Modern Agents, Need Modern Solutions:
Everything you need to know about embracing the 21st Century:
The past few years have seen a rapid growth in our digital world, alongside a decline in some of our strongest estate agency brands. The internet is dominating whilst the world of traditional businesses has become a sink or swim scenario. Online estate agents have gone from strength to strength, utilising the growth of the internet to their advantage.
But what about the traditional high street agents that are still paddling in the shallow end? High street agents must adapt to their surroundings if they want to keep their head above water. They must embrace change, rather than reject it and take the first steps to welcoming our modern world, as modern agents.
Social Media
Social media is such a powerful presence in our society. To underestimate it, is to commit marketing suicide, as its various platforms are wide reaching and highly influential. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. all target different audiences and are received in different ways.
So where should you start?
Twitter is used by millions of people, who all utilise its services for a wide variety of reasons. On Twitter you can find political debates, recipe ideas, and of course, those funny cat videos. Because of its open possibilities, it is a very casual platform where tweets are limited to 280 characters meaning that content must be short and sweet.
Key phrases and hashtags can be used to make sure that your content gets the maximum amount of exposure that it can. Tweets, unless you have a private account, can be seen by anyone if you make yourself easy to find. Searches are more likely to pick you up if you use relevant keywords and hashtags. Think of it as a social SEO.
The chances of your page being found, amongst the sea of thousands, can be low. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some top tips to make sure that your Twitter account is up-to-scratch and helps your digital marketing as an estate agent.
- Full Bio
- Make sure that your bio is complete, professional and accurate. Did your mother never tell you that lying is bad?
- Be Present
- Share relevant content, post engaging tweets and make sure that everything is informative and, most importantly, fun.
- Follow
- Click that ‘Follow’ button strategically. Don’t just click on everyone, follow relevant people so you too will become a relevant account for future followers.
- Consistency
- Don’t lay low and don’t push your brand in people’s faces. Maintain a healthy medium with your presence on Twitter, this will be the most beneficial for your social media marketing.
- Maximise Engagement
- Hashtags, as previously mentioned, will optimise your potential audience size. Making your account easier to find and encouraging people to follow you and engage.
Instagram is very similar to Twitter, however its feed is focussed around images, rather than text. Pictures are accompanied by text which can include hashtags, links etc. making your content much easier to find by search. Good quality pictures are key, so make sure that your fingers aren’t in the corner of the camera, and that it isn’t too blurry. Don’t worry too much though as a few filters, intelligently used, can make a bad photo look passable.
Creating a Facebook page is very easy, and there are many different ways that Facebook can be used specifically for businesses.
Facebook, however, is much more of a personal platform, where people catch up with friends, stalk their exes and of course, watch those cat videos. But this platform does have a very specific business tool where you can look after your page as you would your website. Many companies don’t have their own website, and purely use their Facebook page as their main contact point.
It’s free, however you can pay for Facebook ads, which can be really influential and gain vendor leads that are highly valuable.
Think of LinkedIn like a professional and formal Facebook. This is the place to shamelessly plug your company. Show off those awards you have won, the 5 star reviews that you have received and all of your press coverage (the positive stuff at least).
Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn is completely free, however you can pay for a premium account and unlock your businesses’ full potential.
Blogs are becoming increasingly popular in the property world. Estate agents are expected to not only be able to sell or rent your property, but also to provide information on the best wallpaper trends of Spring, or how to arrange your plants to get a better price for your property and also to improve air quality in your home.
Some argue that they are a waste of your precious time. But they can actually be incredibly successful doors to your main website. Keywords can increase your SEO standing and bring potential vendors directly to your site. Linking back to important, client based pages is a great way to turn someone searching ‘how much rent should I charge my tenants’ into a new landlord using your lettings services.
It is all about creating seamless leads that smoothly transitions readers into vendors.
Listing online
High street windows are a tried and tested method which has proven itself successful, but not everyone has the time in our society to peruse the shop windows for their next property. House hunters would much rather sit on their phone, tablet, or laptop and scroll through pages and pages of properties, given all of their options in one place.
There are the obvious options of Rightmove and Zoopla but these can be expensive, with prices reaching up to £1,750 per office, per month. But, keeping up with online estate agents means keeping prices low and budgeting effectively. That is why companies such as TheHouseShop are the perfect investment. You can list for FREE.
Nick Marr, co-founder of TheHouseShop comments on the need for agencies to embrace our modern times:
“Staying modern and relevant is key to surviving in this world. Estate agents need to embrace change, rather than running from it.
“Utilising the internet to promote themselves is a great way to optimise a business. The web has thousands of opportunities for finding and generating new vendor and valuation leads, you just need to be willing to try.
“I think a lot of estate agents are missing a trick by failing to make use of free marketing and lead generation platforms. On our site, agents can get free listings, vendor and valuation leads and a fresh new audience. The internet can be an expensive place; online estate agencies don’t have to pay the same high street rent that traditional agents do, and therefore Rightmove and Zoopla fees are not that much of a financial hit. However, for those on the high street, fees can often be higher than their monthly rent, therefore, agents need to be intelligent with their finances. Utilising free platforms is highly resourceful and exactly what a modern agent needs to be.”
Modern Agents Need Modern Solutions
List with TheHouseShop for FREE
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