Marketing is a part of real estate. Whether you are an agent on a team, or you are a team leader, you must be actively sharing your content to create brand awareness in your local market. Many people feel overwhelmed with the thought of adding marketing to their daily to-dos, but making it a habit should be a top priority for those who are looking to grow in their careers.
Keep reading for how to get started with your marketing calendar, and how to build up to a more robust content schedule.
Start with a Consistent Schedule
For those of you getting started with your own marketing or branding, you may look at another agent or team’s social media and think, How am I supposed to do all that? I don’t have a marketing team!
Many of the teams you notice on social media may have built up to employing a marketing manager, but chances are, they started on their own. Here are four simple steps to get started on your own marketing:
1. Own Your Calendar
To own your calendar, you must determine what works best for you. I time block my schedule every day to ensure I get everything done. Once you figured out your system, make sure you have a consistent time every week to record video, create content, and post to social media.
If you record your video every Monday at 9:30 am, do NOT take an appointment on Monday mornings. If you post to social media every morning, do not jump on a phone call. Own the schedule you create.
2. Select your Pillar Content
If you aren’t sure where to begin, start with a simple Q&A show. Write down 52 questions you get from your clients – that’s one question for every week of the year. Then, during your scheduled recording time, set up your phone or camera on a tripod, and answer the question.
If you are more comfortable with another type of show (interview, radio talk show, etc), then commit to that. Just make sure it is something you can sit down and complete every single week.
3. Use the Pillar Content to Create Micro Content
Once your pillar show is recorded, use it all week long! Here are the types of posts you can use throughout the week, all from your pillar show:
- Use Canva to create a quote card.
- Transcribe the audio for a written blog.
- Edit and post 1-3 short clips (15-60 seconds each).
4. Execute and Repeat
In the beginning, you’ll be doing this all yourself. This is why blocking that time off in your calendar is so important. Once you get in the habit of sitting down each week to create and post content, you’ll become faster and more adept at the process. Consistency matters more than anything else, so stick with it.
Building Up Your Content
For those who have a consistent schedule and are ready to add more (or perhaps you’ve just hired a marketing manager), here’s a sample social schedule you can build up to. Add in pieces of content one at a time until it becomes part of your routine, then add on the next thing. The consistency must remain, even as you add more.
1. Select Additional Pillar Content
The fastest way to create more content is to add another piece of pillar content. The pillar content is always going to be some type of video or show. By adding one more show, you can create additional short social clips, quote cards, and another blog.
Here are four weekly shows my real estate team One + Company puts out:
- One Question in One Minute: This is a Q&A show, where agents from the team answer a new question in under a minute.
- How’s the Market?: An in-depth weekly review of activity in the local market. We use Zoom, share the MLS screen, and explain local numbers.
- The Real Word: A weekly podcast, covering news and happenings in the real estate industry. This show is directed toward agents.
- Shot of Knowledge: An informational show about the real estate transaction process, directed toward buyers and sellers.
- Real Estate Radio: We have a weekly show on a local radio station, which we stream live to Facebook, creating another video pillar.
2. Select Additional Micro Content
In addition to video, we create a variety of content to post daily, so we remain in front of the consumer at all times. Here are additional pieces of content you can post on a weekly basis:
- Audience Poll: A poll creates engagement from the audience.
- Blog: An informational blog post. Content can be pulled from a show, or come from online research.
- Weekly Recap: A static post detailing all of the team’s activity for the week. This includes homes closed, under contract, and just listed, as well as price reductions. The post links to a blog, where additional information and links to the new listings appear. This is social proof that does not clog up the page.
- Open House Lineup: A post detailing weekend open houses. This can be a static post or a video!
- Testimonial Post: A quote card with a client testimonial.
- Featured Property: A static post to feature a new listing.
- Shout Out: A static post to recognize a team member or vendor.
3. Dark Posts
Dark posts can also be utilized for new listings. Instead of posting every new listing individually on your main page, create a dark post targeted to an audience likely to buy in that price range or location.
4. Other Types of Marketing
It’s not all digital! While a consistent social media calendar is essential, there are other types of marketing that shouldn’t be overlooked. Here are some:
- Weekly Newsletters: With all the digital content you create each week, a weekly newsletter becomes easy. Add in the new video, blog, open house lineup, and any other meaningful content you want your subscribers to know!
- Postcards: Farm your desired location with monthly postcards or flyers. You can plan out the entire year at once, so each month all you need to do is print and send.
- Radio Ads: There are still a lot of people who listen to weekly radio shows. Find out the most popular stations your target demographic listens to, and put ads on the radio.
Create Your Marketing Calendar Now
Decide what marketing elements you want to commit to in 2021, and create your schedule now. You don’t need to have all of the topics fully fleshed out, but you can block time in your calendar for content creation and posting. For every day of the week, decide what piece of content you will share, and stick to the schedule. Remember – consistency is key!