As a realtor, marketing plays a huge role in your success. In today’s environment, digital marketing is crucial.  Without a proper online strategy, it will be difficult for to find clients. People buying and selling a home today expect you to have an online presence. Here are some tips to help you market your business online as a realtor.

Why Use Digital Marketing for Real Estate in the First Place?

We use digital marketing today because it is one of the main ways we now communicate with each other. We can use sites like Facebook to post business ads and share photographs of new listings. Personal websites can showcase listings, photographs, panoramic views of the homes, and so on. Other sites, such as Twitter, help agents build their brand and get new clients. It is estimated that around 84% of real estate professionals today are using social media platforms. By developing a proper digital marketing strategy, you can stay ahead of your competition. These tips should help you develop the right plan for your business.

Email Campaigns

One of the most valuable tools in your real estate marketing arsenal is a proper email campaign. Use email to connect with new leads as well as past clients. You can leverage campaigns to show new listings to potential clients. According to Smart Insights, the open rate for emails for any real estate business today is around 27%. The click-through rate is estimated at about 3%.

One key ingredient is to ensure that you have relevant content that you can send to your clients. You must ensure that they will be interested in what you have to say such that they are likely to open the email. You should not resort to spam techniques but do send them emails they will  find interesting. You can achieve some truly great results if you use an email campaign as part of your digital marketing strategy.

Great Website

As a real estate agent, you need your website. This is a part of your brand, and it is where you can send to clients to have a detailed look at your listings. You want a site that runs fast. You want links, photographs, and everything to load correctly. Part of your overall strategy is to ensure that your website is the best that you can make it.

Both buyers and sellers are going to expect an excellent website. Clients often browse listings through mobile devices, so you need your site to load correctly on those devices by way of a mobile optimized version of your site. You want your clients to have the ability to browse your website easily and access the valuable information they seek.

Valuable Blog Content

If you’re going to market yourself online, develop and maintain a personal real estate blog. This is different from your website listings. This is where you can post articles, or “blog posts”, that relate to your industry. There are tons of topics you could cover, but here are a few ideas in the interest of getting your creative juices flowing:

• Cover topics that relate to selling or buying a home. For example, you might offer post content on how to clean up your home so that it looks presentable during a home showing.
• Post information about how to deal with home inspections or deal with insurance, mortgages, and other issues, linking to other professionals within your industry that your clients can view for maximum value add.

The more content that you provide for your potential clients, the better it is going to be for you and the more sales that you are going to see. You want to deliver content that will be valuable so that people keep coming back to your website. You can include links to your blog if you happen to send out a personal newsletter or other correspondence with your clients. It’s never a bad idea to cross-share your content among the various channels you’re employing in your overall digital strategy.

Virtual Tours

Today’s technology has come a long way, and this applies to real estate as well. Consider hosting virtual tours of your properties on your website. These are 360-degree displays of homes and the surrounding properties. This gives the potential client a great view of the house without having to be there at the location. They can get a good look at the home, and then decide if they want to view it in person.

These virtual tours are a great way to market your listings and get more sales as they professionally showcase your listings. The buyer then has an easier time making that vital purchasing decision. They can compare multiple listings quickly and make up their mind about which ones to visit.

Social Media Presence

You need a full social media presence as this is how many potential clients are going to contact you. It is not enough to have the occasional Facebook post. You should be active on your social media sites and posting content. For example, you can post links to new listings, relevant real estate news, and other information that your clients will find valuable. You could include links to past clients and their experiences with you. A proper presence on social media establishes your brand online and connects you with not only your past clients but your future ones.

Recap

These tips should help you launch a successful and well-rounded digital real estate marketing campaign. Your presence as a realtor online matters, so you need to employ the right tactics in an ongoing fashion to grow your business, get new clients, and stay in contact with those you’ve worked with in the past.