6 digital marketing strategies for the real estate sector
Initially, businesses used to extensively depend on print media and hoardings to advertise and market their products. These ads were expensive and had less potential to reach a large audience base.
However, the advent of the digital era has completely changed the way businesses operate. Real estate businesses have started to make use of digital mediums to promote the house and property listings. On the other hand, home buyers are also extensively searching for properties online. Studies show that 92% of the home buyers have used the internet at some point during their home search.
Therefore, if you have a real estate business, it is imperative to have an online presence that can aid you to attract more customers. Here, we aim to educate small and medium-sized real estate companies and realtors on how to implement simple and effective digital marketing strategies which can be beneficial for the business.
1. Build a good website
It is necessary to create an official company website that includes relevant information on property listings and the basic company details. To create a good, mobile-friendly website, try to hire a professional web developer. Ensure that the designed website is mobile-friendly since most of the web browsing done by the customers is through mobile phones.
The next thing to keep in check is the website content. Bill Gates quotes “Content is King”. The content speaks for your brand and it is essential to convey straight, simple and clear messaging to the customers.
While creating the website content, try to make it Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly by inserting industry-specific keywords in the content. SEO tools such as Ahrefs can be used to source the relevant and important keywords related to your industry and the company. When the customer surfs the website for property listings, these keywords will help your website to rank on the first page of the web search results. Check this out for more information on how to formulate SEO strategies.
In addition to this, an interactive chat box feature can be added to your website. Customer support has to be prioritised since the real estate sector is highly people-centric. Live chat boxes help you to communicate with the customers instantly and understand their needs.
2. Post regularly on social media
Source: HubSpot
According to the HubSpot 2021 marketing report, when it comes to marketing, the companies initially prioritise social media.
As a real estate professional, it is essential to stay active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Most of the millennial homebuyers who are active on social media, look for properties on social media platforms. With your social media presence, you can effortlessly redirect them to your website that contains house listings. Try to post content on social media platforms for at least for six months and gain organic followers before investing money in social media ads.
A few ideas for posting content on social media:
- House/property listings
- Blog posts
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies
- Industry facts
- Information about your company and the team
Some of the benefits of social media for real estate professionals are:
- Improves brand visibility
- Helps in networking
- Boosts website traffic
- Lead generation
- Diversified marketing strategies
Keep in mind to post the content regularly on all the social media platforms. Increasing your follower base attracts new customers and boosts your sales ultimately. Ensure to change your social media strategy once every three months to find out what’s not working and post new content accordingly.
3. Generate leads through advertising
Your social media accounts are set up and let’s say you have been posting relevant content consistently. The next step would be to generate leads through paid marketing campaigns. Lead generation strategies are used by real estate professionals to attract potential customers and convert them into buyers. Specific marketing campaigns can be created and targeted towards the customers using different digital mediums. Social media and Google ads are some of the popular advertising platforms used to promote marketing campaigns and generate leads digitally.
Social media advertising:
LinkedIn ads can be used to understand your potential customer’s occupation, professional background and decide if they can afford an affluent property. You can also network with several industry professionals from a similar background which helps you to understand your competitors and the market deeply.
Instagram ads can be extensively used to promote visual content. You can create marketing campaigns exclusively for instagram featuring the aesthetics of the property through carousel posts and videos and target it towards the millennial home buyers.
Facebook ads are cost-effective and allow you to create multiple campaigns for past, present and potential customers which can be easily altered and managed. You can also promote your ads to multiple real estate and property groups on Facebook where home/property buyers are usually active.
Google advertising:
Since the real estate sector is highly competitive, it would be challenging to increase your website ranking just by implementing SEO strategies. Due to this, many small and local businesses turn to Google ads to generate more leads. With the help of a web developer and a designer, you can create separate landing pages and advertise them on the Google search engine by using a specific set of keywords. A fixed budget can be allocated to promote your ads based on the location and demographics of the customers.
4. Make use of Whatsapp for marketing
Source: Statista
According to Statista, the number of smartphone users are increasing each year, predominantly in India, China and the USA. The above graph shows the total number of smartphone users from the year 2016. In the year 2026, the number of smartphone users is projected to be 7.516 billion.
Following this trend, businesses have started to make use of Whatsapp to reach out to more customers. The foremost advantage of Whatsapp marketing is the ability to reach a larger audience base through simple content in the form of text messages, photos and videos.
As a real estate professional, your business can hugely benefit from Whatsapp.
Business number: Ensure to use a business number when you are sharing the property details with customers. This shows professionalism and helps you to communicate with your customers through text and call promptly. This business number can be added to your social media pages so that customers can easily reach out to you.
Whatsapp Broadcasting: With the help of the Whatsapp broadcasting feature, you can create separate groups for past and current customers. Important property-related information can be broadcasted to the groups where each group member will receive a separate message instantly without any hassle. Interested customers will inquire about the message and they might also bring their peers along with them.
Referral marketing: Since most of the real estate business is based on the goodwill of the company, WhatsApp can be used as a great tool for referral marketing. You don’t have to necessarily create an exclusive marketing strategy for Whatsapp. Ensure to share clear and concise information with your prospects. Once you build their trust, you will get a lot of referrals through follow up texts which will help your business grow.
5. Create valuable blog posts
According to HubSpot marketing statistics, nearly 77% of the companies have a content marketing strategy in place. Creating valuable blog posts not only provide valuable information to your customers but also level up your SEO game. A separate blog section makes your website look more professional and responsible. In the blog posts, you can discuss anything related to your company and the industry which can provide valuable insights to your customers.
The main agenda of creating blog posts is to provide your customers with actionable advice on buying or selling the house/property, create a good SEO strategy and maintain a positive online reputation.
In the blog posts, add relevant content that brings back your customer every time they need information related to your industry. Make use of visually enhancing images, graphs, charts and videos which makes the blog interactive. This also compels the customer to stay on the website for a longer period of time.
6. Come up with an Email strategy
Email campaigns help businesses to nurture new leads and stay connected with the older ones.
Videos, pictures, newsletters, blog posts etc related to the property and your company can be shared with the customers through email. Business owners can funnel out the positive leads by tracking the customer’s actions after the email has been shared.
A good email marketing tool such as Mailchimp can help you to derive valuable insights regarding your email campaign. Data such as the email open rate, click-through rate (CTR) and bounce rate can be tracked and the subsequent marketing campaign can be planned accordingly.
According to Smart Insights, in the real estate sector, the average open rate of emails is 14.58% with a click-through rate (CTR) of 8.56%. If your metrics are close to this then it means you are doing a great job! The relevant email content that brings out your company’s value can prompt customers to open your mail.
Final thoughts
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