As you build your real estate business, you’ll need to embrace new modes of marketing your services and listings. Social media is an excellent way to reach more people, promote your business, and source new leads, so it’s wise for realtors to take advantage of those benefits by establishing a presence on popular platforms.
If you’ve been in the game for a while, you likely already have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts for your real estate business. While these sites are staples for realtors, you should be conscious of evolving trends to ensure that you never miss an opportunity to land new leads or further develop your brand. If you’re ready to expand your social media marketing efforts, TikTok should be your next online venture.
While the app is particularly popular with younger crowds for its entertaining content, TikTok’s ever-growing user base and short video format make it an ideal platform for marketing. Just like other social media outlets, TikTok can help you get connected with your target audience and display properties. What makes it an essential addition to your current social media marketing strategy is its potential for brand development, lead generation, and creativity. If you need a crash course on TikTok and a few tips on how to make it work for you, keep reading.
Establish Your Brand
While other social media platforms allow you to list information about your business directly on your profile, the description on your TikTok page will be a bit more sparse. Most users simply scroll through their “For You” pages or search for specific tags to find entertaining videos or new profiles to follow, so you will have to focus on creating content to make a name for yourself on this platform. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for realtors to make the most of TikTok’s unique atmosphere.
Choose a Catchy Handle
Since TikTok doesn’t provide many opportunities to write long biographies or text posts that explain what your business is all about, you can use your handle to give other users a good first impression of your brand. Using your name or your business’s name may be your go-to option, but including certain buzzwords in your account name will help you stand out to new users amid a sea of other content creators.
For instance, you could include terms that either describe your business goals or your philosophy on serving clients. If you specialize in selling large, expensive properties, adding “luxury” to your handle might help you reel in your target audience. If you serve a specific area, you may want to include a nod to your city in your profile’s name to show people what they can expect from your page.
Post Compelling Content
After deciding on your handle, you should get to work on creating content that will appeal to the platform’s users, attract new leads, and promote your business. TikTok is a fast-paced platform that requires eye-catching visuals to get noticed, so be creative with your video ideas to earn more views and help your new profile take off.
A great way for realtors to make use of the platform’s format is to make videos showcasing the types of homes that they help their clients buy and sell. While typical listings include plenty of high-quality photos, video tours can highlight a home’s best features and capture a property’s atmosphere more effectively. With some smooth editing, mood-boosting music, and a helpful voiceover, you can make regular home sales seem more compelling than ever.
Realtors don’t just sell homes; they help their clients build the lives they want in their ideal spaces. TikTok’s emphasis on aesthetics can help you achieve this by selling a particular lifestyle and vision. If you spend some time making your videos look nice and representing your listings well, you’ll gain numerous leads that won’t just be interested in the homes from your videos. Potential clients will follow you and your business in the hopes that you can deliver similar experiences for them in the future, which will help you establish a solid reputation and build a vast client base around your specialties.
Choose a Catchy Handle
Since TikTok doesn’t provide many opportunities to write long biographies or text posts that explain what your business is all about, you can use your handle to give other users a good first impression of your brand. Using your name or your business’s name may be your go-to option, but including certain buzzwords in your account name will help you stand out to new users amid a sea of other content creators.
For instance, you could include terms that either describe your business goals or your philosophy on serving clients. If you specialize in selling large, expensive properties, adding “luxury” to your handle might help you reel in your target audience. If you serve a specific area, you may want to include a nod to your city in your profile’s name to show people what they can expect from your page.
Take Advantage of Trends
After starting out with some promising original content, you can start branching out to reach even more people and take part in the platform’s bustling community. Most TikTok users enjoy the app for its entertainment value, so content creators from all different industries take part in video trends that will push them to the forefront of the platform.
There is an existing real estate community on TikTok that has developed its own video trends, so be on the lookout for common trends among realtor videos and make your own contributions. Some of the most popular videos posted by realtors on the platform include luxury home tours, DIY home improvement project ideas, and reactions to interesting home listings on common real estate sites like Zillow.
If you’d like to branch out to different kinds of content or express your own personality, you can choose to take part in more general platform-wide trends. This could help your videos reach more users’ “For You” pages and give you a chance to connect popular topics to your business.
Engage with Your Followers
After posting regularly and gaining a significant following, your next priority should be to interact with your followers and let their preferences guide your content. This won’t just help conserve your creative energy–it also shows potential clients that you’re listening to their interests and concerns.
Educate Your Audience
One of the best ways to engage with your audience is to create content that isn’t just designed to entertain them, but also to answer common real estate questions and offer solutions that simplify their home searches. To help your followers out, try filming a few short advice videos and offer some industry insight on your profile.
For example, you can discuss misconceptions about real estate, common mistakes that new home buyers make, and even a few tips for choosing the right realtor for their needs. With your expert knowledge and transparency, your followers will view your profile as a resource for reliable information rather than an outlet for entertainment. While it’s wise to draw in new followers with fun videos and share a few laughs from time to time, quality posts and useful information will encourage your followers to stick around and seek out your services for their next real estate purchase.
Respond to Comments & Questions
Next, you can increase engagement on your page by responding to your followers’ questions, comments, and requests. While highly trafficked platforms like TikTok can bring varied responses to your content, don’t neglect to hear your followers out. The comments under your posts are often a great resource for finding future video ideas and gauging your audience’s opinions. They may also help you tailor your content to better suit your followers’ tastes. For example, your followers may note that they would love to see more of a particular property or hear more about a briefly mentioned topic.
Further, you can make use of TikTok’s Q&A feature to connect directly with your audience. The app now allows creators to add a Q&A button to their profile descriptions, where your followers can submit questions about your content for you to respond to in future posts. This is a great way for you to address specific questions and interact one-on-one with other users. While this feature helps you answer the most pertinent questions first, it also ensures that your followers never feel like the conversations on your profile are one-sided.
Try Out TikTok’s Stitch Feature
If you’re hoping to make use of some of TikTok’s other unique features, Stitch can help you engage with other users who may not be part of your current community. With Stitch, you can react to clips from other users’ videos and publicly respond to their content. If you’re hoping to find an organic way to break into other types of content on the platform, this might be the perfect option for you.
For instance, plenty of realtors utilize Stitch to react to other users’ videos on real estate-related topics. If you see a video that you like, support, or even disagree with, you can superimpose your commentary over the original video to share it with your followers and add your two cents. This is a great way to react to other realtors’ advice, comment on interesting homes, or even offer solutions to funny home problems that users documented on their own profiles.
Conclusion
While it may be very different from the social media platforms you’re used to, these features are what make TikTok such a great outlet for entertainment and an invaluable resource for marketers. With so many opportunities to represent your brand, share your knowledge, and interact with others, you’re sure to come away with more leads and a better brand definition.
Realtors rely on these principles to effectively market homes and build relationships with leads and clients, so TikTok might just be the perfect platform to exercise your property-showing talent and networking skills!