Avoiding Pitfalls
Avoiding social media missteps and pitfalls
There’s so many things you can do when it comes to social media: you can upload videos and images, you can look up user metrics, you can connect with potential clients, you can thank and congratulate your users and so much more. But there’s also a list of things you shouldn’t do.
Not having a strategy
One of the biggest social media missteps is operating your accounts blindly. Social media sites are flooded with clutter and meaningless information. You need a strategic social media strategy to cut through all the useless information. A good social media strategy will help ensure that your message is heard. A strong social media strategy should include the following:
- Clear social media strategy
- Consistent voice
- Planned content calendar
- Measurable goals
- Defined end goals
A reliable social media strategy will help guide you in your social media efforts and ensure your efforts are on track to meet your goals.
Not integrating links
Social media works best when paired with other digital marketing tools. Social media accounts are NOT designed to be isolated efforts. You should always link your professional social media accounts to your business website and paid search engines. Not linking your accounts makes it harder for potential clients to find you. Linking your website to your accounts will help you drastically increase your social media reach.
Not using images
Social media is very image driven. Studies show that “tweets” on Twitter with images are FOUR times as more likely to be re-tweeted as those without images. Social media users are looking for streamlined information they can quickly digested. Images are a great way to relate information without inundating users with large text blocks.
From a real estate perspective, images are even more important as potential homebuyers are more likely to use agents who included pictures and videos of their listings versus those who don’t.
Using images is not only a smart idea from a social media standpoint, it’s a very smart idea from a real estate standpoint as well.
Not interacting with your users
Social media accounts are designed to be individual hubs of communication. Users can freely communicate with individuals and businesses that they couldn’t as easily access before. If you’re not responding to questions or engaging users, you’re not pushing your social media accounts to their full capacity.
Treating all social media channels the same
All social media platforms have their own unique characteristics. Every social media site has its own strengths and weaknesses. And each site caters to its own unique audience. For instance, Twitter has a majority younger audience focused more on the discussion of topics while Facebook has a reported older audience aimed at building relationships. It’s important to know the various nuances of each platform to understand how to effectively communicate on each site.
Social media is a diverse and effective communication tools. You can drastically increase the success of your real estate brand by successfully operating a social media account. However, it takes more to succeed in social media than just opening account. For more social media tips and hints, be sure to check out our Social Media Essentials Ebook.