How to Gain Followers With Real Estate Social Media: The Advanced Class

This article will teach you the #1 way to gain followers through your real estate social media platforms, and how to grow your social presence over time.

A word of warning though: we’ll be going way beyond the basics here.

“I have social media accounts set up, and I’ve been posting to them on a regular basis. But I just can’t seem to gain very many followers. What am I doing wrong?”

This is a common complaint among real estate agents and brokers these days, and it’s easy to understand why.

The social media world has become noisy, crowded and oversaturated. Every time you go onto social media, it seems that someone is trying to push a new message at you. (Emphasis on the word push.) It’s gotten so bad that many people make their accounts private and use the “mute” option to turn down the volume.

This creates a series of challenge for agents who are trying to grow their social media presence, and all of these challenges relate back to the question we started with:

How do you grow your real estate social media presence, by steadily gaining followers over time? What’s the recipe for success?

How to Grow Your Real Estate Social Media Presence

Having worked with many real estate professionals over the years, I can share with you the number-one way to gain more followers. In theory, it’s equally simple and logical. But in practice, it requires a sustained effort over time.

If you want to gain more followers through your real estate social media accounts, you need to turn it into a valuable information service geared toward local buyers or sellers.

That’s the big “secret.” That’s the key to unlocking social media success in the modern age.

It’s a simple concept really. Surprisingly, though, very few real estate professionals seem to grasp this concept. And fewer still put it into practice. This creates an opportunity for you. It allows you to create a real estate social media presence that truly stands out from the crowd.

The Problem with Social Media “Sameness”

The dictionary defines sameness as a “lack of variety.” The second definition is “uniformity or monotony.”

Both are appropriate labels for the majority of real estate social media posts. Many of them suffer from sameness. They follow the same formula, the same pattern and methodology as all of the other agents within their market area:

• They post “home buying tips” that are already plastered all over the Internet.
• They share pictures of homes that can be found elsewhere online.
• They remind their followers to “spring forward” or “fall back” for daylight savings.
• They don’t give the reader or viewer a compelling reason to follow the account.

If you want to gain followers and grow your real estate social media presence over time, you must first break out of this mold.

When people first stumble across your social media profile, you want them to think: Wow, this account is really useful. I need to follow it.

The first step is to change your way of thinking. Instead of thinking about social media as a place to interact and occasionally “post things,” think of it as a way to provide a valuable service to local home buyers or sellers. And while you’re at it, you can think of yourself as a professional publisher with valuable knowledge and insights to share.

So that’s the theory. Now, let’s get to the practice. Here’s how to create a real estate information service on social media, to gain followers and grow your presence over time.

Create an Information Service to Attract Followers

There’s a recurring theme throughout this article:

You will attract more followers, enjoy more interaction, and generate more leads if you turn your social media account into a valuable source of information for your target audience.

To illustrate this concept, I’ll offer an example of the “Atlanta Market Advisor,” a social media account published by a fictional real estate agent in the Atlanta area.

Step out of your real estate agent shoes for a moment. Imagine you are a home buyer, seller or investor in the Atlanta area. Consider the difference between these two real estate social media accounts, and tell me which one you would want to follow:

Account #1

Published by a real estate agent in the Atlanta area. His posts are somewhat random in nature, and they don’t seem to follow a set calendar. He shares some occasional tips for home buyers, information about local events, etc. Occasionally, he’ll link to a report published by someone else that mentions the Atlanta real estate market. He currently has 120 followers for his account, some of whom include friends and family.

Account #2

Also published by a real estate agent in the Atlanta area. But instead of using it as her own personal social media account, she has turned into a kind of news and information service dedicated to the local market. She has branded it as the “Atlanta Market Advisor.”

By following this account, local residents (and other real estate professionals) can stay up to speed on local market conditions. This agent curates relevant information from other sources, and also provides her own data and commentary.

She monitors and reports on home price trends, the inventory situation, sales activity, new construction, and more. As a result, her following grows day by day and currently numbers into the thousands.

Now ask yourself…

If you wanted to keep up with the Atlanta real estate market, which one of these accounts would you follow? It’s a pretty easy choice, isn’t it? Following Account #2 is something of a no-brainer. It provides a valuable service, giving you a single source for comprehensive real estate market information and news.

This fictional social media account is based on actual real-world experience. I have seen real estate professionals achieve this kind of success online. Maybe you have as well. And you can do the same—or even better—if you’re willing to put in the effort.

What Kind of Information to Publish

I’ve been publishing real estate news content for 17 years. I track and analyze every single piece that I publish, to see how it performs over time. My goal is to identify topics that resonate with my target audience and keep them coming back for more.

I don’t say this to boast. This kind of research is the bare minimum for anyone involved with Internet publishing. I’m only telling you this to set the stage for what comes next…

There are certain types of information that local home buyers, homeowners and sellers constantly seek out. There are certain topics that attract this audience time and time again. If you want to grow your real estate social media presence (or your blog, for that matter), you’ll want to incorporate the following topics.

1. Local Real Estate Market Updates

You might want to make this topic the core of your real estate social media publishing strategy. Chances are, it will help you gain followers and grow your social media presence more than any other topic—if you handle it well.

Start out by providing weekly updates that include home prices, inventory levels, sales data, etc. But don’t just regurgitate third-party statistics. Help your readers understand how these things are connected, and what it means for them. Paint a clear picture. Turn it into a story.

This gives people a solid reason for following you. They’ll always know what’s happening within the local market, and how it might affect them. Better still, they’ll view you as a knowledgeable, market-savvy real estate professional who stays on top of things.

2. Housing Market Forecasts

The real estate updates mentioned above will show your followers where the market is right now. Forecasts and predictions will help them understand where the market might be headed. This is a very popular subject that can help you attract new followers to your social media account and grow your presence over time.

As a real estate professional, you probably want to avoid making claims or assertions about future market conditions. After all, there’s no way to predict future trends with complete accuracy. But you can make an educated guess based on current trends, and label it as such.

You could also include third-party forecasts within your real estate social media content rotation. Economists, analysts, and Realtor associations regularly offer such forecasts. Just be sure to put a local spin on it, to make the information more useful for your target audience.

3. Mortgage and Financing Insights

Mortgage-related trends affect home buyers and homeowners alike, so it’s another great topic to include in your social media content strategy. You’ll gain more followers by publishing this kind of information on a regular basis.

But again, you have to go beyond the numbers. Anyone can find today’s average mortgage rates with a quick Google search.

Help people put those numbers into perspective by explaining how rates have changed over the past few months, and what they might do going forward. Explain how it’s affecting the local real estate market. Explain how home buyers can secure a lower mortgage rate.

In other words, provide valuable information.

What These (and Similar) Topics Have in Common

Of course, these aren’t the only topics you can cover through social media.

You could also share success stories, to show how you’ve helped local buyers or sellers accomplish their goals. You could provide interviews with local builders, neighborhood profiles, announcements about local events … the list goes on.

But with the types of topics listed above, you can take your real estate social media presence to the next level. You can turn it into a valuable information service that gives people a compelling reason to follow you.

Here’s what these “information service” topics have in common:

• They provide usable information that can help people accomplish a goal.
• They focus on the market and the audience, instead of on the publisher.
• They can be revisited often, since market conditions change constantly.
• They align with consumer research patterns and internet searches.
• They allow you to deliver helpful content to an audience that wants it.
• They position you as a local market expert, increasing the chance for leads.

If you want to attract more followers to your social media channels, you have to ask yourself some hard questions. Am I giving people a good reason to follow my account? Am I providing useful information to help them succeed, when buying or selling a home in the area? Have I gone above and beyond what other local agents are doing?

Check these boxes on a regular basis, and watch your social media presence grow.