A Guide to Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Agents

If you’ve been in the industry long enough, you probably entered the real estate scene before social media and real estate mixed. We feel for you, having to navigate an ever-evolving digital landscape while managing the demanding role of a realtor.

You might have tried some social media posting without seeing much success. Or worse, you’ve found it exhausting and disheartening due to insecurities and negative opinions.

It might be tempting to punt social media. Do realtors really need to have a presence on social media on top of everything else the job demands?

Get ready for the truth. Yes, they do. In today’s landscape, realtors must be active on social media.

Why Social Media Matters:

80% of Americans use social media. Those who don’t probably look over the shoulder of someone who does. Americans are on their phones for 7 hours a day. There’s no greater opportunity to grow your real estate business than on a platform that commands so much of your clients’ (and future clients’) attention.

And increasingly, those clients expect their real estate agents to use social media well and effectively.

Social Media Is a Powerful Relationship-Building Tool.

For agents, social media is essential for:

• Building rapport and confidence in your industry expertise 
• Networking and lead generation
• Being referred to your clients’ networks
• Celebrating client successes while establishing your own
• Engaging people in your listings, far more dynamically than in the past 
• Sharing news like open houses and trainings you’ve completed
• Helping people, offering home buying and selling tips
• Maintaining relationships with past clients for future transactions

What inspires people to take action? A trustworthy relationship.

Opportunities to grow your business organically through social media are immense. Don’t worry if you’re not active yet; it’s not too late to join the conversation. Social media isn’t new (Facebook turned 20 this year), but we’re still in the early stages of realtors using it effectively, so it’s a great time to gain a competitive edge.

Where To Start With Real Estate Social Media Management

Knowing real estate social media matters doesn’t mean it’s easy. Here’s what realtors have told us are their biggest headaches when it comes to managing their social media accounts.

1. Knowing what to post
2. Writing engaging captions
3. Understanding hashtags
4. Finding graphics
5. Finding time

Centric Squared is a digital marketing firm that partners with growing businesses to help them build relationships with their greatest asset  – their customers. We love removing the headaches from the process. 

Here’s a deep-dive on using social media effectively to grow your real estate business. My goal is to remove your uncertainty of what to prioritize, give you a wealth of content ideas and remove the headaches listed above.

Knowing What to Post

Eliminate the guesswork of what to post on your real estate social media account by creating content themes around the day of the week, each day focusing on one of your goals.

Using the priorities and goals stated above (but you certainly will have your own as well) consider an outline like this:

Monday: Build Rapport, Network & Generate Leads

Post ideas: Share an industry expertise/tip, Speak about a concern (e.g. rising interest rates), Answer a frequent client question, Show a house-selling tip that people might not know

Tuesday: Celebrate Successes

Post ideas: Just sold, Just listed, Congratulations to my clients, Personal win

Wednesday: House Listing 

Post ideas:  Share listing photos as a carousel, Video tour, Spotlight a unique feature (“You have to see this deck”), Open house

Thursday: Live Local

Post ideas: Share local news, Tip on a local spot, Post showing your love for where you live, Neighborhood spotlight

Friday: Get To Know Me

Post ideas: Friday introduction, Behind the scenes, Home life, Why I love realty

Saturday: House Listing Repeated

Post Ideas: Repurpose the posts from earlier in the week (you cannot share house photos too much!)

Finding Time

Your job is demanding. Don’t expect yourself to find time every day to post.  Dedicate one day a month or week to work on posts and schedule them out. It’s a great way to be efficient and to reduce the burden of trying to be creative in between interruptions, which is difficult.  

You can schedule content right from within the Meta Business Suite or we like to use a social scheduler with more capacity. You can read about our agency’s favorite social media scheduler here.

Writing Captions

Now that you have content ideas, how do you write engaging captions?

Be real. Be brief. Don’t overthink it. When stumped, seek writing ideas from AI from ChatGPT or I personally prefer Claude. They’re a great start for getting over writer’s block and giving you some inspiration for writing your own posts.

While AI is a great place to start writing, specific language always performs better than generic on social media, and what you get from AI is often full of errors, excessively long, laden with emojis, and not very authentic. You can write about specifics of your house listing that AI will never be able to produce because you know it best. 

Here’s an example of what I mean by using AI for inspiration, not a final draft.

Sample AI prompt: Help me write an Instagram caption celebrating my clients’ house sale. I’m a realtor.

Sample ChatGPT suggestion:

“🎉 Another home SOLD! 🏡✨ Celebrating another successful journey with incredible clients. It’s been an honor helping them find their dream home. Here’s to new beginnings and endless memories in their beautiful new space! 🥂🔑 #SOLD #DreamHome #HappyClients #NewBeginnings”

What I’d do instead:

Using Hashtags

Every good caption should end with hashtags. Don’t be afraid of them. Hashtags are simply a way to tag your content to related topics to help people discover you. It’s an easy way to expand your reach beyond the people who follow your account.

Here are some quick tips for selecting hashtags:

• Use local hashtags (easy to find from following your Chamber or other successful local accounts).
• Use hashtags relevant to the content. (For example, If your content is a customer review: #happycustomerreviews #happycustomerfeedback)
• Develop a unique branded hashtag for your business. Use it on every post and watch your clients begin using it as well. (e.g., #ReMaxEastside).
• Research hashtags from successful real estate agents. Use popular and industry-based hashtags to reach a broader audience (#realestate, #houselisting, #housingmarket).
• Mix up what hashtags you use with each post. In general, 5-10 relevant hashtags is a good amount to feature.

Creating Graphics

You do not need to be a graphic designer to grow your business through beautiful graphics, though it certainly boosts your brand when you have the resources in place.

Increasingly websites like Canva.com are putting templates at your fingertips.

3 Graphic Design Tips for Beginners

1. Keep your designs simple to avoid confusing your audience with unnecessary graphics or wild fonts.

2. Understand contrast and hierarchy. You don’t want your message hiding due to poor color choices. Use hierarchy to assure the viewer sees what’s most important.

3. Put yourself in the viewer’s point of view. If you’re unsure/confused about your post then your audience will be, too.

If you’re just starting out and not ready to explore graphic templates, start with photos instead. Real estate relies on good imagery so focus on getting high quality photos of properties. 

Take advantage of the carousel posting feature. It allows you to post multiple images of a property within one post. However, don’t be afraid to have multiple posts of the same property but with different leading images.

Using Video

Video is king on social media – a powerhouse tool for growth since it’s exponentially more likely to get a viral viewing than a static graphic. It’s a great way to obtain new followers and grow your influence beyond your current following. 

Here are a few easy video ideas that don’t require professional filming or expertise:

• Record yourself in your car, as a talking head, sharing a quick tip. The car has ideal lighting, and there’s no need to stress the backdrop.
• Start with videos of your listings. There are services that will help create video and virtual tours for you, but the Instagram video trend of scrolling high-end photos with emotive music is a very simple way to start. Or try filming a quick walk-through of a room.
• Use templates provided by the social platform for inspiration. For example, when you’re in Instagram and you select “New Reel,” Instagram suggests templates for you, greatly reducing the need to be inventive.
• Pay attention to trending reels and apply them to yourself. Weekly e-newsletter from HeyOrca! are a great place to learn the trends of the week on TikTok and Instagram.

Keep doing it until it’s natural. No one likes seeing themselves on camera at first. Cringe your way through the early days of creating video knowing you’ll eventually get used to seeing yourself on camera.

Need inspo? This realtor rocks at social media video.

Let’s Talk About Results

After you’ve posted content for a few months, carefully study your results (available through the app itself or through a more robust social media scheduler, if you choose to use one). Take a look at the type of content that’s performing and the content that’s not. Pivot your content around what your audience is interacting with the most and what has the greatest reach. Don’t be afraid to break up with content that’s not performing, even if you see other realtors doubling down on the same content.

For example, We nixed home buying and selling tips from a clients’ real estate social account when we started to see that they consistently did not perform. So we shifted the content to something the audience desired. Don’t be afraid to do the same.

Social Media Performance Metrics – Know Your Terms

Engagement: How often users interacted with your post through likes, comments, mentions and shares

Impressions: The number of times your content has been displayed on a user’s screen or feed

Reach: The total number of unique users who have seen your content

Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase, viewing your profile, clicking on your link in bio.

Don’t Forget to Engage

Your account will grow best not just through posting great content but taking the time to be social yourself and engage with other content. But that doesn’t need to be difficult. 

Spend 10 minutes each morning, while scrolling your feed, to follow other accounts, interact with former clients’ posts, respond to comments, and check your direct messages.

You Don’t Have To Be On Every Social Media Platform

Which social media site(s) should you use? The one where your customers are. That can vary by region, age, socioeconomics, all sorts of factors, but it’s not hard to determine which platform your target audience uses most. You can discover that by researching the sites to see where locals are active, asking your clients, or by posting to a few and seeing which brings greater results.

You don’t have to be present on every social media site to be effective.

LinkedIn is effective for reaching other professionals and especially ideal for agents in commercial real estate. 

Instagram and TikTok are gold for beautiful home visuals and the easiest place to grow organically. They appeal to a younger audience.

While you might see the absence of younger audiences, Facebook and YouTube have the largest percentage of social media users and are particularly effective if your target client is middle aged.

Still Not Convinced?

Outsourcing your social media management to someone who can do the heavy lifting for you is a huge help and can pay for itself in new business. 

Centric Squared works with real estate brokerages and real estate clients to manage content strategy, posting, engagement and growth so that realtors can focus on their clients. We’d love to help you, too. Let’s chat.

FAQs

How often should realtors post on social media?

• Consistency is key. Aim for at least twice a week when getting started, but more frequently will be beneficial.

Which social media platform is best for real estate agents?

• It depends on your target audience. Instagram and TikTok are great for visual content, LinkedIn for professional networking, and Facebook and YouTube for broader reach.

What type of content performs best on social media for real estate?

• House listings, client testimonials, local news, and personal stories generally perform well.

How can I engage with my audience on social media?

• Respond to comments, like and share their posts, use interactive content like polls, and consistently post engaging content.

Is it necessary to use hashtags on every post?

• Yes, hashtags help increase your reach by tagging your content to relevant topics. Use a mix of local, content-specific, and branded hashtags.

How many hashtags should I use on a social post?

• The recommendations on this one evolve, but in general, 5-10 relevant hashtags is a good amount to feature.

Should I use a social media scheduler?

• Yes, scheduling tools help manage your posts efficiently, ensuring consistent posting without daily effort. We’ve researched most of them and here’s our favorite.

About The Author

As our senior content strategist, Emily Thompson helps our clients answer the question, “What needs to be said and how do you say it?” She loves helping growing businesses tell their story and put their best foot forward. Her experience is that most people and businesses are so good at what they do that they often don’t even know that it’s a unique value the world lacks and needs. She helps businesses turn those unique values into better results.

Connect with Emily on LinkedIn