In real estate, your personal brand is of the utmost importance; clearly that’s not breaking news to any of you. Another obvious statement: It’s always important to have measurable return on your marketing investments. So, the question becomes, where is your social media ROI coming from?
If you’re doing it right, social media marketing will affect your bottom line both directly and indirectly. When you get buyer leads through your Facebook after boosting a listing post, clearly that’s direct impact. When you run a seller lead ad campaign on Facebook and subsequently convert those leads, that’s about as direct as it gets.
The less measurable, indirect impact comes from increased brand exposure and the positive effect of high-quality social media, for example, when potential clients research you.
Here’s a hypothetical scenario: You’re thinking about buying or selling a home and have narrowed your agent search down to two potential agents. They seem to be similar in many ways until you compare their social media presences. One has a Facebook page with 800 Likes, positive reviews, and they’ve posted good real estate information, as well as listings and open houses on a regular basis. The other has about 75 Likes on Facebook, they haven’t posted much in months, and they have no Facebook reviews.
In this isolated aspect, obviously the first option is superior, but if that first agent gets hired, they may never realize that their high-quality social media activity contributed heavily to the securing of this particular contract. That’s one very real example of the indirect benefits of allocating marketing dollars toward social media marketing.
In conclusion, if you want direct impact from social media marketing, 90% of the time it’s going to require some marketing dollars, and that’s typical of all marketing (social media is simply cheaper on average than most marketing avenues). But don’t underestimate or forget about the positive, indirect impact of having a high-quality social media brand. It can make a big difference to potential clients, especially the ones on the younger end of the scale.