7 Ways Real Estate Pros Get Leads from Digital Marketing

As a real estate professional, you understand that one of the first places your potential clients go when looking for a home is online. In fact, 94 percent of millennials and 84 percent of baby boomers went online to find their future homes. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re ready to engage them in the digital space in a way that translates to real-life business.

Establishing your online presence is simple enough. Setting up a website, sending emails to prospects and posting on social media are top ways to reach prospects online. The tricky part is figuring out how to utilize those tools in an effective way that establishes your brand, engages your customers and gets you leads.

Here are some ways to make sure when buyers go online to look for a home, they find you.

1. Make sure you have the best IDX website that drives traffic and helps you capture and cultivate leads. Now, we’re not talking about just any old website here. While it’s easy enough to set up your own website and go it alone, companies like Real Geeks can provide you with a custom IDX website that includes a branded IDX mobile app that will do all that and more so you can focus on selling properties.
2. Get social. Make sure you take advantage of Facebook real estate marketing tools, have a presence on Twitter, and Instagram. But more than that, be active on your social media accounts. Post regularly, share when you get positive reviews or press, promote your properties and interact with your followers. But be careful to comply with RESPA rules and regulations.
3. Make your listings shareable. Of course, you want to have simple, prominent social share buttons, but that’s not all. You can make your listings more shareable by ensuring they have responsive layouts and clear photography.
4. Take advantage of all of Facebook’s advertising tools. Facebook may have started out for socializing, but now it’s a key marketing tool for real estate agents to increase their buyer and seller leads. In addition to advertising, you should enable reviews and services, create and use Facebook Groups, upload a Facebook cover video and use Facebook Live at your properties to give prospective customers a behind-the-scenes look at your listing. You can also post 360-degree photos and videos that can help you more accurately communicate what space looks and feels like.
5. Set up keyword searches on Twitter. These will let you know when people in a specific zip code are looking to buy or sell a home.
6. Create an email newsletter and send e-mail blasts to your database. This is one of the best ways to leverage email marketing to contact new leads and stay in touch with former customers. They’re a great place to share content like upcoming open houses, market reports, or recent blogs you’ve posted.
7. Create an email and text drip campaign. This kind of campaign makes sure you’re customizing your communications based on where your prospect is in the sales cycle. If they’ve attended an open house with you, send them an email highlighting similar nearby homes on the market. If they’ve reached out to express interest in working with you, send them a blog post you’ve written that outlines things new homebuyers should know. If you give your customers content that is pertinent to their situation, they’re more likely to take the next step.

The internet has made it easier than ever for real estate agents to provide a useful service to their prospects. That’s why it’s so important to take advantage of these digital tools and create an integrated online presence, driving more qualified leads to your site.

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Shama Hyder is CEO of Zen Media, a leading marketing and new media consultancy, a best-selling author, and an internationally renowned keynote speaker.

As seen previously on Forbes.