Social media is NOT Craig’s list. If you are looking for what kind of real estate social media content you should post, it’s very simple. Stop telling people you’re in real estate and start reminding them you’re in real estate.
What is real estate content? Why is everyone talking about real estate content and how does it apply to my business?
My goal of this article is to explain how to create real estate social media content that leads to clients in this post.
Let me be blunt. If you want to attract business, especially online, you must create real estate content.
Let’s go through the steps of exactly how it works.
Stop Creating Real Estate Social Media Content That Tells People You’re In Real Estate
You don’t need to tell people you’re in real estate, you need to remind them. Creating real estate social media content consistently allows you to sell without selling by constantly reminding others that you’re in real estate. What would you rather do, beg people for referrals or attract them?
“Hey do you know anyone who wants to buy a house”
“Hey do you know anyone who wants to sell a house”
When you are always selling, it’s hard to attract business.
You are told you must make x amount of calls a day, 5 days a week.
This is the old school train of thought when it comes to real estate marketing. I believe it’s these hard core sales tactics are a major reason why 87% of newly licensed agents do not make it 5 years in the business.
Especially in light of the NAR commission dispute, it’s never been more important to build a personal brand.
When you create consistent real estate social media content you take a different approach. It allows you to share your expertise and become the expert without having to say it because content over time builds authority.
The 2 Benefits Of Consistently Creating Real Estate Social Media Content
Creating real estate content helps you in two ways. First, is that it allows you to keep your brand in front of your largest source of business, your database of relationships. Over 60% of all agent business comes from referrals and repeat clients. It allows you to keep your brand at the forefront without having to always come off as a slick salesman.
Creating real estate content is a way to consistently nurture your relationships.
The second way you can use real estate content is to attract new potential clients. Let’s take this article you are reading right now. Maybe you found me on Facebook, Instagram, or Google. I want you to read this article so I can build a relationship with you and down the road you may become one of our members of Referral Sweet (that’s my soft sales pitch).
I’m not hard core selling you anything, but I am teaching you about creating real estate content. I’m talking about doing the same thing for your real estate business.
I’m not sure what kind of real estate content to create?
There are two types of content to create. First is educational. This is content that you share your expertise on various real estate topics. It should be focused around the questions that typical buyers and sellers have in real estate. I can list a many different topics for your to create content on.
The second kind of content to create is more for branding and staying on top of mind. It can be holiday videos, neighborhood tours, or just sold case studies to give you a few examples. This kind of content allows you to share your daily real estate story. You don’t create this kind of content to pick up leads, but more for nurturing your relationships and remaining on top of mind amongst your database, prospects who are not ready to make a move yet.
Start Creating Content, Start Attracting Clients
When you consistently remain on top of mind with the people you know, referrals and repeat business occurs. This is a visual on how simple the process really is.
10-15% of the people you know this year are moving, but 100% of them have a referral for you. When you’re thought of first for a real estate referral, you’ll begin attracting business.
However at the same time, 100% of people that you know have the ability to refer you one deal this year. The more referable you become the more business you’ll attract. Real estate is one giant popularity contest.
Heres my question to you. Would you rather spend 4-5 hours a week cold calling, prospecting, and being one of 50 Realtors to reach out to an expired listing on the same day?
OR
Would you rather spend 1-2 hours creating a real good piece of content each week and then distributing it? That’s what is comes down to.
Does this all make sense? Are you ready to create some real estate content? if you enjoyed this article share it with the world and help me get the word out!
Generating consistent stream of real estate referrals is crucial to your career and sanity. Staying in touch with your database isn’t optional, it’s a necessity. However, how do you do it without always talking about real estate?
Good news is you don’t have to. Actually, you shouldn’t really ever talk about real estate with your past clients and database because it could get annoying.
If you want to get generate a consistent stream of real estate referrals in your real estate business, you must stay in touch with past clients and everyone else you know! I’m not talking about boring them with market updates either.
The question is how do you stay in touch and what do you say?
Past clients don’t want you real estate related content when they are not in the market, but they do want your relationship.
There is one thing you need to understand about creating more real estate referrals before you can implement any kind of system. Referral marketing is all about keeping your name in front of your database in a sell without selling type of way. It’s about being top of mind so that when real estate comes to mind, you are the only agent they think of.
WHY?
Because it’s impossible to be referred if people forget about you. Here’s the formula to why people refer Realtors.
They have to notice a conversation about real estate.
They have to think of you.
They have to introduce your name into the conversation.
If these three things are in place, then you should get plenty of referrals…
But they must remember who you are and what you do.
Referral marketing is not rocket science, but it requires consistency and a system to do it the right way. Many times agents overthink referral marketing, but it’s really simple.
So what do you talk about?
The best part of creating more real estate referrals is that you don’t ever have to talk about real estate if you don’t want to. All you need to do is remind your database you’re in real estate. We’ll get into more details as we talk about the three channels you should be using to do that.
You need multiple ways to communicate to your database to get the most out of your referral marketing efforts. The right way to market for referrals is to use a combination of social media, video email, and direct mail consistently.
3 Must Have “LISTS” To Create More Real Estate Referrals
Your “lists” are comprised of total number of contacts or people you can reach within direct mail, email, and social media. You need to create an email list, a direct mail list, and ultimately a social media following full of people whom you’d expect to send or do business with you.
Generate More Real Estate Referrals on Social Media
Every social media platform serves as an additional channel to market your brand. Your “friends” on Facebook are part of your database because they live somewhere, which means they all have the potential to refer or do business with you. Think about how many old friends you don’t have time to keep in contact with anymore, but know what they are up to because you see them on Facebook. If you want more real estate referrals you have to be remembered!
Would you expect your social media friends to use you for their upcoming move? Then you need to keep reminding them that you are in real estate.
There is a right way to use social media and a wrong way. It’s not meant to be a classified ad section, don’t be cheesy. If you do it right, your “friends” will REMEMBER and REFER you. The proper way to do this is by sharing pictures or videos while telling a story about your business.
Social media is one huge relationship center! There is no better way to remind others what you do for a living than to make real estate related social media posts during your typical workweek! I recommend no less than 10-15 real estate reminders a month although that’s not a ton.
Remember that all of your connections on social media are all nothing more than a bunch of online relationships that will eventually move. Facebook and Instagram have been the most dominate social media platforms used by real estate agents for referral marketing, but you have to use them the right way to make it work for you.
The key is to consistently let others know what you do for a living without sounding like a sleazy salesman. You want to build your reach, friends, connections, and followers are much as possible with any social media platform you use.
Anything you share on social media is referred to as content. Share content like cool pictures of houses, cool views, client closings, final walk throughs, reels, or anything else that will reinforce what you do for a living to your friends. That’s how simple this is.
Generate More Real Estate Referrals With Video Email
Video Email marketing is also necessary to keeping a consistent presence amongst your audience. You should have an email list comprised of all the relationships you currently have. As long as you have a relationship with someone who you have implied consent to broadcast content to, they should be nurtured monthly with video email content.
The key to email marketing is not having the largest list, but one made up of quality relationships. To have an effective email referral marketing strategy, the content of your emails SHOULD NOT be generic.
Don’t Spam Your Database With Crap Content
There are many platforms that “Automate” email campaigns for real estate agents to their “database”, but the problem I have with it is that it’s not very engaging. Most people can tell they are pre-written emails and they are not very personable. The key to having referral success from your email marketing is to nurture your audience with very personal messages so that your content is more engaging.
Pre-written templated emails appear like spam and your people are more likely to unsubscribe or even be annoyed.
How good is your marketing if it never gets read or opened and feels like more of a nuisance receiving?
The national average open rate for emails is only around 13%. If you want to have a better strategy, you need to independently write your emails and make them personal. Don’t forget the main point of sending an email to your in the first place.
It should be to stand out and nurture your relationship.
We’ve seen open rates average over 40% using video based emails and creativity, which turns into a whole lot more real estate referrals. Email is also great because it has a 100% deliverability rate. This means that as long as you have the right email address that your intended recipient will receive it, but that doesn’t mean they will open it.
You need to create engaging content with your emails.
How Do You Create An Email List?
If you don’t already have an email list, you can easily get started by logging into your Gmail you are already using. Export all of your email contacts and then go through them and determine who should be on your list. If you feel like you would say hi to this individual walking down the street then they should be in there.
You will not have a relationship with every contact you export, but at least you have a large list to start with. Go through your contacts and delete everyone you don’t feel you have a relationship with. Once you are done, then BAM, you are in business.
Once you have your email list ready to go all you have to do is create a schedule that has consistency and follow it. The content of your emails can be whatever you want, but please make sure that you are providing some kind of value to your recipients. Don’t forget the point is to stay on top of mind of your audience so that you are remembered when they or someone they know may you need your services.
Generate More Real Estate Referrals With Direct Mail
This is going to be the hardest list to build, but only because it’s time consuming. Your direct mail list will be comprised of your closest relationships. We are not farming a strange community, but we are farming your relationships.
Who Should Get Your Direct Mail?
Your list should consist of anyone you would invite to your wedding or funeral. Your direct mail list is all about quality and not quantity. It’s not about buying a list of names and numbers to market to. If you do that, I am telling you right now, this is not going to work for you. We are marketing to our relationships, not farming strangers. Remember what needs to take place.
Anyone who says direct mail is dead has no idea what they are talking about. Direct mail is the most powerful list of the three. One of the reasons your direct mail list is so important is because everybody will receive it and physically touch your marketing message. You cannot say the same thing about social media(only roughly 17% of Facebook friends see your posts) or email (national open rate is 13%, but if you create consistent valuable content you can average 40-50%).
Yes, your direct mail will eventually get thrown away, but not before they acknowledge receipt of it. No other channel can provide a physical engagement with marketing other than direct mail!
To be honest with you it doesn’t really matter what the content on the mailing piece is, just as long as it’s entertaining or informative without and reminds the recipient that you are in real estate.
Once you have compiled a direct mail list of qualified relationships you can set up your direct mail referral marketing system. Your campaign can be a monthly newsletter, postcard, or even holiday card. Don’t forget that the point is not to push your service as much as it is to remind them of your existence. When you are remembered you are more likely to be thought of when they or someone you know needs your services. Make sure you use technology to automate all of your fulfillment so that you are not stuffing envelopes or stamping postcards. That is a waste of time.
Conclusion In Referral Marketing Tips
I hope this helped you see how keeping a consistent presence amongst your database encourages referrals. Don’t over think the strategy here. Using a 3 prong attack for your referral marketing generate more real estate referrals.
Did you like this article? Check out our Youtube channel for more videos.
Do you want to run a business instead of being run by one?
Do you hate cold calling or cold prospecting?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might want to check out Referral Sweet.
Creating real estate social media content that generates business is a lot easier than you think. Unfortunately, today it is no longer optional to be on social media, it is a necessity.
The Good News About Real Estate Social Media Content is that it’s much to create than you think. The key is consistency, which means finding the RIGHT strategy for you is very important because if you’re not excited about creating content on social media it’s very hard to do it over time. Making 1-2 posts a month is better than nothing, but it’s not going to turn you into the next Million Dollar Agent.
Do you recall one video from yesterday you saw on social media? Well, nobody is going to recall anything you created either, which is why the first step is finding a social media content strategy that you are excited about.
Some people like creating videos, while others would rather be creating graphics, but whatever that becomes for you, consistency is the only thing that works.
Why Creating Real Estate Social Media Content Consistently Creates Clients
Social media is the easiest place to constantly remind ALL your relationships you’re in real estate. The people you are connected with on social media all live somewhere, don’t they? Wouldn’t you expect to get their direct business when they do? Would you appreciate their referral business? Then start creating real estate social media content that reminds people you’re in real estate (more on this later). The question for you becomes, “how do YOU use social media to create engagement?
The more content you create, the more people you can help buy, sell, or finance real estate because of the following numbers.
10-15% of your social media connections are moving this year!
100% of your social media relationships have the ability to refer you one client.
80+% of people use the first person they meet with.
Over 74% of closed transactions were with agents they know personally, were referred to, used in the past, personally met, or ran into.
Everything I am showing you here is 100% mathematical and not based on theory. Once you understand how and why people hire their real estate agent or lender, then you know how to market them. Top
Top Of Mind Brand Awareness Is Everything In An Attraction Based Business
The reason for creating content is very simple. The more real estate social media content you create, the more engagement you’ll have. All of the engagement you create will create conversations that ultimately lead to the relationships that get you hired. The reality is that business is right in front of you! The next question then becomes, how do you stay consistent creating real estate social media content that creates engagement?
4 Kinds Of Real Estate Social Media Content Every Real Estate Agent Or Lender Can Create
The key to creating content on social media overtime is to learn how to be an effective story teller. Storytelling is all social media really is at the end of the day. Everything you do or consume is nothng more than a story. Each time you make a post, that content reminds people of your brand. When this is done over time you’ll build a brand people start to associate with real estate as long as your content is reminding them you are in real estate.
Real Estate Content Idea Content #1- Memes
There are so many funny memes that create engagement you can post all over social media. Sometimes making fun of yourself or profession is a great way to create engagement. We like to call these more lifestyle memes, but regardless of what you post, each one will remind people you’re in real estate.
Real Estate Content Idea #2- Cool Real Estate Stuff You See Daily
Real estate agents see the coolest kitchens, views, designs, etc. so just start sharing that on social media. Tis becomes as simple as taking pictures of cool real estate things throughout your week and then just sharing those pictures over time.
When I was practicing in Chicago, I had a series called #TBT, which stands for “Throwback Thursday”. When I used to show and list houses I would take cool pictures of old school furnaces, woodwork, brick, architecture, etc.. The city of Chicago has some of the most awesome architecture and each time I made a post it reminded people I was in real estate.
Real Estate Content Idea #3- Unique Real Estate News, Ideas, Concepts
The real estate industry employs roughly 25% of the work force directly or indirectly. This means there are many people interested in the topic because everyone lives somewhere. One of the best ways you can position yourself as the expert is that when you see something newsworthy or unique, you create content on it.
For example, when the recent interest rates started rising in 2022 and the market made an immediate shift from a seller’s to buyer’s market one of the best real estate social media content you could’ve have created at the time, was commenting on whether or not the market was going to crash or what the impact on inflation was. In the example above, this agent received 166,000 organic views from reporting on that content first. This is a perfect example of how news trending topics get a lot of buzz when you are one of the first to create content on it.
In addition to this you could create content on anything you want, even though it’s not your listing. Here is Ken Pozek, Orlando Realtor. He created a YouTube video that went viral because who doesn’t want to see the inside of Shaq’s house?
The point is that you can create real estate social media content on anything. The key is not making it about your or even “them”, but more on what’s going on in the community or your life. Believe it or not, you may be more interesting than you think and people want to get to know you. Think of social media as a way to date for future business. The more content you create, the more you flirt, which ultimately leads to you getting lucky with a new client.
Real Estate Content Idea #4- Real Estate Case Studies
Every time a real estate agent posts, just listed” or “just sold” you are doing nothing more than bragging about how much money you made. There’s no other industry that does this where it would be acceptable, but in real estate. The only people who comment on those posts are those that are trying to get your business.
The video above is nothing more than a case study a client of ours had with our video marketing services. I can tell you how awesome we are or I can let someone else do it for me, which is far more powerful.
Once you start telling stories of the people you served, your engagement will triple. HGTV is nothing more than a giant case study. Regardless of what side of the transaction you are on, there is also a journey, which is a great way to showcase your expertise WITHOUT feeling like you have to brag or making a post that nobody comments on. If HGTV can create an entire TV channel on “our profession”, why can’t we just document our own story? If you don’t have any stories start commenting on public “moves” by following channels like TMZ, etc..
Don’t overthink creating real estate social media content. The key is not creating content about your business per se, but rather reminding people in what business you are in.
The reason why 87% of agents fail within five years is because most of them start in real estate chasing the wrong people with NO real estate marketing strategy. Everything you are about to read is not rocket science, but common sense when it comes to real estate marketing vs. advertising. My goal is that you will learn how important it is to immediately establish an ongoing real estate marketing strategy. Creating real estate content creates top of mind brand awareness or what Gary V. would call “Attention”.
Prospecting For Real Estate Business Is Difficult
I recall as a brand new agent in 2002, cold calling my first six months because I was told to prospect, prospect, prospect instead of how to market my own brand.
One of the first lessons I learned my first year in business as a real estate agent was that prospecting through cold calling or other “old school” sales tactics was unsustainable for me. I was getting burned out fast, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t make it in real estate, it just meant I had to find another way.
You don’t get referrals or business from strangers, you get them from people you know. The key is staying on top of mind when a referral opportunity arises.
Let me ask you a question….
If nearly 61% of business is generated from referrals and repeat clients, what should be your most important real estate marketing strategy?
Facebook ads?
Buying Zillow leads?
Cold calling FSBO’s or expired listings?
Direct mail farming?
Door knocking?
These are all great ways to prospect new business, but it’s a fact that over 80% of a real estate agent’s business comes from referrals, repeat clients, people you already know, or run into?
Consider This…
If I were to open up a taco stand in San Diego and I found out that roughly 80%+ of my customer base were from a certain area or demographic, what should be the first thing I do? I would focus the majority of my marketing efforts to that specific group of people. I would first determine how I could reach them so they know I’m open for business.
Over 80% of business comes from people you know, worked with in past, are referred to, or personally meet! These aren’t statistics created by me, these are facts reported from NAR. A real estate agent who is not marketing their relationships is like me opening up my taco stand without putting a sign in the window saying I sell tacos.
What real estate marketing strategy keeps you in front of people WITHOUT always having to talk about buying or selling real estate? You create content.
What Do I Do First?
Many real estate agents rely on chasing leads vs. creating and maintaining relationships that produce referrals and repeat business. We are told to believe that we should be prospecting vs. marketing and building a brand. Prospecting strategies are great, but they should come secondary to setting up a system that generates referrals and repeat business.
I am talking about farming your relationships with content in multiple channels, so let me explain.
We all know direct mail farming works. It’s been a real estate marketing strategy since the dinosaurs ruled the world. You pick a neighborhood and then consistently mail it over a period of time. After about 6 months or so you should start seeing some results(if not sooner). The longer you maintain a presence and build a brand in your farm area, the better the results over time. The reason this takes time to build is because it takes a while for people to remember who you are. Over time, direct mail farming creates top of mind brand awareness.
So if direct mail farming a bunch of strangers still works, imagine if you started farming your relationships?
Why Your Real Estate Marketing Needs To Be Put In Front Of Your Relationships
You must market your relationships because when you are out of sight, you are out of mind. Trust me, people don’t remember what you for a living as much as you would like to believe. Top of mind brand awareness keeps your brand at the forefront, nurtures your relationship with your database, and makes it easier to be remembered when a referral opportunity rises.
What’s The Return On Investment In Marketing Your Database?
This is mathematical marketing, not theory. You can literally get a good estimate on your referral opportunities for the next 12 months simply by determining the size of the audience you are marketing. According to MelissaData, the annual statistics in the United States show that 10-15% of the population moves every year. This includes everyone you know or are connected with through social media or walk past each day.
Marketing your relationships consistently will generate direct business, but that’s not why you should be marketing it primarily.
You market your relationships because 100% of them knows someone who is moving that they can refer you to!
If you were to to “Farm” 100 people over a 12 month period, roughly 10-14% of them are going to be moving this year. If they know you, they are more likely to call you first when they need to buy or sell real estate. Over 80% of homebuyer and sellers hire the first person they speak to.
If I had 200 people I was consistently marketing, roughly 20-28 of them will be moving this year. The best part is that 100% of the people you stay in front of have the ability to refer you at least one client because they all know someone who is moving this year.
The question becomes if they will refer you or not. This is why top of mind awareness is crucial to your business.
You create top of mind brand awareness through creating content consistently through direct mail, video email, and social media.
Would you hire you off your website? Does it connect with your ideal client or does it feel cold? On this blog, I’m going to show you the exact website videos every business should have on their website. These videos humanize your business and connect with people on a much deeper level.
When people visit your website it’s not to see what you do, but how you do it. You website is your digital storefront and whether someone is being sent their from ads you’re running or they are referred their from a friend, they still have the same BS meter. They are wondering;
Can I trust this person?
Are they reputable?
Will they help me accomplish my goal?
Your website should be designed to do build trust, collect leads, and generate phone calls, but if it’s scary then it’s not going to work.
In a service based business, people hire you for how you do business, not what you do. People want to make one of the large financial decisions with someone they know, like, and trust.
The one thing that separates everybody from each other is their personal brand. It’s the one thing that consumers relate to most when making a decision on who hire.
Here are the 5 Core Website Videos To Humanize Your Brand & Sell Your Service!
1.) The Front Page “Direct Pitch” Video
When someone lands on your home page, they should know exactly what you do. Your front page or home page website video is your sales pitch. It should show the who, what, when, where, and why of your brand or business.
You don’t want to leave any guess work for the viewer.
How To Use It
You should place this website video front right on your home page preferably above the fold. You can also use this video for retargeting ads if you’re running them.
2.) About “Why” Video
Your about video is one of the most important website videos to have because it should demonstrate your why. I don’t care how long you been in the business, I care about why you’re in the business.
Your about video is NOT about how many awards you won, but more to showcase your personality and style. People should be able to view it and determine if they relate to you or not. Here is my about video for Referral Sweet. it should your why behind the business. Referral Sweet was born from a bad experience I learned a hard learned lesson in.
How To Use It
Your about website video should go right on top of your about page. Your about page is the #3 most visited page on someone’s website. The reason for that is because people want to see who they are doing business with before they contact them.
You can also place it on your email signature and it should be placed on every online resource your brand is represented including your social media profiles.
3.) Frequently Asked Questions Video
Have you ever visited a website and checked out the FAQ pages? One of the most effective website videos on your site should be your FAQ page. The reason why so many websites have a FAQ page is because people want to know what others are asking they have not thought of yet. The FAQ website page gives you the opportunity to address common objections. However the video on the website should demonstrate sales objections.
As a business owner you should know what those sales objections are to your business, so address them head on face to face. For Referral Sweet, people want to know if they will get an ROI using it, so I made it simple for them to determine it.
How To Use It
This video should be on one of your core pages of your website. You can also use this in your email campaigns and for retargeting ads too.
4.) Service Pages/How It Works
Your service pages are the core pages of your website that focus on your services. Each service you provide should have a page dedicated to it. If you’re a real estate agent you should have a buyers sellers page. If you’re a mortgage broker you probably have a conventional loan page, FHA page, and refinance page to get the idea.
For Referral Sweet we have a “tour” video that gives visitors a walk through.
We also have videos on each type of membership too on your website, but the point is your service pages should all have videos on them explaining how it works and what is entailed.
5.) Testimonials/Case Studies Video
There is nothing more powerful about what someone else says about your business. Therefore EVERY business needs a reviews page on their website to showcase past customers or even case studies.
Have you ever booked the vacation on Travelocity without any reviews?
That’s what I thought. Nobody hires the real estate agent, lender, or contact an investor who has ZERO social proof either. Creating a “Reviews” page on your website is smart to do.
How To Use It
Your reviews page can be used in your drip campaigns and ads. It’s even more powerful if you continue to incorporate real estate video testimonials into your site as you get them going forward. They serve for great reminders of how good you are at your job without having to say it.
Focus on humanizing your brand with website videos. There’s nothing more powerful than connecting with your ideal prospects, especially in a referral based business.
Do your real estate emails suck? Be honest. if you’re sending people turn back the clock or real estate emails on interest rates, your email strategy probably isn’t making any money. This is why I replaced all my old crusty text based email and started using video email marketing instead.
Many people get fed up because of dismal results their email marketing gives them, but it’s not because email marketing doesn’t work, it’s because of the way they are using it. If you want to see a better results with any of your email marketing results then you MUST check out using video email marketing.
What Does Video Real Estate Email Marketing Mean?
Video email marketing is using video instead of plain text based emails. So instead of writing a very cold email with no personality, you can now film your message and connect on a much deeper level with your recipients. It wold look something like the image below.
Why does video email work better?
Using video in your real estate email marketing is a much more impactful form of communication for the following reasons.
60% of your effective communication is based on your tone. You might be able to use emoticons on your emails, but no way does it have the effect a video would.
30% of effective communication is through your body language. How do you express your body language in emails?
10% of effective communication is the actual content or point you’re trying to make. Most people aren’t going to remember what you say so your focus should be to stand out instead.
This is why video email works better than just plain text.
What If I Don’t Like being on video?
Do you like money? Then get over it because it’s time to shape up or ship out because if you are not doing it one of your competitors is.
3 Ways To Use Video In Your Real Estate Email Marketing Efforts
Follow up with New Clients/Leads. When you first start working with a new client, the most crucial time is the first few days of establishing your working relationship. There is no better way to start the relationship off than with a video email. Imagine what other agents are doing and how much you could stand out. Video email helps you convert more leads.
Negotiate Deals/Transactional Updates. What a great way to submit an offer. One time this agent was in Mexico on vacation and our buyer was in a multiple offer situation. The listing agent did not have cell phone service while he was pounding away on margaritas. Let’s just say our offer stood out the most and we got it! You can also use video email as a way to enhance the client experience. You can have pre-recored video emails for specific touch points during a transaction.
Differentiating yourself from the competition is one of the ways you ultimately run an attraction based business. Video email is just one way you can do it. If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about how to adapt video into your business, check out our services right here on our website.
Also checkout our YouTube Channel if you like the tips you saw here.
You will never run a referral based business without knowing why people refer others anything in life, not just real estate. This is crucial for understanding how word of mouth marketing works.
Are you sick and tired of fighting chasing leads? The good news is that just about anybody can run a referral based business because is based upon relationships you already have, but it starts by learning why people refer Realtors first.
Once you understand the real secret to word of mouth marketing, communicating with your database becomes easy.
The Psychology Of Word of Mouth Marketing
When people refer Realtors, it’s almost always because there is an ongoing conversation about real estate occurring. Suddenly, someone jumps in and says, “Hey, I know an agent, you have to call him/her. They are great!” Then, a referral is born. The question everyone wants to know is: why did someone refer that agent?
Referrals can take place anywhere people are having conversations, but real estate is a much more highly referred profession for two reasons:
Moving is an emotional decision and when people are moving they are talking about to everywhere to everyone.
Buying or selling a house is a major financial move and someone trustworthy. Referrals are crucial for this.
How do you get people to refer you more clients?
Referral marketing is all about training your database to associate your name with real estate. Your want your database to immediately think of you anytime the word “real estate” is brought up. If you can accomplish this, you will begin attracting business. The key to this is through top of mind brand awareness and being everywhere with consistent content creation.
Think about the last time you referred someone something or someone.
Ask yourself, why did you refer that person or thing?
When people refer services/professionals to others, they do not get any type of award, big shiny trophy, or anything monetary, do they? There is no tangible incentive to refer anyone to anything. We are genetically programmed to refer our friends, co-workers, and family to things we like, which includes referring Realtors.
Real estate is based on word of mouth marketing
Everyone always “has a guy”. Everyone always wants you to use “their guy”. In some markets you can literally trip over a real estate agent there are so many.
Go ahead and make a post on Facebook right now asking for any type of service provider and people will respond with several of their “guys”, but the question is why do they care? What’s in it for them?
People refer Realtors when the following three things are present:
They have to like the agent they are referring them to;
They have to like the person that is asking or suggesting for a referral for an agent; and
The person referring the agent has to notice that an ongoing conversation is taking place (about real estate) and they have to THINK OF YOU (this is the key).
People Refer Realtors because they like helping others.
Who doesn’t like to be thanked or acknowledged? People refer others to things or services they like, it is only because they feel like they helped someone solve a problem. It’s the way God made us.
That’s it. Word of mouth marketing is embedded in our DNA to be natural problem solvers, but you have to become more referable and thats’ why you have to create content. Don’t you like solving problems for others? Of course you do, we all do. It’s part of being human.
Your database actually wants to refer you business, but it’s your job to become more referable. If you are not marketing your database, I promise you that somebody is.
You must look at your career as a popularity contest because everyone knows a Realtor. Did you know that roughly 75% of people use the first agent they come into contact with? How do you become the first person they talk to or be the agent that is given the referral? You do it by being top of mind.
The problem most real estate agents face is; how do I stay in touch with my database and increase referrals through word of mouth marketing? It starts by finding a marketing strategy that is authentic to you, but that’s another conversation.
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Sometimes we all need to go back to the basics and since we are in the business of running a business, it bears repeating. Today we are gonna make sure we all understand the basics that we often take for granted.
In almost every circumstance I’ve seen, client appreciation events WAY outperform other marketing or advertising activities. They build your brand, nurture your database, and allow you to meet new people, but they have to be marketed correctly.
Client Appreciation Events Are A Marketing Activity
Inviting someone to a party is the ultimate way to connect with the most important asset in your business, your DATABASE of relationships. The impactful marketing you can be doing in your business is nurturing the relationships you have in life because it’s a fact that over 70% of ALL agent business comes from people you know, not from technology or prospecting.
Having a client appreciation event is a marketing ploy to gather more referrals and repeat business if you do it right and consistently(1-4 times a year).
In addition think about all the excuses you have to “remind” your network that you’re in real estate or lending? You have email and direct mail invitations to send out. You also have social media images, events, and videos that can be created before, during, and after the event.
The entire “marketing” of the event allows you to make a HUGE splash telling everyone you’re in real estate without really telling them. This is what people remember. Plus it positions you as the expert. People who are having parties must know what they are doing right?
Who Do You Invite To A Client Appreciation Party?
Many realtors think their client appreciation event should only be for past clients? Everyone lives somewhere don’t they? This is mistake #1. Your friends, family, and past co-workers are future clients, unless you don’t expect them to use you when they are ready to buy or sell. They are also all referral sources because each of them has the ability to introduce your services to someone in their sphere(100% of the people you know, knows someone who is moving this year).
Inviting them to your client appreciation event allows them to see you in a professional light. They will see that you are more than their weekend buddy. This is what it takes to turn some people from “friend” into a referral source.
It’s only a matter of time until everyone in your network moves so the sooner the you program in their heads that you are their go to Realtor, the faster you will see their referrals and direct business.
I sold a house to a guy who came to my client appreciation event 4 years prior. When I asked him how he got my information he told me, “I was at your party dude, it was awesome”. I didn’t even have his email, he just remembered me and looked me up. That one deal paid for the whole event plus some, in addition to creating another client and referral source.
Client parties will bring you business and build your brand if you do them. The key is to not overthink it and brand them.
How Much Should I Spend?
As much as it takes. Yes, a client appreciation event can be expensive, but with a little creativity they don’t have to be. I used to do HUGE blow out parties and we used to spend $10,000-$15,000 on each event. The cost might seem high, but it wasn’t because we would sponsor those events out with our lender, closing attorney, and other strategic alliances. They were free to invite all of their database, which increased our overall attendance and impact.
I would also team up with my agents on my team and we would split the cost up amongst each other based on the total amount of agents participating to keep costs down. The end result was one bad ass party that people loved to attend. We used to average 400-600 people per event.
Client Appreciation Event Ideas
Rent Out A Nightclub/Bar– We would rent out a nightclub before they were open to the public from a 6-9 pm on a Thursday night and invite over 1,000 people through Evites, social media, email lists, and direct mail invitations. The reason we did a nightclub was because they had no kitchen,which helped lower the costs. The nightclub was also closed at the time we would do the event so it was a win win for both of us. We would do a 3 hour mega party, free drinks/food, host fundraiser, pictures, and even ice sculptures. The establishment monetized an early evening when they were typically closed.
After 6 years of doing this, it built a very solid brand.
Holiday Events– You can very easily host a “Pictures with Santa” or “Pictures With The Easter Bunny” for a client appreciation event. These are very inexpensive and an easy way for you to market your business and at the same time solve a problem many families face. As a father trust me when I say this, I don’t want to stand in line for 2 hours waiting for a 5 second picture with Santa.
You can do this in your office and totally sponsor the entire event out. Remember that the lines are super long at the malls and most parents just want the pictures so this is an easy way to get in front of them and brand yourself to remind people what you do for a living.
House Party– Have a party, yea at your house. Depending on your home set up, you may want to limit your invite list in this case, but just remember its the thought that counts. You can have a BBQ in your yard. This shouldn’t be too expensive and a great way to nurture your database. You can also host neighborhood BBQ as a farming technique to your community and sponsor your brand making it an event!
Fundraising Events– I love fundraising client appreciation events because it’s something most people can get around. I used to like raising money for foundations. A fundraiser can be less expensive because most of your sponsors should be donating towards the cause and your attendees should not have a problem paying some money at the door.
Your database will also appreciate what you are doing.
Local Events of Importance– What if your local sports team is in the championship? Have a viewing party of the final game for a client appreciation event. You could create an event very quickly just by hosting a viewing party at a public place or even your house. This may be more last second, but it’s the invite that’s most important.
Just don’t invite any Packers fans, lol.
Here are some other client appreciation event ideas from a couple of agents I know in California that were extremely creative and thought you would get a kick of these. Both of these Realtors understand the importance of branding their business within a client appreciation event and BOTH of them are Rockstars!
Meet David Serpa
David is a veteran and served our nation proudly as a marine. After he returned from Afghanistan he took up a career in real estate and has completely dominated his market in a very short amount of time. David understands the importance of building a brand.
David is a good man and gives back to his community and did a country music festival in Temecula, CA for his client appreciation event. Most people wouldn’t believe me, but watch the video and see for yourself. This is one of the best examples of client appreciation event I have ever seen.
I want you to take notice of how he branded the entire thing from the video to the stage. What a class act.
What If Nobody Shows To My Client Appreciation Event?
They will grow over time. I would market my client appreciation event to my database 3- 4 times the month of. At worst I was able to market my real estate business without having to talk about real estate at all. My first client event was only 40 people, but it was a starting point for me.
I collected all their names and addresses and put them all on my database that I systematically market to. The promotion of the event itself is a “sell without selling” marketing activity for your business!
As long as you invite your network it’s an excuse to touch base, reinforce the fact you are in real estate, and a way to humanize your brand.
TIP:The most important thing you can do to increase attendance is to make a phone call and give them a personal invite. I used to text and personally invite my most important contacts.
Hosting a client appreciation events are a way to build and strengthen your relationships with your network and will be the best use of marketing dollars that you can spend. I would recommend this over a Zillow zip code any day of the week, what you think?
If you like the information here check out the rest of the content on my channel.
Referrals are the lifeblood of the real estate business, but how do you express each referral thank you? There is no better compliment to your business than receiving a referral, but are you taking the time to properly thank the referring party the right way? If not you very well may be pissing them off.
Over 60% of Closed Business Comes From Referrals Or Repeat Clients
When people refer services/professionals to others, they do not get any type of award, big shiny trophy, or anything monetary, but you should at the very least say thank you.
When somebody sends you a referral they are more than likely expecting your acknowledgment of it. If you just handed somebody $5,000 wouldn’t you at least expect a phone call? People who refer you business now will refer you more business later so make sure you have a referral thank you process.
When you get a referral you need to acknowledge it the same way you do when your dog goes to the bathroom outside by using positive reinforcement. You must let your referring relationships know how much you appreciate their referrals.
Have you ever received something from someone unexpectedly and even though it is something small, you very much appreciated it?
Here is the referral thank you checklist I’ve used over the years with every client I received a referral from.
1. Make personal contact with referral
Pick up the phone and thank the referring party immediately. If they do not answer the phone you can leave a message. This is something very simple to do and it should only take a few minutes.
2. Send Referring Party A Text & Email
Once you either speak to them on the phone or leave a voice mail, send a follow up text and email. Make it short and sweet and say something along the lines of, “hey just wanted to thank you again for your referral. It means a lot to me. Hey, what’s your address by the way (if you don’t have it). You should always have the direct mail address of anyone who as sent you a referral.
3. Send a “Thank you” letter and $10 Gift card
Print off or hand write a thank you letter with a $10 dollar gift card to either a coffee shop or gas station. Most people won’t expect anything, but when they receive it will be very appreciative.
4. If referral closes, call to thank referring party again
Once the referral closes, make sure you contact the referring party again via phone, text, and email. You should make sure you update all contact information in your CRM and add them to your database marketing system. Let them know their referral closed and you took great care of them.
5. Send Referral a $100 dinner gift certificate when referral closes
Don’t be cheap. Somebody just printed you money. Get them a dinner at a local restaurant! Somebody who sends you a referral will send you another one so look at this as an investment. Do you think they will send you another referral in the future?
6. Acknowledge the Referral on Facebook/Instagram
Tag the referring party on social media with a simple thank you story. By doing this you are programming your entire database that you are referral based real estate agent.
Generating more referrals is not rocket science, it’s common sense, but if you want more of them you need a referral thank you checklist. Implement this system and see what happens next time you receive one.
This is also a real good book if you are interested in learning more about attracting referrals.
What if the normal rate to for buyers agent compensation is 1-1.5%? Could you survive based on your current business? How would you generate income as a buyers agent post NAR Settlement? While some in the real estate industry are freaking out about the NAR settlement and buyers agent compensation, I see lots of opportunity. Now Before you get angry reading this, please consider the following:
Regardless of what happens with the NAR settlement, the real estate industry is taking a PR hit. Between the media constantly throwing Realtors under the bus in news headlines and more sellers wanting to “test” the waters of not offering a buyers agent compensation, change is here.
There are lots of opportunity when things like this happen, but it will require you to think outside the box. Your personal brand and relationship you have with your local community and database is more important than ever.
Real estate agents are not going away, there is a need. However, what consumers want from their agent will change. You need to be ready to change with it.
What nobody is talking about is how can you survive as a buyers agent if you see a serious cut in commissions? The good news is that these are only a few ways you can receive buyers agent compensation in the future.
3 Mental Shifts & Ways To Be Compensated As A Buyers Agents Post NAR Settlement
Whenever there is a paradigm shift in anything, there is a lot of opportunity to change with it. Here are some additional ways you can be compensated without having to fully rely on listings. Buyer agency isn’t dying, it’s just changing.
1. Create Additional Revenue From Ancillary Services
There are many companies right now that want to partner with buyers agents for referrals. If the NAR settlement changes the amount of compensation you can collect from buyer commissions, then part with a Solar company like Renewable Real Estate, who have a Realtor referral program and the commissions are juicy. No, you do not need to become a solar salesperson, you just need to add solar to things you sell. Solar is one of many ancillary services that are willing to pay you for referrals.
Your clients are going to be buying or using these services anyways, so wouldn’t you rather be the one that gets paid and making sure they are buying something worthwhile or a good investment? Real estate agents have always been great connectors, but they haven’t been great at getting paid for it.
2. Get Your Mortgage Loan Origination License
There are many mortgage companies right now across the US that you can be paid legally as a real estate agent. This could make up for an additional .5-1% in the loan amount but you would need to check further with them. Of course there are some fine details to this, but essentially you are not legally able to get paid for referring a lender whom you trust. In my podcast, I make a reference that if the NAR Settlement completely disallows buyer agency commission or credit paid from a seller, this could very well be the future of buyer agency.
3. Become a Principle & An Investor
The future real estate agent will be good at two things in particular. The first is good at relationship building and marketing. It’s more important than ever to have a solid book of business for referrals and repeat clients, but that doesn’t meant you don’t prospect. It just means you prospect smarter. Investors are really good at finding deals even in the hardest markets. If you were to become a good investor, you’d have to be good at finding deals and 90% of the deals you find will turn into listings.
However the 10% of those deals you find will be great finds for you to take down. Instead of looking at making 5-10,000 on a commission you might start making $40,000+ on a flip. In addition you could build a rental portfolio of cash flowing real estate over time.
In all 3 of these instances you are forced to evolve into another income stream. None of them would have happened if things didn’t change. Change can be good if you know how to change with it.
Today we are talking about USP. Unique. Selling. Proposition. Memorize it because we are seeing a paradigm market shift and now that the NAR Settlement has fundamentally changed how agents are going to operate, it is time to shift. How do we do that? With a Unique Selling Proposition.
