With countless possible routes, establishing a solid client base as a new real estate professional is tricky. It’s rare to find a realtor who has worked their entire career without an online presence. If you’ve hit a rut in your business or are ready to reach a new level, dedicate time to grow your audience.
Find It Fast
What is an audience?
When professionals reference their audience, the appearance of this potential clientele will significantly depend on your priorities, ideal clients, and marketing styles. Many people define their audience as those who follow them on social media. Others have audiences who tune in to their podcasts or email newsletters. Still, others keep it entirely local and define their audience as friends and connections at in-person events and clubs. Regardless of where your audience lives or how you prefer to engage with them, consistency and providing value are vital to growing your following and keeping them engaged. Consider integrating these strategies and approaches into your business activities to grow your audience.
Develop a social media strategy
Developing a social media strategy is one of the most common methods to grow your audience and level up in your luxury real estate marketing because it appears effortless. You can create an account or business page on major social sites within a few hours and post instantly and for free. However, diving into social media head-first without a plan or strategy often creates an unhelpful timesuck on your business instead of turning social media into a lucrative tool. Get clear on your social media strategy to avoid dedicating needless hours to aimless posting.
Whether you’ve already created your business pages and are looking to refresh your online presence or just starting to form your online persona, take the time to sit down and determine your posts’ cadence and general themes. Consider the types of posts that perform well on each platform. For example, your personal updates and nice photos will do best on Instagram, while your market updates will likely perform well on LinkedIn. If you have room in your budget, consider running ads to gain visibility and new followers on your primary platform.
Create a rough outline to keep you accountable for how often you will post and help you organize valuable content for your audience’s feeds. Whether you post each day or every other week, showing up consistently and sharing pertinent information with your audience will help keep them engaged.
Start an email list
Social media provides an excellent space for connection and allows you to grow your audience and stay visible over time. However, social media is unpredictable. Influencers have their accounts shut down all the time, and the terms and conditions of ad accounts can change at any time. Social media is a powerful yet unreliable tool with shifting algorithms and finicky platforms.
On the other hand, growing an email list means growing an audience and owning a reliable asset. While your Instagram might get shut down, your email list isn’t going anywhere.
Use your email list carefully and strategically. The frequency of your Facebook or LinkedIn posts likely won’t be the appropriate frequency for emailing your list, barring any big launches or promotions. Many realtors see great success by emailing their list once or twice each month with content such as local housing market updates, quick polls, and event reminders.
Refresh your web presence
Many realtors start out piecing their marketing together as they learn and grow. But a do-it-yourself WordPress site likely won’t be sufficient for a successful real estate journey.
As you build your business and grow your audience, be sure your personal website and any property websites you have are all up to par with the best luxury real estate website design. In many cases, your website will act as the first point of contact between you and a potential client. First impressions go a long way, so it’s worth investing in a high-quality website with smooth integrations for your listings.
Look local
Look into local events and clubs, and make your presence known by attending community events. You can grow your audience by meeting others face-to-face and getting involved with shared interests and causes that feel important to you. Carry a business card or be ready to take out your phone, as you want to retain new contacts.
Grow your network
When you come across others doing a great job at the service they provide — whether that be plumbing, lending, roofing, etc. — consider adding them to your referral network. Develop a process for referring clients when the opportunity arises.
In addition to being an excellent source for referrals, your network also helps you reach a fresh set of eyes to grow your audience, whether you engage through mailed letters, emails, or social media. Sync up with new members of your network to find out if you can find space to promote one another to your existing audiences and mutually benefit from the new set of contacts.
Become a featured guest
While dedicating time to your online presence is a reliable and low-cost way to grow your audience and nurture them throughout the life of your business, showcasing your expertise on a new platform folds in a whole new layer of viewership. Once you’ve set up your website, social profiles, and email list, spend some time reaching out to magazines and podcasts about potential features. Sites like Podmatch can help you connect with podcast hosts searching for experts to shed light on specific topics. Your market knowledge and anecdotes from your profession can make great stories in online or print magazines.
Regardless of the size or fame of a podcast or magazine, showcasing your name and expertise on one of these platforms gets your name in front of new people you might never have connected with before. Be sure to include links to your website and social media platforms wherever possible so your new connections can stay engaged with your work and insights.
Focus on your niche
Establishing a niche gets you in front of the right people to grow your audience and business intentionally and allows you to create and implement your engagement strategies easily. Choosing a niche is intimidating because it can feel like you’re eliminating a portion of your potential audience by not reaching out to them. For example, a realtor might hesitate to frame their marketing efforts around military families out of fear of pushing away potential business from non-military families. However, when you establish yourself as the go-to expert in your ideal niche, you set yourself up to gain the clients you’ve always dreamt of having.
Casting a wide net has benefits, but as you gain expertise and become more familiar with the business you’d ideally love to run, your marketing should reflect your ideal clientele and answer their questions first and foremost. When you narrow in on your ideal audience, choosing magazines to pitch, podcasts to follow, and content to post becomes much smoother and more streamlined. Your content will pack a stronger punch when you know who you’re addressing.
Cross-promote
Regardless of which combination of platforms and strategies you decide to pursue, don’t let them operate in a vacuum. When you’re invited to a podcast, mention your website. Promote the podcast on your social channels to spread the word about your feature and further establish yourself as a leading real estate expert in your area.
Every once in a while, post a link on your social channels prompting your followers to sign up for your email list. Add social media icons to your email signature to link to your social media channels. All your efforts can and should work together, so your energy is well-spent.
There’s no right way to grow your audience as a real estate agent. Your strategy should reflect your priorities, your personality, and your audience’s behaviors. Your real estate business audience will grow as long as you connect consistently with others in a way that feels authentic and helpful.
