The biggest factor most homeowners rely on when choosing a real estate agent is trust. And today, most of that trust is being built online. According to the US National Association of Realtors, 44% of house buyers look online first instead of using traditional channels like newspapers or asking friends. Luckily, we have 9 content marketing tips for real estate agents to help you take your expertise online and showcase it through content:
Know your competition and review their web platforms
First, identify who your competitors are. Then, look at what they are doing online to position themselves as experts in your area. Besides simply looking at their website, you can use tools such as SpyFu, Semrush, and Ahrefs to take a deeper look. These tools show you where competitor traffic is coming from and the different ways they are building their site authority. Pay close attention to how competitors have chosen a niche for their content. For example, do they produce content that specializes in multi-tenant, commercial, or the luxury market?
Focus on building your name at the local level
While it can help to showcase general expertise, in the real estate field localized credibility is going to do more for you than anything else. Look to your local papers and local experts to find out exactly what problems and issues your neighbors are facing and become an expert in the area that you are working in. Building targeted content about the local area you are in will attract readers and helps to build trust. Show buyers and sellers that you are the one who knows most about the local market.
Build partnerships with other professionals
Don’t simply look at the other real estate agents in your area as pure competition. To really build your name, you need business partnerships. Seek out relationships that you can build to co-create and co-promote content. Having others that you are working with as part of a team can help you to be a stronger agent with more resources at your disposal.
Don’t just look at word count, really develop something worth saying
Have a long look at what type of content established experts are putting out there, and work on developing content that your potential clients can turn to when they are seeking ways to understand the real estate industry and the steps ahead of them, whether they are buying or selling. A content research tool like Topic can help to maximize the search visibility of any content you produce.
Don’t attempt to do it all yourself
To be the strongest real estate expert possible, you need to focus on the things that help your business to grow—and that is real estate. Content management and digital marketing are important, but they are not likely your area of expertise. Delegate these tasks out to experts who can help maximize the benefit of your marketing platform. When choosing someone to work with, you can ask for a sample editorial calendar to get a feel for the kind of content they are planning on producing for you.
Position yourself as an expert in the field
As the old saying goes: “fake it until you make it”. This definitely applies to having an authoritarian tone with your digital content. Whether you feel like an expert in the field or not, you need your content to come off with authority. Using a digital marketing or SEO firm to help build authority for your website through external links can also help.
Don’t limit content to the written word
So much of the real estate industry is visual, so it makes sense to utilize visual tools on your website as you are building your name and credibility. Try incorporating videos and pictures (that you’ve taken yourself or own the rights to!). If sitting down and writing long blog posts is intimidating, then try mixing it up with something a bit more creative, like an on-going vlog.
Keep in mind more traditional tactics like mailers
Building attention for yourself off of the internet can help add credibility to your name. Try using mailers or buying into advertising magazines that are still distributed locally to help get your name out there. See where your competitors are putting themselves and get your name out there as well. You can use services like sendwithscout.com to turn your online campaign into a mailer campaign.
Use the audience you’ve already built
More than likely you’re already sitting on a treasure trove of emails, both past/current clients and business contacts. Those emails can serve as an effective channel to distribute any content you create to an audience that already knows and trusts your brand. Just be sure to read up on email deliverability so your emails don’t end up in the spam folder!
A strong content marketing campaign can help you to attract potential buyers and help clients look at you as a real estate expert that they can trust. Of course, simply making a website and getting on social media isn’t enough. You need to lead with a strong content marketing strategy to really make this happen.
