8 ways to boost your social media following
‘Everyone’ is now using social media – so how do you get noticed? Nelly Berova has some wise words to make you stand out in the crowded internet.
Thousands of estate and letting agents across the UK, high street or online, new or long established, are trying to carve their own social presences. Even those in rural areas have many competitors.
A successful social media strategy can make the difference between success or failure. With a strong social media presence, you have a warm audience, primed to click.
So, it makes sense that one of the most important parts of your organic social media strategy is building and nurturing your social following (if nobody knows who you are, then nobody will instruct you).
How do you do that?
1 Be human
Social media is about human connection. It’s where people go when they’re lonely or bored– to find inspiration; a good laugh; to stay in touch with friends and family. So you need a social strategy that’s more human than corporate. Being human is about being real and personal. It’s about engaging with your followers as people rather than targets for your next campaign.
2 Stop being so perfect
Most people don’t mind if you make a mistake. However, they do mind about how you respond to those mistakes – bury them under the carpet… or own them?
TIP: If you mess up, you will boost your social media following if you call it as it is: You messed up. You’re sorry. Your fans will admire your honesty.
3 Share better content
The winners in social media marketing aren’t just scheduling posts and curating information – as most agents do as it’s quicker and cheaper. Successful social media campaigns share professional-quality content created to boost social media.
This content is funny, fascinating and emotionally charged. It leaves people wanting more, not scrolling faster to avoid ‘branded’ content. ‘Better’ content is designed for the channel where it’s posted. Regardless of the format– text, graphics, or videos – it aims for quality over quantity. It’s personal, unique, social.
TIP: To create better content, make sure it “looks” like your brand. Use the highest quality imagery and your best writing. Create campaigns where a series of posts all follow the same theme.
4 Use live videos
One of the best things about social media is its immediacy. If something’s on your mind, share it right here, right now using live videos. Videos are great to show new buyers or investors the local area. Done well, this can have a huge impact on your brand, attracting new fans, cementing your relationship with existing ones.
Social media is about engaging with your followers as people rather than targets for your next campaign!
5 Something worth talking about
Going viral can be good or bad. If you’re smart and creative, you get people talking in a way that’s good for your public perception and hopefully for instructions too.
The key is to understand your audience. You can aim for tears or laughs or both, as long as you’re relevant.
TIP: To create a unique campaign for your brand, think of the #1 expectation people have of your brand. Once you identify that, think of a message or event to put together to get people’s attention. Make sure it’s worth sharing and gets people talking.
6 Do a giveaway
Giveaways are an easy way to get people’s attention. Books, event tickets, guides to buying and selling property; gift cards…
Ask entrants to sign up, (a great way to build your list of prospects) have your followers share a hashtag, leave a comment on a blog post, send you an email. Whatever helps you reach your goals and grow your social strategy.
The key is to design your campaign to achieve a specific business goal.
7 Do Q&As
If you have a well-engaged community, consider regular Q&A sessions (we do many of those for our Lonely Marketer members).
Ask people to submit questions via a social media channel, email or through a form on your website. Brainstorm your own lists – if you don’t have a lot of participation, you can keep the Q&A going between live questions.
Regardless of how you structure them, Q&As build your community, boost engagement, and quickly establish you as a thought leader.
8 Ask their opinion
You don’t always have to answer questions to build a strong community. You can ask questions instead.
For example, we ask other marketing experts to share their tips with our audience. You can ask property investors to share their successes of failures for example, if you want to attract more investors to your community.
Being social isn’t an afterthought. It’s how you attract and engage with your best customers. So it pays to have a strategy to attract new fans and build engagement.
Do you need help with your social media marketing? [highlight]Find out how Nelly and her team can help your agency[/highlight].