Our 13 Favorite Social Media Marketing Life Hacks

There are no two ways about it: if you’re not using social media, you’re missing out. In the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2022 Technology Survey, 46% of respondents said that social media was the number one tool that gave them quality leads in the last 12 months.

Of course, using social media and using it effectively are two different things. If you want to give your social media presence a shot in the arm, we’ve got 13 tips for you!

Determine which platform to focus on

Real talk: agents have only so many hours in a day. With dozens of platforms to choose from, you need to be strategic about which ones to focus on.

When in doubt, stick to the “Big 5” of social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Do note that each platform has its own purpose and strengths. Want to reach the widest possible audience? Facebook’s 2.9 billion-strong user base has you covered. Want to reach younger millennials and Gen Z homebuyers? Get acquainted with TikTok stat!

We have a deep dive into all the major social media platforms that you can read here.

Create a content calendar

Our own social media team has a mantra: if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not going to get posted.

Plotting out your posts for the month (or at least the week ahead) allows you to take stock of what you have to do and how much time you have to do it. Thinking ahead also lets you plan content for seasonal events like Thanksgiving or Mother’s Day.

Having trouble brainstorming posts? Not to worry — here’s a done-for-you 30-day social media calendar to get you started!

Use a post scheduler

You’re in the middle of a client meeting when you suddenly realize: you haven’t posted anything on social media yet for the past week. Thankfully, social platforms now let you schedule content ahead of time to avoid this scenario. Even better, there are third-party applications like Hootsuite or Buffer that let you cross-post the same content across your different social accounts.

We discuss these and other scheduling tools in this helpful blog.

Leverage Stories

Instagram Stories may not have pioneered the ephemeral content format, but it’s become the most popular iteration of the idea. More than that, it’s a savvy marketing tool, one that lets you post polls, promote new listings, and drive traffic to landing pages, among others. Its bite-sized format is also catnip for busy people who want to consume lots of content in a short amount of time. If Stories are not part of your regular social media content plan, they ought to be!

Bonus tip: Here at Agent Image, we post event-related content via Stories. Aside from staying true to the format’s ephemeral nature, this strategy also ensures that time-sensitive content won’t date our timeline or curated grid of posts.

Repurpose your content

Have you written an informative blog on your website or posted a property walkthrough on YouTube? That content is too good not to share!

Posting these types of content on social media helps drive more traffic and views, especially if you have a sizable following already. As a bonus, cross-posting means there’s one less piece of content you have to think about. Now that’s what we call a win-win situation!

Use a hashtag generator

Did you know that Instagram posts with at least one hashtag get about 12% more engagement? That’s because hashtags contextualize and categorize your post, making it easier to find amidst the torrent of content on social media channels (#luxuryhome, for example, makes it clear what you’re selling and who you’re selling to).

Now, choosing a hashtag is both a science and an art — the ideal ones are specific without being overly obscure. The good news is that you can use hashtag generators like those from Hootsuite or Keyword Tool. Just type in a relevant keyword and they’ll come up with hashtag recommendations.

Bonus tip: three to five is the ideal number of hashtags per post.

Follow what’s trending

As a real estate agent, you keep your ears to the ground to stay abreast of market trends. The same should be true about online trends, too — after all, you may be able to “trend-jack” the internet’s current obsession and garner an outsized share of eyeballs and clicks.

Twitter is a great place to start — you’ll see trending content based on your location. Google Trends is another free service that shows you the pulse of the World Wide Web. If you have the budget, paid tools like BuzzSumo and SEMRush Trends offer more features, like the ability to track social mentions and backlinks.

Earn the “Very Responsive” badge

More and more, Facebook is becoming not just a social feed but a customer service channel as well. Its Messenger feature has become an invaluable tool for buyers or sellers who want to reach out to agents, for example.

Here’s something you might not know, however: replying to 90% of messages within 15 minutes can earn you the “Very Responsive” badge. This badge is displayed publicly on your Facebook page and tells people that you deliver prompt service — something that gives you an edge over all the other agents on the social platform.

If this rapid response rate isn’t feasible for you, the following tip might help.

Use a chatbot to answer FAQs

We’re big proponents of working smarter not harder, which is why we wholeheartedly recommend using chatbots on Facebook. You can program chatbots to respond to commonly asked questions, so you don’t have to personally message back. You can even customize the experience so buyers and sellers have different sets of questions to choose from. Perhaps the biggest perk of using chatbots is this: you can provide customer support 24/7 without being on call 24/7.

Want to know more about how chatbots can boost your lead generation? Read our in-depth article!

Engage with other accounts

The last thing you want is to be a brand that acts like a brand on social media. Real people don’t just post on their timelines — they also interact with others on the platform as well. And so, too, should agents.

Respond when people comment. Like posts from people in and out of your circle. Share industry news that your audience will find useful. Doing so humanizes your brand and makes people more likely to choose you as their agent.

And if nothing else, interacting with other people’s content makes them more likely to interact with yours.

Tag others

In a similar vein, why not tag others when you feature them in your posts? In our experience, tagging the owners of websites we feature on our pages makes them more likely to like and even share our content. Why is this important? Because the more engagement your posts get, the more the algorithm favors them. And who wouldn’t want that?

Get verified

Real estate is all about trust. And in social media, where misinformation abounds, it really helps to have a verified account. This tells prospects that you’re the real deal — not some impersonator trying to make a quick buck.

Aside from credibility, you’ll be glad to know that verified accounts are also given priority in search results.

Different platforms have different methods for verifying the identity of users, but this process often entails submitting government-issued IDs, providing documents proving your business’ existence, giving a registered phone number, and paying a subscription fee.

Ask for reviews

There’s nothing more reassuring for a prospect than seeing a five-star rating on your Facebook page. That said, delivering excellent services is only part of it since reviews and ratings don’t happen by accident — you have to ask for them. We’ve got several strategies that can help you rack up those glowing reviews in no time.

Outsource your social media management

You may have guessed it, but social media takes a lot of work. And as an agent with a lot on your plate, you might not have the time or expertise to run your social accounts on your own.

The good news is that Agent Image offers end-to-end social media marketing so you can have more time to interface with clients. From brainstorming content ideas, to designing visuals, to posting content, to generating analytics reports, we can do it all for you.

Book a FREE and no-obligation consultation with our Web Marketing Specialists for more details. Just call 1.800.979.5799!

We’ve got more marketing life hacks in our blog, so follow it to stay ahead of the curve!