10 Questions Home Sellers Ask Google (and 40 Key Phrases to Target Them)
Last week, we posted a list of common homebuyer questions and keywords for targeting buyers with Google Ads. But what about sellers? Never fear—we wouldn't dare overlook this valuable demographic. That's why today, we're providing a list of common questions homeowners ask when considering selling their home, and corresponding key phrases for each. Tip: These questions and key phrases are good for more than just target sellers with ads. Each question is also a great prompt for writing a blog or newsletter post. You can even work the related key phrases into your post to get it to rank higher on Google. That way, sellers looking for answers to these questions see your blog post, visit your website, and learn all about a great Realtor who has all the information they want. Let's dive in… 1. How do I prepare my home for sale? home staging tips home improvement ideas decluttering tips curb appeal ideas 2. What is my home worth? home value estimate property appraisal home valuation services real estate market analysis 3. Should I hire a real estate agent to sell my home? real estate agent benefits real estate agent fees selling a home without an agent choosing a real estate agent 4. What are the steps to selling a home? home selling process steps to selling a house selling a house checklist home sale timeline 5. How do I stage my home for a quick sale? home staging tips home staging services home staging professionals staging a house to sell fast 6. How can I sell my home fast? sell my house fast quick home sale cash home buyers home selling companies 7. What are the closing costs when selling a home? home selling closing costs seller closing costs calculator real estate attorney fees title company fees 8. How do I negotiate with buyers? home buyer negotiation tactics negotiating home sale price counteroffer strategies negotiating home inspection repairs 9. What are some common mistakes to avoid when selling a home? home selling mistakes to avoid common home selling pitfalls mistakes to avoid when listing a home selling a home tips and tricks 10. How do I handle multiple offers on my home? multiple offer situation competing home offers handling multiple offers on a home home offer negotiation strategies

9 Real Estate Marketing Ideas for March
Spring selling season is nearly upon us, and if you haven't already revved up your marketing engine, March is a great time to start. We want to help you get off the starting line, so here are nine ideas you can use for all your real estate marketing needs: 1. Create St. Patrick's Day-themed social media posts Use them to promote your listings, local events, or even to highlight the best happy hour specials in your area. Use hashtags like #LuckOfTheIrish, #PotOfGold, and #GreenHome to attract more attention. Get more St. Patty's marketing ideas here. 2. Offer a spring cleaning package This idea can be used in a few ways: as a closing gift for new homeowners or as a prize in a social media contest. Include a cleaning service or products to help buyers get started in their new home. To reach a broader audience, you can also partner with a local cleaning company to offer discounted cleaning services to your sphere of influence. 3. Participate in a local charity event or fundraiser This not only supports the community, but also helps to build your brand and make connections. Events are a great way to network, but if you can't attend in person, consider donating items or services to a silent auction instead. 4. Host a virtual open house using live streaming technology Like many Realtors, you may have perfected the art of the virtual open house during the pandemic. While things may be back to normal, there's no need to let your skills get rusty! Kick off your spring by live streaming an open house on Instagram, YouTube, or the platform of your choice. Learn more here: Hosting a Virtual Open House? Here's a Checklist. 5. Offer a seminar or webinar When it comes to buying or selling a home, people have a lot of questions. Fortunately, as a real estate pro, you have a lot of answers. Put that knowledge to good use by hosting a seminar or webinar for real estate consumers in your area. Check out these articles to help you get started: Advanced Lead Generation: Hosting a Seminar Using Webinars to Promote Your Real Estate Business 6. Host a neighborhood block party or other event Seminars and webinars not really your cup of tea? If you're looking for something more fun-oriented than teaching-oriented, try hosting a community event. It works like a charm for Realtor Dave Archuletta, and it can work for you, too! 7. Send out a newsletter or email blast When's the last time you sent an email to your database? If your answer is "a while," consider this your nudge to get things going again. You can start with something as simple as tips for preparing a home for sale. For more ideas, try these articles: 51 Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Newsletter Anatomy of a Real Estate Newsletter: How to Create Enticing Emails for Leads Combine Your Blog with an Email Newsletter for More Leads and Traffic 8. Participate in National Women's History Month Highlight women in real estate or women leaders in your community. This can be as simple as writing blogs or social media posts about women-led businesses — or even just resharing the social media posts or stories of those businesses or individual women with your followers. 9. Create a spring home maintenance checklist for homeowners Share tips and advice for deep cleaning a home and getting into tip-top shape. You can put this list on your blog or in a newsletter, or offer it as a PDF for download on your website. If social media is more your speed, make short video stories or reels for each cleaning tip and drip them out over the entire month. Use this as an opportunity to offer your recommendations for local services or contractors for any necessary repairs or updates.

How to Earn Google's Trust
As a real estate agent, you naturally value the power of in-person interactions when developing relationships. What you may not realize is that developing relationships – which is, at its core, about earning trust – often begins online. Consumers, even those who receive a referral, regularly turn to the internet to find and vet people they're considering doing business with. Reading reviews of other people's experiences is a powerful form of social proof – consumers want to know that you're worth their business. If consumers can't find online testimonials about your services, they'll turn to other agents. You won't even have the opportunity to win them over in-person. It might be enough to make you wonder: How many leads am I missing out on right now because I don't have a strong online presence? When it comes to earning trust online, a strong Google presence is key. Google is the dominant, most-trust search engine. As such, Google is where consumers are most likely to start their real estate journey and identify the agent they want to work with. Think of winning trust online as similar to winning trust in-person. Strong testimonies from past clients and colleagues will demonstrate your trustworthiness. Having fully updated business information and up-to-date listing photos establishes your professionalism. This helps you earn Google's trust, vault to the top of Google search results, and win new business. 1. Establish a Strong Google Business Profile The first way to earn Google's trust and demonstrate excellence in online search results is to have an informative, comprehensive Google Business Profile. This is the information box that appears on the right-hand side when consumers search for you online. Your Google Business Profile displays your contact information, a description of your services, recent listings photos, and, crucially, reviews of your services. Google values the business profile because it helps to winnow down search results. Consumers can be served listings of active, legitimate real estate providers when they search terms such as "real estate agents near me." Google will "verify" profiles that are comprehensive and have positive reviews – signaling to searchers that you are a legitimate professional who has earned Google's trust and is ready to do business. Remember that both consumers and Google will place more trust in your profile if it is updated regularly. To maintain Google's trust, include up-to-date contact information, listing photos, and reviews. 2. Solicit Positive Reviews As mentioned, reviews are an essential part of your Google business profile. And when it comes to fully securing Google's trust, reviews are an absolute necessity. Google reviews do more than just give consumers a sense of your abilities as an agent. Google also factors in these reviews when deciding whether to serve your business profile alongside other high-performing agents when people search for terms like "local real estate agents." Just take a look at this search result for local real estate agents. The listed agents all have dozens of positive Google reviews in addition to a complete Google Business Profile. Clearly, having as many reviews as possible is crucial to earning Google's trust and appearing at the top of search results. Just like the other information on your Google Business Profile, reviews are weighted in part by recency. So, continue to solicit reviews as your network expands. That way, you'll rise in Google search results and maintain your position over time. Once you earn Google's trust, you'll experience substantial benefits. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How Real Estate Agents Can Use ChatGPT
Real estate agents are always looking for ways to improve their business and stay ahead of the competition. One tool that can help them do this is ChatGPT, which is a large language model developed by OpenAI. Let's first discuss what ChatGPT is and how it functions. ChatGPT is a machine learning model that uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like text. It can be used for many different things, including responding to questions, writing essays, and even coming up with poetry. It can comprehend and respond to a wide range of questions and prompts because it was trained on a vast amount of text data. ChatGPT has become quite a powerful tool — as of January 2023, the model was said to have over 1 million users and counting, which is incredible considering it was launched on November 30, 2022. The future of AI is bright, and it will be a tool that is useful for people from all industries. In this blog post, we will discuss how real estate agents can use ChatGPT and the benefits it has for their business. Read on to find out more! The ability to save time The ability to save a ton of time is one of ChatGPT's biggest advantages for real estate agents. Agents can concentrate on more crucial tasks that call for their individualized attention and expertise by using the model for tasks such as responding to inquiries and creating property descriptions. The machine learning model can assist agents in boosting their productivity by automating routine tasks like responding to frequently asked questions, creating property descriptions, and creating social media posts. This can free up the agent's time so they can concentrate on more crucial tasks like showing homes and closing deals. In turn, it can also help to build trust and loyalty with clients, which can lead to more referrals and repeat business. The ability to create (in many, many different forms) Property Descriptions ChatGPT can also be used by real estate agents to generate property descriptions. Writing property descriptions can be time-consuming and challenging, particularly if you don't have much writing experience. ChatGPT can assist by generating accurate and interesting property descriptions, which may help draw in more prospective buyers. Social Media Agents can use ChatGPT to assist them in producing interesting content for social media as well! The model can produce posts that are both interesting and educational about the local real estate market, recent sales, and suggestions for home buyers and sellers. This can aid agents in gaining a social media following and drawing in more customers. With ChatGPT, agents can quickly generate high-quality, engaging content that will help them stand out in a crowded market. Improved Quality In connection with the previous two paragraphs, ChatGPT can help agents to improve the quality of their work. By using the model to generate property descriptions and social media posts, agents can ensure that their content is accurate and engaging, which can help attract more potential buyers to a property. Personalized Emails and Messages Additionally, ChatGPT can be used by real estate agents to generate personalized email and message responses to leads and clients. This can help agents to save time and increase their effectiveness in communication. This can be done by inputting information into the chat box within ChatGPT, then the model can make use of the said information to generate a personalized response that is tailored to the individual's needs and interests. The model can also generate emails that contain relevant statistics and information about the local real estate market, which can possibly help to establish the agent as an expert in their field. Additionally, ChatGPT can also be used to generate follow-up emails that are designed to keep the lead engaged and interested in the properties and services that are offered by the agent. This, in turn, can help increase the chances of the lead becoming a client and making a purchase. Talk about a powerful tool! That could be incredibly helpful to any agent who deals with a numerous amount of clients on a daily basis. Marketing Campaigns Agents can create individualized and successful marketing campaigns with the aid of ChatGPT. Agents can develop targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to turn leads into sales by using the model to analyze data on customer behavior and preferences. This can aid agents in generating more income and expanding their clientele. Using ChatGPT to create personalized marketing campaigns can help real estate agents increase their revenue and grow their business. By targeting the right audience with the right message, agents can ensure that their marketing campaigns are effective and deliver the right results. The possibilities for ChatGPT are endless! We tried playing around with it ourselves, and asked it to explain to real estate agents in the voice of former president Barack Obama. Here's what it created: As the President of the United States, I have seen firsthand the potential of technology to improve our lives in countless ways. One of the most exciting developments I've seen is the rise of ChatGPT, a powerful language model developed by OpenAI. In the world of real estate, ChatGPT can be a game changer. It can help agents automate repetitive tasks and improve their overall efficiency, allowing them to focus on what really matters: closing deals and serving their clients. One way ChatGPT can be used by real estate agents is through natural language processing (NLP) capabilities. This allows agents to communicate with potential clients in a more human-like manner, whether it's through email, text, or on a website chatbot. ChatGPT can be trained to understand and respond to common real estate-related questions, such as property listings, pricing, and availability. This can save agents a significant amount of time and allow them to focus on more important tasks. Another way ChatGPT can be used by real estate agents is through its ability to generate written content. This can include property descriptions, listing descriptions, and even social media posts. With ChatGPT, agents can quickly generate high-quality, engaging content that will help them stand out in a crowded market. ChatGPT can also be used to improve customer service by providing instant answers to common questions and concerns. This can include providing information on local schools, transportation, and other community amenities. In the coming years, I believe we will see more and more industries adopt technologies like ChatGPT. And, I have no doubt that this will lead to a more efficient, productive, and prosperous society for all Americans. This is what I believe, and I will continue to support this kind of innovation and growth in the technology industry. Can you believe that? ChatGPT can even take on the voice of other people and write words on their behalf. How cool is that? In conclusion, ChatGPT is a powerful tool that real estate agents can use to improve their business. By incorporating the model into their customer service, property descriptions, social media content and personalized responses, agents can save time and improve the quality of their work. As the technology continues to advance, we can expect to see more real estate agents start to adopt ChatGPT and other AI-based tools to help them stay ahead of the competition. To view the original article, visit the Transactly blog.

The Facebook Ad that Home Buyers Can't Resist
A sale, a bargain, a good deal—if there's anything consumers love, it's getting more value for their money. Realtor Jaime Resendiz uses that to his advantage in his advertising. By creating "price drop" ads for listings on Facebook, he attracts a ton of quality buyers. After all, even house hunters are looking for a good deal—especially in this economy. Watch the video above to learn: Two variations of the price drop ad How to create a price drop ad How to optimize for your business

Optimize Your Online Listing, Step 2: Sharing Your Listing to Get Attention
Last year, we shared a three-step system for optimizing your online listing. Over the next several weeks, we'll be publishing a series of articles that breaks down each step one by one. Below is Step Two. See Step One here. Marketing real estate listings means sharing information across as many channels as possible. Accurate floor plans, advanced measurements and easily navigated 3D virtual tours capture attention and provide an engaging experience for both the consumer and real estate professionals. Once your listing is prepped, tidied and spruced up with virtual staging, you need to share its details to achieve the sale. Snippets of your virtual tours should spark interest in potential buyers and lead them into an exploration of every aspect of a property. Whether you share in the form of a teaser reel on your preferred social media channel or share through your MLS platform, it is important to offer accurate and enticing particulars about the seller's home. The question is, what do you share, how do you share and when do you share? What to share It's no surprise that pretty much everyone is using the internet when searching for a new home. Recent statistics indicate that 97% of homebuyers are online and actively seeking information long before they contact their real estate agent. Listing a property and getting it viewed is simple with a few real estate marketing tips. Start by sharing reliable information. Technology leaders like iGUIDE provide everything you need to list a property. Professional photos with easy-to-navigate floor plans allow potential buyers to see the listing from a variety of different viewpoints. Reliable square footage calculations and laser-accurate room measurements help a homebuyer in the decision-making process. In a recent survey from NAR photos, details about a property, 3D tours and floor plans ranked high on the "very useful" list of features they wanted to see on the web. Get that sold sign ready by speeding up the appraisal process when you share ANSI-Z765-2021 compliant floor plan measurements for all your residential listings. How to share Once you upload your listing data into your MLS platform, you are sharing information instantly. Consumers and agents around the globe can visit your 3D virtual tours where you can share images, guided video tours, and highlight pertinent property information and links to your website. Step-by-step guidelines are available to show you exactly how to create attention-grabbing social media posts for Facebook and Instagram. Even if you are not tech savvy, you can share and create captivating posts yourself. Start by sharing on your personal social media accounts, and once you are familiar with the system, you can set up a business page to attract more clients. Build your brand around specific areas you farm by letting everyone know when you get a new listing. You can quickly become the go-to agent with a bit of creativity, a few hashtags and some teaser reels. When to share They say timing is everything. Knowing when to share your listing's information can help get the word out to your target audience. Use social posts to your advantage at the onset of your new listings and follow through with regular posts to update about open houses, neighbourhood happenings and when the property gets sold. Real estate marketing tips from experts like Tom Ferry highlight the importance of hiring professional photographers and using technology like virtual staging and 3D virtual tours to allow potential buyers to visualize themselves in a home. With the help of analytics, you can share important information with your seller about the number of visits your listing is getting and the length of time visitors are browsing through the information. Share this information at regular intervals with your sellers to highlight your marketing efforts in getting their house sold. Competition can be fierce. Give the seller a reason to choose you. Show them the great ways you market real estate on their behalf by providing access to all the information a homebuyer needs to make a decision. When marketing real estate, think of making a connection with the consumer rather than selling them something. Not everyone will be ready to purchase a home right now, but when you share engaging content in an easy-to-understand format, your name will be at the forefront of their minds. Building relationships takes time and the best way to grow the relationship is to nurture it by providing valuable information. Remember, you are not the only real estate agent out there, but you can capture leads by capturing attention. To view the original article, visit the iGuide blog. Other articles in this series Optimize Your Online Listing, Step 1: Staging Your Listing with Virtual Tools Optimize Your Online Listing, Step 3: Show Results to Your Clients

How ChatGPT Can Help You Generate Real Estate Marketing Ideas
The future is here—and it wants to help with your real estate marketing strategy. Well, "wants" may be a strange word. After all, we're talking about artificial intelligence (AI). And while this AI may not technically "want" to do anything, it's certainly capable of helping you generate marketing ideas and even real estate copy. That's what innovative Realtor Jaime Resendiz has discovered. He uses an AI bot known as ChatGPT to, well, chat and have a dialogue that results in all kinds of marketing ideas. Jaime uses ChatGPT to come up with ideas (and some text) for: Social media Blog posts Video scripts Listing descriptions Real estate ads And more! Watch the video above to learn how you can leverage ChatGPT in your business—and work smarter, not harder in 2023!

Holiday Light Map Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide to Seasonal Lead Generation
Give your seasonal marketing a bit of glitz and glimmer by highlighting holiday light displays in your area. This Facebook campaign idea can passively generate real estate leads for you all season long. All it takes is a little bit of set-up. And, don't worry, the set-up is not bad at all—especially with the step-by-step instructions offered in this video. Watch the video above for a dummy-proof guide to: Creating a holiday lights map Setting up a Facebook campaign (no landing page necessary) Funneling leads into a CRM, spreadsheet, or other app Holiday lights are a sure-fire crowd pleaser. This lead gen campaign fills up your sales funnel while showing off your local knowledge. It's a seasonally appropriate win-win strategy!

Keep Up with These Seasonal Trends for Google and Facebook Ads
'Tis the season — to master your digital ad strategies and scale your real estate business. Marketing your real estate business with paid advertising campaigns on Facebook and Google helps you gain visibility with internet buyers and online leads. However, the paid ad playing field isn't necessarily evenly distributed all year long. Just like the real estate market goes through its market cycles where the environment is determined by the levels of supply and demand, your paid ad experience will fluctuate over time, too. Depending on how many buyers are shopping online and the volume of advertisers at any given time, your cost-per-lead will adjust accordingly—another critical factor that affects your paid ads performance is the time of year. 2 Need-to-Know Trends for Google and Facebook Ads To prepare you for the changes that are going to impact your digital marketing and paid advertising performance, here are two need-to-know trends that real estate teams will be coming up against in the next few months. 1. Search Volume Matches Market Activity Every real estate professional knows that the high season is usually spring. In recent years, the pandemic did influence the sales cycle and disrupt the industry's normal market pattern. However, the holidays do typically slow down as buyers and sellers settle down to enjoy the holly-jolly end of the year. As fewer buyers typically hit the market in the fall, online searches tend to dip, too. Expect to see the demand fall in October and continue to slow down into December. The market begins to regain its momentum at the beginning of the new year, and it continues to pick up into the spring and summer months — kicking off the spring buyer's rush. If you start to see your paid ad performance decline during the holiday months, keep in mind that it's the natural pace of the market. 2. Expect the Expenses for Social Media Advertising to Rise Real estate professionals aren't the only ones who leverage social media ads to boost their businesses. Around the holiday season, retailers invest heavily in advertising on popular social media channels to capture digital consumers. What does this have to do with real estate agents? Since retailers are flooding ads onto social media, the prices increase. This means that agents who are continuing their usual real estate marketing strategy will see their marketing spend raise during the prime holiday gift shopping months. If you notice that the prices go up around October and November, don't be alarmed. They should balance out again at the end of December and into the new year. Pro Tip: If you're a new real estate team that's just getting started with paid digital advertising, keep in mind that the prices are inflated at this time of year. Don't think that these prices are the baseline and abandon this critical avenue for attracting and keeping in touch with your sphere! 2 Ways to Overcome the Seasonal Shifts Do you want to overcome the seasonal hurdles and establish a more solid paid ads performance to keep your real estate business top-of-mind? Follow these two best practices. 1. Diversify Your Marketing Plan to Balance Out Your Performance Since you know that your paid advertising on Google and social media may dip during the holiday months, you can overcome the seasonal cycle by diversifying your marketing efforts. Now is a great time to branch out and expand your marketing strategy to balance out your real estate brand's overall performance. This is a classic pivoting strategy that helps real estate teams stay on their A-game, even as the market takes its annual turns. By expanding into different areas, your business won't take as big of a hit as it would if you were fully relying on one tactic. 4 Digital Marketing Avenues to Explore Over the Holiday Months: Microsoft Bing Facebook Amazon Instagram 2. Don't Follow the Competition and Leave the Arena Many real estate businesses will see the paid digital ad market begin to stall and stop investing in it. Yes, demand may slow, and prices may even hike up. But, that doesn't mean the right strategy is to stop your digital ad campaigns altogether. The top-performing real estate teams know that this seasonal adjustment actually clears out the competition, giving your business and your message more visibility. Let your less strategic competitors leave the arena. Even if you continue to advertise at your usual pace, you'll stand out and get more eyes on your marketing campaigns. The logic is simple. As competitors leave, there's less traffic crowding the platforms you're creating ads for. Pro Tip: One paid ad area you should never surrender is Google. Why? Because Google Ads reward consistency. If you create campaigns that don't pause, Google will actually prioritize your ads — helping them perform better when the demand regains its usual pace. Marketing hack, unlocked. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

5 Ways Email Marketing Can Boost Your Business
Email is so ubiquitous to our daily lives, we sometimes take it for granted—most of us check our smart phones, smart watches, tablets, or inboxes for new messages several times a day (if not immediately after a notification pops up on the screen). Whether you are using email for basic communication or as an inexpensive way to reach everyone in your digital Rolodex at one time, here are five best practices for Realtors looking to successfully incorporate email marketing into their overall digital marketing game. 1. Follow Up After a Networking Event Leads won't just start coming in after a networking event. Like any lead, it is a process of nurturing and follow-up. Gather business cards of those at the networking event. Then send a follow-up email about how it was nice to meet them and include your contact information. 2. Send a 'Just Sold' Email Blast to Your Client Database Share your sold listings with your client list. It can be a way to start a conversation about getting their home on the market, but it can also help keep you top of mind when the time is right for them to sell. Offer your services or some sort of incentive so they will reach out to you for their real estate needs. 3. Automate Emails When You Can You can automate many of your emails, like your welcome email, certain follow-up emails and even monthly newsletters. Make sure you have your leads and clients grouped in a way that makes sense. This way, clients get the email messages that work best for them, wherever they are in their home buying or selling journey. 4. Send a Newsletter Featuring Client Stories You can send email newsletters on a weekly or monthly basis to give an overview of your company. These newsletters can include pictures or invites of an open house event or a success story shared by your client. Showing satisfied clients in your newsletter is an excellent way to attract new customers. This increases their faith in you as potential customers and makes them initiate a conversation or offer if they haven't yet. 5. Segment Your Email List If you want to give very personal experiences to your leads, segment your email list based on client personas and needs. Then, target communications with details pertinent to each client. Segmentation increases the chances of nurturing bonds with the audience by sending only valuable and relatable content. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

Real Estate Branding: 6 Steps for Agent Success
Quick: name three brands! Don't read further until you do. Seriously. We'll wait... Okay, so which came to mind? Maybe popular consumer brands like Coca-Cola and Nike, or perhaps big-name brokerages like Keller Williams and Century 21. Because of branding, you already have an idea in your head about what those companies stand for or represent and the kind of experience you'd have when using their products or services. Personal real estate branding isn't much different. Instead of branding for a large corporation, real estate branding is the effort of accurately and attractively representing you or your team, which helps you sell your services. Real estate branding is important because when consumers in your local market are asked to think about real estate agents, you want to come to the forefront of their minds. With real estate branding, you become the agent consumers think of by conveying to them your personality, what you represent, and what type of experience they can expect when they work with you. Learn why real estate branding is important, what different components real estate branding involves, and how you can enact real estate branding best practices to get the most out of your marketing and public image. 1. Create a Visual Real Estate Branding Identity It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words. We don't know whether that's true, but it is clear that having an effective visual presentation and theme to your marketing materials will improve your real estate branding. If you need a visual branding revamp, take it step-by-step. First, brainstorm the main messages you want your brand to convey. There are two directions you can go in: either focus on the type of real estate you specialize in (luxury properties or veteran housing, for example) or consider which type of real estate agent you are, as your personality type is directly related to how you'll work with clients. Next, come up with a short, memorable slogan/phrase/keywords/sentence that literally tells people what you want them to know about you and your services. It doesn't need to be clever to be memorable. Keep it simple and straightforward. Then, work with a graphic designer to create a logo that fits with your slogan and embodies your brand. Run a few samples by people who you trust so you can gather feedback. Ask them for their first impression, what they like, what they dislike and any general feedback for future iterations. It's important that you spend time getting this right. You may think that it will be easy to change your visual identity — logo, colors, slogan — but it's not easy considering how many marketing materials will carry your real estate branding. Plus, consistency is what will make your brand memorable. So don't stop iterating until you create a visual brand identity that you're happy with, because you'll likely be using this identity for years. 2. Develop a Written Real Estate Branding Identity Having a strong visual identity is essential to building your real estate brand. But it's only the first half of the creative real estate branding identity equation. You must also work to create a strong written real estate branding identity. Visuals may attract people's eye, but well-written agent biographies and listing descriptions are also going to be integral to establishing yourself as a real estate leader. Think of it from a buyer or seller's perspective: A poorly-written, uninformative agent biography is going to cause concerns about your ability to conduct a real estate transaction. And listing descriptions that aren't telling a descriptive, coherent story risk turning consumers away from your services. As you develop a written real estate branding identity, keep a few general tips in mind: Be authentic – Use your words, not the words you think people want to hear. Your tone should match your personality. Don't eliminate contractions if you typically use them. Don't use formal language if you speak casually. Share your passion – Why does your work excite you? Weave your enthusiasm for your job into your bio. No one wants to work with a two-dimensional agent. Showing passion will make others feel eager to work with you. Tell a story – Use your written materials to tell a concrete story about your brand, your services, your team, and the properties you're listing. Remember that the story should consider a consumer's point-of-view – use the second-person "you" and focus on stories that end with satisfied buyers and sellers. One other, absolutely essential tip: Proofread. Always proofread every piece of collateral to be sure that there aren't nettlesome typos, misrepresentations, or other mistakes – you want to establish your professionalism, and those sorts of mistakes don't help. 3. Own Local Google Search Results for Real Estate Services If you want to develop a winning real estate brand and grow your business, you can't hide in the shadows. Visibility is key, and it's accomplished through marketing. In the same way that you put up yard signs and A-frames to draw attention to your listings in the offline world, you need to create similar visibility online so that it's easy for prospects, leads, and clients to find you. With well over 90% of all real estate searches starting online, the best place to achieve that visibility is on Google. Visibility is an important part of branding. Prospects equate you being at the top of a Google local search page with you being a credible, trustworthy agent. Now, more than ever before, Google is prioritizing local search results. That means that when prospective buyers and sellers search for terms such as "real estate agent near me," they're going to be served results that list agents in their neighborhood and town. If your competitors appear in those searches and you don't, you've essentially signaled to buyers and sellers that your competitors' brand is more trustworthy than yours. Google gives clear, written instructions for improving your local search ranking. It instructs users to create a Google business profile that includes information such as your address, phone number, website, and industry. The profile should also have a verified location, accurate business hours, and up-to-date photos. Most importantly, Google urges businesses to solicit and manage reviews. Google uses these reviews to determine your prominence and relevance and decide whether to feature you as an agent consumers can trust. Solicit reviews from clients, fellow agents, friends, and family – anybody who can speak to your skill, professionalism, and ability should give testimony. 4. Spread Your Brand With a Personal Real Estate Website If Google is the front door of the internet, then think of a personal real estate website as your living room. It's where you can welcome guests, explain your services, and establish your credibility and style as an agent. Plus, a clean real estate website with a modern design and easy navigation demonstrates to potential clients that you are tech-savvy. So much of the present real estate transaction experience occurs online, so you need to be sure that your brand indicates that you are an agent who will be up to the task of helping clients market their products online. Make sure your agent website includes your basic business information and your listings. By publicizing your existing listings, you let sellers in particular know that you're already trusted by other home sellers in their market. 5. Use Social Media Social media is an increasingly important brand-building platform for real estate agents. In particular, Facebook and Instagram have become popular places for buyers and sellers to look for agents, homes, and general real estate services. In order to earn new leads and business, then, agents should have a strong social media presence. We recommend that you use the EAT framework to develop a well-branded, fully-organic social media presence. EAT Social Media Framework EAT stands for: Engagement Authenticity Thought leadership The first portion of EAT is engagement. With engagement, you should consider posting on social media channels and responding to consumers' comments on the posts. Agents should also ask questions to spur audience engagement. Consider asking questions such as "carpet or hardwood?" to get people talking about their preferences or "what homes are catching your eye this fall?" to learn about why people are entering the market and the homes they're most excited to tour. The second component of EAT is authenticity. By producing authentic social content, agents can tell honest stories about the home selling and buying processes and the real estate market in general. For example, you shouldn't solely post videos and photos of fully staged homes and tours. Instead, consider posting before and after photos, or a video of your open house preparations. This way, consumers see that buying or selling a house is a process, and that you're dedicated to the work necessary to make it happen. The final part of the EAT framework is thought leadership. For agents, social media provides the opportunity to display subject matter expertise, which is especially valuable knowledge to share in a complicated time for the real estate market. Following the EAT framework ensures that when people view your social media content, they see a credible, engaged real estate professional. If a consumer sees one of your paid advertisements and later searches for your information, strong organic social media may help reassure them that there is substance behind your advertisements. With engagement, authenticity, and thought leadership at the forefront of your organic social media efforts, you can develop a solid foundation for social media success. 6. Remember Offline Real Estate Branding Opportunities As you work to build your brand online, don't forget about the benefits that offline real estate branding can provide. Yard signs, sponsoring a little league team, setting up a booth at community events – these types of real world opportunities to connect with consumers and people in your local market are invaluable if you want to establish yourself as a leading local agent. Offline real estate branding extends all the way to the end of a real estate transaction. Providing buyers and sellers a small but thoughtful closing gift is a good way to communicate how much your value your clients' business – and also ensure that they come to you the next time they need real estate services. How Can You Develop the Strongest Real Estate Branding? Clearly, real estate branding is important if you want to be the agent that buyers and sellers turn to when they have real estate needs. Overall, having the best real estate branding in your market requires: A visual real estate brand identity A written real estate brand identity Owning Google local search results An personal real estate website Using social media Practicing offline real estate branding To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

10 Video Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents
While it appears that every Realtor is creating real estate videos these days, some don't seem to get more leads from video. There could be a few reasons why: Focus: Real estate professionals should ensure that the focus is on generating leads while making videos. Video Quality: For marketing videos to be successful enough to generate leads, the quality should be good. Most viewers won't continue watching if the video quality is bad. Video content has become more widely available and accessible thanks to the internet and cellphones. Now more users can easily relate to and engage with the video content than any other content. Therefore, it is essential to create video content that engages your customers. In today's article, we'll discuss effective video marketing ideas for real estate agents. Top Video Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents There are countless ways to make real estate marketing videos. Here are 10 video ideas to connect with your audience: About Me/Us Videos An "About me/us" video introduces the authentic side of your real estate brand to your clients and prospects. It gives them an insight into the person behind the brand and why you do what you do.  An "About us" video is ideal for capturing you and your team's spirit and qualities authentically and honestly. Most importantly, it allows leads to relate to and like you easily. FAQ Videos FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) videos are a common marketing strategy for conveying information in the form of questions and answers by an expert who has specialized knowledge in the subject matter. Make videos answering frequently asked real estate questions. By providing helpful answers to common real estate questions, you get an engaged audience and potential clients. Community Event Videos Another excellent video marketing idea is community events videos. Make videos of community events such as street fairs, charity events, etc., to promote the local community. Inform people of a neighborhood's existence. This helps establish a solid local presence for your business, helping attract a local customer base. Property Tour Videos The advantage of using videos for property tours is that you have complete control over what your consumers see and how they view the property. You can take advantage of this by focusing on the most outstanding qualities of the property. However, make sure not to mislead prospective purchasers, as this will come to light during an inspection of the property. Draw attention to the most impressive attributes in a subtle manner. Videos of Virtual Tours There's no denying that the world has adopted a more virtual lifestyle since the pandemic. Many real estate professionals now routinely use virtual tours for marketing their listings. This gives viewers an idea of your services while marketing the property. Testimonials Customer satisfaction is one of the most effective marketing tools at your disposal. Who better to market your product or service than a happy customer, right? By capturing their experiences, Realtors can design a highly effective and effortless marketing asset. While you can write down client testimonials for use on your website or in marketing materials, a video testimonial is an even better option. Video of Market Update Sharing videos of the latest updates in the industry gives your audience the impression that you are a reliable source of information. This encourages them to always check your content to see what's new. Post videos of the latest real estate technologies, market changes, and news about the real estate industry. Tips and Tricks Videos While knowledge is undoubtedly powerful, it is exponentially more so when shared! Create videos sharing tips and tricks that can benefit your audience. For example, you can share videos on how to spot property repairs, educational content, and other valuable information for your audience. Go Live on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter One of the most compelling aspects of social media livestreaming is the ability to include more guests and respond to audience comments directly. Naturally, this increases the video's overall impact. In your livestream, you can answer frequently asked questions and even ask your viewers some questions, share real estate news updates, share information about your product or service, etc., creating a high level of trust with your viewers. Day in the Life Share those your day-to-day experiences and genuinely communicate what it's like to be a real estate agent. This allows you to showcase your professionalism, connect with followers, and keep your audience engaged so they know who to reach out to with for anything real estate related. Conclusion With each new advancement in technology, our reliance on it grows both professionally and emotionally. However, video has remained a reliable source of information and entertainment for most people. And, given recent requirements for virtual connectivity, video marketing is likely to remain effective for an extended period of time. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

7 Email Marketing Campaigns for Your Real Estate Business
While it might be difficult to reach potential clients online, email marketing is a simple and cost-effective process that enables you to engage with customers and generate traffic to your website. To encourage higher click rates, send relevant and tailored emails with attractive subject lines. Today, we'll discuss seven real estate email marketing campaigns you can use to market your services. Form Submission/Thank You Email Always stay connected to clients and make them feel comfortable joining your community. Each time new website visitors sign up on any of your website pages, send them an email thanking them for visiting and signing up. Let them know they are free to contact you for more information or inquiries. This builds trust with your prospects. Service Update Emails As real estate professionals, you must keep your clients in the loop of any updates to services. Update emails should explain the benefits for clients. Co-marketing Email If your real estate company gets into a partnership with another organization, an email informing your clients or prospects of the new partnership and its benefits is a great way to market the services of such a partnership. What makes co-marketing emails very effective is that both companies' products are introduced to their clients, generating and converting new leads for each of the partners. Send Emails and Follow-ups About Your Open House Events When you have an open house or event, email your clients and potential clients inviting them to the event. In addition to sending out open house invitations, you can also send follow-up emails encouraging prospects to contact you for more information, to schedule showings, or to offer info about similar homes for sale. Local Housing Markets Highlight and Updates Once in a while, real estate agents or brokers should send emails highlighting their local housing markets and any updates. This keeps customers informed about the latest news regarding the industry, thus qualifying you as an authority in the field. This keeps you top-of-mind and encourages clients and potential clients to contact you when they start searching for properties. The Post-Purchase Drip Campaign This is a follow-up email to clients who have purchased real estate. Such follow-ups guide them and assure them that you are available to assist them in case they need help with additional details regarding the property. This marketing strategy helps strengthen or build solid relationships with your clients. New Service/Content Announcement Send email newsletters informing your clients of new services or blog posts to create awareness about your growing business and your content. Final Words An email campaign is an easy, cost-effective, yet powerful tool to promote your real estate brand, create awareness your business, and increase engagement on your real estate website. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

5 Simple Ways to Increase the Screen Value of Your Online Real Estate Listings
Are your listings getting enough screen time? To grab attention and keep it, you need to encourage homebuyers to stay a little longer, checking out more than the primary photo. Are you currently using 3D tours and floor plans as part of your real estate marketing plan? If not, here are a few good ways to drive engagement and increase your screen value. Use a professional real estate photographer Market your real estate listing with professional real estate photos. A good first photo is a perfect way to entice potential buyers to want more. Think of your real estate photos like a storefront window. If the display is good, you want to go inside. It's no different with real estate. Attractive photographs increase the amount of time the consumer spends clicking through the images. You want to encourage a connection during the buyer's journey. They stay a little longer and get to the consideration stage faster when they like what they see. Speak with a local real estate photographer who offers services from leading-edge companies like iGUIDE. Unconventional camera systems capture outstanding photos and accurate measurements simultaneously, so turnaround time is quick. Video tours and drone shots Consumers love drone footage. This eye in the sky captures amazing aerial shots to offer a different point of view. Extensive landscaping, outdoor entertaining areas, and sprawling properties benefit well from the use of drone shots. Not every property is a good fit for drone photos, however. You may list a stunning condo or a multi-unit residential property, but a drone shot just won't do it justice. However, video tours highlight the essence of unique spaces, and are an excellent tool for your real estate listing marketing. Video is popular because it allows for narration and lets you point out multiple features within a property. Virtual staging to spark joy Increase the consumers' screen time for your listing by using virtual staging. Virtual staging can help your real estate marketing by presenting a space that makes it look and feel more like home. Whether it's a vacant property or a home that just doesn't have the best furniture placement, virtual staging can spruce it up. Using proptech tools like Floorplanner encourages homebuyers to try before they buy. With multiple furniture choices, accents, the ability to change door and window placements, virtual staging makes decision making easier. 3D tours are a must By now you are using 3D tours, right? If you want to keep the attention of potential buyers, the implementation of 3D tours is the ideal way to market your real estate listing. The goal is to drive engagement, and what better way to do that than using the consumer's favorite way to interact? According to 3Kit, there are 87% more views on listings that incorporate virtual tours. That means you increase the consumers' screen time from just a quick look at the main photo to connecting and interacting with a 3D tour. You know how it works. It's the same reason that reels and video stories are so popular on social media. These attention grabbers drive engagement, leading to the awareness stage on the buyer's journey. Use interactive floor plans to make a connection Understanding a space requires not only beautifully captured photos, but the ability to virtually walk through and make a personal connection. Buyers want to know all their stuff will fit into each space within the home. Accurately measured floor plans give them the ability to compare their existing living quarters to new ones. As Inman notes, buyers have come to expect floor plans as part of the way you market your real estate listing. Measurements give meaning and value to a space and help increase the amount of time the consumer spends looking at a property. As a bonus, floor plans include important dimensions for future renovations. With the help of advanced measurements from an iGUIDE, the buyer can remotely plan and design each space. Increasing screen value and screen time for online real estate listings provides benefits for the seller and the buyer. When you use tech tools like virtual tours and floor plans, your sellers experience fewer interruptions in their daily life. The property gets shown to more qualified buyers, thus saving time for both the seller and you. Buyers will start to form an emotional connection as they are drawn in by captivating professional real estate photos and multiple ways to interact online. Help your real estate listings make their best impression online by using all the services available to you from a professional real estate photographer. For more information regarding iGUIDE, click here. To view the original article, visit the iGuide blog.

Establishing Digital Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EAT)
Before the evolution of real estate websites, smartphone apps, and multimedia messaging services, agents and brokers were the keepers and gatekeepers of listing data. Today, Realtors use real estate websites to share this information, generate leads, and communicate other useful information about their local communities and the home buying and selling processes. But how do you beat the competition when it comes to a Google search? It turns out, the experience you offer your clients can be easily transferred to your digital marketing strategy. As cliché as it may sound, remember the acronym EAT any time you add new information or make updates to your website or social media messaging. EAT stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust and strategy built out over time. Expertise Expertise is evaluated at the content-level. Google SEO rewards subject matter experts who write authentic, original content in their subject matter areas. You know the ins and outs of the real estate industry. Write about what you know. Authority Authority is reputation based. When people leave online reviews on sites like Google Business, G2, Capterra, you grow your authority. Authority can also be given in the form of inbound links from news stories and other high-authority sites within the same (or complementary) industry. Trust As in real life, trust is about legitimacy, transparency, and accuracy. Trusted sites are ones that strive to have up-to-date and accurate content, use SSL (secure) certificates, and provide contact information and disclosures when using affiliate links and cookies used for tracking user behavior. SEO The next step in the EAT strategy is to monitor your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to monitor who is coming to your site, how long they are staying for, what they are reading, and how they are accessing the information (desktop, tablet, smartphone). You can review demographics such as age, gender, and location to better adjust your content and know what might be important to them. Match your content with the selling season and write ahead of time (so the information is there when the searching begins). And, of course, we recommend using a CRM to manage leads, keep-in-touch and stay organized to the needs and preferences of your customer base. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

Tips for Marketing to First-Time Homebuyers
In this article, we will list tips for marketing to first-time homebuyers. If you are interested in learning more, keep reading! Know Your Target Audience The first and most important step in marketing to first-time homebuyers is to know their demographics. According to NAR, first-time homebuyers range between the ages of 30 to 34. That is why it's essential to understand your target audience better so that you can start marketing your listings to them accordingly. Next, keep track of your audience insights and learn more about them. For instance, how does your target audience get their information? Which social media platforms are they most active on? By knowing the media your target audience is consuming the most, you will better understand which platforms to reach them through. Be Active on Social Media Platforms Speaking of social media, a large number of first-time homebuyers are millennials, which means that they depend on social media for their everyday tasks. That is why it's important to be active on all social media platforms. Start advertising your listings through Facebook or Instagram ads, for instance. If you want to know more about How To Use Facebook Ads to Reach Your Target Audience in Real Estate, read our blog on it for more detailed information. Create a User-Friendly Website First-time homebuyers often search for listings online. By having an informative and user-friendly website, you're more likely to attract traffic. Start by picking your website theme. Ensure that your theme is unique, eye-catching, and best fitted for a real estate website. Then, start working on your content. Read our article on Web Content Ideas for Real Estate Agents for more information on what to include on your real estate website. The most important thing is always keeping your audience engaged with the latest listings and news on the real estate marketplace. By keeping track of your site visitors, you will better know what they like the most about your website and improve it. Take High-quality Photos and Create Virtual Tours Millennials often pay attention to the overall quality of photos. The photo should enhance the property that you are selling, so pay close attention to your photography. For a better view of the property, you can even use drones for HD photos and capture the whole layout of the property. Virtual tours are another great way to advertise your property to millennial homebuyers. Showcasing your property through 3D virtual tours can attract more leads while making it more convenient for your site visitors to view your listings without physically visiting a property. Make Use of Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing has become widely popular among real estate professionals. Influencers are people who have a large following on their social media platforms. They have direct reach to—and influence on—their local audience. You can set up a partnership with influencers who can market your listings to your preferred target audience. The best way to do that is by contacting influencers who share the same audience demographic as you. First, agree on what you want your influencer to do. A typical influencer often posts stories, pictures, and videos on their social media platforms. Provide your influencer with clear and well-prepared content for their use and let them know what exactly you want them to promote. Remember that communication is key. You are more likely to attract more leads for your listings by having a healthy relationship with your influencer. Offer Your Help and Assistance The last and final step is to ensure that you are always ready to offer help and assistance to your first-time home buyers and your clients in general. It can be quite a confusing process for clients who are new to the process. So be prepared to answer any questions regarding the home buying process. As a real estate agent, you must always be ready to offer assistance to your clients and prospects. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

How Virtual Reality Is Changing the Way We Market Real Estate
Virtual reality (VR) has changed the game in the real estate world. It's expected to grow exponentially within the next five years, becoming the primary way we market real estate. The traditional form of home buying and rental shopping consists of figuring out finances, physically touring countless houses, making an offer, applying for mortgages, inspecting the house, getting an appraisal, asking for repairs, and a final walkthrough. On average it takes five to six months to find a house and many people don't have the time or energy for that. You can shorten the financial side and ease stress by encouraging your clients to get a mortgage pre-approval, but outside of finances, the most time-consuming aspect is viewing the homes. Seventy-two percent of recent homebuyers report feeling frustrated with their home purchase. In most cases, this is because of frustration with their real estate agent and the lengthy process. No one has found a way to make touring potential homes more efficient, until VR. Benefits VR Offers There are several benefits that VR offers, one of them being fewer costs allocated to the home buying process. Viewing properties is time-consuming and taxing, especially when you're constantly taking off work to travel to look at homes. It's recommended that buyers look at homes they're interested in two or three times to make sure it's a good fit. People often don't pay attention to details the first time they view a home, so it's important to give it a second look to find the things you may have missed. Having to schedule times with the agent and homebuyer to view the home can be just as frustrating. VR allows your client to interact with the property without physically having to be there. The self-guided tour is beneficial since you can visit the property at your own frequency and time. It also helps narrow down the search since you'll be able to cross off homes that don't appeal to you online. A VR home search can allow you to see houses back-to-back for easy comparison, and gives you the ability to show friends and family for added input. Immersive Experience Brands are already leveraging VR for a better customer experience. This will hopefully decrease frustration for home buyers while also accelerating the home search experience for all parties. VR allows you to virtually walk through an accurate depiction of the home since pictures can be deceptive and descriptions can be hard to go by. The virtual tour program will be able to measure out dimensions of the room, window placements, and a better overall layout. Virtual tours can also be used when your client is building a property. It gives a more accurate portrayal of what you'll get and will provide the ability to make necessary adjustments before the process begins. This allows your team to get a head start with interior design. It's a great tool to use when mapping out each room and determining how it will fit into your vision. Unlimited Customizations Companies like Amazon already use augmented reality to show how their furniture would look in your home. Staging furniture can influence the appeal of a home viewing. Many home buyers are drawn to homes that are set up nicely and cater to the style of the consumer. Using VR in this instance can help better visualize the home the way the consumer wants and improve the overall appearance and marketing of the property. One of the main components consumers look for when shopping around for a home is size. VR programs are able to showcase size and dimensions easily. The general walkthrough of the rooms will help the buyer decide if it's enough space for them. As stated prior, this would help narrow down the search instead of wasting precious time scheduling and viewing a tour in person. With VR becoming the new reality in real estate, it's time to consider your options and implement this new program into your practice. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Free Templates to Help you Create Social Media Market Updates
The media narrative during a changing market does little to instill confidence. Clickbaity headlines, based on national and regional statistics, speak to recession worries, a real estate bubble and even a real estate crash. However, if you take a step back and look closely at the data, it's clear there is much more of a story to tell. Real estate is local, and it always has been. This is why as a real estate pro, you should use your social platforms to cut through the confusion and deliver expert local advice. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other media platforms are the perfect place to add your voice with local market insights to earn the trust of your followers. And to help on this sharing journey, RPR (Realtors Property Resource®) has the perfect solution: new housing market charts and graphs. This collection of data, metrics and statistics is incredibly helpful in explaining local market trends. What market type are we currently in? Is housing inventory picking up? What are the month-to-month inventory changes? Are home prices softening? These are all questions your prospects and clients have on their minds. Share Regular Market Updates to Cut Through the Confusion RPR reporting is not always perfectly suited for sharing on social media. For starters, there can be too much data to share on your feed at any one time. Consider picking one or two data points and adding some context around them. And to make sharing easier, we've created a bunch of new templates that will cut your design time in half, and still come off looking polished and professional. We've created these templates in Canva so you can easily apply your colors, fonts, and even images when needed, to have aesthetics that match your brand. The How-To: Creating and Sharing Market Updates Found in RPR's Neighborhood pages, the new Market Trends chart helps to tell the underlying story of any market starting with the type of market (Seller, Balanced or Buyer), inventory trends, list-to-sold price ratio, median days on market, and the median sold price. Moving over to the Housing tab, you'll get a granular view at what's driving your local market. Here you'll see the activity and trends are broken up by each key status: New Listings, Active Listings, New Pending Listings, Pending Listings, and Sold Listings. Rounding out this section, you can also dive into Month's Supply of Inventory, which allows you to view inventory trends throughout the years and make any needed comparisons. Each chart is interactive, too! When you click on a tab, the chart updates with the underlying data. Now that you understand the new datasets available to you, it's time to deliver this important information to your sphere. Check out this collection of market trends templates that will help you showcase the data you're sharing. Browse through and choose your favorites. They're all professionally designed, and you can grab them for free. Once you have selected a design, simply search the neighborhood you are reporting on. Now write down the current metrics you'll be covering. For example, let's share the Market Trends for Scottsdale AZ 85255. We can see the zip code 85255 has 2.14 Months of Inventory, which is up 20.9% month over month. Homes are selling slightly below list price at 99.3%, which is a decline of 2.5% since the previous month. And homes are taking around 18 days to sell, which is an increase of about 20% in the last month. And the Median Price of sold homes is hovering around $1,150,000. With these numbers in hand, now click on the Canva template you'll be editing and begin to enter your numbers. Also, take a moment to click on any colors and update the layout to match your brand. Once you've finished updating your template, click "Share" in the top right corner of Canva. Now choose "Download" and select your file type. For social media, PNG will work great. But remember you can explore different formats based on your goals. The Wrap Up Delivering market updates through social media is a great way to let homeowners and potential home buyers in your market know that you are a local real estate expert. Right now, consumers have lots of questions about the market and their home values. Posting these social media market trends helps to position you as the go-to source for up-to-date information. To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

Achieve Real Estate Brand Visibility with TikTok
Once upon a time, TikTok was just one social media platform, a music/dance driven media outlet seemingly oriented towards the demands of teenagers. But this has changed as word spread about the platform. According to Statista's research: 22.4 percent of people who use TikTok in the US are between the age of 20-29 21.7 percent 30-39 20.3 percent 40-49 11 percent 50+ And only 25 percent are between the ages 10-19 As you can see, there is a very big audience and potential pool of clients: both Gen Z and Millenials. So, why is TikTok such an interesting platform for real estate agents? A Dynamic Alternative to Pinterest? Pinterest is a popular choice for interior design inspiration and checking properties. That's why it's such a favorite pick for both agents and consumers. TikTok can be used the same way, but it offers a more dynamic approach to content. For inspiration, see: 7 Fresh TikTok Video Ideas from TikTok Influencers. The Real Estate Niche Is Pretty Big on TikTok TikTok is known to house many niches, including the real estate niche. People love watching properties being transformed, and they are always on the lookout for new interior design inspiration. That's why people love browsing property listings even if they aren't in the market for a home. And while this doesn't absolutely guarantee a lead flow, it still means a huge visibility across all age representations for your brand and for your client's property. Reuse Content You can repurpose your old content. Although your old videos might need a little tweaking, it's possible to turn, for example, a 30-minute video into a 15-second to 1-minute short TikTok video. You Can Go Viral TikTok has an incredible organic reach, and you can even go viral. Even with zero followers, you can reach thousands of views and bring organic awareness to your brand. Best Practices Here are some of the best practices for TikTok videos: Use a vertical aspect ratio of 9:16. Videos that have audio are performing better than those without. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog. Further Reading A TikTok Guide for Real Estate Agents Is TikTok a Viable Way to Sell Luxury Homes? TikTok: Video Makes the Real Estate Star

Marketing 101 for Real Estate Agents
Do you have a pulse on the latest trends in marketing for real estate agents? Don't feel bad if your answer is "no." You already have a lot on your plate, and being an expert in marketing in addition to real estate may not be high on your priority list. That's ok! We'll give you a crash course in the basics so you can create a marketing plan and start generating leads in your sleep. There are three main areas to focus on: discoverability, repetition and positive social proof. We'll cover what each means and why it's important, as well as provide actionable takeaways based on our own firsthand experience in marketing for real estate agents. Discoverability What it is Discoverability is being easily found online. Yes, online. No one is looking through a phonebook anymore to locate an ad or phone number. Buyers and sellers are turning to Google to research agents and learn about their business. Specifically, they are looking for a Google business profile and your real estate website. If you haven't heard of a Google business profile, it's like a living resume that sits to the right of search results. It takes up major real estate on the page, and consumers have become used to looking through the profile—at photos, reviews and bio information—to learn more about businesses. Why it's important Do you really exist if you aren't on Google? We aren't joking! More than 90% of organic searches happen on Google. If someone has a few agents they are researching and can't find you on America's largest search engine, why bother looking for you elsewhere (and where else would they even look)? It's imperative to your business that you are easily discoverable on Google and that the information presented is accurate, up to date and plentiful so you leave no doubts in the minds of those researching you. What to do right now Claim, verify and create your Google business profile. This is one of those marketing tactics that won't just pay off now, but builds over time for tremendous benefits in the future. Our research shows that after just six months of regularly updating your profile (with new reviews, photos and content posts weekly), your appearance in search results can increase by as much as 22x! If you don't have even a basic real estate website, that should be the second action you take. A very good website will yield tremendous benefits. With good SEO, it will show up high in search results. Even without good SEO, you can link to it from your Google business profile. Repetition What it is In some ways, this is the opposite of discoverability because you are proactively getting in front of buyers and/or sellers on a regular basis. This is typically accomplished using always-on digital ads that target your farm area and a custom audience that includes leads, prospects and your sphere. You could also achieve repetition by continuously sending postcards to the same neighborhoods. Whichever tactics you choose, the key here is setting aside a budget that will allow you to advertise repeatedly so your brand stays top of mind for your target audience. Why it's important Do you notice specific brands following you around the internet or always appearing in your social media feed? You must strive to be one of these brands! Repetition improves memory. The next time someone from your audience is ready to start their real estate journey (or knows someone else who is), you'll come to mind immediately. What to do right now Get your digital marketing machine running. Determine a single platform to start. We recommend Facebook given its wide reach, highly engaged user base and advanced advertising capabilities. You can set your ads to run continuously and cap your budget at a daily max so you don't run out of money too soon (which can happen easily if you aren't experienced on this ad platform). Facebook has flexible click-through options, so you can collect lead information on a form or send clickers to a specific landing page, like an active listing. Positive Social Proof What it is Social proof is essentially validation from other people's experiences with the same product or service based on information they provide, such as through reviews or testimonials. Think about the last time you bought something from Amazon. If you haven't purchased that product before and don't recognize the seller, you may have scrolled to the reviews to see if other purchasers say the product is low or high quality. The overall trend of reviews—positive or negative—is social proof. Why it's important Positive social proof gives you credibility, while negative comments could go so far as slowing or even ruining your business. As an example, if someone wants to work with you, they will more than likely read reviews that others have left about you online. If they see a pattern of positive experiences, they will feel more confident in moving forward with working with you. If there is negative social proof, then you can say goodbye—93% of people admit that online reviews influence their decision. What to do right now No social proof can be just as damaging to your brand as negative social proof. If you don't have any reviews online, get started right away. This is made easier after following our first recommendation (claiming your Google business profile). You can then share your profile link with past clients, colleagues and friends who can give you five stars along with a written professional or character reference. Google is the most important location to build up reviews on, as there's a high likelihood that this will be the first destination for most buyers and sellers when they start their real estate research. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

4th of July Real Estate Marketing Ideas
It's that time of year again: Independence Day! Want to give your real estate marketing a little 4th of July flair? Here are, count 'em, four marketing ideas for the 4th: 1. Pop-by Gifts Pop by gifts are always appreciated, especially if it helps your farming area celebrate America's birthday. (Fun fact: America turns 246 this year!) Some thoughtful ideas can be mini-flags, fireworks (if they are legal in your state), and various other patriotic memorablila. Be sure to leave your business card and contact information along with the gifts. 2. Drive/Walk-by Celebrations This idea requires a bit of coordination with the agents in your offices and/or local businesses. Set up decorations outside of local businesses that can be seen from a passing car or on foot. This will also help you build relationships with other business owners, which can lead to referrals. In addition to that, it can help establish you as the local expert by promoting other local businesses. 3. Email Blasts Holidays are the perfect excuse to send out an email to your book of business. In order to convert any of your prospects into real estate clients, you need to maintain regular communication with them. If you are looking for an excuse to send out an email, then use the holidays as the reason to send out a quick marketing blast. This is a great way to remind people you haven't spoken to in a while that you are still in the business. 4. Social Media Maintaining your social media channels is crucial, especially in today's landscape where the majority of social interactions take place online instead of in person. Sharing celebrations going on in your city can identify you as the go-to agent for knowledge about the area you serve. What are local organizations doing to celebrate? Are there any special sales going on locally? Share this information with your audience to build trust with them this 4th of July. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

9 Web Content Ideas for Real Estate Agents
If you are searching for content ideas for your real estate website or thinking of ways to spice up your blog, we've got you covered. In this article, we will list all the things you should include on your real estate website. Listings A professional real estate website includes IDX listings and a detailed description of your properties for sale. For example, include the number of bedrooms, the houses' interior and exterior appearance, and much more. Don't forget to add your contact information so that you can make it easy for your potential client to contact you. News Updates A good website should have a page dedicated to the latest trends and news in the real estate marketplace. If you want to attract more clients, post blogs about the latest news updates in the real estate market. Keep your audience engaged and up to date on all things real estate so that you can keep them coming back for more. Blog Posts Speaking of blogs, a significant aspect of having an informative website is dedicating time to your blog posts. You'll be surprised at how impactful blogging can be for your real estate business. Blogging helps you connect with your existing and prospective clients through written content. It also helps you build more trust with your clients and better your company's overall image. With a high-quality blog, you are on your way to increasing your website traffic and lead generation, as well as showcasing your expertise and knowledge. Home Tours and Guides Home tours have been immensely popular for years, but showcasing your home tour in an artificial 3D virtual environment will surely drive more traffic to your website. By using 3D virtual tours, your clients can have a unique experience while touring your property directly on your website. With the help of VR, a.k.a. virtual reality, your clients can easily take tours of your property in the comfort of their own homes, view everything at their speed and make adjustments based on their preferences. Clients can also take advantage of VR benefits by sampling ideas before committing to decisions. Client Reviews and Testimonials By posting your clients' reviews and testimonials, you provide your customers with information about your company. For example, what did your past customers like most about your services, or what you could have improved on? Testimonials give your clients a sense of comfort knowing that they are in trusted hands. So make sure that you include them to give your clients a better understanding of your work. Events It's always a good idea to include a page of upcoming events in your city. For instance, upcoming open houses, community events like festivals, or even city council meetings. You can also include videos and photos of these events for your audience to get a glimpse of what these events are like. Partnerships Another great addition to your real estate website is to dedicate a page to partners in your business. Share stories with your partners and dedicate a page to your shared work achievements. This shows that your company is willing to expand its horizons and form partnerships with those that share the same values. About Page The about page is an important addition to your real estate website. Why? Because it adds a hint of personality to your online presence. It gives your audience a peek into your personal life. Whether the website is personal or for your brokerage, it's always good to include an about page where your clients can get to know more about you and your real estate practice. A good website should include information about your business—the work you do and your expertise, how many years of experience you have in real estate, your core values and mission. Contact Page Last but not least, have a contact information page. We recommend that you have your phone number at the top of your home page so that your clients can easily reach you. Still, a separate page dedicated to your contact information is also very useful. Ensure that your contact page includes all the necessary information such as your email, phone number, location, etc. The more accessible it is for your clients to connect with you, the better the chances that they weill consider you as their primary choice. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

Booming Marketing Trends in Real Estate
Real estate marketing is evolving at a rapid pace, and in such a competitive environment, real estate agents need to be at the forefront of cutting-edge trends to appeal to the needs of their evolving clientele. Hot markets, fluctuating demand, evolving technology, and new generations of homeowners all play a role in shaping the real estate market – and how agents approach it. Competition forces creativity The housing market has made global headlines with its scorching hot listings – but it has also shown how aggressive the space can be for Realtors to compete in, and is forcing them to get really creative with listings. Using this market as an example, some agents have started to offer a night out as a thank you to clients, a membership for a year at a local gym or fitness club, the free use of a drone for showing the property, complimentary staging – even going as far as slashing their commissions. While this isn't always displayed as a best practice, it just goes to show some of the extreme examples real estate sales professionals have to deal with in order to get new business in a very competitive arena. While some of these can serve as good value propositions, especially to the Millennial buyers who enjoy the perks, they can sometimes appear more as a cosmetic perk rather than reflecting the true value you offer as an agent. These four marketing trends are defining the real estate space – and agents should take note: The discovery process is digital Have you ever heard the mantra, "Content is King?" Content is at the heart of all marketing strategies as one of the most effective methods of getting more eyes to your website. It generates low-cost leads, organic traffic and helps qualify your prospects. If there isn't enough compelling content online that signifies why you stand out from the competition and what you offer – you'll be passed by in a few clicks. Facebook advertising is growing Real estate professionals are realizing the benefits of devoting a portion of their budget to Facebook Ads to run individualized ad campaigns targeting their specific segments. This approach is proving to be a powerful return on quality leads and conversions. Real estate professionals must master content marketing Generic content won't cut it nowadays – it has to be hyper-focused to tailor to the clients' specific needs. And with Google sharpening their algorithm every year, it places a very high emphasis on quality and useful content, and how to target it properly to address the needs of your audience. Ebooks, infographics, video series, webinars and blogs have become the Holy Grail in terms of effectively communicating your value and using them as pieces to help nurture prospects along. That goes back to the reason why a "one-size-fits-all" content solution won't work, because a twentysomething first-time homeowner isn't looking for content that relates more to an empty nester edging towards retirement – it has to be hyper-focused. More agents will turn to marketing automation Wise Realtors learned long ago that they can't manually contact every single lead consistently – but they knew they could rely on technology to do that for them. The fact of the matter is you can spend zero time transferring a new lead to your CRM and email marketing software and have them added to an ongoing lead drip system. Another misconception that many agents have is they believe that premium real estate marketing software will break the bank – which is not true at all. It's time to debunk this myth once and for all. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

Real Estate Hashtags for 2022
Social media has evolved from a place where people socialize to where businesses conduct their daily operations. The realty world isn't left out either -- real estate businesses are now using social media to drive up property sales. The National Association of Realtors reports that 77% of real estate agents actively use social media. In comparison, 47% of Realtors say that social media brings the highest quality leads than other sources. The study also suggests that more than 90% of millennials start their home searches online. This means that social media is a gold mine for any real estate business. To ace the social media concept, you need to have a solid strategy to navigate the social media waters. A great way to get started is by using hashtags. What Are Hashtags? A hashtag is an extra phrase that you can add to your social media posts. A hashtag is usually written with a hash (#) symbol followed by any additional keyword that you want to add. This helps people track exciting and relevant topics. Hashtags give your posts more context and depth. They also make your posts visible to a broader audience. For example, if you post a photo of the sun setting, you can caption it as Sundown. #skybrilliance #sunsetlover, etc. Users who want to find images or posts about sunsets can type the hashtag into the search bar and find the post quickly. When using real estate hashtags, you need to make sure that you tag your posts appropriately so that whenever a potential client types the hashtag, they can find your posts easily. For instance, if you're sharing a photo of an apartment in Washington D.C., the hashtag can read #DCApartments. Any tenant searching online for an apartment in D.C. only needs to type in the hashtag #DCApartments, and they will find your listing. If you aren't sure of which keywords to use for your real estate post, you can refer to the following hashtags to help you out: #home #homesforsale #househunting #apartmenthunting #homesweethome #realestateagentforlife #sold #dreamhome #fixandflip #NYCApartments General Real Estate Hashtag Usage Rules Hashtags are not only applicable to Twitter and Instagram. Hashtagging your post on LinkedIn allows you to connect with other agents. In the same light, hashtagging your posts on Facebook makes you visible to prospective clients on Facebook Marketplace. However, there are limits to the number of hashtags you can use for every social media site. Overusing hashtags makes your post appear spammy to the platform's algorithm. For LinkedIn, you should stick to, at most, five relevant hashtags for every post. Twitter might have started the hashtags feature, but it also has a limit to the number of hashtags you can use. The platform allows users to post a maximum of 280 characters, up from its initial 140, including hashtags. Due to this limitation, you need to ensure your hashtags are relevant to your real estate business and properties. Ideally, you should stick to two hashtags per post. Facebook users don't actively use the hashtag feature. However, at least one hashtag can drive up maximum engagement for business posts on a site. If you want to go all out with as many real estate hashtags as you want, then Instagram is the place for you. This social media platform allows you to post up to 30 hashtags for every post. However, this doesn't mean you should go on a hashtag spree. If you're going to use all 30 hashtags for your post, make them relevant to the real estate business and the home you're selling. Interestingly, Instagram allows you to reverse search some of the hashtags to find prospective clients who are looking for properties. Things to Note 1. Don't Overuse Hashtags Overusing hashtags makes your post look spammy, and may result in low or no engagements. It also makes you look like an amateur who is new to social media. 2. Keep Up with Your Competitors Social media is an ever-evolving business and socializing tool. Every day, new and fruitful hashtags appear, which may be useful in driving engagement your way. Always monitor how your competitors use their hashtags. Keep a close eye on which hashtags they use and which ones receive a lot of user engagement, and implement the ideas you obtain to your advantage. 3. Be Specific General real estate hashtags are useful for driving user engagement. However, to appeal to and find more prospective clients, your hashtags should be specific and targeted. For instance, you can use location-centered hashtags, the home's pet policy and other features to help you appeal to a broader client base. In conclusion Hashtags are a powerful engagement tool when used appropriately. They help bring in more views to your real estate posts and ultimately close deals with prospective clients. Always try to use relevant hashtags to avoid getting spammed. To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

3 Types of Online Search to Dominate for More Real Estate Leads
Did you know that there are three different types of online search that real estate leads use to find a Realtor? In this video, learn exactly what those three types of search are, why they're important, and how consumers use them to find agents. You'll also discover which steps to take to dominate those searches. Once you get a handle on the those types of searches, the leads will begin to roll in. Watch the video above to learn more!

Is Your Marketing Good Enough?
Marketing is often a challenge for real estate agents. It's notoriously difficult to be an impartial judge of your own marketing. That's true not only here in real estate, but in virtually all industries. It's a problem faced by companies of all sizes, from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 50 enterprises. The crux of the matter is that marketing is subjective. You can develop a blog post, a video, or even ads that excite you, but have you stepped into the customer's shoes? Sometimes, even the best efforts can go awry. And that may lead to missing out on the value of a substantial part of your marketing budget. Luckily, digital marketing can make the whole matter much easier to deal with. There'll always be an element of "art" to marketing, but digital marketing is more scientific than ever. That's science in the literal sense: You make a prediction, test it, and gather data. There's more data available about the bottom-line impact of your marketing now than there has ever been before. That has two powerful effects on marketing strategy: You no longer have to "guess" what works, as you'll receive data within just a few days You can continuously improve your marketing by focusing on what has proven results Using Technology to Your Advantage in Real Estate Marketing Real estate changed more than virtually any other industry at the outset of the pandemic. Professionals from all across the nation had to work together to develop new ways of thinking about and doing their work. It was crucial to protect both their customers and themselves. At the same time, the way buyers and sellers approach transactions have also changed forever. It was once unthinkable for someone to buy a home without setting foot in it. Now, these transactions take place routinely, especially when someone is planning a big move from out of state. A fast-growing population of younger buyers and sellers means more people are managing their home search online. That has huge ramifications for your marketing. Many of the trends unleashed by the pandemic will never be reversed. Instead, agents and brokers will be expected to adapt and incorporate new technologies in new ways. Technology is a key driver of your marketing success since you can see its results almost right away. By comparison, ad placements and conventional local media often provide no insight into whether or not you're getting ROI. Let's look at some concrete ways you can boost your marketing results: Balance Open Houses with Virtual Tours - In the "before times," open houses had the potential to surface several qualified buyers for each event. Open houses are returning as an important part of your marketing mix, but virtual tours are sought by nearly every buyer. Also known as "3D walkthroughs," these tours typically use a panorama of photos to create a robust digital experience. Buyers thousands of miles away can now see a home up close. Capture Data from Listings, CRM, and Website - Each digital platform offers its own "analytics data" you can use to understand how people find you and what they do once they have. For example, the average amount of time people spend on a listing grants clues about which ones are most effective. By gathering and consulting your data regularly, you can be certain you're spending your marketing time and resources on the things that truly resonate. Automate Digital Marketing for Better Consistency - To be successful, digital marketing needs to be consistent. Yet, manually setting up and managing an email marketing list, your social media feed, and more can take hours. Reliable, AI-driven solutions, including DeltaNET®6, can make the process easier. For instance, hands-free social media updates can be issued to your feed several times a day based on changes in listings. Keep Your Real Estate Website Up to Date - Your real estate website is a powerful "digital-first impression" where most of your future customers meet you. Before they reach out, they're likely to check out everything on your site, so make it worthwhile. That means helpful, informative content that empowers them to solve problems and resolve questions. In today's smartphone-driven culture, it also means a responsive layout that's great for mobile users. Create a Seamless "First Contact" Experience - Once you've signed an agreement with a customer, it's crucial to set the right boundaries. No answering calls at two in the morning! If a website visitor reaches out, however, seconds count. You have the best odds of getting a new customer if you respond within five minutes. Make sure it's easy to contact you, providing options for phone, email, social media, and even texting for real estate. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET®6 free for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

Are Targeted Ads Your Business Blind Spot?
Are you missing out on a powerful way to generate leads from social media? Targeted advertising isn't a replacement for all of your other social media activities. It's in its own category, and when done right, it can be a convenient, low-cost tool for generating fresh leads to stock your pipeline. If targeted advertising has been your business blind spot, now is the perfect time to change that. Even if you've never run a targeted ad campaign yourself, you've definitely experienced these ads during your own time online. You search for something that you're interested in purchasing, check out some content, and suddenly you're seeing ads for that product or something similar during all of your travels online. Targeted ads are designed to reach a specific audience — ideally people who are already interested in what you have to offer. Before You Advertise, Make Sure Your Branding and Website Are Ready We'll get into more specific targeted advertising strategies shortly, but there are a few things that you'll want to have prepared before you get started. First, make sure that your branding is consistent. Things like color schemes, logos, missions, values, and even fonts can help your brand stand out from the competition when you advertise. Next, you'll want to make sure that your real estate website looks appealing, functions well on any device, has great content, and offers all of the features that your audience needs. In many cases, your targeted ads will be leading prospects directly to your website, and you want to give them every reason to stick around once they arrive. Know Your Audience Like the name suggests, targeted ads are all about reaching a specific audience. So who are you trying to reach? Running a targeted ad campaign for an audience of luxury real estate buyers will naturally be different than running one for first-time homebuyers who are new to real estate. The same goes for whether you're trying to generate buyer or seller leads. Due to fair housing laws, it's important to note that ads can't be targeted based on certain factors like race, gender, or class. Think about your target audience, what they like to do, what their interests are, and what might motivate them to buy or sell a home. Planning Your Targeted Ad Campaign Once you've got your branding, website, social pages, and audience analysis in order, you'll be ready to start planning your first campaign. Here are some of the key steps you'll take while planning your campaign: Campaign Objective, Ad Settings, and Contact Method First, you'll set up your campaign objective, which will usually be lead generation. You'll also choose your ad settings, where you'll click on "special ad categories" and "housing" in order to adhere to fair housing laws. You will also choose your contact method, either through a lead capture form, automated chat, or phone call. Setting Your Budget Facebook ads are priced through a bidding process, which allows you to set the maximum price you're willing to pay to reach a specific audience. You can set your max daily bid based on a variety of factors for each ad, and sometimes it will take some experimenting to find the right price per lead. Audience and Ad Placements Next, you'll be choosing how you'll target your audience and how your ads will be placed. You can choose to display your ad on Facebook, Instagram, or both platforms. You can choose to place your ads manually or use automated placing to put them in the best places to achieve your campaign goals. Creating Your Ad All of the branding factors that we mentioned so far will usually play a part in creating your ads. Some of the most popular ad types include just listed, branded ads, home valuations, and open houses. There are many effective types of ad campaigns, so experiment to see what works best for reaching your audience. Analyzing Results One of the great things about placing targeted ads through Facebook or Instagram is that you get plenty of analytics to help you discover what works best. Make sure that you're tracking the success of your campaigns in order to maximize your ROI. Take Advantage of Targeted Advertising Tools to Make Life Easier You could take the time to handle every last detail of targeted advertising yourself... or you could use a seamless, easy-to-use platform that allows you to set up campaigns in a few clicks. With Ad Wizard™, you can take the guesswork out of targeted advertising and manage ads with a dependable, consistent process. Ad Wizard™ is one of many tools available in DeltaNET®6 to help you market your business, manage leads, and maintain great relationships with your clients. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET®6 free for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

Where Most Leads Come From -- and How You Can Cover Your Bases
Are you covering all of your bases with real estate lead generation? With so many different ways to generate leads, it can be easy to overlook some of the valuable, reliable tools that can help keep your pipeline stocked to the brim. Diversifying your strategy can help you reach a wider pool of potential clients and give you the confidence that you're leaving no stone unturned when it comes to generating leads. That's why it's so important to understand where most leads come from and how you can ensure that you're maximizing your lead generation opportunities. Start with Your Real Estate Website Your real estate website should be one of your best sources for leads online, but simply setting up a website isn't enough to guarantee success. For your website to become a lead-generation machine, it needs to provide a seamless experience with the right features and design elements. This is important both for attracting prospects to your website in the first place and turning them into qualified leads once they arrive. IDX Listing Integration - Many of the prospects who visit your website will be coming to look at listings first and foremost, so it's important to make that process as easy as possible for them. IDX listing integration makes it simple for prospects to search for homes in your markets, and those listings will be a key source of leads. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - While SEO doesn't generate leads directly like some of the other items on our list, it's a critical factor in attracting traffic to your real estate website. Over time, SEO helps you achieve a higher search engine ranking, which leads directly to more traffic. And more traffic to your website ultimately means more leads. Real Estate Content - The content on your real estate website helps you build trust, establish your real estate expertise, and show prospects how you can help them achieve their goals. Whether it's in the form of video content, blog posts, or both, your content helps convince prospects to take the next step. Social Proof - Social proof in the form of reviews and testimonials is one of the key factors in the decision-making process of modern real estate prospects. Integrating social proof throughout key areas of your website is a must for maximizing your lead generation. Lead Capture Forms - Once a prospect has spent some time on your website and seen what you have to offer, the goal is to have them fill out a lead capture form. This is where they'll provide contact information, outline their real estate needs, and take the first key step toward becoming a client. Social Media Marketing and Relationship Building The biggest social media platforms continue to rank among the best sources of leads online, so it likely comes as no surprise that social media marketing is so popular in real estate. Whether you're showcasing listings on Instagram, building relationships on Facebook, or sharing your best video content on TikTok, building your social presence is a must for generating leads in 2022. Referrals and Your Personal/Professional Networks The most highly qualified leads often come from referrals, and referrals are still one of the most dependable sources of leads for your real estate business. For individual agents, those referrals can often come from your personal and professional networks, in addition to your current clients. Building and maintaining great relationships still goes a long way toward generating leads, no matter who you're trying to reach. Virtual Tours and Open Houses More than ever, buyers are choosing to tour homes from the comfort of their current location with the help of virtual open houses and showings. Just like their in-person counterparts, these tools are key sources of leads — and not just for buyers! When sellers see that you're promoting listings with the best modern tech, they'll be more likely to choose you as well. Social Media and Search Engine Advertising Building your social media presence and boosting the SEO on your real estate website are both well worth the effort. However, it also takes time to see results. Paid advertising on social media and search engines provides more immediate results as a source of leads. Paid advertising is great for boosting visibility while building up your online presence and for supplementing your other lead-generation efforts. Covering Your Bases for Lead Generation in 2022 Whether you're interested in opening new avenues of lead generation or optimizing your existing strategy, achieving your goals is so much easier when you have the right tools for the job. With the DeltaNET®6 all-in-one real estate solution, all of the tools, tech, and resources you need to generate leads are always at your fingertips. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET®6 free for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

Landing Pages: Your Secret Lead Conversion Weapon
In today's hyper-digital world, agents need a winning online presence to sustain a successful real estate business. The best IDX websites are user-friendly, attractive, and filled with fresh listings. But agents that want to take their websites to the next level to supercharge lead generation need to be leveraging custom landing pages. A landing page is a standalone page on your website. Think about your "About Us" page or each one of your online listings. Landing Pages Are Super Powerful Lead Generation Tools Besides giving your website more pages — which boosts your SEO performance since you're generating more searchable content — custom landing pages roll out the red carpet for leads. Landing pages allow for a more personalized experience when people visit your website. Landing pages offer something valuable to your website visitors in exchange for contact information. Creating landing pages gives agents the opportunity to include more contact forms and CTAs. While you're introducing a neighborhood that you service or highlight listings that are coming soon, you can prompt leads to submit their contact information to convert more online traffic into leads. 15 Examples of Landing Pages to Add to Your Site Home Valuation Page Neighborhood Guides Local Market Report First-Time Homebuyer Course (or eBook!) "Coming Soon" Listings Home Improvement Guides for Sellers Contact Information for Municipal Service Providers Credit Repair Program Seller Lead-Specific Page Encyclopedia of Real Estate Terms Blog Contact Client Reviews Buyer/Seller FAQ Agent Career Highlights Mortgage Information Guide Get creative with your selection of landing pages. This is your opportunity to directly speak with potential leads and show them why you should be their agent. Think about creative landing pages and content ideas that out-do what competing websites have to offer. More Landing Pages Means More Conversion Companies that create 30 or more landing pages get seven times more leads than those that use fewer than 10. #ProTip: Using videos on landing pages can improve conversion by 86%. When building your landing pages, include high-quality video content to accompany your text. These can be a visuals-only neighborhood tour or an agent-guided tour of the area. When sharing basic real estate advice and tips, agents can use video to introduce themselves to their clients. Recording short videos where you introduce yourself and discuss the topic of the landing page further can be a great way to create and share new content. You can also use these videos for your social media, blog, and email marketing campaigns. Landing Pages Are the Bridge Between Site Visitors and Leads A landing page is the final stop before a site visitor becomes a lead. With your robust marketing campaign, you're casting your net across a variety of channels — such as digital advertising, social media content, webinars, and billboards. You need those marketing efforts to drive lead traffic to a "landing spot," where you can get their contact information and make a superb first impression. [Source: Unbounce] How to Get Leads to Take the Leap: A Simple and Customized Experience When you finally drive leads to your landing page, how do you get them to engage with your page and ultimately submit their contact information? Here's a Marketing 101 Crash Course: The consumer holds the power. They can leave your site, or they can provide their name and email. Being able to accommodate consumer demands is critical for activating the power of your landing pages. In today's market where instant gratification wins, your site visitors want your website to exceed their expectations. Internet users are used to targeted ads, gorgeous landing pages, and interactive apps. It's your job as an agent to meet those demands and build a seamless, enjoyable experience. This is what will allow you to stay competitive with the "Zillows" in the industry. Providing a simple and customized experience is the key to getting leads to follow your calls-to-action and submit their contact information, consenting to open communications with you. When you're building your landing pages and expanding your digital presence, ask yourself the following questions: Am I delivering a simple and customized experience? Is my site providing value beyond my competitors? Does my site invite visitors to browse more landing pages? Happy Website Building! To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

Friday Freebie: 5-Step Strategy Guide to Capturing and Converting Online Leads
There are plenty of warm real estate leads out there, both buyers and sellers. You just need to know how to find them--and how to keep them! Fortunately, we've got a strategy road map to help you do just that. In this week's Friday Freebie, we're highlighting a free guide to capturing and converting online leads in just five steps. Read on to find out how to download your free copy. Free copy of How to Capture Online Real Estate Leads and Convert Them into Clients, courtesy of Zurple Getting and turning leads into clients doesn't have to be a complicated process—and it doesn't have to be complicated to get started, either. In fact, you can get your marketing strategy up and running in just five steps, according to this free guide from Zurple. Download it now to learn: The rules of effective online real estate lead generation How to define your target audience (with a worksheet to help!) How to set up your lead gen tools The role of content in lead generation Strategies for capturing and converting leads And more! Claim your free copy of How to Capture Online Real Estate Leads and Convert Them into Clients now!

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. Get a free, 30-day trial of DeltaNET 6 here. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

St. Patrick's Day Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents
With Valentines Day in the past, we now have a few more weeks to drive interest in your real estate business through St. Patrick's Day. Holidays are a great excuse to market to your sphere of influence. You should always be communicating with them year round—who knows when one of those prospects can turn into a lead or a referral? Here are six real estate themed St. Patrick's Day marketing ideas to try this year: 1. St. Patty's Themed Pop-by Gift If you know your client's love language, and they happen to prefer appreciation through gift giving, then why not stop by and give them a St. Patrick's Day gift basket? Fill it with green items. You can stock up on inexpensive goodies at Target or a Dollar Tree. Don't forget to leave a handwritten note and your business card! 2. Send Snail Mail If it's too out of your way to drop a gift at their doorstep, you can also always send something through the US Postal Service. You can buy these glasses from Amazon, and send them in a bubble mailer. 3. Host an Event Client appreciation events are always a good excuse to get your past clients together in one room for some face time. Being a likable real estate agent that keeps in touch with their sphere is an important aspect of maintaining a business that will generate referrals and refill your pipeline of leads. 4. Blog on Local Events If you don't want to host an event yourself, you can write a blog on local events. If you use SEO best practices, you can rank your blog locally on Google. This means next St. Patrick's Day when people are searching for events in your area, then they'll be taken to your website for more information. It is also an excuse to share a few posts tagging local businesses that are hosting these events. 5. Share St. Patrick's Day Trivia on Social Media Posts that start off with the words "DID YOU KNOW" can pique a user's interest into reading the rest of the content. Even though it is not about real estate, this will get your followers engaged and likely to like, share, or comment on your posts—thus expanding your social reach. 6. Send a Digital Post Card Last but not least, you can also slide into their email inbox with a St. Patrick's Day digital postcard that has been branded to your real estate business. You can click this link to download a set of e-cards. They can also be used in text messages and Facebook pages. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

Friday Freebie: 5 Lead Generation Optimization Checklists for 2022
What's the key to a successful lead generation strategy? If you said "consistency," you're on the right track. But it's hard to be consistent if you don't have a road map already in place. Cue this week's Friday Freebie. We're highlighting a free set of five checklists that will help you optimize your lead generation strategy and keep you on the path to consistency. Read on to learn how to become a lean, mean, lead-generating machine. Download 5 Real Estate Lead Generation Optimization Checklists for 2022, courtesy of Zurple Nothing makes life easier than having a plan in place. When it comes to lead generation, you need to know where to market yourself and how, how to qualify leads, how to nurture leads, and more. That may seem like a lot, but in this free packet of lead generation checklists, you'll learn how to streamline multiple aspects of your lead generation strategy. You can use the checklists yourself or share them with an assistant or marketing support personnel. Your free download includes: Lead generation checklist New lead qualification checklist Website SEO checklist Email/CRM checklist Real estate content checklist Make your 2022 lead gen strategy the best it can be. Download 5 Real Estate Lead Generation Optimization Checklists for 2022 now!

4 Real Estate Emails that Convert Like Crazy (+Templates!)
In 2021: 122.3 billion spam emails were sent each day. Nearly 85% of all emails sent were spam. 36% of them were advertisements. Considering this, how do the emails that you send out to your leads look? Are you sending out content that provides value and sparks meaningful conversation with your sphere? Or, are your CRM contacts scrolling past them and clicking "delete" without a second thought? The key to successful email campaigns is to share relevant content in an attractive format. These email templates are perfect for catching your audience's attention and prompting them to actually click your links and follow your call-to-action. 1. Introducing Yourself and Your Brand When leads provide you with their contact information and have "signed up" for correspondences with you, the first email should lightly introduce you and your brand. Aim for a concise and organized introduction. Think of this like an e-handshake or digital elevator pitch. The best tone for a Welcome Email is: Casual Helpful Respectful Friendly Knowledgeable Sample Introduction Email: Hi [Name], Thank you for signing up for my email list! This is the best way to receive the latest information regarding listings in your area. We're constantly working with new listings, so you'll be the first to know about fresh opportunities hitting the market. Over the past [X] years, I have helped buyers find their new homes and worked with sellers as they're taking the next steps. As a local myself, I fully understand the unique challenges that buyers and sellers may face in this market — and have cultivated winning strategies to overcome them. Here are a few resources to help answer any questions you may have about buying/selling. # Essential Tips for Buyers in [Year]How to Prepare Your Home Buying Budget# Tips for Choosing the Right Mortgage Have a lovely day, [Your Name] [Your Phone Number] 2. The "I'm Here to Help" Reminder After you've introduced yourself through the Welcome Email, follow up within one week with another email to initiate preliminary steps that build toward a successful conversion. Use this email to stay relevant with your client base and prompt leads to start a conversation about their transaction with you. You want readers to walk away knowing that you are: Available Strategic Dedicated Understanding Creative Sample "I'm Here to Help" Email: Hi [Name], How has your home search been going so far? I hope that you have had time to review the new listings that I've sent to you that match the preferences I have on file. As you continue your search, I'm here to help you — whether it's by providing advice, discussing financing options, or determining what you are looking for in a listing. You can always reach me at (###) ###-####, via email at [email protected], or come by my office! Looking forward to hearing from you, [Your Name] [Your Phone Number]  3. Sharing Client Success Stories When you close on a deal that resembles the needs of your leads, share the information with them. Sending emails with client success stories can get your leads excited about working with you and show them the perks of choosing you as an agent. By sending this email, you want leads to understand that: Client wins are measures of your success. You're interested in their wellbeing, not just the commission split. Sample "Client Success Story" Email: Hi [Name], I hope you're well! I thought of you because I just finalized a transaction that resembled your real estate needs and goals. [Insert client testimonial here] You can click here to read more about the experience that my client had, including the challenges they faced and strategies we used to overcome and ultimately succeed. I hope this story empowers you and gets you excited to pursue your real estate deal. If you'd like to speak more about your specific situation or any updates to your needs as a buyer/seller, I'm ready to talk at any time. Best, [Your Name] [Your Phone Number] Pro Tip: Make sure that you're sending buyer's stories to buyer leads, and seller stories to seller leads. 4. Delivering Creative Content Sharing valuable information is a clickbait way to engage leads. This is your chance to show that you're an expert at the local real estate market, and push leads to your website to access more content! 10 Ideas for Content to Share with Leads: Local Market Updates Small Business Shoutouts Average Days on Market Breakdown Seller Market Versus Buyer Market Explanation Guide for Buying/Selling a Home in the Current Market Local Events Calendar Guide for Seller Renovations New Development Updates Fixer-Upper Average Costs Turning Your Home into the Ultimate Investment If you're working with an email drip campaign, you can save time by planning in advance and access customizable templates. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

An Agent's 2022 Marketing Guide (Free Download)
Planning your 2022 goals and overarching marketing strategy can feel like daunting work, but it's a crucial part of running a successful real estate business. Every year, we encourage the brokers, agents and teams with whom we work to set aside a block of time to focus on defining their "why" for the coming year, and then developing an actionable plan to crush goals, establish good habits, and focus on what's truly important to grow professionally (and personally). The last few years have been a struggle for many, and have forever changed the landscape of how we do business. A strong online presence has become more valuable than ever before, but it's easy to get lost in the latest "gadgets" and lose focus of why we spend time marketing our business in the first place. At its most basic, the purpose of marketing is to reach your target audience and communicate the benefits of your product or service in order to acquire, nurture and grow your customer base. Yet time and time again, we see professionals creating online content that does anything BUT that and then become frustrated with the lack of response, engagement and growth. So, the marketing minds at Elm Street have created a quick, down-n-dirty 2022 Marketing Guide to help real estate professionals focus on what's truly important with their marketing initiatives. [ DOWNLOAD GUIDE NOW ] In this guide, real estate professionals can expect ACTIONABLE items around such topics as: IDX websites Improving SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Emails (with a focus on automation and tracking the important stuff) Blogging and creating good content Video (don't be scared—the camera loves you being yourself!) Pay-per-click advertising In-person marketing (making the most of the moment) Inviting referrals (people love you—leverage that!) And more! [ DOWNLOAD GUIDE NOW ] Use this guide as a baseline check to make sure that you have the foundational elements in place to kickstart your 2022 marketing—and then build upon it! Remember, your audience is spending a lot of time online (more than ever before), and making sure that you are creating meaningful, relevant conversations across your marketing channels is a MUST. Here are a few other quick resources for you if you are looking for help with your online marketing: MORE Free Marketing Guides Check out all of the free guides that are available from Elm Street to dig deep into the topics you need help with the most. Receive Daily Marketing Tips Direct to Your Inbox Start your day with a dose of inspiration. Subscribe for your free tips today! Schedule a 15-minute Online Marketing Review Tap into the success coaches at Elm Street to look at what you are doing well, what needs improvement, and how we can help.

7 Advanced Strategies to Turbocharge Your Real Estate Business
When it comes to advice on how to grow your real estate business, there's no shortage of suggested strategies and how-tos out there. The problem? A lot of it can be pretty basic. If you've been in real estate for a while, do you really need someone to tell you to "know your target market" or "work on perfecting your sales script"? Of course not. If you're successful, you've had that down for years now. That kind of advice cluttering the internet is more suitable for an agent just starting out. Instead, in this blog, we'll focus on some more advanced strategies for growing your real estate business in the coming year that might not be so obvious—and can give you an extra edge in winning clients and dominating your sphere in 2022. 1. Audit your brand for consistency across digital channels Look, the reality of today's real estate landscape is that word-of-mouth just isn't as important as it used to be. Yes, clients still recommend agents they like to friends and relatives, but now, when search engines like Google make researching on your own so easy, homebuyers and sellers are turning online to vet real estate agents—even if they've received a recommendation from a trusted party. It's not just in real estate either; it's happening in every industry: How often do you Google a restaurant before ordering dinner, even if your colleague swore by it? So, you must ask yourself: what happens if a prospect searches for you? Are you presenting yourself as a trustable, professional agent across all corners of the web? Or does your Facebook profile offer a completely different picture of your competency than your Google business profile? Do you even have a Google business profile? The simple truth is this: Clients have no shortage of real estate agents available to them, so any sort of discrepancy online is only going to give them pause in hiring you. So, why give them an opportunity? Make sure prospects can find you on various platforms; your reviews are consistent from review site to site; your contact information is consistent across profiles; and you're conveying a sense of professionalism at every turn. 2. Invest in the power of content marketing You're probably no stranger to the idea of content marketing, but maybe you don't know how important it is, or maybe you didn't think it was as applicable to the real estate industry as it is in others. But it is, and we'll explain why: As we established, Google is really important for real estate agents in finding clients, as prospects regularly use the search engine to research who they hire. But how do you make sure you appear high enough on a Google results page to make sure these clients see and choose you? Well, Google puts a heavy emphasis on responsiveness—that is businesses who appear active and engaged, not those that throw up a website and passively hope leads find them. And, as you've probably guessed, one of the best ways to demonstrate responsiveness is by the regular posting of worthwhile content. That means listing photos, market research, your thoughts and analysis, etc. So, make sure you're regularly posting content across channels. Pro Tip: Don't forget Google as a channel for your content distribution. While it may not be as obvious as your website, blog or Facebook profile, Google places an incredible amount of value on responsiveness on its platform when it comes to rankings. Makes sense, right? Regularly use Google's products, and Google will shuffle you up the rankings. 3. Modernize your website with prospect-friendly digital tools In the wake of Covid-19, more and more prospects are looking for digitally adept agents—ones that can help them market their property online or host virtual tours and walkthroughs. Even when the pandemic is over, it's likely to stay the reality; innovation rarely goes backward. So, take a good, hard look at your website. Does it convey that you're a modern, up-on-their-tech agent? Or does it look like your nephew hastily threw it together 10 years ago? It goes back to our first tip: conveying a sense of professionalism and expertise wherever a prospect may discover you. But modern isn't just limited to aesthetics. Today, you're much more likely to entice a prospect online if you can offer something for free. It's just the way the world works—after all, you're getting free advice in exchange for visiting this blog. The best agent websites have some sort of give and take. You can offer a free market analysis or home valuation in exchange for a client's email address or phone number. They're much more likely to connect with you if you give them something to make it worth their while. 4. Prioritize reputation management by soliciting and maintaining reviews Yes, reviews are important for your reputation. But that's not what this tip is about. Did you know that the more positive reviews you have, the more likely you are to appear in search rankings? At Homesnap, we looked at the profiles of thousands of agents across the country to try to correlate the number and overall rating of reviews against an agent's search rankings on Google. You can read the full report here on getting more positive reviews here, but here's what we found: Agents with an average review rating of 4.0 or better on Google appear in 350% more Google searches than agents with an average review rating of 0-3. Agents with a 4.0 average review rating on Google received 300% more actions (calls, texts, website views, and direction requests) than those with a review rating of 0-3. The more reviews an agent has, the better they perform in search, views, and actions. The only problem? The impact of positive reviews tends to diminish over time—after about 90 days or so. So, make sure you're always encouraging new positive reviews from clients, friends, family, as well as responding to negative reviews politely and respectfully. 5. Use social media to nurture long-term prospects A lot of real estate agents turn to social media for lead generation, and when they don't find high-intent buyers or sellers after running their first few ads, they're disillusioned with the results. Many (mistakenly) believe social media doesn't work for them. But the simple truth is, it does—if you're patient. Many would-be homebuyers and sellers are at the onset of their real estate journey, poking around on an agent's social media profiles and ads in anticipation of the day they'll be ready to transact. If you pull the ripcord too early and ignore anyone who isn't ready to buy or sell in the next 30 days, you're going to miss valuable opportunities to attract new clients at a later date. Instead, you should consider social media a long-term volume play—in which you capture and nurture a sizable number of potential leads as they grow to be higher intent. That way, when users are ready to buy or sell, you're the agent they're most familiar with—you've been with them the whole time. 6. Leverage the power of video In the weeks following initial social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines, virtual tours and open houses proved both popular and effective. Now, though, as in-person open houses return, some agents have abandoned the tactic, viewing it more as a stopgap than a viable marketing strategy. But, in fact, videos have proven very effective as a marketing tactic, even if they don't lead to direct sales. Virtual tours and open houses provide a more immersive, holistic experience to homebuyers, making it more likely that their initial interest will result in a serious buyer. Additionally, videos are perfectly suited to social media advertising, particularly on Instagram, where video content is more native and less intrusive than on other social networks. Here's a complete guide to real estate marketing on Instagram, including marketing your video content, if you're interested in learning more. 7. Measure your progress against realistic digital benchmarks Growing your real estate business isn't easy and takes time. Do not expect immediate results, even if you follow all these steps. But if you're patient and strategic, you will see significant results in growing your real estate business. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

5 Practical Marketing Ideas for the Holidays
The holiday season is a time of fun and festivities. While home buying and selling typically slow down during the winter months, sometimes the end of the year can be hectic, with clients trying to close transactions before the new year. Moreover, just because it's the most wonderful time of the year doesn't mean you should relax on your social media promotion. On the contrary, the holiday season is a perfect time for focusing on holiday marketing efforts due to decreased competition. In addition, it's a time when your messages can become more visible as there is less clutter. By having the right mix of marketing directed at your sphere, you can continue to grow your business by expanding your audience reach during the holiday season. Studies by realtor.com show that internet searches for real estate peak during the holiday months. Therefore, it's a great time to continue engaging, as during the happy holidays, your audience may be more open to new ideas and might even send more business your way. You can make December a time to stay top-of-mind with your clients and stand out from other agents with these five practical marketing tips. Send out holiday cards and/or emails If your real estate business begins to slow down, then use this time to reach out and connect with past clients and others in your sphere. If you already send holiday cards to family and friends, why not share your holiday spirit with clients and others on your business lists? If you want to go the extra mile, add a handwritten note on each card, personally wishing them and their family happy holidays. This personal touch is about the least "salesy" thing you can do and can result in someone reaching back out to you for help. If you don't have time to write personal notes on holiday cards, sending out a personalized holiday email also can be effective in connecting with clients and others. However, please stay away from being too commercial and make sure your message is about them and not you. Hold holiday giveaways It's the gift-giving season, and a free gift appeals to just about anyone, as long as it has a perceived value or use. You can get into the gift-giving spirit by sharing your gift-giveaway on the social media platforms you utilize for your business. Whether it's a gift card for a local merchant, Amazon or Starbucks, offering a gift that appeals to your audience can help you stand out from other agents. It can be as simple as providing a $5 gift card to the first 10 people who add a holiday cheer comment on Facebook, limiting the offer to those in your "friends" network. Give back to the community During the holiday months, it's a great time to give back to a local nonprofit or community organization. Since social media is all about community, you have an opportunity to connect with your sphere of influence, encouraging them to join you in supporting a local organization or volunteering to support a local community service project. If you partner with a local nonprofit, you can post about their upcoming events, such as a canned food drive, gingerbread decorating party, holiday gift drop-offs, and other fundraising events. Create captivating seasonal images to share Is there a house or a street that is spectacularly decorated for the holidays in your area? Shoot photos and videos to share the spirit of the holidays on Facebook and Instagram. Pictures of pets and children decked out in holiday wear also make for great sharable images. You could even create a photo event, offering clients free holiday family photoshoots. Publish holiday-themed blog posts If you already write a blog, you know how valuable it is in helping you build and maintain your online presence. The holidays are an excellent time for you to share your insights into the season. What do the holidays mean to you? Was there a particular year celebrating the holidays that stands out? Share your story as to why. Or perhaps you have a favorite real estate story about something that happened during the holidays. And you could also write about upcoming seasonal or holiday events in your community. Writing about what you know will help you connect with clients and prospects. If you need technical assistance with any aspect of your real estate marketing activities during the holidays – or any time of year – remember that Tech Helpline is here to help and only a click, call or email away. To view the original article, visit the Tech Helpline blog.

Friday Freebie: 2022 Real Estate Marketing Planner
'Tis the season for… planning how to take your real estate career to the next level in the year ahead! Between holiday parties and gift buying, you've probably got a lot going on this season. Let us help you make planning for 2022 as easy as possible. In this week's Friday Freebie, we're highlighting a free real estate marketing planner, complete with worksheets to make setting and achieving your goals as easy as possible. Read on to find out how to download your free copy. FREE Download: 2022 Real Estate Marketing Planner™, courtesy of ProspectsPLUS! Have an ambitious income target you want to hit next year? Your sphere of influence is the goldmine you need to tap to achieve your goals. The 2022 Real Estate Marketing Planner™ from ProspectsPLUS! will show you exactly how to do that on a week-by-week basis. It details who you should reach out to every week and which campaigns to launch to maximize your marketing. Here's what else you'll get in this free download: A monthly calendar, color-coded to match weekly action items Weekly action items by sphere-of-influence segment with defined tasks Monthly holiday mail-by-dates for mailing postcards standard class A monthly list of fun activities to reference when contacting your sphere of influence And more! Get strategic about your marketing to win more business in 2022. Download the 2022 Real Estate Marketing Planner™ now!

How to Get Real Estate Leads with No Upfront Costs
It sounds too good to be true, we know: But you can actually generate real estate leads with no upfront costs. It will take some effort and focus, but the leads you receive will be warmer and more likely to convert than those you'd buy from any number of companies offering supposed "quick, easy leads." The main activity you'll need to focus on to fill the top of your funnel is building a strong online presence and improving your online reputation. That, in combination with outreach and lead nurturing, is the recipe for generating and ultimately converting real estate leads with no upfront costs. Let's dive into the details. What Is a "Strong Online Presence"? A strong online presence means that it's easy for buyers and sellers to find information about you and your business on as many corners of the internet as possible. Being visible and easily findable online is table stakes for most transactions nowadays. Consumers look up every business they're considering working with, from dentists to real estate agents to restaurants. Inevitably, the first place they'll go to start that search is Google. If you don't have a Google business profile and well-maintained website, it'll be hard to find you online — leaving buyers and sellers wondering if you're a reputable agent or whether you're still practicing real estate at all. And that's just for the people who actively search for your name. Imagine all the buyers and sellers who Google terms like "real estate agents near me" and miss out on learning about you simply because you aren't there. Make Your Business Easy to Find on Google Being present on the world's most popular search engine is step one. The best thing you can do to start building your presence is to create a Google business profile, which is the large info box that appears to the right of Google Search results or at the top of Google Maps results. Like we mentioned earlier, doing this requires no upfront cost. You can go to Google and start the process of claiming and verifying your business right now. The key, though, is maintaining your profile by updating it with new content and new reviews on a weekly basis. Yes, weekly. This helps with SEO and building trust with Google so that the search giant will be more inclined to show your profile over competitors when a local buyer or seller searches for "real estate agents near me" or the like. After all, Google doesn't want to show its users defunct profiles or poorly reviewed businesses over active, well-reviewed businesses. Here are our top tips for optimizing your Google Business Profile for better ranking: Fill in all information fields, including contact details, business hours, and your bio. Publish photos, including a professional headshot and images of your recent listings and sales. Add new content weekly to show Google that you are keeping your profile active and up-to-date. Publish content posts with helpful tips, market insights, and information about your services. Show off your real estate knowledge to position yourself as an expert. Add new content weekly so Google knows you're keeping your profile active and up to date. Request reviews, and then request more reviews—often! Consumers need to read at least 10 positive reviews to begin to trust your business, and nearly three quarters of people only pay attention to reviews written in the last month. As with photos and content posts, adding new reviews to your profile on a regular basis is a positive signal to Google, too. Respond to all reviews, including negative ones. If you don't publicly acknowledge negative reviews, consumers are left with more questions than answers, and it also sends a negative signal to Google. Respond Quickly to Leads as They Come In We're living in a world where you can track your food delivery order from the oven to your door. Consumers' expectations are very high, and it's no different when they submit their contact details to receive more information about your listing or services. If you wait too long to respond, you're more likely to lose that lead to another agent or even just cold feet. We recommend responding in less than an hour — ideally in minutes — to catch them while their interest is still high. Nurture Leads Who Aren't Ready to Transact Although a potential buyer might reach out to you through your Google business profile, they may not be quite ready to jump into the real estate market. It's important to nurture every lead you receive. Nurturing leads means engaging with them regularly so you're top of mind when they are ready to buy or sell. You can do this by supporting leads in whatever ways they need, such as being available to answer questions or referring them to trusted lenders or other professionals in your network. You should also reinforce your market expertise whenever possible. This is easily achieved by including leads in your email workflows for e-newsletters, neighborhood spotlights, trend reports, and market updates. The more that potential buyers and sellers interact with you and your content — even digitally — the easier it is to build trust and ultimately be the agent they turn to when they're ready to buy or sell. Reinforce Your Expertise Through Marketing You can generate real estate leads with no upfront costs, but marketing isn't free. The cost of ads, direct mail, etc., shouldn't stop you from having and executing a marketing strategy. This is critical for any business, including real estate agents, in order to extend your reach, increase brand awareness, build trust, reinforce your expertise, and move leads down your funnel faster. Digital marketing is the perfect tool to use in conjunction with your lead generation tactics. That's because advertising platforms, such as Facebook and Google, allow you to add specific people to your custom audience. As long as these ad platforms are able to identify your leads on their network, they'll serve your digital ads to them. The more often these leads see you pop up in their newsfeed or around the internet, the more likely you are to make an impression of being a successful real estate agent. Although you don't need to pay a dime to generate leads in the way we described, it does take continuous work to maintain an online presence that builds trust with consumers and ranks high on Google. Learn how Homesnap Pro+ can do the hard work for you. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

Market Like a Social Pro in 2022
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 11:00 AM PST Have you ever heard the saying "It's not WHAT you know, it’s not WHO you know, it's about WHO KNOWS YOU?" This is a fundamental truth when it comes to marketing your business and your brand - you have to ensure current and potential clients know who you are, what you do, and why you matter! In this one-hour session, top social media trainers Stephanie Alfonso and Dylan Handy will showcase the top trends for social media marketing as we head towards 2022. Walk away with actionable knowledge: The hottest social channels for building brand awareness. Effective blogging principles to drive website engagement. What you should (and should not) be including on your real estate website. Should you consider pay-per-click lead generation. And more... 2022 is the year to turn your social media from a toy into a powerful marketing tool! Register now!

Friday Freebie: $50 Gift Card to Redeem on Marketing Materials
Want $50 dollars for less than 30 seconds of your time? In this week's Friday Freebie, we've got an easy-peasy offer for you. All you have to do is sign up for a new account and you'll get $50 in free marketing from ProspectsPLUS! (And don't worry, no credit card is required.) Why would you want to create a new account? Well, we're highlighting more free goodies from ProspectsPLUS! next month, so you might as well get that $50 because there's a good chance you'll be signing up for a free account soon anyway. (Plus, who doesn't want $50?!) Free $50 Gift Card, courtesy of ProspectsPLUS! When we said this will take less than 30 seconds of your time, we meant it. Claiming your $50 gift card is as easy as: Create an account (valid for new accounts only) Get a $50 gift certificate via email Boom! Done. So what kind of things can you get once you receive your gift card? ProspectsPLUS! is a "web-to-print platform" that lets real estate professionals create, ship, and track print marketing materials. Here's a sampling of what they offer: Postcards Flyers Door hangers Specialized marketing kits for FSBOs, expired listings, and more Downloadable reports Brochures Newsletters Business cards And more! Register now for an account and claim your $50 gift certificate! Then stay tuned for more free goodies coming your way next month.

Results-Driven Referral Marketing: How to Get More Referrals Year-After-Year
Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM PST Are you wasting time chasing poor quality leads that go nowhere? Are you spending time and money on high competition leads that result in little to no business? If so, you're not alone, and we're here to help. Please join us for a complimentary information session. This 45-minute webinar, followed by a Q&A, is hosted by real estate marketing expert Phil Hollander, Vice President, Business and Professional Development at Morris Real Estate Marketing Group. In this webinar you will learn: Not all leads are created equal – how to identify which leads will work for you. Proven lead generation strategies that will make you money with less effort. How to create a marketing system that increases referrals and repeat business. Register now!

Make Your Next Marketing Strategy Local
What does it mean to be a local real estate agent? By focusing on a targeted area, you become an expert in a specific geographic area. You regularly attend events and have your eyes and ears tuned into the pulse of the community. The relationship you have with a specific area is second nature and you know about all the new developments, where the best schools are located, the Walk Scores, and crime rates. To put it into perspective, you are the consumer's go-to when they need to find out who's who and the buzz in your area. When questions arise about planning, zoning, and environmental concerns or the selling price of the property down the street with a similar floor plan, you have the answers on the tip of your tongue. Honing in on a local area will make your brand stand out and get you recognized as the local expert. What are some secrets to becoming a local expert? Use virtual tours in your new real estate marketing plan It's no secret that consumers are using technology at a faster rate than ever before. Homebuyers are especially enamoured with searching online. According to NAR, 97% of them use the web in their quest for a new home. Sure, traditional and old-school marketing can add some nostalgia to your advertising, but it is time to embrace the digital age and focus on having an online presence. By incorporating real estate marketing tools like immersive 3D tours and interactive floor plans, you not only highlight the fit and flow of each property, but you highlight the fact that you are current with real estate technology. Be the agent the locals recognize as the tech-friendly marketing expert for all their real estate requirements. Following the leads and leading with followers You can lead by following. Follow the social channels of local businesses, including professional services, retail, recreational facilities, and builders and developers in the area. Take the lead by asking your followers questions on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to initiate conversation. Listen to the voices of the residents and use your time to engage with the community by sharing stories on your social channels, including virtual open houses, 3D tours, and market updates. Did you know you can guide a buyer through a property by sharing a link during a virtual showing? Social connections can drive leads from your apps directly to a potential sale. The importance of standing out in a highly competitive field There are plenty of intelligent real estate agents who know the rules and abide by the fundamentals of the industry standards. But you need to be more than the "standard" Realtor. Marketing tools from companies like iGUIDE® can make you stand out. How you present a property listing should inspire, entice, and engage the consumer. How can you accomplish this? Use real estate marketing tools to reel in the consumer and make a connection. Buyers and sellers want information including accurate measurements, property-specific details, and community amenities. By offering floor plans and easily navigated virtual tours in your digital marketing, you can tie it all together with your expert knowledge of the geographic region. Create your brand identity with niche marketing One of the best marketing tools for real estate agents is building your brand through consistent messaging. Leading real estate coach Tom Ferry suggests you master a specific niche as one of the marketing ideas to elevate your brand. Every listing is an opportunity for you to reach out to the public and show them the value of choosing an agent who can offer good advice, accurate information and present it all in a timely manner. Doing this builds trust and recognition in your brand. When focusing in a specific neighborhood, it is imperative to help the community identify you as the "expert" in the area. You will get recognized as an agent specializing in a specific geographic area when offering things like virtual tours and precise floor plans in your listings. With the proper branding and dedication to your targeted area, your name becomes synonymous with the "go-to" agent for both buyers and sellers in your niche market. Details matter Focus on a single demographic region to uncover and learn the intimate details about schools, parks, Walk Scores, and community happenings. Little details about a neighborhood matter to buyers, as much as the fit and flow of a property. When you guide a potential buyer through a virtual showing, you can have a conversation with them about what it would be like to live in the home. Highlighting property details makes it easier for a consumer to imagine how they will fit into their new home. Working in a niche market doesn't mean you can stray away from the environs periodically. After all, plenty of opportunities will arise while networking within your chosen locale. The key to your success is to use the best marketing tools for real estate agents to distinguish yourself from everyone else out there.

How to Use Instagram Carousel to Boost Your Business and Win More Listings
For real estate, Instagram is a great social platform for agents to expand their network, market properties, and acquire more listings. Predominantly through images, Instagram gives power to agents, teams, and brokerages looking to show off their businesses and listings. Instagram offers a variety of promotional options. One of the hottest new ways to give your listings a big boost and make your sellers smile is by leveraging the power of Instagram carousels. What's an Instagram Carousel? An Instagram carousel is a post or ad containing multiple photos or videos that you swipe or click through one image at a time. According to a study from Socialinsider, carousel posts produce the most organic (unpaid) engagement on Instagram. Carousels average 1.92% average engagement per post, compared to 1.74% and 1.45% average engagement for image and video posts, respectively. More impressively, some agents trace their big business boosts specifically to Instagram and its carousel posts, according to the social media experts at Curaytor, a marketing firm for top sales agents. When used correctly, it creates more engagement with your target audience and keeping their interest. Creating an Instagram carousel post involves selecting multiple images to make a post. You add a caption and copy, plus "tags" you want to include. You create a "tag" on Instagram by attaching a specific label to a post, picture, video, or status to group it with other content that uses the same label. Tags help you reach more people on Instagram with your messages and photos. A carousel post lets you share up to 10 images or videos as a single post. Therefore, you have an opportunity to create posts that have a punch. Here are some strategies for enhancing your business with an Instagram carousel: Copy is as crucial as imagery: Having appealing images in your Instagram carousel is vital for successful real estate marketing. However, it's also important to make sure you create powerful copy as well. Even if you have fantastic photos in your carousel post, it may be ineffective if the accompanying content doesn't get the message across. For example, for a listing post, compelling copy often raises curiosity about the listing you're promoting or prompts interest by asking a clever question. Highlight the property's most powerful features: The beginning of your Instagram carousel post should start the most dramatic photo of your listing. In most cases, it should also be a full house photo. In the carousel, highlight and explain the home's key features, such as hardwood floors, a built-in wine cellar, modern countertops, energy-saving air and heating systems, and other memorable features that make this home stand out. Tell a story: The advantage of a carousel post versus a single image post is that it allows you to tell a story. Every listing has a story, from its unique features and benefits to its location and history. With the right photos, graphic text, and video clips, you can tell an interesting and convincing story for each of your listings with a carousel post. Don't use all the carousel slots: While a carousel post can hold up to ten images or videos, that's a maximum limit, not a goal. It's best to select a few photos that are more likely to engage your audience. Having too many images can have the opposite effect. Like most communication channels, the attention span on Instagram is minimal. Less is often more when it comes to an effective carousel post. Leverage video content: Adding video clips to your carousel may seem like a time-consuming process, but it's simpler than you think. Since today's smartphones can take high-quality videos, you'll have the opportunity to showcase a listing's best feature in a way that a photo can't. Videos also make people stop scrolling to watch, increasing their attention span to your post. Like images in a carousel, it's essential to make sure the videos included helps improve your message to your target audience. Don't add a video to check a box. Show off your market: Instagram carousel posts are a great way to showcase your local market, something you can't do with a single image post. A local market post allows you to give context to your listings: what does the neighborhood look like? The local community and its amenities? You can provide a behind-the-scenes recap with a carousel post. ABC – Always Be Creative: Because carousel posts offer you more variety and versatility, this is where your creativity can shine. Don't know where to start? Follow other agents on Instagram known for their success with Instagram. You can find many with a simple Google search. Review their creativity to help inspire ideas of your own. You can create a carousel post with customer testimonials recommending your business, promoting a new service, or recapping a local event. Using Instagram carousels can be a great way to keep in touch with your customer base and win more leads. Remember, if you have any questions about technical challenges when using social media, you can connect with a Tech Helpline specialist with a click, call or email. To view the original article, visit the Tech Helpline blog.

The Real Estate Marketing Materials Every Agent Needs
There are more than 1 million real estate agents across the United States. Although you aren't competing with all of them, there's a high likelihood you have plenty of competition locally, including many seasoned vets. How do you catch the eyes of buyers and sellers when they have so many options? The answer is simple: marketing. Making a name for yourself is all about establishing your brand, clearly communicating your successes and unique skills, and promoting it all to the masses. Here are five important real estate marketing materials that will help you stand out from your competition. Postcards Snail mail is not dead! It can be more attention-grabbing than an email, and isn't as easily ignored as a phone call. Plus, it's a great tactic to use in conjunction with digital ads to boost visibility and build trust in your brand. To optimize the effectiveness of your real estate postcards, you must ensure two things: an eye-catching design and a targeted audience list. You don't need to hire a marketing company to help, but you might consider hiring a designer, especially if you want someone to create other real estate marketing materials, such as open house flyers and digital ad graphics. Freelancer sites like Fiverr and Upwork are great resources for finding an affordable, reliable graphic designer. Having the same person work on all your real estate marketing materials will ensure they have the same look and feel. You can also choose to go the DIY route and design your postcards on a site like Canva, which offers free templates and tools. By using a targeted mailing list of hand-selected prospects, you'll reduce unnecessary expenses while connecting with those who will be most receptive to your message. You can find the right homeowners using a tool like Homesnap Pro's free Likelihood to List filter to find prospects in your target areas who are highly likely to consider selling in the next 12 months. A-Frames Real estate A-frame signs are the double-sided stands that are shaped like a capital letter A when propped up. These are typically placed around a neighborhood to draw attention and foot traffic to your nearby open house. A-frames also make for old good-fashioned brand publicity. Purchase a dozen or more of them and place the A-frames all throughout your farm area whenever you have an open house. You may think that a mile or more away is too far for foot traffic, but you might attract drivers or grab the attention of other buyers and sellers in the area who are looking for a real estate agent for their specific needs. Custom Key Cutout Your real estate career will surely be filled with many successes. As such, you need to be ready for those photo-worthy moments with a large, branded key cutout for your clients to hold up in front of their new home. These happy photos of your clients holding your giant branded key are perfect real estate marketing materials. Here are just a few places where you should publicize these photos with a congratulatory message for your clients: Organic social media Paid digital ads Your Google Business Profile Your next e-newsletter Your real estate website Share the photos with your clients so they can post them on social media, too Branded freebies Real estate agents are almost always in networking mode because, as a salesperson, you have to constantly think about forming new relationships to expand your sphere of influence. When you have that mindset, you have to consider all the places when you could meet a potential buyer or seller—a PTA meeting, a dinner party, a Labor Day BBQ or the local farmer's market—so you should be prepared with more than just a business card for them to remember you by. Consider these common products that you can apply your logo and branding to, and hand them out while networking: Pens Fridge magnets Water bottles Reusable drinking cups Small bottles of hand sanitizer Here are some additional ideas for branded promotional products that you might consider, depending on your target audience or typical clientele: Chocolates in a nice pouch or box Measuring tapes Multipurpose utility tools Can-cooling sleeves Keychain can openers Homesnap Pro+ Agents also need digital real estate marketing materials to be successful. Homesnap Pro+ is the all-in-one answer that does more to boost agents' online reputation and brand than any other membership. This membership will: Set up and manage your Google Business Profile Help you generate 5-star Google reviews (Pro+ members see 3X more positive reviews) Create a responsive real estate website for you with a custom domain Publish lead pages for all your listings Unlock additional prospecting tools Reveal which agents have viewed your listings and profile recently …and more These member benefits give Homesnap Pro+ agents a robust online presence and equip them with the tools they need to generate leads in their market. There are certainly many different real estate marketing materials that you can create or purchase to support your business. However, these five marketing materials are top of their class for helping you stand out from your competition, whether you are working with a limited budget, looking for new ways to promote your brand, or just starting out as a real estate agent. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

14 Benefits of Virtual 360 Tours for Real Estate Sales and Marketing, Part 1
Did you know that, according to Zillow.com, listings with 360 virtual tours sold 10% faster and were 22% more likely to sell within 30 days than listings without. Unless you have been living under a rock, you saw the whole industry change because of the global pandemic. Here are the key benefits of virtual tours in sales and marketing according to some of the best agents in the industry. 1. Put your online presence on steroids Ninety percent of buyers are looking for properties online first and virtual tours definitely help you improve your visual appeal and Google positioning. If you think your letter drops are doing the work and getting you leads, that's fine—but in the post-COVID era, being digitally present and having some sort of Google search position is now more important than ever before. Sellers and buyers both take advice from the internet. If your face or your brand is not there on top of the search, you may soon be hurting for business. 2. Online showings 24/7 Buyers simply don't have time to do open houses every weekend, so give them a chance to inspect a property from the comfort of their own home and from any device. Virtual tours are a win-win situation for agents, sellers and buyers according to Lora Bladow, REMAX Excel agency owner from Schofield, Wisconsin. For agents, they save time on driving multiple times to open the door to a property. On the other hand, buyers don't have the time or even the opportunity to visit 35 homes in one weekend. A virtual 360° tour allows all to have a showing whenever they want to. And last but not least are the sellers that will not have to leave their house every weekend for a few hours to vacate the property for potential buyers. Virtual reality is a tool that allows you to have an outstanding marketing package. 3. Stand out from the crowd All listings look the same—they have photos, videos or even drone videos. But that's not exactly what your customers want. According to research, more than 70% of buyers would love to see a virtual tour of the house they found online before making a decision to go to the open house. 4. Reduce time of property on the market Agents using virtual 360° tours can reduce the time a property spends on the market because they can efficiently present the property to a much wider audience of not only local but interstate and international buyers. In rural areas, our customers managed to get DOM down from 160 days to two to three weeks. According to Lora Bladow, REMAX Excel, her listings not only sold faster but also at higher prices as there was more competition amongst buyers. 5. Win more listings Win listings by blowing sellers' minds away. Only 3-5% of agents worldwide are able to make their own virtual tours, so if you want to stand out from the crowd, follow the advice of Edgar Natolo, Nat Group owner, Gold Coast, Australia and beat your competition hands-down by offering virtual 360° tours in your marketing package. Some sellers are desperately waiting for you to come in and save them from other agents who can't present their property in the most efficient way. 6. Create your own brand Create your own unique, personal brand that stands out from the crowd and makes people take notice. If you improve your marketing and services with the latest and greatest solutions that are available on the market, like virtual 360 tours, you will undoubtedly be noticed and talked about in your local area. Using such technology can easily get you access to the local news and will definitely build up your image in the local community. And this, my friends, is GOLD ! 7. Never lose a listing again Win sellers by impressing them with your immersive technology and impressive marketing mix. Agents using DIY 360° technology say that many times they have been able to secure listings as they did the virtual 360° tour on the spot during the listing presentation. It's not what you normally do, as you should have the house prepared and staged for the photos. But if the owner wants to test you, you can take out your camera or your iPhone and do a demo virtual tour for them on the spot on your mobile device. This will knock them off their feet, make you the best person for selling their house, and win you their trust. Read more in Part 2... To view the original article, visit the Virtual Tours Creator blog.

Trending Now: Smart Technology, Smart Marketing, Smart Realtors
Real estate technology in 2021 is giving you ways to shape your future. Whether you are focused primarily on residential or commercial property, you can't ignore the changing landscape of your industry. Now is your time to take advantage of proptech trends to boost your brand, increase buyer awareness, grow your leads, and keep those referrals coming. As threatening as the word sounds, technology is your friend and it can influence the way you do business and the way the consumer judges your competency. The popularity of smart devices, social media, and video streaming are reasons to take note and implement these tools into your real estate marketing plans. Get social Not a day goes by without someone discussing something happening on their social media feed. According to a recent NAR survey, social media is one of the most valuable proptech tools for real estate agents. With buyers and sellers checking out Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube regularly, these channels are places where you can share one of the best proptech trends 2021 has to offer: the virtual tour. You have been using 3D videos and virtual tours throughout the past several months to offer a way for the consumer to easily navigate a property. But now you can allow the user more control using interactive floor plans with 360° panoramic visuals. The best part is you can share it all on your social media channels, websites, or even host a live tour where you can interact in real-time with your clients. Added value Everyone wants an upgrade and, in real estate, there are ways to provide added value to your clients by giving them the benefit of an immersive floor plan with the accurate square footage of a property. Measurements are important especially when communicating value to the consumer. Complimenting a virtual tour with an interactive floor plan allows for seamless navigation throughout every space within the property. When using real estate technology in 2021, be sure to include advanced measurements to assist the buyer when making important decisions for renovations, insurance claims, or placement of furniture. BIG data One of the most useful proptech trends 2021 has to offer real estate agents is data. Bigger is better when it comes to analyzing all the important facts and figures in the industry. How does big data affect your day-to-day business? The consumer is looking for ways to compare and analyze potential homes to target their individual specifications. Big data allows you to provide insight into all the statistics you need to help the buyer on their journey. Everything from neighbourhood demographic information to walk scores, crime rates and the all-important selling and buying trends allow for better decisions based on analytics. Real estate agents can use analytics to track the success of marketing campaigns by using big data to compile user feedback, interest in a property, and the overall performance of every transaction. Easy to share with 5G Yes, big data is important but without the ability to share all that information you could be left waiting for long periods of time before you see results. Enter the power of 5G networks to support all the real estate technology in 2021. Transmission speed helps you get information to the consumer in a timely manner. 5G helps you connect all your virtual tours, interactive floor plans and communication tools quickly and less costly. High definition imagery, connection to cameras, virtual reality and massive data transmissions can happen instantly with the power of 5G. When you are looking to increase buyer awareness amongst millennials, their predecessors and successors, you need speed. Instant gratification is key when capturing the attention of a potential client. Lose the fear One of the biggest challenges facing real estate agents is the fear of proptech trends in 2021 and beyond. Let's face it, technology can be difficult to keep up with. But once you get past the fear of the changing landscape of the real estate industry you will embrace the trends and welcome newer and better innovative proptech. According to Realtor® Magazine, 84% of consumers want to see virtual tours of homes. Before the pandemic hit, you may not have considered using virtual tours as part of your marketing plan. But now immersive 3D tours and interactive floor plans with reliable square footage are the best way to market a property, increase leads, and get properties sold quickly. Technology gives you the ideal way to attract qualified buyers while providing a safe, unintrusive method of presenting a seller's home. Considering what is trending now and where real estate technology in 2021 has taken you. There is a whole lot more coming at you in the not-so-distant future. A reshaping of the real estate industry through proptech innovations is well underway, so if you want to stay in shape you need to be informed and embrace technology like your best friend.

How to Add Infographics to Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy
Although the marketing world is constantly in flux, one thing is for sure--we are more visual than ever before. These days, we prefer to consume information in graphical ways that are easily digestible and shareable across different channels, which explains why infographics have become such a popular content marketing tool. In fact, according to HubSpot, an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than pure text. Real estate infographics, in particular, are a powerful and persuasive way to repurpose old content, generate new leads, draw referrals, and inform your audience. Here are Different Infographics Real Estate Agents Can Share: Market Reports Since real estate agents should have information about their communities readily available to their leads already, that data can be easily converted into a visual display that both buyers and sellers will find helpful. Lists By their very nature, lists lend themselves easily to infographics. But the goal is to make them more eye-catching by incorporating more visual elements. For example, icons can replace bullet points and various fonts and colors can be used make each line stand out. Community Information An informational infographic template is the best choice for clearly communicating a specialized concept and a great way to show off your understanding of your local markets. Typically, this type of infographic is divided into sections that include descriptive headers with numbered sections that help the design flow. Statistics Real estate data pulled from multiple sources are best represented via statistical infographics. They can make otherwise uninteresting presentations and statistics more palatable to your audience. Plus, you can use the layout and visuals to help you tell the story behind your data. Storytelling devices include icons, pie charts, graphs, timelines, hierarchies, images, and fonts. Common Buyer and Seller Questions There are certain questions that homebuyers and homeowners will inevitably ask you. What are common mistakes that sellers make? Is it better to buy or rent? These questions can all be answered with an inforaphic. If you include these infographics in your email or social media marketing campaigns, you can save time by answering the question before it's even asked! As technology continues to evolve and advance, visual content should be at the forefront of your marketing strategy. Infographics have grown to be an indispensable part of a modern content marketing. In order to stay ahead of the competition, be sure to maximize your real estate branding efforts by highlighting key data points and keeping your infographic design simple and clean, and the text useful and valuable. Here is a FREE video infographic for you to download: Click to download the Seller Mistakes Video Infographic. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

How to Humanize Your Digital Business
"Silence, brand!" If you've spent much time on social media over the last few years, you've probably seen this answer to branded content. It's a snappy retort to what many see as the increasingly unctuous and unwelcome expansion of corporate narratives into social spaces, leaving us subject to advertising seemingly every minute of every day. To a growing number of people — including many of your future customers — the idea that Wendy's is our wisecracking hipster friend or we're "in this together" with Toyota or United Airlines isn't just unconvincing: it's downright nauseating. The more brands clamor to sound just like us, the more robotic and intrusive it all feels. Many internet users are covering their ears and averting their eyes rather than engage with it. Into this world of "corporate personhood" run amok steps the real estate agent or broker. It's a well-known fact that many real estate agents get a substantial quantity of their leads by promoting their listings on digital channels, especially social media. Some experts have estimated that out of all professional industries, real estate experts are the most active on social media. Going without a robust online presence simply isn't an option. The question, then, is how you can humanize your digital business. Luckily, you have some natural advantages that can serve you well. The Human Connection Just Comes Easier for Real Estate Agents Luckily, you have the potential to go right where so many others go wrong. Real estate professionals stand out from the pack online for a variety of reasons: Meaningful, one-to-one relationships are at the heart of all they do By practicing their skills, they help others to achieve life goals Their local knowledge, style, and passion are unique to them With all of this in mind, you should get excited about the huge potential the digital world holds in store. Your consistent, trustworthy online presence is an extension of your in-person relationship building. Over time, that online activity provides the momentum that brings a steady stream of leads to your door. That's crucial to building a lucrative, sustainable business that offers work-life balance. Let's look at some of the ways you can ensure your digital brand has the human touch: Prefer Your Face to Your Logo Whenever possible, show your face, not your logo. A logo can be anyone, but your face is yours alone. This is crucial when deciding on social media avatars, your header photos on Twitter and Facebook, and more. When someone visits your website home page, be sure they see smiling faces — either yours or your customers'. Share Stories from Actual Customers Customer success stories are the most important form of social proof. While many visitors will check out your reputation on third-party review sites, you should also include testimonials directly on your social media and real estate website. Written testimonials work well, but aspire to showcase your biggest wins on video. Be an Advocate for Your Community Your value as a real estate agent is inseparable from the community where you practice. Use your digital presence to become a trusted guide to what makes your area special. Producing content about local events, top restaurants, and other amenities shows that you truly care about the place where you do your work. Use Video Marketing to Build Rapport Video marketing is the next best thing to being there. It is a wise idea to record a video introducing yourself and your practice in your own words for your site's home page. Video tours of homes and neighborhoods are also very effective. This content helps newcomers feel like they already know you. Connect with Cards and Mementos Of course, no brand is digital alone — and what you do outside the confines of the internet can enrich both your business and your customers' lives. Following up with former customers is essential to referral business, so don't be afraid to invest time in a handwritten card or include a small, meaningful gift. Mark Special Occasions Holidays are the cultural touchstones we all share, while anniversaries are meaningful moments in an individual relationship. Honor both of them by producing tasteful seasonal content for your website and social media. At the same time, don't forget to acknowledge past customers on, for example, the anniversary of closing day. Consider Using Text Messages Text messaging is quickly developing into one of the most intimate ways to start conversations with leads. Asking a quick question can revive cold leads, but it's also a great way to let others know you're looking out for them. Marketing automation technology doesn't get in the way of relationships; it helps you manage and deepen them. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET 6 FREE for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

Why Digital Marketing Isn't as Intimidating as You Think
In our digital age, there is so much to learn and keep up with as technology evolves. Between Facebook's regular modifications to its advertising capabilities, Apple's privacy policy updates, and Google's impending changes to cookies, you might long for the simpler days of phone book ads. We understand. But, we're also here to tell you that digital marketing isn't as intimidating as you think. In fact, it's how you think about it that will help you excel. To start, clear your mind of any preconceptions you have about digital marketing tactics, specifically social media ads and Google. They are, in fact, even better versions of the traditional marketing tactics you may be used to — here's why. Facebook as the neighborhood flyers Think of Facebook ads as the "everywhere ads." Sure, they only appear within Facebook, but users of the platform — including prospective buyers and sellers — scroll their feed more than a dozen times throughout the day, from the bus stop to Starbucks to work and back home (or, simply, while sitting on the couch). In some ways, Facebook ads are the modern-day equivalent of flyers — taped to poles, posted inside cafes, and slipped into mailboxes around the neighborhood, in hopes that prospects will see them while going about their day. People aren't paying much attention to flyers anymore, though. Instead, they're scrolling Facebook everywhere they go, and your ad could be shown to them every time they log in. Much like a flyer, that Facebook ad is a good prompt and reminder that you're a prominent real estate agent. Waze as a billboard Although billboards haven't gone the way of the dinosaur, they aren't very effective for promoting specific properties or signaling to drivers that there's an open house nearby. It's a missed opportunity to capture a prospect's attention while they are out and about, but there is a digital option: Waze, the wildly popular navigation app, is the perfect digital billboard. Think of Waze like a billboard — or better yet, a for-sale sign — that pops up on someone's phone when they are close to your listing or open house. Ads on Waze are shown to drivers in three formats: as a pin on the map, promoted at the top of search results, and as a digital billboard that appears in the app when drivers are at zero speed. Waze users don't just drive by your sign and forget about it. Your digital ads are displayed prominently in the app, and drivers need only be nearby the property to see an ad — not right in front of the house or even on the same street. Waze, therefore, is great for promoting open houses and alerting those who regularly drive through the neighborhood to new listings. Instagram as a TV commercial Similar to Facebook, Instagrammers are in the app a lot — 42% of daily users report logging in multiple times each day. The biggest difference between Facebook and Instagram, though, is that Instagram is a very visual platform. Native, user-generated content as well as digital ad units are formatted for photo and video sharing. This makes Instagram akin to TV commercials. People go on Instagram expecting an immersive and entertaining experience, not to read news or status updates. That's why it's the perfect advertising space for sharing your new, gorgeous listing photos and video walk-throughs. When users see them between posts or stories, it's like social media's version of a TV commercial. Google as the Yellow Pages Just as people used to use a phone book to find a plumber, real estate agent, or the phone number of the local car wash, they now turn to Google to search for the exact same things. Google has been adjusting its content over the years to give users a search experience that is more and more localized, just like the Yellow Pages used to do. The Google business profile is a perfect example of a localized search result. This is the profile box that appears in the top-right of the screen on Google Search, shows up to the side of Google Maps, and at the top in mobile after you search for a business. It's sort of like a digital business card or, better yet, an ad within the Yellow Pages. When you search for a steakhouse, dentist, or real estate agent, Google will serve a local Google business profile adjacent to the search results that it believes is most relevant to your search. It's a fantastic placement, especially considering that 80% of home buyers use Google during their real estate journey. Want to really stand out on Google? Opt for Google's Local Services Ads and its new Google Screened badge, the equivalent of that alphabetically-first spot in the phone book that gets more eyes and calls than anyone else. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.