TikTok: Video Makes the Real Estate Star

TikTok became a rising star in social media at the start of 2020, and it has been going strong ever since. With more than a billion active users, it has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, and creative real estate teams have found many interesting ways to integrate TikTok into their social media marketing. If you're new to TikTok, consider this your introduction to the platform and your guide for how to get started.

Introducing TikTok, the Newest Social Media Sensation

Before we dive into the details of how to use it, we need to answer one important question: What is TikTok, exactly? In short, TikTok is a social video-sharing platform focused on short-form content, which allows you to create, edit, and share quick video clips. Originally the platform allowed you to post videos up to 15 seconds in length, but the limit has since increased to three minutes.

TikTok was first established worldwide in 2018 and surpassed two billion downloads for the first time in late 2020. Today, it ranks behind only Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in terms of active users for social media platforms. The fact that TikTok videos are short, to the point, and easy to share has made the platform especially popular among younger users. So if you're trying to do more to reach Gen Z and Millennial clients with your real estate brand, TikTok is an excellent place to be seen.

While mastering TikTok takes time, its popularity also comes from how relatively easy it is to get started. You can quickly shoot videos on your phone, use editing features within the app to customize your video, and post it to the world. Video content is already such a great fit for real estate marketing, so TikTok is a natural place to invest some of your social media efforts.

Want to Build an Audience? Start with Consistency

While TikTok hasn't been "figured out" to the same extent as Facebook or Instagram, we do know some things about how the platform's algorithm works. For example, one of the most critical factors in growing your audience is posting content consistently.

Like with many social media platforms, it's helpful to create a posting schedule. This might mean posting a video every day or posting a few times a week. Whatever schedule you establish, try your best to stick with it. Consistency doesn't mean overnight success, but it's a big key to growing your audience over time.

Keep It Short and Sweet

While the video length limit was expanded from 15 seconds to three minutes, the most popular TikTok content is still short, sweet, and to the point. The length of each piece of content that you post will naturally still depend on the topic. For complex topics, a longer video may be more fitting. But for most content, shorter is better.

There are a few reasons why shorter videos tend to be more popular. First, TikTok started as a platform for sharing concise videos, and that's how many users still see it. But there's also the simple fact that your audience is more likely to watch a short video to the end and engage with the content. As you make more videos, your analytics will tell you more about which lengths work best for your audience.

Be Authentic and Show Some Personality

Whether you're browsing TikTok or watching a commercial about the platform, it quickly becomes clear that TikTok is all about self-expression. That means celebrating the authentic version of who you are, and many of the most popular TikTok accounts do just that. Put another way, it's hard to succeed on TikTok by pretending to be someone you're not. So, don't be afraid to show some personality, give people a peek behind the curtain at what life is like as a real estate agent, and be authentic with your audience.

Make Complex Content Relatable

Educational content is quite popular on TikTok, but users aren't necessarily looking for long, complex content that overwhelms with detail. The most popular real estate TikTok accounts tend to break down those complex ideas to make them as relatable as possible for their audience.

YouTube might be the place for a 15-minute deep dive on a real estate topic, while TikTok is the place where you take the same idea, break it down to the essential concepts, and explain it in a quick, accessible way. While the shorter length of TikTok videos makes things easier in some ways, it can be challenging at first to break down big ideas into relatable concepts. Practice, check out what other agents are doing on TikTok, and experiment to see what types of videos work best for you.

Experiment with Themes and Series to Keep Your Audience Coming Back

No matter how well you break down a topic, some big ideas just won't quite fit within the 3-minute limit for TikTok videos. And that's okay! Creating a series of short, relatable videos about the same topic can be a great way to educate your audience and keep them returning to your account to check for fresh content.

Themed posts are another powerful way to grow your audience while making it easier to stick to your posting schedule. For example, you could post advice for buyers on one day, home improvement posts on another, highlights of local attractions on another, and fun, personality-driven videos to cap off the week. The possibilities for themes are nearly endless, so it's well worth experimenting with and researching themed post ideas for real estate.

Use Relevant Hashtags to Help Interested People Find Your Videos

Now that you have some ideas for how to make great TikTok content, we'll close with a topic that will be familiar to any agent who's dipped their toes into social media marketing. Like with most social platforms, TikTok is big on hashtags. By tagging your posts with relevant hashtags, you can reach people looking for content related to those hashtags.

Relevant is the key word there because you're trying to connect with people interested in real estate content. Using popular hashtags that aren't related to the actual post may provide an initial, artificial traffic bump but won't result in people sticking around to see what you have to say.

The Bottom Line for TikTok Success

One of the biggest themes of our TikTok advice is that it's crucial to experiment and find out what works for your brand. This is because TikTok is still a relatively new platform, but also because authenticity and self-expression are such integral elements of TikTok success.

Of course, the agents who have already found success on TikTok are also excellent sources of ideas. Don't be afraid to check out their content, discover what works for them, and adapt the best ideas to fit your needs. By carving out a TikTok niche, you can ride the wave of the most popular new social platform in years while building connections with the Gen Z and Millenial audiences that are quickly becoming the largest demographics in real estate.

To view past Real Estate Marketing and Technology articles and read more from the February 2022 issue, click here.

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