Marketing with real estate content: transforming user engagement into profit
In the virtual world of “www”, visitors can simply read and appreciate your real estate content by deciding not to use the product or service you offer. What is important, therefore, is that your content builds trust in your brand, so that you can acquire a certain prestige in the real estate sector.
What you need is more than just content. You need strategy like that of Capital Smart City. You need a plan on how to engage your audience and how to turn that engagement into profit such as Blue World City.
Where to start? First of all try to be clear:
1. What is your goal?
- Build trust and relationship with your customers
- Attract new prospects
- Provide solutions to customer problems
- Building strategic partnerships
2. What kind of content you should post
If you read the vast majority of content marketing articles, you will be led to believe that writing blog posts is enough. In reality, the content can take many forms: videos, infographics, e-books…
These categories are divided by type (guides, tutorials, etc.) or by topic (lead management, lead generation, web marketing, sales techniques, etc.).
3. What resources you will need
It depends on the type of content you want to produce and the characteristics of your business. Regardless of the size, however, you need to have some talented writer or blogger on your real estate agency team.
4. How do you measure your efforts?
You also need to keep track of what the conversion rate of your real estate content is – which type of content or topic interests customers most and creates new leads? One of our favorite tools for determining this data is Google Analytics.
Creative real estate content ideas: what you can (and should) leverage
Let’s now review the main tools you can use to create truly innovative real estate content: best idx for wordpress
1. Video
Video tours are a great way to spice up your listings, and thanks to a great real estate blog, you can also create a great post. If you really want to make a memorable video, you may want to consider including some of your colleagues, for example, who tell the characteristics of the property for sale. We are not talking about spending thousands of euros, but shooting a very simple mini-video that shows “live” the properties for sale.
If you have a vacant property, you might also consider offering it to high school film students as a location for their latest horror thriller. This way you can positively contribute to your local community and showcase the property to a whole new audience.
Video marketing can also be a costly expense for some, but licensed real estate agents who use it for their listings have a significant return on investment (ROI). In fact, 85% of buyers and sellers want to work with an agent who uses presentation videos. In addition, the houses for sale accompanied by videos, receive four times more requests than those that are not.
Once you’ve got the result you want, upload your videos to YouTube like that of Tajarat Properties. More popular than classifieds websites, YouTube is now the main source of video search for home seekers. Consider opening your real estate channel on YouTube and make sure you use keywords in your video titles. Once published, you can easily share them through other social networks and also insert them on your website.
Furthermore, drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, are one of the most exclusive and innovative marketing ideas for real estate content. They can show potential buyers aerial views of the entire property, proximity to amenities, and much more.
2. Advice
To put it simply, buying or renting a house is new. Whether your customers are moving into a larger home, or a smaller one, a new home offers new possibilities or needs when it comes to furniture, appliances and other home products. Whenever you buy a new gadget or a new piece of furniture, consider the pros and cons, focusing in particular on how these items will contribute to everyday life: the new toaster that toasts two loaves at the same time, but takes up very little space on the counter; the rotating TV stand that gives the living room much more dynamism; etc … Include these thoughts in the real estate ad to make people understand the importance of your buying decisions and how these increase the value of the property.
3. Sketch
Real estate agents are sellers and sellers have strong personalities. Take advantage of it! Use humor by shooting a few short comic sketches with other agents and collaborators at your real estate agency to create creative real estate content. In real estate, you build relationships and spend a lot of time with each client, so show that you are someone they will enjoy working closely with.
4. Interviews
Some may disagree with the idea of letting customers into a salesperson’s life routines and experiences, arguing that it is best to keep business separate from the personal ends of the transaction. While we agree it’s important to take it slow, why not give owners a chance to prove their home’s value?
Try interviewing them (both adults and children) about why they love property. What prompted them to initially choose the house? What’s their favorite room? Their secret place? Without being too invasive, you might as well consider filming a typical day of theirs or, better yet, hand over the camera and let them provide themselves with visual proof of the things that make their property worth buying.
5. EBook
Create eBooks that show houses for sale, but also cover topics of interest to your target. EBooks are specially designed for downloading and reading on a digital device. They are unique multichannel marketing tools because they successfully drive leads with little or no agent investment.
As you write your eBook, keep in mind that it shouldn’t be exclusively about your product or service, rather about real estate topics that you are very knowledgeable about. If your readers notice that you are competent in that specific topic, they will be more likely to visit your website later. Also, add a call-to-action (CTA) to the end of your eBook to prompt customers to take the next action.
6. Interactive infographic
When creating an infographic, you should understand the topic your audience really wants to know more about and then conduct research via polls or interviews. The customization of the design is the best solution to stand out, instead of following trivial and ready-to-use models.
If you have good data and content, you can turn the infographic into a white paper, press release, or incorporate parts of it into an email campaign.
7. Gallery with photos of the sales area
Why describe a place when you can show it? Show the world how beautiful the area you work every day is. You can also include photos in your social media strategy.
As an agent, you have more potential for real estate content than anyone could ever have. Take advantage of this and you will differentiate yourself among your competitors.
8. Snapchat or Instagram Stories
The real estate industry is all about images and therefore the real estate content you create could better reach your audience on Instagram or Snapchat. Snapchat in Italy? Absolutely yes, and the fact that hardly anyone uses it in this industry is a great opportunity, especially if your target is Millennials. You could surprise them, and not a little, by showing yourself attentive and active in one of their favorite alternative social networks.
Like? Snapchat promotes audience engagement and retention by sharing snapshots, photos, or videos in real time. Using stories for your business gives followers a behind-the-scenes look at your world.
Instagram images or videos can be kept permanently through the feed or for 24 hours through Instagram Stories. Instagram can also be an excellent channel as it has 1 billion monthly active users of which 53% are between 18-29 years old. Furthermore, brand engagement is 10 times higher than Facebook. The novelty of IGTV will then make a lot of talk about itself in the strategic field.
The opportunities are endless with Snapchat and Instagram stories, especially in a virgin real estate market like the Italian one, but make sure you have a solid content plan first.
9. Board Pinterest
Pinterest boards are a great way to deliver images and information to specific targets. It is possible to create a Pinterest board for a single property which, in addition to the photos of the properties, highlights the main advantages of the area.
10. Email storytelling campaigns
The narrative nature of content marketing is now a strategic priority. Stories humanize your brand and allow you to emotionally connect with your customers.
For example, you could tell the story of a famous neighborhood or how important the area where the property you just acquired is located is for the generations that have grown up there.
So, you could turn these emails into a blog post. For real estate agents who don’t update their blog, these types of emails will connect with current and prospective clients, delivering engaging content straight to their inbox.
11. Newsletter
Email marketing is one of the best ways to build an initial relationship with customers. Enter in your database the email addresses that potential customers leave you in the appropriate forms of your website or thanks to any other initiative, even offline, suitable for this purpose. Send subscribers emails related to their topics of interest: alerts on upcoming Open House events, new homes on the market, news on the seminars you are offering in the area, etc … (note: if you work in different geographic areas, you need to segment yours subscribers to the newsletter based on their geographic location, making sure they only receive relevant emails and updates).
12. Lead nurturing email campaign
Lead nurturing email campaigns guide users to their dream home.
Leave your customers a trail by adapting your interactions to their interests based on the actions they have taken. If they have been attending an Open House event with you for the first time, please email them with other open visiting events in the same area. If they have been attending a homebuyer seminar for the first time, send them your “10 Things Every New Buyer should know” eBook. Provide real estate content that will help your clients take the next step.
13. Webinar
Scheduling a webinar can be a great way to draw attention to your agency. Organize webinars with captivating and valuable titles, such as “12 Little Known Things to Look for in a New Home,” providing answers to customers’ problems or concerns. Webinars can also be reused as YouTube videos, as they are real estate content that can stay permanently on your website!
14. Free seminars for real estate buyers
Share your knowledge with the community by holding mini-seminars.
Remember, users today want you to share some of your knowledge for free before investing time and money in your business. Yes, it will take time and energy, but the participants will be impressed and will have established a relationship with you. This ratio will work back in your favor when they are ready to make their purchase.
15. Local magazines
When it comes to real estate, it is important to focus your efforts on the local market. Writing in local magazines or newspapers is a great way to get yourself and your brand out there. Try to show your industry knowledge, write for example about how the rise in house prices on the market shows that the city is becoming more popular and in demand.
16. Brand
Your brand is your greatest ally – this also means creating pens, notebooks and other gadgets that carry your brand. Distribute some items with your brand logo printed at local festivals and events to make yourself known to a new target. In a nutshell, start doing real estate personal branding to make yourself known and appreciated!
17. Interactive calculators and quizzes
You can get an edge over your competitors through interactive content. Without even having a direct conversation, you can guide them in your marketing funnel. Interactive content can generate 12 times more leads than another type of content.
For example, with a mortgage calculator, you can compare price differences quite easily. Instead of asking the user to enter values, they are given scrolling options. By asking for more, you can get a complete customer profile. The combination of these factors makes the whole customer experience useful and engaging.
While a mortgage calculator is perfect for prospects who are in the middle of the funnel, you can create fun quizzes for who is at the top of the funnel. Think of quizzes like “Which celebrity will love staying in my house?” in order to understand the characteristics of each customer and property for sale. A great tool for this is SurveyMonkey.
18. Podcast
You can hear them while driving, walking the dog, doing housework or having lunch. So why not take advantage of the growing popularity of podcasts and put them on your channel?
You could create a mix of podcasts where you only talk and others where you do interviews. In the case of interviews, be sure to interview interesting people such as local residents you could talk to about the neighborhood, or colleagues to discuss industry challenges with! People can’t wait to find out what you’ll come up with for the next episode. If you achieve this, nothing can stop you.
Conclusions
We have therefore seen that content marketing represents one of the fundamental strategies in the context of real estate web marketing and that to implement it is necessary to plan, create and promote content capable of distinguishing itself for the value offered to a specific target. For this strategy to be effective, it is necessary that the recipients find the contents useful, ending up being engaged by them.
For this reason, information content and communication via the web have become strategically essential to reach one’s audience, especially in the case of B2C companies, such as real estate agencies in large part.
Content marketing today needs the right tools that can transform visitors into customers and subsequently into profit even in the medium and long term. In fact, it is useless to have many users on your website if it is not able to transform these visits into real contacts. It would be like entrusting an assignment to a salesman who is not good at all who cannot close even the “easiest” deal.
The advertising competition between real estate agencies is often high, acquiring skills in the real estate web marketing can be decisive for breaking up the competition. Having the tools without traffic or vice versa is equivalent to the fisherman trying to catch fish with a pierced net.
The ones listed in this article are just some of the possibilities to breathe new life into your real estate content. Take some time to think about alternative ideas and, very soon, you will start having less competition and more customers.
Do you think these ideas can work? Let us know what results you have achieved by following our advice. Write us in the comments below and share the article!