Mastering social media strategy for any business can entail a steep learning curve. From the intimidation of joining already saturated platforms, to feeling frustrated by algorithms or not having enough time to do it all, getting initiated into the world of social media can feel overwhelming. Yet, learning how to cultivate a successful social media operation for your business can be invaluable in expanding your community, building your network, generating more high-quality leads and boosting your brand like never before.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common mistakes you may be making with your real estate social media strategy so you can learn how to avoid and correct them, and transform what may seem like problems into amazing opportunities.
1. Not putting yourself out there
It is no secret that women, especially those who have achieved a certain degree of success, can tend to suffer badly from what is known as imposter syndrome. We convince ourselves that luck played a large part in our achievements. These feelings can be incredibly debilitating and hold us back from not only recognizing our past and present successes but also from creating new ones. This includes lacking the confidence to fully utilize the world of social media for your business.
Overcoming this means allowing yourself the space to own your successes. Celebrate your skills, learning experiences, efforts and accomplishments. After all, you know how hard you worked to get where you are and the time and hustle it takes to become a real estate rockstar! After you feel empowered to take the next step, you will be ready to dive back into the social media world and use your platform to demonstrate your hard-earned expertise and experience and celebrate your success stories.
2. Creating all your content on the fly
At some point once you become acclimated, creating engaging content on your social channels can become like second nature to you. However, it’s unlikely that it will be this way when you are just starting out. That’s totally fine! You don’t have to be able to do it all right away.
Having a plan in place to execute your social media strategy is vital to not only effectively engage your target audience, but also for establishing a cadence of content creation that is feasible. Last thing you want is to constantly feel strapped and overexerted, trying to squeeze out content at the last minute just to get something posted.
Content banking or batching is a great solution for this. It entails creating a number of posts or videos in one session and then staggering their release over a period of time. Educational, knowledge-based content works very well for this as it is evergreen and not time-sensitive. You can also sprinkle human interest and behind-the-scenes stories into the mix, for instance, to showcase your personality. These types of content can be created in the moment as long as you always have stuff stashed away for when inspiration is lacking. This strategy also offers the added bonus of keeping your content nicely varied too.
3. Putting too much pressure on yourself
While it can certainly feel that way, don’t feel the need to constantly crank out daily content — a post here, now a video, tweet, retweet…It’s enough to make your head spin! It’s completely acceptable to start off lighter and gradually ramp up content production as you get into the swing of the things.
Rather than feeling the constant need to create your own original content, ease up some of the pressure by sharing interesting and relevant content you genuinely like from other industry experts, as well as lifestyle posts that will appeal to your target audience. This will keep your audience engaged while leaving yourself some breathing room to get more acclimated to the space.
However just as possible as it may be for you to feel overwhelmed to create content, the opposite may be true for you in that you’re busting with creative ideas. If you do have a lot to say, you shouldn’t worry about over-saturating your audience with content. As long as your content is valuable (informative, engaging, entertaining), it’s absolutely worth it to continue to put yourself out there.
Keep in mind that the algorithms won’t always work in your favor, and it could take your followers a little time to find your channels. So, give yourself permission to put out more content without worrying about being too in-your-face.
4. Pushing sales-related content
While obviously closing deals is the end game, your social media presence shouldn’t be limited to beating-your-audience-over-the-head with hordes of promotional content. People can get really turned off by this approach. Instead, always frame social media content creation from a place of value. Rather than thinking about what will get the most clicks, consider how you can be of service to your audience. This will help you foster the kind of authentic and trust-filled bonds with your network that will convert to more business.
A major part of being able to generate relevant non-sales content is staying abreast of recent news within the industry. Consume content whenever you can and keep yourself educated so that you can be among the first to share fresh and exciting, new things. Making an effort to be a thought leader of your industry will help you stand out amongst your competitors as well as make a lasting impression on your network, so they will remember you for their real estate needs and recommend you to their friends and relatives too.
5. Trying to do it all yourself
Producing a constant stream of valuable social media content on top of running a business (not to mention everything else in your life) is undoubtedly challenging. At the end of the day, the main priority of your working life should be focused on your clients and closing deals. That is where the money is, after all!
In your downtime, you obviously want to be focusing on your family. (But don’t forget you too — your personal and self-care needs are absolutely vital as well!). So, if you need help — get it. Outsourcing certain tasks and collaborating with others will help take some of the pressure off you. It also allows you to channel your talents where you are strongest and lean on the expertise of others to complement and enhance your strengths.
Final Thoughts
Building a successful social media platform is a marathon and not a sprint! It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but if you put in the time and work, it can also bring tremendous rewards. And there is no better feeling than experiencing the excitement of someone in your field approaching you in the real world about content you posted online. It’s one of those full circle moments when you can take a step back to appreciate your hard work paying off and just how much of a social rockstar you have become.
What social media can do for your real estate career is incredibly powerful. And you know what? You deserve to see how far you can go.
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