2 Content Marketing Strategies for Agents that Want to Crush It

There once was a day when real estate agents were either considered "content marketers" (inbound) or "Pay per click," Adwords, banner ads, and farming guys (outbound). These days, though, the two methodologies of marketing have crossed paths--leading to new, interesting opportunities.

Because the typical homeowner is overwhelmed with advertisements from other agents, sending out pertinent, educational content to establish yourself as the thought leader in your farm area is a great way to make your brand rise above the rest of the noise.

For agents that have heavily relied on Facebook marketing as a means for generating real estate leads, content marketing has also become more important than ever. As you know, Facebook changed their algorithm, putting the most importance on ads that Facebook users deem pertinent and useful. Ads that are engaged with the most, shared the most, and commented on the most are the ones that win.

While content marketing is becoming more important every day, there is still a very large divide in the real estate industry in respect to whether it's worth pursuing or not. The thing I find most interesting about this is that nobody ever questions the effectiveness of real estate content marketing. The objection to content marketing revolves around the amount of "elbow grease" it will take to deploy an effective strategy. I guess I understand this objection. After all, as a real estate professional, you are in the unique position of wearing all the hats. Time is always a premium item and something that you never have enough of. That said, creating a good content marketing strategy doesn't have to take a ton of your valuable time.

Today, I want to share two easy strategies you can use to crush it with content marketing.

Educational Content Puts You on a Different Level than Your Competition

If you never do anything else, the most effective content marketing strategy you can employ is to send homeowners in your marketplace information that not only is pertinent, but also educational. The more you teach something to a homeowner, the more likely you are to establishe yourself as the local thought leader in their minds. The benefit of this is that when a homeowner finally does decide to sell their home, you will be top of mind with them—and therefore someone they will definitely call to schedule a listing appointment.

I know this might sound a bit simplistic, but it absolutely works and will pay you back in ways you could not imagine possible. The reason it works is because of how we are wired as humans. There is a saying: "Givers gain." This applies here. The gist of it is if you are willing to give people all this great information with absolutely NOTHING expected in return, homeowners are going to psychologically feel as if they owe you something in return. This, along with your established history as a thought leader or area expert, all but guarantees you will get a call for a listing appointment when the time comes.

Repurpose Your Content to Help Manage Time Spent on Your Real Estate Marketing Efforts

When discussing content marketing strategies with real estate agents, the time objection always comes up. Additionally, agents lament that they simply can't come up with enough different things to generate that will effectively get their name out in the market. The trick here is not to focus on how much time things will take. Instead, focus on ways you can repurpose the content you have created, getting exposure to the maximum number of people and spreading your brand more effectively.

Take our company as an example. When we create a video, we put it on our YouTube channel and upload it to our Facebook Videos page. Then, we take the video and turn it into a blog post on our blog. And now, the latest thing we are going to be doing is taking the audio of these videos and putting together a podcast series that agents can listen to on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud and Stitcher. So, with one single piece of content, we are hitting Realtors on four different online channels. That is a fantastic spread for a single piece of content.

The reason it's important to repurpose your real estate content is not just to help save time, but also to ensure that you are hitting the maximum number of people possible. You see, different people prefer different online sites and types of content. Some people may like watching long form video, others may love catching up with their friends on Facebook in the evenings and are likely to click on an ad on their timeline. Some people may love to listen to podcasts in the morning when they are on the treadmill at the gym. If you simply focused on one channel, you could potentially be greatly limiting your reach. The more you limit your reach, the greater your chances of failure.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.