Online Lead Generation Ideas that Work
There are so many ways to market yourself online, sometimes it’s hard to know how you’ll ever have enough time or money to fit it all in. Here are a few effective ways to get started or improve what you’ve already got going for 2017.
Visual Elements will be increasingly important, so get on camera. Share branded short (10-30 second) video tips on social media. You could demonstrate how to perform simple maintenance (partner with a local handyman, if you aren’t handy yourself), explain real estate terms like escrow or option, or even point out what’s trending in home interior design. Grab a short testimonial or have your clients share their success stories. You can also take a series of photos around town of events, landmarks, architecture, new businesses, road closures (and when they reopen). Keep in mind if you’re doing still photography, that the best angles to use are either neutral (head-on, flat angle), from 45° (slightly above and down), or from straight above.
Leverage social media connections. Add connections in your social media accounts to your CRM database and include contact with them in your notes. Connect weekly with 10 or so social contacts. Comment on what they’ve posted, ask questions, offer advice or a tip. Be involved. Consider it a mini-networking event. Create guides for various aspects of the business (buying, selling, staging, using a VA loan, finding down payment assistance, keeping good credit, spring home maintenance tips, etc.) and offer them on social media. Have the posts link to your website where they have to fill out a contact form to access the free content. Make sure to note that you won’t sell their email address or spam them.
Testimonials, profiles and reviews. Be sure to claim your business on as many sites as you can, like Yelp! Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Fill out the profiles as completely as possible and add pictures where it makes sense. Look for real estate listing sites that offer free profiles to agents and fill them out, too, even if you don’t like the sites, won’t advertise with them, or they’re horribly inaccurate. Consumers are there, so you should be, too. Add as many reviews and testimonials as you can and ask your clients to add reviews as well.
Try Crawling. If you’ve got a LinkedIn profile, you know they send you a notice when someone views it. Well, Crawling is a way of having your computer visit profiles on LinkedIn so people get those notifications. Studies have found that just visiting someone’s profile will incent between 2-8 percent of people to connect with you. Get a connection, get a lead. You can reach out, invite them for coffee to discuss their situation. They already know you’re a Realtor, so if they’re not interested, they’ll let you know. Here’s a video tutorial on how to set it up: https://youtu.be/24afmZXOeCk. Just make sure to set up your crawl to a LinkedIn Group that has your target audience in it.