6 time-saving automation tools for real estate marketing
Agents throughout the industry are seeing the benefit of automating some portions of their marketing.
Online marketing is an essential part of your real estate marketing strategy, but with monitoring, posting, replying, emailing, following up with leads, and more, digital marketing can also take up considerable time.
So to save time, get more done, and increase your reach, consider adding some of these powerful automation tools to your marketing toolbox.
Hootsuite for Twitter
Twitter is an engaging social media network, but real estate professionals may find it difficult to carve out time during the day to manually tweet photos, listings, announcements, etc.
Consider saving some time by automating your tweeting schedule with Hootsuite.
Instead of feeling the pressure to post every day throughout the day, plan and write your tweets in advance. Then, schedule your tweets to post at times when buyers and sellers are most likely to interact with them.
Hootsuite will automatically post your content and allow you to focus your time on engaging with your audience.
Buffer for Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter
Juggling posting schedules for your various social media accounts can be daunting, but with Buffer you can post the same content to each outlet from one place.
Buffer is a central place where you can easily schedule posts for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and now you can use it to schedule reminders for posting on Instagram.
Buffer is a little more user friendly than Hootsuite, and makes bulk scheduling much simpler. However, unlike Hootsuite, Buffer doesn’t offer the ability to reply, respond to comments, and automate postings.
TIP: Make sure to alter your content to fit the requirements of the channel. For example, Twitter only allows space for 140 characters, so you would need to alter your content to fit that space.
Lead generating sign riders
Uniting your digital marketing strategy with your offline efforts is a wise move.
As such, yard signs remain a go-to method for getting info to interested buyers just in time.
Some real estate storytelling platforms like Paradym offer an autoresponder feature that integrates with your sign riders. So when you create a story via Paradym, you can receive a custom number to put on your sign rider.
When a home buyer texts that number, he or she receives a text message that includes a link to your story. They get instant value. You capture a hot lead.
Auto-responder texts for everything
Autoresponders are a great way for potential buyers to interact with listing information.
We’ve all seen advertisements like this: “Text OPENHOUSE to 434343 to receive more info.” Once a potential buyer does this, they then receive an automated response with information about the upcoming open house.
Consider using autoresponders to get the word out about open houses, community events, neighborhood information, and more.
Get creative. Place unique numbers in individual ads, flyers, emails, etc., and you’ll not only provide instant value to your leads, but you’ll get great data on your most effective marketing tactics.
TIP: Get a 24 hour information line and text code autoresponders for all of your listings with Paradym.
Automated story creation and distribution
Creating and distributing listing stories is an important component of your online marketing plan. But you don’t have to create your stories manually.
Products like Paradym can sync with your MLS to automatically generate new stories as you post them to the MLS.
New stories can be automatically converted to branded videos or unbranded videos, automatically uploaded to your YouTube channel, and can even be sent back to your MLS as well.
In addition to automated story creation, Paradym automatically shares your latest stories on social media. This is one of the easiest ways to promote your listings on social media with very little effort.
Automate your email marketing
When was I supposed to send that email? Who’s it going to?
Instead of manually creating lists and sending out marketing emails, automate.
MailChimp provides inexpensive email marketing software that can help you create email sign-up forms for your website, segment your audience, and send automated email campaigns.
Then as your email list grows over time, you can use automation to more consistently follow up with your leads and clients.
TIP: Create an email campaign for previous buyers. Sending a steady stream of helpful emails over time can help you stay top-of-mind for their next home transition.
Work smarter, not harder
We’ve all heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder.” Free up some time for more important things through powerful, easy-to-use marketing automation tools.