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In 2021 having a credible social media presence for your real estate business is no longer optional – it's a must-have. We’re operating in a period of time in which people actually trust ride share drivers more than they trust their own colleagues! Why? Because ride share drivers have a digital profile that they can explore and investigate, which gives them credibility. Similarly, having a solid social media strategy for your real estate business allows you to build trust with current and future clients, and to create a powerful personal brand with which you can attract ideal clients for FREE! But starting can be daunting. The truth is, creating a powerful social media presence can be accomplished easily... as long as you know where to start!
Social media has played a critical role in the larger marketing strategy at Chicago Title and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company since 2019. This past year in particular however, when remote work, webinars and digital meetings became the new normal, new digital channels such as social media became an even more critical part of an effective sales and selling strategy for every industry – real estate included.
Here Vice President and Georgia Agency Director of Marketing explains that despite the varying levels of comfort and experience in leveraging social media within the real estate industry, it’s increasingly important for any organization to focus on the following: 
THE WHY
So why have social media? Arguably, the greatest benefit to social media is it gives us an ability to scale your sales and marketing efforts. And by that, I mean, you can reach a much larger audience without spending a larger amount of time or effort. 3.5 billion people were utilizing social media in 2019, with the average person having about 9 social media accounts. If you compare those numbers to your current database/prospecting/sales strategy, you can’t deny that you’re likely missing potential business opportunities and as a result leaving money on the table. In considering who you focus your marketing efforts on from a digital perspective, social media greatly expands your reach giving you access to a larger audience of people by extending your digital reach. The operative word here, of course, being digital. When considering your marketing and sales strategy, it's important diversify your channels to include digital things like email, video, virtual training sessions and webinars, blogs and of course social media.
However sometimes the tendency is to default to the marketing channels and the mediums that are most familiar to us, which makes sense-- it's human nature. But we also need to make sure that we're fishing where the fish are, so to speak. In getting back to that 3.5 billion statistic, we want to reach people where they are, rather than where you are, or where you want them to be. Social Media offers a platform to do just that - to share your valuable content with your audience and meet people where they are, which isn't necessarily in their email inbox.
Historically email has been the go-to the communication channel that people tend to be heavily reliant on, in terms of a digital marketing strategy. That’s not to say that email is bad, it's a very important part of most digital strategies-- but it can't be the only part. Compared to email, it’s important to recognize the advantages that social media has, and how it can reach people in a different way.
THE HOW
So how does social media enhance our sales strategy? It increases organic engagement with clients and prospects. The operative word here being organic. Unlike email, no action is required in order to view our campaigns when we put them on social media, which is the difference between passive and active marketing. In other words, when we email someone, an action is required in order for them to see it. They have to click on the email - they have to open it. With a lot of our customers, the email clients that they're using also require them to download the images in order for them to see them. So again, it's just another barrier to entry for them to see or engage with the content. By comparison, on social media, the content appears organically within their feed. They don't necessarily have to click or download anything in order to engage with your content. It's just organically there for them to see it and engage with it.
And then this last part is key, social media results in higher content engagement. With email sends, the highest engagement time is always the time in which you actually send the email. So in other words, if I send an email at 2:00 PM, the vast majority of people are going to open it at 2:00 PM, with each minute, hour, and day that passes, less and less people are going to engage with it. Social media is the opposite. We can post something up at 2:00 AM, and people are still going to be engaging with it, probably more so hours later, the next morning, or the day or even month after. And that's organically. When you think about paid advertising spend, it increases exponentially.
On average people open real estate related marketing emails about 19.17% of the time, depending on a number of variables. This may sound low to some of you, but consider that most people don't open every single email they receive. They tend to triage them. It's also important to consider that the more emails you send, the less likely people are to open them: an increase in the frequency of email sends results in email fatigue. People are less likely to open emails from you when you're sending them more frequently. I'm sure some of you have experienced this from a brand you may love, even if it’s your favorite brand in the world. I love Ohio State football, but if they send me 6 emails a week, I'm probably going to stop opening them, and worst case scenario, eventually unsubscribe.
Again, this is not necessarily because I’m not interested in the content of the email. It could be because this is not my preferred communication method, or I’m too busy to open, or my inbox is full, and I’m just inundated with emails right now. That's why it's critical to look for other communication channels like social media to reach those people who just aren't opening emails.
One way to boost engagement on social media is to put a little bit of ad spend behind organic content to boost it. A great strategy is to leverage Facebook's very customizable audiences. Facebook allows you to choose to target people by email address, by job title, if they're following your Facebook page, if they're liking your posts, even if they're friends of people who like your posts. Then Facebook ensures that the add is served to this audience, which exponentially increases the amount of people who are seeing and engaging with those posts. Note: Post engagements are a combination of people who like your posts, who click on it, who share it, who mention it, or commented on it.
THE WHAT
OK, so now that we've talked a little bit about the why and the how, let’s focus on the what. It's important to have quality engaging content that provides value to both current and future clients. There are 5 types of content you should focus on creating in building a personal brand across your various social media channels, which we can refer to as the 5 E’s. The 5 E’s include educational content, entertaining content, emotional content, engaging content, and exclusive content. Ideally, you should include a good mix of each on each of your social channels:
Remember that social media is a journey, and consistency is key. - it takes years, not months, but the hardest part is getting started and staying consistent. And remember, we are here for you if you have any questions. Contact an underwriter at 404-303-6300 or by emailing us at gaunderwriter@cticga.com.
The Future is Digital at CTICGA!
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