Not Understanding What People Need to Make Better at Purchasing Decisions

Welcome to the 9th installment of our 11-part series on social media mistakes real estate agents make that may be costing them leads. In the previous post, we covered why you need to have video as part of your social media marketing mix. In this post, we’ll be looking at how to identify what it is people need to make better home-purchasing decisions.

Buying a home is a complex and stressful process. While getting approved for a mortgage may be worth celebrating, the real headache starts when you embark on navigating the real estate market looking for the next place to call home. This process is especially stressful for first-time home buyers who may not know what to look for and other things to do to make the process easier. The same applies to first-time sellers. They want to get the best price, but they also don’t want to pass up a good deal either.

Social media represents a missed opportunity for real estate agents to maximize the utility of these needs in their favor. Before we look at how, let’s first look at what real estate agents are currently doing on social media. If you do a spot check of real estate agent social media profiles in your area, you will likely notice a pattern.

There are posts about the business and then posts about listings. If there are posts about other things, they are few and in-between. The reason these posts look this way is that these agents do not understand the real power of social media. They also do not understand what it is people go on social media to look for as far as purchasing a home is concerned.

So, what are they looking for?

Connections and Contextual Information.

Connections

When a person starts looking for a home, they first go online to get a feel for what is out there. They go onto social media and search for real estate agents in their city. At this stage, they are not actively looking for a home. They are looking for connections that can help them along the road they are embarking on. If all they find are listings and more listings, they are unable to make a connection and they move on. If on the other hand, they find a human being, just like them, who has the knowledge and experience they need, then they can form a connection. This will probably be in the form an anonymous follow or Like to your Facebook page. While you may not notice this, you will have made a connection with a potential lead. The next thing they will be looking for is contextual information.

Contextual Information

Once a lead is actively following you, the next thing they need from you is contextual information. This is information that is relevant to their needs. How do you fill this need? Easy. Fill your timeline with helpful information that you have acquired working as a real estate agent. Avoid generic and reposted stuff. Give information bytes, shoot selfie videos with information-dense scripts, etc. At this point, the prospect is thirsty for this kind of information. As they take in this information, their affinity for you and your brand will grow. When they reach the point where they are ready to dive in and start looking at some houses, they will most likely contact you first.

Social media platforms are not sales platforms. Let me repeat. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE NOT SALES PLATFORMS. If you are looking for a sales platform try Zillow. On social media, connections and contextual information wins. If you can master these two things, you won’t have to struggle chasing leads; leads will come looking for you instead.

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