agent media
THE ESTATE AGENTS GUIDE
TO FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
Discover how to get started in social media
and how it can win you business
WWW.AGENTMEDIA.CO.UK
IN ASSOCIATION WITH Growth
Social
A little bit about us….
Our team is made up of digital marketers, engineers, designers, social media experts and customer service
professionals who are all committed to helping with your success.
Whilst traditional advertising like newspapers and canvassing have become far less effective, we recognise that
for many, newer digital solutions like social media, can often be complicated to learn.
We’re big believers in the power of keeping things simple. So our goal is to take the best digital marketing tools
available and making them easy to use with little or no effort needed, enabling you to free up more of your
time to run your business.
We hope you enjoy this guide!
Ian Watson
Founder and managing director
Unless you find a more cost effective way to get your
message out, your business is doomed. You can no longer survive
by interrupting strangers with a message they don’t want to hear,
using methods that annoy them. Consumers have too little time
and too much power to stand for this any longer.
Seth Godin
An Introduction
Everyone is talking about how Facebook and Twitter can drive traffic, leads and customers to your
website. But how much do you really know about Social Media?
Who is actually using it, and for what? How can you best optimise your Social Media presence to get
the most return on your efforts?
Social media has changed how we think about advertising like no other form of marketing has ever succeeded
in doing before and by knowing who your audience is, you will be able to engage with them more effectively.
As an Estate Agent, you have to jump into the fray because if you don’t, you will miss out one of the
greatest marketing phenomenon to hit the advertising world as we know it. This is NOT a fad that will vanish
in time and it is here to stay.
In this eBook, we reveal some interesting insights, surprising statistics and effective tips to help
you in your campaigns.
So how can Social Media help?
So you may wonder how an account with a social media site like Twitter would benefit your business.
The answer is simple because how else could you build up a solid following in such a short space of time
and for so little money?
The Twitter phenomenon is going from strength to strength and is one of the easiest forms of free marketing
Estate Agents will ever come across!
Facebook is slightly more complicated but just as effective. It is a powerful marketing platform to interact
with your audience and if used wisely, offers an enormous opportunity to establish yourself as the experts
who know what they’re talking about.
With social media you have everything at your fingertips. It’s a fantastic and cost effective way of
leveraging the web to enhance people’s awareness of you and your company whilst increasing your
direct leads and referrals.
Let’s take a look in more detail at how they work.....
Fact
Your customers are already talking about you and your competition on Twitter.
Understanding what they’re saying and why users follow businesses will help you build better,
more lasting relationships. Go to search.twitter.com to search for your product or business name
and see what people are saying specifically about you.
What is Twitter and how can I best use it?
We’re not going to run through the set up process here as there are plenty of articles and videos on line
and we want address strategy, however, make sure that when setting up your account, that you choose an
obvious username so your firm can be easily found,
So many people‘s first reaction to Twitter is, “No one needs to know what I‘m up to,” or “I don‘t care what other
people are doing” and these opinions are very common among agents that don‘t understand the value that it
can provide for business.
Twitter is a useful communication tool that allows you to interact with people in many different ways:
• To send a short message to a number of people publicly
• To send a short message to a specific person publicly
• To send a short message to a specific person privately
• To develop and promote your firm
• To Interact with your clients
• To generate leads
• To develop relationships with journalists for potential PR
It is also referred to as a “micro-blogging” service, allowing you to post short updates limited to 140 characters
or fewer. Why? Originally, it was originally intended to make Twitter compatible with mobile phones and text
messaging but now, it’s a useful characteristic that allows users to receive quick and concise information.
It is a relationship-building tool and the most obvious business use is to meet potential clients
the same way you would by networking.
Fact
69% of users follow companies to find out their latest news.
We recommend experimenting with different types of Tweets to see what works
for your business, and what doesn’t.
Engage your audience
When you first join Twitter, it’s tempting to start tweeting right away. But before you begin, it’s a good idea
to follow and observe competitors to see what they’re doing well, and learn from their mistakes.
Building your network is the hardest and most time-consuming part of using Twitter.
By following people, you’ll be able to view their updates in your Twitter stream and this is your chance to learn
more about them and the people that they interact with. Following a decent size and interesting community
can be valuable and fun!
A best practice is to follow no more than 25-50 people a day, because there will be a time gap between
following people and when they follow you back. If your profile says you are following 2,000 people and you
only have 30 followers then it appears that 1,970 of the people you followed chose not to follow you back.
This unfavourable ratio won‘t help boost your credibility and may negatively affect people‘s decisions to follow
your firm. Therefore, give your followers some time to follow you back before finding a new batch of
people to add to your network.
Fact
Google loves social media sites, ensuring you get increased targeted traffic to your
website. Make sure that you tweet original and relevant content as search engines will rank
you higher if you can provide their users with the best answers to their queries.
Get people to follow you
Following people and viewing their tweets is great, but in order to have valuable interactions, you need to
regularly broadcast your messages and give value so that they follow you back to view your tweets too. That’s
why it‘s so important to get your profile fully set up before making new connections. If you follow someone
who doesn‘t already know you, you need to display sufficient information about your company in your profile
so they can make an informed decision of whether to follow you back.
We regularly get asked how often you should tweet, but there isn’t one “right” answer. Tweeting every five
minutes might be too often and tweeting only weekly is very likely too infrequent. At first, make a goal to tweet
once a day. Over time, you’ll see what works best for your business.
Reply when people tweet about you and make sure to thank those who are praising you. All of these actions
will help you build stronger relationships with your followers — turning them into loyal clients.
Attracting followers is important because they will serve as your network who will view your tweets. Think of
your total number of followers as your reach.
#
Fact
42% of marketers say that Social media is critical for their business. If you’re not doing it, the
chances are that you are missing out on new business to your competitors.
Drive traffic to your website
We all know that the property portals charge a great deal of money and all of the visitors will be exposed to
your competitor’s instructions as well as your own. Use Twitter to drive people to your company’s website
instead. Tweet about the latest property news and thoughtful tips to demonstrate your knowledge and
establish your firm as experts.
Do you have a newsworthy instruction or a special offer? Tweet about it by linking back to the relevant page
on your website and if the content is truly remarkable, people may start re-tweeting about it on their own and
sharing your resources to their followers on Twitter. Simple tactics and free publicity!
Fact
Companies that are successful on social media promote their Twitter @username online
and offline including, business cards, signage, advertising, vehicles, email and your website etc.
Anywhere your customers interact with your brand is an opportunity to encourage them to
follow you on Twitter.
Use Twitter to grow your online presence
1
Monitor activity
Go to the Connect tab on your Twitter navigation, sign up for email updates, or use software to help you
monitor all activity. If you find someone tweeting about your area or a person who is looking for a property,
you can get in contact.
2
Be the expert
Make your tweets useful resources so people need you. You are what you tweet. People will want to follow
you if they think they’ll get value from your tweets and be sure to avoid making your Twitter account a purely
promotional tool. Would you subscribe to a newsletter if it didn‘t have anything useful to say?
3
Respond
Respond to concerns people tweet about your company or services and designate a specific person in your
company to track your company name in Twitter Search so that person can address any negative comments,
and help solve problems in real time.
Use Twitter to grow your online presence...
4
Promote
Make Use of Follow Buttons by placing them on of your website and on your emails (You can do this by using
the Growth Mail software from Growth Track).
5
Experiment and have fun!
Users follow companies for a variety of reasons. Test out and monitor different types of Tweets to see which
generate the strongest response for your business.
6
But be careful what you say...
Try not to engage and comment on debates relating to politics, religion and controversial news items as this
may affect your present and future relationships with other users. Many people make this common mistake,
but it is better not to show allegiance to football teams. An Estate Agent stating a passion for Spurs is going to
no doubt lose some trust and respect from an Arsenal fan and it could be the difference between winning a
new valuation or not.
Facebook first steps
As with Twitter, we’re not going to run through the initial set up steps as there is so much advice already online,
but there are a number of critical things you must get right from the outset, or it could affect your ability to run
a useful campaign.
Facebook is a very powerful platform and like Twitter, the first thing you need to do is to brand your page. It
should be inviting and give a positive reflection of your company and its values.
Once this has been done, ensure that you reserve your brand URL. When you sign up for Facebook, your fan
page is still set with numbers and therefore you are making it harder for potential clients to find.
For example, instead of www.facebook.com/12345678abcdef, our link is www.facebook.com/AgentMediaUK
Fact
45% of people in the UK use Facebook as part of their daily routine.
Spreading the word
It is critical for Estate Agents to get seen by more people and expand your brand for what is termed by
marketers as “increasing your reach”. When someone becomes a fan, all of their network can see the content
that they interact with. So for instance if you have 1000 fans and they have hundreds of friends you can reach
across a vast network of people – and for free!
However, increasing the number of your Facebook fans isn’t enough to drive business results. You will need
to convert these followers into leads by getting them to view your properties where they can gather relevant
information and find out more about your company.
Unfortunately, many agents do the hard work getting people to interact with their company and visit their
social media sites but then they allow them to leave and go to visit the portals to do a property search –
where your competitors are. To stop this happening, we created Growth Search. Growth Search is a bespoke
Facebook application which allows your clients to view your properties, book viewings and valuations, all
within your Facebook page.
Fact
67% of consumers trust information and advice they read on Facebook.
Using Facebook for marketing
If you are new to Facebook, there are aspects that may seem complicated at first, but the same can probably
be said for all of the other marketing resources that you now are so glad that you have.
If you are comfortable with talking to your customers you’ll find a lot to like on Facebook. The ways in which
Facebook can be used for marketing and the tools, resources and modifications are only just being exploited.
For instance (if you produce monthly newsletters) you can make them available on your Facebook page in
exchange for someone’s details so you can contact them and see if you can help. This is a simple and an easy
way to try and generate more valuable leads.
In as little as 10 days, you can substantially improve your marketing campaigns and the time invested in
learning more about Facebook will help you generate more traffic to your website, more sales and better ways
to connect with potential clients.
Perhaps most important of all is a figure you cannot measure, the level of engagement and loyalty to your
brand that only social networks can generate.
Fact
67% of consumers trust information and advice they read on Facebook.
Little cost, large results
Traditional advertising – referred to as outbound, is one-way. It relies on you taking out expensive
advertising typically in a magazine or newspaper and once you put your properties out there, you hope it
resonates with potential clients and that they see it, remember it, and care enough to act on it. Very often, by
the time the ads appear, the properties have been sold, withdrawn or else are appearing with another agent
before they even turn to your page.
Facebook, on the other hand is advertising where people are coming to you to see your news and
they have already done the hard work. Your audience tune in every day because it’s become a part of the
fabric of their lives. People connect and share, just like they say on the homepage and from a marketer’s
perspective, this is a dream come true. You get to have a two-way relationship with your clients and all you
have to do is spend some time connecting and updating them with your very latest and most relevant news
that they would find interesting.
Fact
5 new Facebook profiles are made every second.
Best practices
While there aren’t any hard and fast rules, there are some general “best practices” and ultimately you
will have to work out what works with your audience and what they need from you.
Here are some good general rules:
1
Post every day
That may seem excessive but as people make more friends and “Like” more pages; your posts may be missed.
If you are only posting once or twice a week then it could be a long time between posts if your community
misses one or two of them.
2
Focus on engagement
You are trying to connect and get a response from your community. Post helpful tips, links to articles that
your audience will like and share. When you make the posts, focus on helping rather than selling and you will
develop a richer and deeper relationship with your community.
2
Have a call to action
Tell people to click the Like or comment on the post. Or have them go to your website.
Best practices...
4
Don’t oversell or undersell
No one likes a never-ending sales pitch. By the same token, make sure you do highlight your wares from
time-to-time! Use the 80-20 rule for sales messages vs. content/connection posts. So if you decide to post
five times a week, one of the posts should be a sales message and four posts will be other helpful content
for your community.
5
Get permission
Ensure that you have full permission to share and use any image and video content that you showcase.
It is best to keep a separate private account on Facebook, especially if it is being used to highlight all the
good times you are having in your social life as an embarrassing photo or two could adversely affect people’s
respect for you. Also try not to exhibit religious, political and football beliefs on your Facebook account in
case it offends current and future clients.
These rules are a good place to start but watch what works for you. There is no one “right” way to do
everything on Facebook.
Conclusion
Social media has changed the way many things work. This includes clients behaviour, as today they have a
new perception and a different outlook on how they shop for anything they want or need, whether it be hotel
recommendations or their dream home and Social media allows you to continue a conversation with targeted
audiences’ right up to when you make a sale and then beyond.
Using it is not difficult, it just takes a bit of thought, time, effort and planning and ultimately, your goal is to be
the first person any client thinks of when they’re considering selling, letting, buying or renting.
Not every follower in a community will buy from you – BUT – they will recommend you to their friends if they
like what you’re saying and this is what social media is all about. All of a sudden you are the ‘savvy’ agent that
people know and can trust. The result? You have just successfully got into social media networking!
agent media
We hope that this eBook has given you an insight into what is a valuable form of easy
and direct marketing that can help grow your business.
If you don’t have the time to manage your social media then get experts to help.
At Agent Media we can look after your Social Media and it is the one option that guarantees
success and takes all the strain out of the process.
To find out more about our services, visit us at www.agentmedia.co.uk
or call us on 0330 333 6699 or email us socialmedia@agentmedia.co.uk.
We look forward to helping you build a larger and more profitable Estate Agency!