Common Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
If you work in real estate, you’ve likely learned at least a few marketing tricks along the way, if you’re not already a marketing guru. However, even some of the most successful real estate pros still miss some low-hanging fruit when optimizing their marketing funnel. Read on to learn some of the most common marketing mistakes that could be standing in the way of your growth!
Chasing Social Media Trends
It’s very easy to get caught up in the newest social media app or the trends you feel everyone is participating in. But before you get carried away, take a look at your business and who your target audience is. Many new social platforms with unique features have cropped up over the past decade, including Instagram, SnapChat, and more recently, TikTok. However, as of this summer, Facebook still boasted nearly 72% of social media traffic in the U.S. This isn’t to say that you should avoid new social platforms; if you’re very active online, there’s no harm in posting on a variety of platforms. Just make sure to invest the majority of your time and content on the same websites or apps as your clients and potential clients.
Failing to Use Social Media
On the other hand, failing to use social media in your marketing efforts for your real estate business can put you at a disadvantage compared to your competitors. For example, if you have a listing and choose not to promote it on Facebook, there’s a good chance you’re missing a large swath of potential buyers online. Additionally, simply being active at least a few times a week on social media is a great way to stay connected to past clients and get more referrals. Of course, you should be focusing your attention towards social platforms that match the demographics of the audience you are trying to reach.
What You Post Matters
Another marketing mistake that many real estate professionals are guilty of is only posting promotional posts to their social media pages. Clients want and need more than just promotions from you. Promotional posts are definitely important and serve their purpose, but incorporating storytelling into your posts is a great way to capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to engage.
Social media algorithms are designed to maximize engagement- as a user interacts with your posts more and more, the algorithm will continue prioritizing your posts to that user. So try to avoid hitting your audience over the head with only business-related content; posts that are funny, feature pictures and videos, or include a glimpse into your personal life are generally most likely to foster engagement. And when you regularly engage with your audience, they’re much more likely to see and interact with your real estate content!
Trying to Appeal to Everyone
A common marketing mistake that many real estate professionals make is trying to appeal to everyone. You think that marketing to a wide range of people will bring you more leads than it would with a smaller audience. Think again! Segmenting your content allows you to reach the right people in the right way. This will result in more quality leads for your business. Focus your marketing efforts towards clients that fit best for your location, price point, and home type – or other client characteristics that matter to you the most.
Only Using Single Channel Marketing
Single channel marketing is when you focus only on one marketing channel to engage with your target market. Usually, a business will adopt a single-channel marketing strategy when the budget is tight, or when they want to dominate one area. But other times it’s not a planned strategy at all; you may just know only one area of marketing and that is all you do for your marketing efforts. We encourage you to diversify your marketing channels to have a well-balanced approach to get your business and services in front of as many qualified clients as possible. There are both online and offline marketing channels; do your research to find out which marketing channels would work best for your business that you can add to your marketing strategy.
Not Utilizing Retargeting Tools
A lot of real estate professionals think that once a prospect drops off, they are gone forever. That is simply not true. Retargeting is a great way to re-engage dropped prospects. You can re-target audiences with banners, social media ads, and so much more so that they don’t forget about your business and what you offer. This is especially important in the real estate industry because the home buying and selling process can be a long one. You can’t really expect prospects to always convert on their first visit. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other popular social media platforms offer retargeting strategies for your business pages.
