How to Sell and Never Look Salesy: Content Marketing Strategy for Real Estate Agents

Stop overthinking your content! For example, IMO, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with market updates, pro tips, or Q&A videos that explain/illuminate the facts about real estate.

For instance, I’ve always liked what Jay Baer said: “Make your marketing so useful, people would pay you for it!” Just go look and see what top-producers like @krysbenyamein, @tayadicarlo, or @movemetotx are posting!

You DON’T have to…

• Dance to trending audio

• Hire a $$$$ videographer

• Farm-out your content creation

• Be somebody you’re not

… in order to build an effective agent-brand on social.

After all, the quote-unquote, “product you sell” is your expertise — and the means by which you impart that expertise. My advice: be the knowledge broker!

The only social media formula worth knowing is that CONTENT = CONTRIBUTION.

3 (Easy) Tactics for More Instagram Engagement (for REALTORS)

Engagement is everything! Fact is, if your Instagram posts/stories fail to generate reactions (e.g. likes, comments, views, and so forth), from IG’s perspective, your content simply isn’t worth distributing.

Ouch! Frankly, you work entirely too hard on your content for it to end up shelved like that.

So here are 3 tactics to implement to fan the fire 🔥 of engagement on Instagram.

1. ASK FOR IT! In your post caption try adding a call-to-action, like: “If this post hits home, please share it to your Stories.” Don’t muddle your caption with multiple asks — pick one per post: save this post, like this video, comment below, tag or share w/ a friend.

2. It’s important to time ⏱ your posts as the bulk of your followers are logging in for the day. Instagram monitors and predicts when its users “use the app.” The trick is, you want to publish just before the crest point—i.e., just as the the majority of your followers are logging in for the day. It’s kind of like riding a wave🏄. If you jump too late, you’ll miss the wave and have to wait for the next one. If you jump too soon, the wave will crash over you 🌊. In other words, by the time your audience would’ve logged in to engage with your post, IG might’ve already called it a bad job, due to lackluster levels of engagement. Remember, more engagement (especially when it comes quickly after you publish) incentivizes Instagram to distribute your content to a broader audience.

3. You wanna try and keep people parked on your content as long as possible. Try beefing up the substance of your captions so viewers will wanna read. Try adding subtitles/captions to your videos so, if the sound is off, for instance, viewers will continue watching nonetheless. Try posting more carousel posts whereby viewers can swipe through multiple images or videos. Point is, if your content causes a viewer to stop scrolling, that’s a win for Instagram, which means, your post is gonna get the love!

What are your best ideas for sparking engagement?

Content is Contribution: The difference between canned posts on social and content that builds an audience

CONTENT = CONTRIBUTION.

Canned posts published for the purpose of filling space won’t move the needle forward. Content for its own sake is, in my opinion, meaningless.

On the other hand—when you’re willing to share your best professional advice (videos, blogs, emails, and more)—you’re giving your audience real value. My recommendation: resolve to be the knowledge-broker.

Some worry over whether their competition might rip them off or steal their “secret sauce.” It’s unlikely—because, the thing is: no one does 𝘆𝗼𝘂 better than 𝙮𝙤𝙪. So be generous!

I like how Jim Rohn put it: “Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.”

Question: “What do you sell?” I suspect many would answer that they sell homes 🏡.

Nope! As an agent, certainly, you help folks buy and sell homes—but that’s not what consumers, quote-unquote, “buy from you.” What they “buy from you” is, in a manner of speaking, your real estate expertise—and the means by which you impart that expertise.

Agents are often (unfairly) characterized as salesy. Thing is, though, when your content is contribution —every time you post to social, send an email, or publish a video that confers V-A-L-U-E, in effect, you’re selling -- only, no one will ever call you salesy. Instead, they’ll just 📲 call you!

Real Estate Marketing Channels Whereby the Leads Call You (the Agent)!

What’s a lead (in real estate)⁉️ Simple definition:  a person w/ some measure of intent to buy, sell, or lease real estate who’s given you (the agent) permission to contact them about it.

In•Tent: resolved or determined to do (something); intention or purpose. Every lead has it!—some a bunch, some a little.

For instance, someone enters a search on Google:  “𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚢.” Immediately, your PPC ad ranks at the top of the results page, they click the link, the page loads, and then it forces a registration in order to continue. Congrats, you just captured a lead 🎊

But here’s the challenge with that:  they’re looking for homes, not agents. You have a lead who, presumably, wants to view properties for sale. However, based on the available intelle, whether or not they’re planning to involve an agent (you, in particular) is presently unclear. So… get ready to deploy your followup and lead-nurture campaigns because the “game of chase” has begun.

Now, I’m not saying that “game” isn’t worth playing. This is, after all, sales. Nevertheless, is there an alternative (or supplement) to it? In my opinion:  YES.

Starting now and going forward, begin to integrate marketing channels that position you as the agent-of-choice, the knowledge-broker, the hyperlocal expert, or whatever descriptive term you fancy. For example:

1. Commence “operation love ❤️ on your database” to garner repeat and referral business. Your DATABASE is probably your best source of business and it warrants your attention.

2. Go all in on Google My Business:  reviews, photos, optimizations, and more!
   **Just Google-Search “Jason Pantana Google My Business” and you’ll find a bunch of extra videos and blogs on that topic**

3. Build-up your SEO:  blogs, YouTube videos, etc. Prospective customers will find your value-add content and reach out proactively.

4. Setup Google Local Services Ads! The phone just rings ☎️

5. Make stellar social content and drive conversations to your DMs.

6. Start (or redouble) Geographic-Farming:  mailers, signage, events, etc.

Bottom line (IMO):  Lead Attraction is greater than Lead Capture.

Is Your Social “Sending to Voicemail?”

Is your social media, quote-unquote, “sending viewers to voicemail?” Let me explain…

When you make a call, for instance—if you get someone’s voicemail—typically, there’s no mistaking that it’s just a voicemail message. Once or twice, you may mistakenly think the person picked up and carry on as if they had. However, you’ll quickly realize you’re just chatting w/ a machine 🤖... nobody’s listening or responding.

Metaphorically speaking, A LOT of social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more) are basically voicemails; no one is actually “picking up,” so to speak. Canned posts, published for the sake of filling space. Zero engagement or interaction with others’ content. Unread comments and DMs; no one’s actively listening or responding.

To be fair… lots of business owners/operators feel pressure to consistently produce more and more content and, frankly, they’re overworked. To me, though, it’s quality over quantity. So my point is, if social media is to be a part of your marketing mix going forward, then it must be made a priority—an activity worthy of your personalized attention.

Rank Top-of-Page in YouTube Search: The "Queue-Jumper" Campaign

Here’s how to ensure your next video ranks in the top position of YouTube’s search results. I call it, the “Queue-Jumper”—as in, “cutting the line” to outrank competing videos that might normally show above yours in a given YouTube search.

For example, imagine making a video titled, “Pros and cons of moving to _____,” for instance. Odds are, a bunch of other related videos with more SEO-juice than yours are probably holding the top-ranked positions in the search results. And the trouble is, if your video doesn’t rank on the first page of results, then, for all intents and purposes, it’s invisible.

Now, before continuing on, this is a tactic intended for a fully-optimized video uploaded to your channel from which you’re expecting (or hoping for) strong organic performance — as in, lots of views for an extended period of time. And by optimized, I mean (at minimum) (A) keywords in the title, (B) tags to support those keywords, and (C) a super-clickable thumbnail.

I’ve said it before:  YouTube is a search engine; not a social network. So—YouTube 101—the fundamental objective is to identify the search terms and phrases used by would-be customers and to then make videos to supply their searches. It’s a simple concept.

To conduct YouTube keyword research, try using a tool like TubeBuddy, MorningFa.me, or vidIQ, for instance.

**Sidebar:  I’ve compiled a list of 15 Search-Ready Real Estate Videos Titles for YouTube. Click HERE to download.**

Unfortunately, as I said before, ranking is easier said than done — especially when you’re up against more established creators. And if your video isn’t near the top of the search results, it’ll flounder and struggle to get views—which is, of course, the entire point.

Despite all that, however—if you want to elude the algorithm—then consider running a YouTube Video Discovery ad. Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Visit ads.google.com to get started.

2. Click to begin a “New Campaign.”

3. Choose a goal—whatever you want.

4. Under “Campaign Type,” select “Video.”

5. Tap “Next” to continue.

6. Name your Campaign and disable all network placements except for YouTube Search Results.

7. Set your bid, budget, and start/end dates for your ad.

8. Navigate to the “Keywords” box. Enter the keywords (i.e., the search phrases) you want your video to rank on!
   **Heads up: this is the main ingredient of the tactic!**

9. Finally, copy-and-paste the link (from YouTube) to your designated video and press GO!

Presto! Rank top-of-page, get views, and build your brand — with YouTube video discovery ads!

Simple (Value-Rich) DATABASE Calling Dialogue

National Association of Realtors tells us 67% of listings, roughly, come from repeat/referral business. Your database (i.e., past clients, sphere of influence, etc.) is, in all likelihood, your best source of business. My advice: prioritize those individuals in your everyday efforts!

4 YouTube (TrueView) Ads for Realtors to Run in 2021

YouTube is an ideal advertising platform. Here’s why:

1. It’s the second-most popular website on the planet 🌎—runner-up to its parent company, Google. What’s more, by extension, it’s also the second-most utilized search engine here, there, or anywhere.

2. Amongst video-streaming apps and sites, it holds the top-spot by a sizable margin in terms of total watch-time. You might’ve heard TikTok recently unseated it, which isn’t actually the case. TikTok is indeed number-one in terms average watch-time per user—however, YouTube has considerably more users.

3. YouTube is a more of a search-engine than a social-network. On social platforms, for instance, users are conditioned to scroll (mindlessly, on occasion). On YouTube, however, users are accustomed to search for content of a specific type or topic, which demonstrates intent. From an advertising and targeting standpoint, intent is everything!

Whether you’re looking to build-up brand-awareness, grow an audience, or generate leads, YouTube ads are a definite way to go!

Exploring Different Types of YouTube Ads

YouTube provides numerous different advertising products:  e.g. in-stream ads, in-feed ads, display, overlay, and more.

Some ad formats are created in Google Ads (formerly known as, AdWords) whereas others are placed on a reservation basis through a Google sales representative.

This video/article covers in-stream and in-feed video ads, dubbed, “TrueView” YouTube ads—which are made in Google Ads. 

The term, “TrueView,” refers to the length of time a viewer watches a specified video. For example, the viewer must watch the subject video ad for a minimum of 30 seconds. If the full video ad is less than 30 seconds long, the viewer must watch the video in its entirety. If they don’t, it’s not a TrueView, and thus, it doesn’t count against your ad-spend.

And remember, because it’s a video ad, your viewers aren’t just random people; they’re your target audience (based on your campaign settings).

There are two distinct types of “TrueView,” YouTube ads:

1. In-Stream: the, quote-unquote, “commercials” that play before, during, or after a video on YouTube. If you’re a frequent YouTube viewer, you might’ve noticed varying subtypes of in-stream ads.

   • Skippable - presents viewer with a “skip ad” option after five seconds elapses. Don’t forget, a TrueView requires a viewer to watch at least 30 seconds or the duration of a video ad or the advertiser isn’t charged.

   • Nonskippable - up-to 15-second videos in which the viewer has no option to skip. Every view would count as a TrueView seeing as how the viewer must watch from start-to-end.

   • Bumper - same as the nonskippable format but only up to six seconds long.

2. Video Discovery: when you see a promoted video in search results, recommended alongside related videos, or displayed on the Home Feed.

Considering YouTube’s Video-Discovery Algorithm

Before rushing into ad creation, keep in mind, a YouTube ad is simply a promotion of a natively uploaded video that lives on your Channel. That means the paid performance of the video and its organic performance are inextricably linked. In other words, an ad could potentially damage your video’s organic performance. Here’s how:

The YouTube algorithm runs off of two primary variables: A. Watch-Time and B. Click-Through Rate (CTR).

WATCH TIME:

Watch Time is what it sounds like:  the average amount of time viewers spend watching your video. The longer your video’s average watch-time, from YouTube’s POV, the greater its relevance to a designated topic—which means, increased distribution (e.g. search results, feeds, etc.).

CLICK-THROUGH RATE:

The Click-Through Rate means that when a prospective viewer is shown your video (in search results, as a recommended next video, or in YouTube’s browse features), YouTube monitors how often viewers click to watch. If they do, that signals YouTube to keep distributing your video far and wide. If they don’t click, then YouTube holds your video back, pure and simple.

Your video’s thumbnail (i.e., the preview image attached to the upload) and its title are the top influencing factors of its CTR.

**CLCK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM**

So think about this:  if you upload a video to your Channel and then run it, for instance, as a skippable in-stream ad—and then, as the campaign runs, its viewers hit the “Skip-Ad” button time-and-again—from an SEO standpoint, you’re literally tanking your video’s hopes of organic performance.

My thought is, if your video is time-bound—meaning, its content will become irrelevant or outdated quickly, then run it as an ad. On the other hand, if the video is considered timeless, then you may be better off to let it be and see what comes of it organically. 

(Step-by-Step) YouTube Ad-Campaigns for REALTORS®

Today’s video training demonstrates four (4) different YouTube ads, outlined below. Watch the video to for step-by-step instructions!

1. Just-Listed Video Ad Campaign

   • Description: upload your next listing video to YouTube to utilize as an ad. Include a clickable thumbnail.

   • Ad-Format: skippable in-stream

   • Audience-Targeting: homeowners + purchasing a home soon + in-market for residential properties, located in your defined geographic area.

2. Home Valuation Video Ad Campaign

   • Description: record and upload a video offering homeowners an instant home-price estimate; briefly speak of local market conditions and home-value appreciation.

   • Ad-Format: skippable in-stream

   • Audience-Targeting: homeowners located in your defined geographic area.

3. Local Market Update Video Ad Campaign

   • Description: upload/ a market video explaining nothing but the facts specific to your area’s housing market. Repeat process monthly.

   • Ad-Format: skippable in-stream

   • Audience-Targeting: homeowners located in your defined geographic area.

4. The “Queue-Jumper” Video Ad Campaign

   • Description: promote a video intended to perform organically (over time) to rank top-of-page in YouTube search results.

   • Ad-Format: video discovery; YouTube search results only (disable Video partners on the Display Network and YouTube Videos)

   • Audience-Targeting: keywords specific to your video’s topic.

Watch the video, get the training, and take advantage of YouTube ads to promote and grow your business!

Defining Your Agent-Brand!

It’s like @tomferry has been saying: “The A.O.T.F. (‘agent-of-the-future’) has a strong personal brand! -- and that brand is Y-O-U.

Every post, every video, and every campaign is a depiction of you. While clever messages and catchy tag-lines are all well and good, they’re no substitute for the real thing: you.

◾️Don’t 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 yourself.
◾️Don’t 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦 yourself.
◾️Don’t 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳 yourself.

My advice: put your brand everywhere!

3 Ways to Rank in Instagram Search

3 Ways to Rank in Instagram Search 🔍

Instagram Search, located in IG’s Explore Feed, is how you find the content you’re looking for on Instagram.

Think of it like Google Search: you type in words/phrases and Insta’s Search algorithm tries to rank/list the most relevant results. For sake of clarity, the Search algorithm is totally different and distinct from the other algorithms that govern the feeds: Home, Explore, Stories, and Reels

Instagram Search is most frequently used to look up Instagram accounts and/or peruse hashtags. So, to improve your ranking, here’s what you need to prioritize:

1. Your Username: try to incorporate your real/business name, seeing as how that’s how most folks will attempt to look you up. Your account’s Display Name matters too.
2. Your Bio: embed keywords you want to rank on, such as terms relevant to your profession as well as the location where you do business.
3. Post Captions: be mindful of the words, phrases, and/or hashtags you want your post to rank on — and make sure they’re in the post caption (not its comments).

So there you go: three (3) ways to improve your Instagram “discoverability”—for your profile and posts—via Instagram Search.

Difference between a POST and CONTENT

Difference between a POST and CONTENT 🤔

Riddle me this: what’s the difference between an everyday social media post and content?

In the early days of Facebook, for instance, it was called a “Status Update”—i.e., “Jason Pantana is… {riding a bike} {eating lunch}, {blah, blah, blah.}”

And, it goes w/o saying, that type of post is still a huge (and strategically important) component of social media usage. However, I wouldn’t call it content, per se.

Content is contributed!—it’s what you give to your audience. Granted, if you’re a lifestyle blogger, well then I suppose updates about your daily activities would count. But for service-based businesses, content is the (value-add) media you produce and publish for your customers.

And the truth is, you’re not producing enough content!—and neither am I. (Not even close!) Every major platform—Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, et al.—has an appetite for content that can’t be satisfied, algorithmically speaking. So, my thought: feed the beast!

First-Video to Video-First. (Become the Agent-of-Choice!)

Today’s the day to go ALL-IN on producing video content 🎉

Candidly, Social Media may as well be called “Video Media.” Case in point, Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram), recently stated that algorithmic priority will adjust to favor:

A. Creators (i.e., producers of engaging content; influencers)
B. Video (i.e., short or long runtimes, horizontal or vertical aspect ratios)

In other words: Creators using video will be algorithmically prioritized. Ergo, become a VIDEO CREATOR!

What’s more, TikTok has surpassed YouTube in terms of cumulative watch time 😲. To put that in context, people currently spend as much time streaming YouTube videos as they do surfing Netflix! So, like I said—it’s “VIDEO-MEDIA” through-and-through.

It all sounds easy and obvious, right? Welp, goodness knows, it isn’t. Video is (generally) high-effort to produce and it requires “getting over oneself”—e.g. insecurities, self-doubts, etc. What’s more, it takes iron-willed discipline to do it consistently. That said—if you have any intentions of growing your agent-brand through social—then it’s the only path forward.

Start a livestream show, over-index on short-form, vertical videos (e.g. Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikToks), conduct home and/or neighborhood tours, interview business owners, or host a video podcast -- it’s your prerogative! The point is—starting now—make the choice to go from first video to video-first 👊

BRAND Your Business Like Its Been Around 20+ Years!

More or less the same number of homes sell each and every year (give or take). Granted, there are highs-and-lows—but the differences aren’t overly extreme. For example, Statista reports:

• 2018: 5.34M, US
• 2019: 5.34M, US
• 2020: 5.64M, US
• 2021: 6.49M, US

**US median between 2005 and 2021 of 5.25M homes sold**

The more widely fluctuating statistic has to do with 𝘸𝘩𝘰 sells ‘em. Real estate has an unfortunate rate of failure—meaning, sadly, agents tend to come and go. Case in point, you might’ve heard that 87% of agents fail within the first 5 years of entering the real estate industry and it shouldn’t be a surprise that the bulk of sales are fulfilled by a relatively small subsection of agents—call it 80/20.

Numbers aside, whether you’re a rookie or old hand, 𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.

Ads, social media, video/content, signage, mailers, you name it -- position yourself as the AGENT-OF-CHOICE.

Because, candidly, if you’re not the 𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩-𝙤𝙛-𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚, you’re an 𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩-𝙤𝙛-𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚—and you’ve seen the stats ⤴️

Top 5 Reasons Businesses Stop Marketing

Why businesses stop marketing:

1. Overthinking/perfectionism

2. Inadequate planning/scheduling

3. Don’t know what to do (or how to do it)

4. Unclear goals/ expectations

5. No support (doing it all alone)

The Market belongs to those who Market!

Marketing is to a business as engines to a jet 🛩

Kill the engines and the plane descends. Stop the marketing and the business falls — hard-and-fast.

Every act of marketing — e.g. content across social, blogs, ads, mailers, events, et al. — propels your business onwards and upwards. #neverstopmarketing

No matter what’s happening in the marketplace, market as if your your business depends on it.

Using TubeBuddy’s Keyword Explorer to Search-Optimize Your YouTube Video Titles

YouTube has a major advantage over other social platforms:  SEARCH. And that’s no surprise seeing as how it’s owned by the top-dog of all-things search, Google.

What’s more, Google and YouTube are the most popular websites on the entire planet 🌎—meaning, there’s an abundance of opportunity for viewers to discover your videos.

But the thing is, there’s a LOT of content (i.e., competition) on YouTube—so ranking on certain keywords or search phrases isn’t without difficulty. That’s why tools like TubeBuddy are so important.

If you go to review your YouTube channel’s analytics, I’ll betcha YouTube Search is a big slice of your “viewership pie.” To find out:

• Go to Studio.YouTube.com

• Tap “Analytics” on the lefthand sidebar

• Select “Reach” listed along the top menu.

Once that section loads, scroll down and review the box titled, “Traffic Source Types.” Chances are, YouTube Search is high on the list—and if it isn’t—well, then, opportunity awaits!

Mechanics of YouTube SEO

From an SEO standpoint, YouTube lists results (i.e., videos) by order of relevance to the user’s search phrase. That means, just like Google, it’s all about keywords—specifically, the keyword(s) in your video’s title. Video tags and descriptions help too, but the primary variable is a video’s title.

So, in terms of getting your video to rank, it’s mission critical to search-optimize your video titles. To do so, you’ll need a tool like TubeBuddy, which, to utilize all the bells-and-whistles, will require a paid membership.

TubeBuddy is a browser extension/plugin that integrates directly within YouTube’s website. It works on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

(Looking for more content on building your YouTube Channel, click here.)

To identify your keywords, which, what I mean is, to select the most advantageous phrasing of your video’s title, you’ll use TubeBuddy’s “Keyword Explorer” tool.

For example, enter a keyword (that is, a short phrase) like “Chicago real estate”—which scores a lousy 37 out of 100 in terms of its optimization. If that was your video’s title, it’d most likely end up buried on like page 90 of the search results. In other words, nobody would ever see it!

And it’d be because, with that particular keyword, for instance, though there’s quite a bit of search volume, there are simply too many other videos using the same keyword.

Notwithstanding, if you tap either “YouTube” or “Video Topics” in the “Related Searches” box, you’ll find alternative phrasing choices. For instance, tap the “real estate in Chicago” topic, which is a variation of our keyword, and, just like that, your optimization score shoots up to 66.

Over time, as you upload one optimized video after another, you’ll grow your YouTube channel’s authority, putting you on the path of YouTube Search domination.

Download My FREE GUIDE for 15 Search-Ready Real Estate Videos.

Building a YouTube Channel (for Real Estate)

Building a YouTube Channel (for Real Estate 🏡) - w/ @KenPozek 🎯

I’ve said it before: YouTube’s is more of a search engine than a social network. In today’s conversation, I talked w/ #YouTube all-star, @KenPozek on the ins-and-outs of growing a thriving Channel that (actually) generates business!

Today, we talked through:

1. Techniques to gain subscribers
2. When to run YT ads (and when not to)
3. Optimal video duration
4. YouTube Live-streaming
5. YouTube’s algorithm: clickthrough rate + watch time

Whether you’re contemplating a YouTube Channel, already doing it, or need to change-up your strategy, don’t miss this conversation!

Three Easy Video Ideas Using Your Phone (for Real Estate Agents)

3 VIDEO SHOWS you can easily filmed on your iPhone📱(or Android, I guess 🤣)

At the risk of sounding redundant (for those who follow me)—you need, at minimum, a (once-a-week) VIDEO show!

However, that statement provokes some challenging questions:

❓Should I hire (or contract) a videographer?
🎥 Do I need to buy a bunch of equipment?
🤨Am I supposed to edit my own footage?

Certainly, you could do all the above. However, IMO, if any of those steps gives rise to a steep learning curve—then by all means—remove the barriers to beginning. In other words, JUST GET STARTED! For instance:

1. Phoenix, AZ agent/team-lead, @freddelgadorealestategroup, produces an easy-to-shoot series called, “Fred Talks.” He simply records a pro-tip or a quick market insight w/ his phone, sends the recording to his video editor (a.k.a. Fiverr), who adds in background music, a bit of on-screen text, and does some lite editing, and, voilà, it’s ready to post.

2. Katie Day (@movemetotx) utilizes the “QUESTIONS” Sticker in her Stories to elicit—you guessed it—questions from her followers on various real estate-related topics. She calls it: “30-for-30” – that is, she posts one vid a day for 30 days consecutively. Katie simply uses IG’s Story Editor to video-reply to each question. Only, rather than sharing that reply to her Stories, she downloads it to her device and then posts it as an Instagram Reel. Bravo, Katie—that’s clever!

3. Finally, try filming, “What ___ get’s you in ____,” styled videos like @pixelproperties founder, @rayzorback. These types of vids perform best as Reels because—instead of trying to record one perfect take the whole way through (or something like that)—with Reels, you can film multiple clips. So, for instance, shoot an intro clip, then a handful of home-tour scenes, and finally, stitch ‘em all together using the Reels editor. Go the extra mile by overlaying some text and/or Stickers.

No more excuses! Time for you to go make some videos!

(P.S. If this video resonates w/ you, please DM it to a friend or peer.)

Everything that can be Video, WILL BE VIDEO

I’ve said it before: Everything that can be video, will be video.

✴️ By 2022, 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘𝚜 will make up more than 𝟴𝟮% of all consumer internet traffic, which is 𝟭𝟱𝙭 higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)
✴️ 𝚅𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚜 were the top means by which consumers discovered a brand from whom they later purchased. (Animoto)
✴️ 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s 𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘. (Wyzowl)

What I’m getting at is that now’s the time to double-down on your (𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁) AGENT BRAND!

How has video-marketing made a difference in your business? Tell me (or tag someone who’s POV you’d like to hear) in a comment 💬

LIKES-TO-LEADS: How to use social media to organically generate real estate leads

Go from LIKES-2️⃣-LEADS. When it comes to social media marketing for real estate professionals, there are FOUR primary audience segments to hone in on and activate.

1. Past Clients + Sphere-of - Influence (PC/SOI)

   • Chances are, the bulk of your sales are the result repeat/referral business, from your past clients and sphere-of-influence contacts. Whether you're publishing original content or engaging with their posts, don’t loose sight of the role your social media activities play in cultivating your PC/SOI.

2. Leads & Prospects Database

   • As you procure new buyer/seller leads (e.g. pay-per-click, third-party portals, open houses, etc.), make a concerted effort to invite those individuals to connect with you on social. After all, social media (should) represent a major component of your ongoing lead nurturing efforts.

3. Organic Discovery

   • If you're sharing quality content, it'll attract an audience. They'll find you in the Explore Feed, through hashtags, or via location-tags. Users will share your posts via Stories/DMs and they'll tag others in your comment threads. You'll gain followers, some of whom will opt to buy, sell, or invest. Make content!

4. Agent-to-Agent Network

   • Even if you're creating hyperlocal, consumer-centric content (which you should), odds are, a significant chunk of your followers will consist of other agents. GOOD!—ever heard of agent-to-agent referrals? My advice: follow and engage w/ other agents on social. It'll pay dividends.

Success on social boils down to 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 and 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Produce and share value-packed posts, videos, and stories and proactively engage your network. If and when you do that, each of the segments above WILL produce leads and inquiries—and it’ll go down in your DMs.

For example:

“Hi____. thanks for all your great content! We’re planning on selling to move out of the area and wanted to start a conversation to get things rolling. Can you help?”

Your reply: YUP! 😜 -- because you’re the agent-of-choice!

Repurpose Your Instagram Posts as Blogs to Build Your SEO

➡️ REPURPOSE YOUR INSTAGRAM POSTS AS BLOGS!

But hold up -- doesn’t Google penalize your site’s SEO for duplicate content? Short answer: 𝗡𝗢𝗣𝗘.

Granted, what Google does say is that if you syndicate your content across other sites (like LinkedIn Articles, for instance), it’ll rank the version it thinks is most appropriate in given search—which may or may not be the site/version you want to rank. Nonetheless, as far as your SEO is concerned, it’s no harm; no foul.

Here’s the thing though… when was the last time you saw an individual Instagram post rank in a Google Search? You didn’t! (That’s my point :D)

Sure, Instagram profiles rank all the time—but not posts. Now obviously, if any social account is set to private, then its content isn’t indexed by Google. But with Instagram, it doesn’t technically matter whether an account is set to private or public—it still doesn’t index (more or less). And the reason is because Instagram essentially shrouds its content in JavaScript, and, as a result, Google doesn’t crawl it properly.

However, other social platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube will index individual posts/videos in Google search results. (Well, mostly—it’s kind of hit or miss.)

Nevertheless—given all the effort that goes into making content for social—why not get more out of it by publishing blogs with each and every post⁉️Embed the videos, attach the images, copy/paste the caption text, and build your SEO.