Editor's Pick: Top 5 Social Media Tools

Looking to enhance your marketing efforts on social media? There are dozens of tools that can help. From live streaming apps to image editors, here are our top recommendations for real estate agents.

CityBlast

We'll start with the tool that's easiest for agents to use, and the only real estate specific one on our list. CityBlast is a social media management company that oversees the social media profiles of over 10,000 real estate agents. They post relevant, engaging content to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts on your behalf building your presence online as a local real estate expert. Agents simply  choose their primary and secondary market, post frequency and preferred topics and CityBlast does the rest! Agents need only check in to reply to comments on their posts to engage their sphere and talk to warm leads.

They're running a special promotion right now, too, for agents who want to try them out. For a limited time, you can get a free, 2-week demo of CityBlast, and a 30% lifetime discount when you sign-up using promo code BIG2016. Visit www.cityblast.com to learn more.

Facebook Live Video

Live is a brand new feature on Facebook that lets users broadcast live video right from their profile. Agents can use this in all sorts of ways, including marketing open houses. Before your open house begins, broadcast a live tour of the home to attract more visitors. Be sure to mention the address in your broadcast and the start and end time of the event. And because awareness of Facebook's livestream capabilities is highest among 30-44 year olds, it's a great way to attract Millennials and Gen X buyers.

Want to learn more? Check out these best practices for using Facebook Live.

Pablo 2.0

Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than other types of content, according to HubSpot. But most agents don't have the time or aptitude to create compelling graphics. That's where tools like Pablo 2.0 come in.

Pablo makes it easy to create clean, compelling visuals--with no art training or Photoshop knowledge required. This tool also integrates with Buffer, a social media sharing platform that lets users post to multiple social networks from a single dashboard.

Nextdoor

Nextdoor is not an app, but its own social platform. Users can connect with and talk to users within their immediate and nearby neighborhoods. People typically use the social network to share community related information like upcoming events, road closures, and chat about issues that impact their neighborhood. Agents shouldn't use Nextdoor as a tool for marketing their business, however. But if you participate with the idea of being a good neighbor in mind and provide useful information, it's a great way to build name recognition and Goodwill.

Friend or Follow

Is your Twitter stream cluttered with posts from people you don't know or care about? Maybe it's time to cull the herd. Friend or Follow makes it easy to decide who to cut by showing you who's not following you back. Unless you enjoy the posts of an account who doesn't follow you, go ahead and delete them. This also makes your follower/following ratio more favorable--a factor some people may use when deciding if yours is an account worth following! Friend or Follow works with Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

These are our picks for tools to perk up your social media efforts. What tools do you use? Let us know in the comments below!

Further Reading

• Social Media Tips for Real Estate Pros (with a cheat sheet!)
• Are You at Risk of Losing Your Facebook Access?
• 5 Ways Agents Can Build Better Relationships Online
• Top 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Facebook