Reach new leads and market properties on a huge scale with a strong TikTok strategy
We’ve already discussed how Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook can be leveraged to build your social media presence. But what about TikTok? If you have children, work with young people, or keep up with social media trends, chances are you’ve heard of TikTok. When most people think of TikTok, they think of choreographed dances, lots of lip-syncing, and the occasional personal story. However, what many real estate professionals overlook is the fact that TikTok can work in your favor as a powerful marketing tool. Here’s how.
Why Use TikTok for Real Estate Marketing?
While TikTok may have begun as an app targeted toward younger users, its recent explosion in popularity makes it a can’t-miss for social media marketing. By the end of 2021, TikTok saw 1.2 billion active users, and that number is expected to hit 1.5 billion this year. This volume paired with the nature of the app’s For You page makes it a lucrative element in any real estate marketing strategy.
Lead Generation
Producing content for Facebook and Instagram is great, but unless you’re paying for ads, your content will mostly only be seen by people who already follow you. Newsfeeds and streams on Facebook and Instagram are focused around people you already know — your existing audience. That’s what makes these platforms perfect for building trust and authority with existing leads, and paid campaigns can work wonders for growing your audience.
On the other hand, TikTok is much less focused on people you already know. The user experience on TikTok centers around the For You page, where the app compiles videos you’re likely to enjoy based on your past activity. Because of this structure, you’re more likely to reach brand new viewers and build your audience, even without spending your marketing budget on advertising. Plus, TikTok videos leave plenty of room for authenticity and personality, making them an ideal outlet for helping new contacts feel connected to you.
Property Marketing
Part of being a successful seller’s agent lies in ensuring that the properties you list are getting in front of as many sets of eyes as possible. From magazines and print ads to social media and property websites, it’s crucial to leverage as many outlets as possible in order to generate interest, offers, and ultimately, a great sale for your client. TikTok’s focus on video and on showing your content to people who might not have heard of you before make it a great platform for generating extra buzz around your listings.
In fact, real estate professionals from NYC to Dallas have seen stunning success using the app. Posting video tours of listings on TikTok has helped some agents garner inquiries by the hundreds for some properties, and in the last few years, an increasing fraction of buyers is willing to make an offer on a home sight-unseen. These elements make social media an even more powerful tool than before, and TikTok is gaining the lead when it comes to showing off your listings to a broad audience.
How to Leverage TikTok to Generate Real Estate Leads
Determine your target audience
As with all of your luxury real estate marketing efforts, your first step to starting your TikTok marketing strategy should be to narrow down your target audience and your niche. While some real estate agents gain visibility by sharing advice about real estate investing and other profitable side hustles, like Tat Londono, others keep their focus on educational videos about real estate processes and common mistakes, like Steevie Soucie.
Your target audience will depend on your location, your ideal client, and your career goals. Many agents on TikTok sprinkle in helpful videos on how to become a real estate agent, which is a great tactic for those who are interested in coaching or expanding their team one day.
Let your personality shine through
One of the various advantages of using video content on any social platform is that video makes it easy to quickly show potential leads who you are! Your charisma and personality can shine through easily when you’re in front of the camera.
While some TikTok videos show objects or properties without any people in them, videos with faces often outperform those without. Especially when you’re sharing educational videos or a helpful tidbit, people want to connect and feel they know the person they’re taking advice from! Plus, when people find your personality compelling, that’s when the magic happens and you gain a new follower — a potential lead!
Real estate professionals on TikTok like Tat Londono serve as great examples of finding success through personality. Her high-energy explanations, unique sign-off, and signature style make it easy to recognize her anytime she shows up on the For You page. She’s collected over 34 million likes on her videos so far, with 2.4 million followers! For many real estate professionals, TikTok has become a healthy source of leads.
Use trends to your advantage
An important aspect of finding success on TikTok is staying on top of trends. The phrase “TikTok trends” might call to mind complex dance choreography or silly pranks, but not to worry — you don’t have to dance to be successful on TikTok (but you certainly can if you’d like!).
Often, trends on TikTok come down to the audio used. Set aside a few minutes each day or each week to scroll through your For You page and save any sounds you hear come up repeatedly. This could be a sound bite you’ll lip sync to and add text over later on, or a song you’ll layer a video on top of to showcase a property. Jumping on trends helps get your videos in front of more sets of eyes. For example, when the song “Hard Knock Life” was trending, the @heider_realestate account cleverly layered the sound over a listing video and added a caption that tied the audio and video together. The video has already seen 1.7 million views!
Utilize cover images
For a polished and professional look that draws people into watching more videos once they land on your page, pair cover images with each of your videos. Many successful cover images include text, showing viewers what the video will be about. Once someone has landed on your profile, you want them to click around, watch more of your content, and ideally follow you!
Grab attention fast
Attention spans are short, and on social media, users expect to be entertained or invested almost instantly when they come to a new piece of content. In order to grab attention quickly and keep viewers’ attention throughout your video, start with a hook!
A hook might be a question, such as “What do I do if I’m under contract for a home and my inspector finds a huge issue?” In this case, your video would go on to explain a few key considerations and steps a client might need to think through in this situation.
In the first few seconds of your video, aim to capture the curiosity of your audience. For example, Realtor Callan is a Florida agent who mixes entertaining real estate videos with personality-packed, family-related videos. Her 100.4K followers get a true glimpse into her life when she shares content like her “Adventures in Real Estate” series, where she films the most outrageous things that come to pass at her showings, like being chased by a chicken! She also uses quick intros to grab attention in videos through opening lines like “Guess that price” or “Here’s what you can buy in Navarre, FL for $260K.” These videos allow her to showcase her listings and her local area in a way that’s engaging for her audience.
Incorporate text and captions
Much of the time, smartphone users scroll through video content without even turning on the sound. Using captions helps keep your content engaging even for those without their sound on, and also makes your content accessible for those with impaired hearing.
Text can also help you layer meaning on top of song trends or sound bite audio clips that you lip sync to. Find a way to relate real estate to trending sounds, and use text on top of the video to show your audience how the trend relates.
Create a series
When it comes to accumulating followers, TikTok can be tricky. With a never-ending stream of entertaining videos especially curated for them, it’s difficult to pull users away from the For You page and onto your profile. One way to motivate viewers to check out your profile and more of your videos, and ideally follow you, is to create a series. A series might break up a simple process with a post for each step, or it might tell a story that could be helpful for your audience. For example, Ontario agent Steevie Sourcie created a series breaking down three top mistakes to avoid as a homeowner. 2.4 million people follow her account!
Your Next Steps
1. Set up your account
Once you’ve considered your target audience and the type of content you’d like to share on TikTok, it’s time to set up your account! Even if you’re a bit unsure of exactly what you’ll share over time, getting started is the best first step. It may take some initial experimentation to see what lands with your audience and what types of videos you can dedicate more time to in the future — that’s okay.
2. Batch create your content
Making time to film yourself lip-syncing to the latest songs and audio clips is no easy task. Instead of trying to make time for it every day, sit down once every week or every couple of weeks and film a batch of videos using the latest trending audio. This way, you can post regularly and keep showing up on your audience’s For You page, without becoming too bogged down in your daily schedule.
3. Share
As soon as you’ve created your first batch of content, start sharing! Determine a cadence for yourself from the start. As you work to gain momentum and followers, it can be helpful to post as often as once each day, but the most important aspect when determining your rhythm is your ongoing capacity. Showing up consistently and with high-quality content is more important than showing up every day, so scale back to three or four posts per week if that feels more realistic with your schedule.
4. Cross-promote
TikTok has become a wildly popular platform, but it’s not the only place you can share the videos you create! You can repurpose your TikTok videos as Reels for Instagram and share them on your other profiles as appropriate. It’s also a good idea to post about your TikToks across your other platforms so that your existing social media followers can join your TikTok audience as well!
Though it might take some time to get used to hunting down the trends and lip-syncing in your videos, TikTok can serve as a powerful tool for reaching new eyes. Dive in, learn as you go, and have fun along the way!
Work With Us
Want help getting started on TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter? At Luxury Presence, we specialize in social media management for Realtors with proven results. As one of the fastest-growing digital platforms for real estate professionals, we can help build your brand, close more deals, and expand your network. Get in touch with us today!