instance, you can show your ads to people of a certain age group, that live in a specific part of the country and that have interests similar to the ones your current clients show. Also, and that’s very interesting, you can target people with a similar behaviour to those that interacted with your profile or your competitor’s profile recently.
On Linkedin, on the other hand, the B2B and professional character of this network really shows. Besides being able to choose the target audience for your ads based on demographics, you can also choose who to communicate with based on their professional role, seniority level, industry and company they work for.
Your social ads do not take an extra effort, they can use posts that you already created and that provide good content to your audience. This way, you work smartly and increase the chances of your posts attracting an interested audience to your profile.
Showing your portfolio to a broader audience
This is probably one of the most relevant reasons for you to invest in social media marketing for real estate. Basically, creating shareable, interesting and target-focused content—such as sharing your portfolio with SmartLinks—and choosing the right set of keywords will allow you to profit from the way social media operates, spreading the word of your work for new and bigger audiences.
And the bigger the audience, the bigger the chances of converting them into leads and actual clients.
Easily catching testimonials that work as social proof of your work
Real estate social media is all about credibility. You want to enhance the way your audience sees you as an authority when it comes to the real estate market to make sure they hire you when in need of an estate agent.
So, showing your following that you help your clients reach their real estate goals is definitely something you should do. And the good news is, once you’re stepping up your social media marketing for real estate, you have even more potential to gather feedback from satisfied clients!
Definitely benefit from positive feedback from your clients, whether provided on social media or by email. Transform them into content for your profile and let their words speak for the quality of your work.
3 quick tips to improve your social media marketing for real estate
Ready to start your professional social media for real estate? Read our real estate social media marketing guide to discover what you need to know before you begin.
Think about the message you want to convey on your bio
Your bio is probably the first thing people see when they arrive at your profile. Meaning, it has to be a proper attention grabber!
Each social media will allow you to write a certain amount of copy and they vary a lot: while Instagram restricts you to 150, on Linkedin you can take up to 2,600 characters! But, no matter in which network you decide to begin your real estate social media efforts, the first few words of your bio should answer:
- Who you are
- What you do professionally
- How do you transform the lives of your clients
- Your contact information (email and mobile phone number in the appropriate field for it)
- Your website or another interesting link (to subscribe to your newsletter or any other content, for example)
For example, a good inspiration could be:
Melissa Hart
Estate agent specialised in the Portuguese market. I help you find your forever home in no time and within your budget.
So, before writing, make sure to answer: what can your audience accomplish with your help?
Take some time to answer your audience
This one is pretty straightforward: there’s no way an estate agent can get closer to their audience other than interacting with them. Invest time in creating a connection with your following to increase the chance of them becoming advocates of your work and recommending your profile for others.
Besides, these personal interactions are, as we said before, a great way of further understanding who your potential client is: which are their concerns, hopes, ideas, doubts. The more you get to know your audience, the more your content speaks to them and the better results you will get.
Keep your content frequent and consistent
You want to stay on top of your audience’s mind and, in order to do so, you will need to keep in touch. Post constantly and keep talking about the main subjects your social media for real estate works with to maintain your reach and interactions at a high level.
And whenever your creativity fails you, here you can find a few content tips for estate agents.
Ready to get started? Log in to your preferred social media platform and get this communication going.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Frequently asked questions
Which social media platforms reach which age groups for estate agents?
According to Sprout Social demographics from 2021, the largest user group on both Instagram and Facebook is aged 25 to 34, while LinkedIn has 58% of its users in that same age bracket. Younger audiences have concentrated on TikTok and Snapchat since 2020, whereas older demographics remain active on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, maintaining a balanced distribution between men and women.
How does social media change when an estate agent reaches potential clients?
Instead of waiting for prospective clients to visit an agency website or property portal when they are already actively looking to buy, sell or rent alongside competing agents, social media enables proactive outreach. Agents can engage potential clients during their leisure time, sparking interest earlier in their decision-making process.
What targeting options do Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn offer for real estate ads?
On Facebook and Instagram, estate agents can target ads by age group, location, interests and behaviour similar to users who recently interacted with their profile or a competitor’s. On LinkedIn, targeting extends beyond demographics to include professional role, seniority level, industry and specific employer.
What should an estate agent include in a professional social media bio?
Despite character limits ranging from 150 on Instagram to 2,600 on LinkedIn, a professional bio should clearly state who you are, what you do, how you assist clients, contact details such as email and mobile number, and a link to your website or newsletter.
How can CASAFARI help estate agents share property listings and market data on social media?
Estate agents can use CASAFARI tools to share interactive property pages, market reports and valuation links directly on their social channels and profile bios. This converts social media followers and profile visitors into qualified buyer and seller leads.
Frequently asked questions
Which social media platforms reach which age groups for estate agents?
According to Sprout Social demographics from 2021, the largest user group on both Instagram and Facebook is aged 25 to 34, while LinkedIn has 58% of its users in that same age bracket. Younger audiences have concentrated on TikTok and Snapchat since 2020, whereas older demographics remain active on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, maintaining a balanced distribution between men and women.
How does social media change when an estate agent reaches potential clients?
Instead of waiting for prospective clients to visit an agency website or property portal when they are already actively looking to buy, sell or rent alongside competing agents, social media enables proactive outreach. Agents can engage potential clients during their leisure time, sparking interest earlier in their decision-making process.
What targeting options do Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn offer for real estate ads?
On Facebook and Instagram, estate agents can target ads by age group, location, interests and behaviour similar to users who recently interacted with their profile or a competitor’s. On LinkedIn, targeting extends beyond demographics to include professional role, seniority level, industry and specific employer.
What should an estate agent include in a professional social media bio?
Despite character limits ranging from 150 on Instagram to 2,600 on LinkedIn, a professional bio should clearly state who you are, what you do, how you assist clients, contact details such as email and mobile number, and a link to your website or newsletter.
How can CASAFARI help estate agents share property listings and market data on social media?
Estate agents can use CASAFARI tools to share interactive property pages, market reports and valuation links directly on their social channels and profile bios. This converts social media followers and profile visitors into qualified buyer and seller leads.