Success for real estate professionals in the social environment requires a balance between their social goals and the time and other resources available for reaching them. However, starting with a realistic plan can set a course for striking this balance.
Social Media for Every Type of User
When performed and managed correctly, social media is effective and accessible to all real estate professionals, though the perception that its full potential can be realized quickly is simply misleading.
To assist real estate agents in understanding the social media results they can expect from a particular level of investment, Lumentus Social analyzed more than 100 real estate professionals’ social media pages of independent and franchised brokerages in various markets. Following our analysis, we identified four types of users, each based on patterns of activity, engagement, and response level.
- Power User – Active every day, both posting and engaging with others.
- Regular User – Posting regularly, though with limited proactive engagement with others.
- Sometimes User – Posting irregularly and only engaging with those who directly contact them.
- New to Social – Have built pages, though they are mostly static users and can actively view others’ social activity while seldomly engaging with them.
Targeting Specific Audiences
One of social media’s most unique attributes is its ability to hone in on specific audiences, making a targeting strategy—from focusing on family and friends to the furthest reaches of your business connections—a must-have program feature.
Topline Tips
- Identify your ideal target audience using existing client attributes to define demographic (age, household income) and psychographic (attitudes, aspirations, motivations) profiles.
- Make a list of key influencers or others who can connect you with your target audience.
- Use social advertising tools to connect you to your specific target audience. For example:
- Facebook and Instagram’s ad platforms allow you to create multiple demographic variables like zip code, age, and income range as well as psychographic profiles, such as “likely to move,” to build the right audience for your social media content.
- If you have a personal website, you can add a pixel that will collect data on people that visit your site. You can then use that data to create “look-a-like” audiences on social media of people with similar characteristics and demographics to the ones the pixel can pull from your current audience.
| User Type | Follower Size | Recommended Activities | Considerations for Growth |
| Power User | 500+ | Participate actively in multiple social networks and create a communications/marketing strategy with relevant content on each platform. | Analyze and monitor how you leverage/retarget your email lists and website traffic to keep your social media audiences engaged and content relevant. |
| Regular User | 250+ | Vigorously promote your social media pages with social ads that grow your network. | Connect with influencers who have their own large network and consistently engage with their content in appropriate ways, including commenting, liking, and sharing their posts. |
| Sometimes User | 100+ | Target people with professional backgrounds and interests similar to your clients and connections. | Comment, share, and retweet people’s posts, which will trigger your name to appear on their pages, providing invaluable exposure to a new group of potential contacts.
Create posts with the mind-set that members of your network will want to share your posts on their pages, allowing you to organically reach undiscovered audiences. |
| New User | Up to 100 | Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues with whom you have existing relationships. | Extend your outreach to include people on the perimeter of your personal and professional networks who might refer business and industry professionals, including mortgage brokers, contractors, stagers, and others. |
To find the full guidelines for taking advantage of the social media resources at your fingertips, download The Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Social Media whitepaper here.
