Today, consumers demand immediate results. It’s no secret that the technological advances which have come fast and furious over the last several years have made all of us seek for immediacy in everything we do. That is, since we know that we can get the answer to just about every question by searching the Internet, we’ll just jump from one site to another if we don’t get what we want or need right away. This type of online user behavior—this demand for an immediate response—impacts the work of real estate professional.
If you know that online users go from site to site to site to seek answers, that’s where the real estate professional needs to be—everywhere. Real estate agents need a diversified online presence not only to solidify their brand but also if they are to succeed in generating online leads.
How’s Your Online Reputation?
Before making some suggestions for how and where to diversify your marketing online, the first thing you must do is to investigate your online reputation. The easiest way to do this is to Google your name. Use a search engine to investigate your name online. Study the results. Of course, if you have a common name, you may need to add the words “real estate” or “real estate agent” into the search bar. But, check out your online presence. Are people saying anything bad about you? Are there unfortunate or embarrassing photos of your high school days in the image bank? If so, you may need to do something about that. No matter what you see, at the very least you’ll understand the extent of your online presence: a presence which needs to grow no matter how large or small it is.
5 Ways Agents Can Diversify Their Online Presence
Here are 5 ways that agents can diversify or grow their marketing online:
- Get active on social media sites. You may already be on Facebook and LinkedIn. If you are not, then this may be where you need to begin. Create user profiles and begin to connect with others whom you know—personally or professionally. Then, continue by adding additional social media or social networking sights to your bag of tricks. Check out sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram among others.
- Write a few blog posts. You don’t have to be William Shakespeare to write something useful and post it online. Valuable information builds trust. When people trust you, they call you and hire you as their listing or sales agent. Consider writing a series of blog posts about different aspects of the home buying or home selling process.
- Make some community videos. You’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, that’s why videos are all the rage. Make some short videos and post them on Youtube. You can educate future home buyers about the communities where you are a neighborhood specialist. Youtube is the second largest search engine after Google, so that’s where you want to be.
- Boost your online reviews. One popular way to make the phone ring is through online review sites. Consumers read reviews before they buy shoes, hire a plumber, or even consult a real estate professional. If you have lots of positive reviews online, this will have a positive impact on your ability to generate leads.
- Look into syndication sites. There’s an ongoing polemic about the merit of the large syndication sites, and they may not be for everyone. However, the statistics don’t lie. Trulia and Zillow both rank in the top 100 on Alexa, which means that they are among the top 100 most visited sites by consumers (home buyers) in the United States. If home buyers are gathering on these sites, you may want to head over there and check them out.
There are loads of ways that you can diversify your online presence, all of which will increase your ability to generate leads online. They key is that you should not put your leads in one basket—you need to be everywhere. As home buyers in the United States click from site to site, they need to see your smiling face over and over again. That’s what will make the phone ring.
