In recent months, estate agents have seen a massive increase in demand.
According to Savills 79% of agents are reporting an increase in demand for a separate work from home space and 96% of agents are reporting an increase in demand for property with a garden or other outside space after lockdown.
On the other hand, many companies are reassessing their need for the same type of commercial real estate and residential owners are looking to free up capital before we go further into a recession. The property market is becoming increasingly competitive. Bolder consumers are now taking sales into their own hands, you can even find houses on Facebook Marketplace and AI is evening out the playing field for smaller businesses to compete with larger players.
Whether you are looking to retain existing clients, attract the best employees, or reassure prospective clients and gain consumer trust, now is the time to make the most of these social media tips.
Brand Building; Making a good impression online
Create trust through social proof
As buyers, sellers, renters and landlords are surrounded by choice both trust and customer services must be placed at the forefront of your offering. A quick scan of your google reviews, your website and your social media is more than enough to make a first impression. We all know that most customers only review estate agents when they have a bad experience or an extremely good experience. Well, ask and you shall receive. Ask your happy customers to review their experiences with you at the right time, in the right way and share them across all your online platforms including your website and your social media channels.
Consistency throughout your identity
You see that emerald green and you think of Foxtons, a bright yellow and Savills comes to mind. By communicating your brand identity including your colours, fonts and your tone of voice consistently across all of your social media and online platforms you build a subconscious affinity with your target audience. All graphics posted on your social media feeds and stories must be bold, thumb-stopping and consistent with the look and feel of your website.
Reconsidering branding
In a world where even business to business and corporate trends now stem from business to consumer companies, grey and corporate brand identities can be offputting, especially to your future consumer. As a ‘woke generation’ Gen Z already have massive sway over family decisions. This is a generation that values high-quality output and rejects mediocrity. It is important to consider them through your visual communication in the same way that challenger banks have visually engaging online experiences. Aim to strike a balance between professional and approachable rather than intimidating and dated.
Community Building; Nurturing your network through social media
Word-of-mouth marketing is often the strongest way to quickly convert customers through the marketing funnel bringing them swiftly from awareness to consideration to conversion. Social media can be used to champion your existing networks as an estate agent to support and amplify your word-of-mouth marketing process. When planning content activations and collaborative concepts consider how you can support your network rather than how you can sell through them.
Individual agents as the new influencer
In the US estate agents or ‘realtors’ are gathering a mass following on Instagram. The same is starting to happen in the UK. People connect with people over companies and these are the people who are on the ground connecting with buyers, sellers, renters, contractors and more. It is, in many ways, easier for individuals to build organic followings on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Whether an employee has 500 or 500k followers on a platform, they have a meaningful relationship with each follower. It is important to nurture and collaborate with proactive individuals who represent your offering well.
How can you empower your most trusted employees to act as a social media ambassador or influencer?
Home renovations on Instagram
Residential or commercial, social media presence often starts before a building physically exists. Many people are documenting building, developments and renovations on Instagram. This may be for personal enjoyment or for commercial purposes. Either way, these accounts have a direct to consumer relationship that is worth nurturing.
Champion your customer
Your customer is your greatest ambassador. Authenticity and trust are two of the most important themes you can convey through your social media. People want to hear real stories from real people. Content featuring peoples faces also outperforms other content on platforms such as Instagram. Bring your testimonials and reviews to life through video and storytelling.
Support your wider network
Many b2b companies that surround your business have their own social media and marketing goals. 10 networks together are far more powerful than one network alone. How can you support, champion and empower multiple networks through brand activations?
Whether you are looking for a content marketing strategy, long-term help or one-off campaigns that can then be taken in-house, we look forward to hearing from you. Get in touch to bring your social media to life.