Here at Vaboo we love to give our clients great content for their social platforms. With one new client seeing a 33% increase in engagement on a post about their new rewards platform, we thought we would share our top 5 lessons from our successful agents on how to win at social media.
1. Trust & loyalty are key
We are not trying to claim that these tips will have you going viral. In fact, don’t trust anyone who’s trying to sell you an overnight success for your Agency. It doesn’t exist. Building a reputation as an extraordinary agency is built through hard work, understanding your customers and unending patient persistence.
As humans we invest in businesses that we trust and like. Building an audience that is dedicated to you is all about creating a trusting relationship. To attract customers in today’s digital world, you need more than a welcoming shop window - you need to create experiences that make an emotional connection with customers to draw them in and keep them coming back. How an experience makes the customer feel is the biggest predictor of loyalty. So use your social platforms to do this. Make them FEEL something about you. Why not consider content that supports local businesses, shows what you are doing to make an impact in the community and what you are doing differently to make your customers lives better.
2. From me to you
It is easy to want to share your success on social media, but remember your success is not theirs. Be aware of your audience and what matters. Be aware you aren’t self-promoting or that your tone is boastful. You might think you are showing potential customers what you can do for them, but what you are showing many is self-interest.
It wouldn’t take long to scroll through and see how many posts are about a property that’s been acquired, or about how an agent let a home quickly. Content that is irrelevant to anyone other than your mother, your manager or to get one up on your competition easily destroys trust.
Instead of bragging about market share, tell the story from the point of view of the customer. Find a way that means your ideal customers hang on every word you say. How you changed their life and enabled them to move to the property of their dreams, how your long term tenants look after their properties, how you helped them in a truly meaningful way.
Change your thinking from “me” to “you”.
3. People buy people
People trust humans - not companies. Yes of course there are the exceptions like Virgin or Apple, yet no Agency brand even comes close. In fact, a recent article showed that trust in Estate Agency was at an all-time low – below even solicitors and traffic wardens as a profession. So how do you challenge this perception on social media?
Let your team shine. Try pushing the personal brand of the people in your Agency rather than your logo. This is who creates your customer experience so make sure that your customers are rest assured they would be dealing with personable, knowledgeable people.
4. Get out of your comfort zone
This is where video can make all the difference. Switching that camera on shows you are willing to put yourself out there, it’s also pretty impossible to come across as anything other than giving. When that video turns on, your attitude has to be serve, and not to sell.
Video gives allows you to express your emotion and passion about your content, who you are & how you come across. There is no hiding but the benefits certainly outweigh the fear, discomfort and trial and error involved. It doesn’t need to be perfect – just real - and if you don’t do it - your competition just might.
5. Reviews
Now more than ever consumers want to work with an expert they can trust to guide them through and create a lifestyle experience. And their first stop will be to see what other customers are saying about you. As a letting agent, you know that reputation is the key to your business growth.
Content is king (or queen) as they say, and with the influx of review sites, what the world in this “new normal” has to say about you has never mattered more. At the end of the day, it's up to you to make sure what tenants and landlords say sends the right message, and differentiates you from your competitors.
Sharing reviews that people have left for you can be great for business as it provides social proof. Obviously, you don’t want to only post things like this but they’re a good addition if you’re posting regularly.
Conclusion
At the end of the day it’s not about having hundreds of likes and thousands of views on your Facebook posts. Estate Agency is not a popularity contest. Posting on social media is all about posting something, be it a picture, writing something, recording a podcast or filming a video that is considerate, thoughtful, valuable or caring. Or perhaps something that even expresses who you are as a human being.
By telling people who you are by delivering valuable content and not expecting anything back in return, you establish trust and position yourself as a thought leader - an expert they can turn to.
And that is how you will stand out to landlords and tenants. When you realise that your content is better when you don’t have to prove that you win every listing or have the greatest market share. Great social media content comes from helping as many people (to the best of your ability) to move from one chapter of their life to another - and that is where you win at both work and life.
