Social Media
Guide to Agent Accounts
Dear Agents, In this day and age it’s imperative as a real estate professional to know about the different social media platforms and how you can take advantage of them in growing your business. We created a guide to provide some basic social media knowledge and best practices for all of you. Agent personal social media accounts belong to you and must be managed by you or an outside vendor. If you find that you don’t have the time to manage your own accounts, Hamptons Marketing can direct you to outside approved vendors who manage agent accounts for an additional fee. You can always submit a job request through the Hamptons Marketing Request Form for a list of these approved vendors. Sincerely, The Hamptons Marketing Team
CONTENTS Facebook...................................................... 6
Twitter.......................................................... 16
Instagram..................................................... 8
Pinterest......................................................18
LinkedIn.......................................................10
Social Media Best Practices...................... 20
YouTube........................................................ 12
Douglas Elliman Social Media Policies...... 22
TikTok...........................................................14
Why be on Social Media? Social media offers a direct route to your audience and is an excellent tool for communicating your personal brand. Use it to share listings, market trends, company news, and personal achievements and activities. Based on NAR’s 2019 “Real Estate in a Digital Age Report,” 47% of licensees surveyed called social media the “best source for generating high-quality leads.” This stands to reason, since 87% of buyers search for property online.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
CONSIDER SOME OF THE THINGS SOCIAL MEDIA LETS YOU ACCOMPLISH AS A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL
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Promote your brand for free (or almost free). Basic social media marketing requires a very minimal budget.
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Keep in touch with current and former clients. And develop new relationships with prospects in real-time, regardless of location.
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Diversify your marketing efforts.
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Develop a digital identity that adds nuance and personality to your traditional marketing activities. A full 91% of marketers who’ve been using social media marketing for at least a year say it generates exposure for their businesses.
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Share interesting industry insights and neighborhood knowledge. Half of all Facebook and Twitter users report they get news from these two platforms.
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Spread the word about your listings. Half of all marketers who’ve been using social media for two years or more say it helps them improve sales.
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Stay competitive with other agents. Since the vast majority – 84% – of real estate professionals use social media, you must keep pace or risk being left behind.
• Increase your digital footprint. A full 60% of buyers Google their future real estate agent. What will prospects see when they search for you? A strong social media presence will help you appear higher on search engines, positioned amid your Elliman website and press mentions.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media Compliance Course
Facebook/Meta Facebook remains the largest social network site in the world and is brimming with marketing and networking opportunities. Consider the following recent numbers: • 2.5 billion monthly active users • l .7 billion mobile active users • l .6 billion mobile daily active users So, just how can you use this social treasure trove to grow your sales and better serve your clients?
THE 80/20 RULE
What you post matters. Even though your goal is to promote your business, your audience may be turned off by overly promotional or repetitive posts of your latest listings and statistics. Further, Facebook has started limiting promotional content and filtering it out of users’ news feeds.
YOU MUST HAVE A PROFESSIONAL FACEBOOK PAGE
Don’t use your personal Facebook account for your real estate business. It not only looks less professional, but it does not avail you of useful business features such as the ability to check your Facebook Insights and run Facebook contests. Setting up a professional Facebook page is extremely easy. Sign into your Facebook account and go to “Create a Page.” From there you can choose your classifications. We suggest Local Business or Place.
As a rule of thumb, only about 20% of your posts should focus directly on you or your business. The remaining 80% should be reserved for news and information that may benefit or interest your audience.
After you choose your category from the drop down menu, key in your business name, agree to the terms, and click “Get Started.”
TIP: When choosing a Facebook web address, give it careful consideration. Remember, this is what you will be using to market your business. CHOOSE WISELY - YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT AFTER IT’S SET UP. If possible, choose your business name as your Facebook web address. If it’s already taken, pick something similar that can easily be associated with your brand. It also helps to keep your handles consistent across all your social media platforms. For instance, if your Facebook handle is JSmithRealEstate, try to snag the same wording on Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
SCHEDULING TIP: According to hootsuite.com the best time for posting on Facebook is 8AM to 12PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Instagram lnstagram is a popular social media app with more than 166 million users in the U.S. alone. The platform makes it easy to share photos and videos that are up to one minute long. You can also apply filters to your photos, add captions, and tag posts with geographical locations. It’s also possible to connect Instagram to your other social media platforms to make simultaneous posts for your convenience. So, how can lnstagram help promote your real estate business? For starters, it’s a very visual platform, which makes it a great showcase for professional photos of your listings, short home video tours, client testimonial videos, and other materials. It’s particularly a great platform for engaging millennials. More than half of Instagram users worldwide are age 34 and younger, according to Statista. These attributes make Instagram an ideal tool for promoting yourself, your listings, and your business.
# REMEMBER TO USE HASHTAGS
SCHEDULING TIP: The optimal time for posting on Instagram is 11AM on Wednesdays, according to hootsuite.com.
Hashtags refer to searchable words or phrases that are preceded by the hash or number sign (#). Use these tags to categorize your Instagram posts by keywords that users may be searching. This will allow you to expand the reach of your posts beyond your own followers to anyone interested in the subject matter. Hashtags can include anything from a geographic location, such as a city or neighborhood, to a general subject related to your post. For instance, if you are posing a general question to generate conversation among your followers and to entice new followers, you might try something like: What’s the first room you unpack after moving in? #newhome #moving What home renovation would you like to do first? #renovations #homedecor
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
LinkedIn With more than 500 million members in 200 countries, Linkedln stands out as a platform for networking and communications between business professionals. On LinkedIn, you can forge connections with people you know as well as relationships that are one or two levels removed from you. You can also join or start a business group. According to LinkedIn, the platform’s fastest growing demographic are students and recent college graduates, who account for more than 40 million members. For real estate professionals, LinkedIn offers plenty of opportunities for brand development and lead generation. It’s a great tool for reconnecting with old friends and colleagues, cultivating referrals with other agents, and managing your reputation.
UPDATE YOUR STATUS REGULARLY
Actively update your status from a business perspective. What are you working on now? Did you just get an amazing listing? Did you just close on a sale? Making regular updates to your status accomplishes two goals: • Your profile will appear active and current • Your profile will remain on the radar Every time you update your status, it shows up on your connections’ feeds. Keep in mind that if all you do is post new listings, it may come across as overly promotional and turn your contacts off. Rather, mix up your status updates. Maybe you recently joined a local business group or earned a new industry certification. Or perhaps you’re celebrating the completion of a major project and you have an impressive image to share. These are all appropriate updates. COMMENT ON OTHERS’ POSTS
It’s important to actively post interesting articles and tips. But it’s equally important to review what your connections are posting – and take the time to comment on them. This is an important activity that does not take a lot of time but pay offs in a couple of ways: • It shows you’re interested in your contacts • It helps you stay connected BE RESPONSIVE
Monitor your site regularly and respond quickly to requests and messages. This will help demonstrate that you are professional and attentive while making everyone who reaches out to you feel valued.
SCHEDULING TIP: According to hootsuite.com the best time to post on LinkedIn is 9AM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
YouTube YouTube is an effective real estate video marketing platform. A strategic YouTube presence can help you generate new leads while otherwise boosting your business. But if you’re only going to post a home tour video once in a while, you won’t be optimizing YouTube’s value. To get the most out of the platform, you need a strategy. • Customize your channel Your YouTube channel should have a sophisticated appearance that: 1. Mirrors your brand 2. Complements the look and feel of your other social media platforms • Link your channel Link your YouTube channel to your other social media accounts (and vice versa). This way, someone who loves your video will have no trouble contacting you for an appointment. • Don’t forget the details List details about yourself and your business in your channel’s About section. These should include the geographic areas and real estate categories (residential, commercial, foreclosures, etc.) that you focus on. Be sure to include your contact information and website.
DON’ T FORGET SEO
In order for people to engage with your video, they have to see it first. Videos are indexed based on the metadata that you provide, so take the time to fill out the title, description, and tags fields when uploading your video to YouTube. Here are some tips to help you master the metadata.
For your video titles: • Keep your title concise • Include keywords in the title • Take advantage of subtitles
For your video descriptions: • Make every word count. Only the first 125 characters of your description appear in search results • Include clearly marked links back to Elliman.com • Create “boilerplate” content
CONTENT COUNTS
Think about what types of videos you want to post. A good place to start is with virtual home tours of all your active listings. Then you can move on to sprinkling in additional valuable content, such as instructional videos on how to win a multiple offer situation or how to navigate contingency clauses.
For your tags: • Focus on tags that are relevant to your video and/or industry • Update your tags based on new and developing trends • Include common misspellings
Some common video categories include: • How-to • Market updates • Interviews • Property videos • Community overviews • Bio videos
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
WHAT IS METADATA? Data that provides information about other data. Such as the text of a message or the image itself. It is mainly used for discovery and identification for search engines.
TikTok On TikTok, entertaining and informative content can potentially break through to millions of viewers. This provides businesses of all kinds with opportunities to expand their network of prospects and clients. Here are some useful tips to give your content the edge it needs to be effective.
• Shoot in high-resolution and vertically Quality counts: Don’t let your message get derailed by a dark, grainy video. Of top-performing TikToks, 83.2% feature a video resolution of 720p or higher. The video’s orientation makes a difference, too. Videos shot in vertical format enjoy a 40.1% spike in impressions versus those with square or horizontal aspect ratios. • Don’t skip the sound and music Sound elements like music tracks, a voiceover, or just you talking to the camera are not merely recommendations – they are a must-have in this sound-focused environment. Adding audio of any kind significantly boosts impressions versus videos without audio. In fact, 93% of top-performing TikTok videos use audio. • Keep it short and sweet The length of your TikToks should be appropriate for the particular message you are communicating. But as a rule of thumb, shorter videos are best. Of top-performing videos, 1 in 4 range from 21 to 34 seconds and enjoy, on average, a 1.6% uptick in impressions. • Go full-screen TikTok provides an immersive full-screen experience, and more than 98% of top-performing videos take advantage of it. In fact, videos that use the full 9:16 aspect ratio benefit from a 60.5% spike in impressions relative to those that fit poorly on the screen, with empty black space and screen edges. If you plan to repurpose existing content for use on TikTok, check out the platform’s creative tools to help format your video for best results.
Source: TikTok.com
Twitter A unique micro-messaging service, Twitter has grown significantly in popularity worldwide since its 2006 inception. By adding Twitter to your social media mix, you can reach prospects in a whole new way. FOLLOW, FOLLOW
If you’re just starting out on Twitter, your first step is to get some Twitter followers. People who opt to follow your Twitter feed will receive all of your tweets in their feed. The way to grow your follower count is to start following and interacting with others. Look for: • Family and friends • Other local industry professionals • Area businesses • Community organizations • Influential and well-known industry leaders
USE THE 80/20 RULE WHEN YOU’RE TWEETING
Don’t just tweet and retweet your listings. As with other social media sites, it’s important to mix it up and follow the 80/20 rule. Devote 80% of your content to lifestyle topics and connecting with others, and the remaining 20% to your listings. For instance, you might tweet about upcoming community events and retweet interesting articles about trends in the local real estate market. When promoting your properties, be sure to include images and short videos if possible. You only have 280 characters to work with; use them wisely to draw in readers and get them to click through. As with any social media activity, Twitter is about quality over quantity. Sending a few well-thoughtout, insightful, engaging tweets each day is much more effective than bombarding your followers with continuous tweets that offer no value. Keep in mind that your followers can stop following you at any time. If you are providing valuable content, they will be less likely to do so.
SCHEDULING TIP: According to hootsuite.com the best time to post on Twitter is 8AM on Mondays and Thursdays.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
Pinterest After you start a Pinterest account, you can create your own boards so people can repin your posts. What are your areas of interest? What types of boards do you want to create? Consider these ideas: Boards to attract buyers: Home decorating ideas, styles like beachy or modern, and themes like outdoor spaces. Boards to attract sellers: Staging tips, decluttering tips, curb appeal on a budget, repurposing tips, etc. Boards to feature home renovations: Before and after photos, do-it-yourself projects, and weekend projects. Boards featuring your city or town: The best restaurants in your area. The best cup of coffee. Favorite beaches and trendy hangouts? Boards about your business: This is where you should feature your listings! Boards about you: Are you into yoga? Are you a gourmet chef? Creating boards about you and your interests can let clients and prospects learn more about you and whether you share common interests.
TIP: Whenever you create a new pin, take the time to check your links to make sure they work properly.
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
DIFFERENT PIN TYPES
Pins are visual bookmarks. Each pin you see on Pinterest links back to the site that it came from – such as a store site or a personal blog – so you can learn more about it. If you’re using Pinterest to promote your business, consider using specialty pins, such as rich pins and promoted pins. RICH PINS
Rich pins provide extra information directly on the pin itself. This information can include your website, company name, etc. Currently, there are three types of rich pins: product pins, article pins (great for blog posts), and recipe pins. These take a little coding knowledge to use correctly, but you can find free online tutorials. PROMOTED PINS
Promoted pins are similar to regular pins, but you pay to have them seen by more people. Pinterest says these pins are “native ad units that perform just as well, if not better, than organic pins, helping people discover and save ideas.” Promoted pins are used to boost awareness, engagement, and traffic to your site.
Social Media
Best Practices
• Content is king Maintaining a regularly updated blog will help keep you and your business top of mind with your audience. If you can’t commit to that, it’s a good idea to post helpful tips geared toward both buyers and sellers on your social media platforms. Providing helpful information will help you stand out as a real estate professional. When in doubt follow the 80/20 rule. • Have a system for getting leads Be purposeful in your posts and quickly follow up when they come in. • Use video to add interest • Follow the competition for ideas • Grammar counts Accuracy equals credibility, so be sure to proofread your listings. Avoid using slang to help maintain your professional presence and appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds. Stick to an easy reading level, so people who don’t speak English as their first language can follow what you’re saying. • Make sure all of your posts and videos follow the fair housing guidelines The Department of State considers social media to be advertising.
SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
Manually updating several different social media platforms several times a day isn’t feasible for most real estate professionals. Instead, consider using scheduling software to make your social media marketing efforts more manageable. Many different scheduling services are available to help you schedule your social posts. Use the following websites as a starting point: • Hootsuite | hootsuite.com • Buffer | buffer.com • Edgar | meetedgar.com
Source: The CE Shop - Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media
Douglas Elliman
Social Media Policies • No messages should contain statements that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, gambling-related, drug-related, alcohol-related, profane, racist, sexually explicit or indecent. • Every post, share, like, and comment becomes part of the public domain, and a reflection not only of your personal brands, but of Douglas Elliman as well. Please allow respect, professionalism, and kindness to serve as your guide in connection to any commentary you feel compelled to share. • Real estate agents are required to follow certain ethical guidelines including the nondisclosure of confidential information of their clients. This pertains to social media as well. • Do not use any trademarks or copyrights of Douglas Elliman unless you have been specifically authorized to do so by your marketing department. If you use any third-party trademarks or copyrighted materials, please remember to give proper credit or provide a link to a site if the materials were available online.
• Do not repost, reproduce, and/or republish others’ articles, blogs, and websites, in whole or in part, without their written permission. In no circumstance may an Agent pass off another’s articles, blogs, and websites (i.e., both internal and external to Douglas Elliman) as their own original content irrespective of receiving permission from the work’s author, unless the Agent also obtains approval from the General Counsel. • No content may include claims that cannot be substantiated by fact (e.g., “Number 1 Best Broker in the World” would have to have a certification setting forth this fact in order to promote it). • No communications on social media sites should be made as though the communications are “official” statements of Douglas Elliman without the prior written authorization of Douglas Elliman. • All policies and procedures set forth in Douglas Elliman’s IT Policy on Internet or Device remain in effect. Please review those policies and procedures annually. • All policies and procedures set forth in Douglas Elliman’s Employee Agent or Independent Handbook [and any Code of Conduct] remain in effect. • Any mention of Douglas Elliman must adhere to the brand guidelines including usages of trademarks and logos. (See Brand Guidelines in sidebar)
BRAND GUIDELINES
Per brand guidelines, Agents are NOT allowed to impersonate a Douglas Elliman office, region, or service area (ex. @douglasellimanNJ, @douglasellimanWellington, etc.) Agents may include douglaselliman, Elliman, or DE in their social media handles only if it’s in conjuction with their licensed name. Any usernames that reference Douglas Elliman must be approved by your marketing department. For example @jsmith_douglaselliman Agents should NOT use the “Douglas Elliman Monogram” for their profile picture, as it takes away from the uniformity and identifiers of our corporate accounts. Instead, we can recommend a different color monogram or their headshot
IMPORTANT: Content deemed in violation of the ICA or Employee Handbook published by any agent or staff member, including abusive and threatening language, may result in termination.
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