How to Spy on Your Competition in Real Estate

You know those agents that tell you how they get SO MUCH business from Facebook?

But, when you ask them HOW they’re getting all this business, they don’t really give an answer?

Yah, I know those agents too. And here’s a tip to SPY on them – and find out exactly what kind of ads they’re running!

How to Get More People to Engage With Your Posts on Social Media

I follow a lot of real estate agents on social media and was struck by how BORED I was seeing the same old boring listings marketed for sale. Obviously, they were different listings from different agents – but the effect was the same. And, if I’m bored, imagine how your audience that doesn’t work in real estate feels! 

So, this is the second installment of our “how not to be boring” series. This video has tips that you can easily incorporate into your listing marketing strategy on social media. It doesn’t cost anything either! (See the first installment here.)

How to Market Your Listings on Social Media

I follow a lot of real estate agents on social media and was struck by how BORED I was seeing the same old boring listings marketed for sale. Obviously, they were different listings from different agents – but the effect was the same. And, if I’m bored, imagine how your audience that doesn’t work in real estate feels! 

So, this is the first installment of our “how not to be boring” series. This video has tips that you can easily incorporate into your listing marketing strategy on social media. It doesn’t cost anything either! 

USING INSTAGRAM STORIES TO GROW YOUR REAL ESTATE BUSINESS

In Savvy Agent Club, we regularly talk about how to use social media to grow your real estate business. And, we just completed a month of training how to use Instagram Stories. So, it made perfect sense to bring my friend, Shannon Salmon, on to share her best tips and strategies at using Instagram stories to grow your real estate business.

You can follow Shannon on Instagram here.

What I like about her stories is that they’re REAL.

She does stories on her business, her life, being a mom – all the things that together help define this BOSS of a lady.

Check it out!

Top Takeaways:

Using social media (including Stories) for your business doesn’t mean you should be BORING.

Actually, you should do EVERYTHING you can to not be boring. Follow the 80/20 rule by limiting 20% of your content to self promotion.

All real estate – all the time – is an absolute snooze fest.

Put yourself out there. It gets easier.

The first time you go live, it’s nerve wracking. But, you get over it. Just put your content out there. Just rip the band-aid off and DO IT. Plus, if you’re worried about what you look like – use a filter!

Social media is FREE.

Why wouldn’t you take advantage of a resource that helps you get in front of people and doesn’t cost anything?!? But, remember that if you expect to GET engagement, you need to GIVE it. It’s not a one-way road so you should definitely make sure you comment, like, etc on other peoples posts.

If you have an accent – USE IT.

The rest of us that don’t have an accent are totally jealous. And, if you don’t have an accent, it’s OK – you can create your own brand. (Shannon talks about this around 9:00.)

You don’t have to spend hours a day on social media.

Part of the fun of social media is getting to know our friends or the people we’re following better. Give yourself permission to share your life. And, in case you need me to tell you, have some grace to share your perfectly IMPERFECT life. (Honestly, no one is fooled by those with “perfect” lives.) So when you share your life, it’s easy to find the content. If you’re not sure what to share, think about the top 3-4 things that light you up. Real estate is likely 1 of those. Kids, pets, cooking, sports, etc – are other examples of what might light you up.

When you post about things that you really care about, people will notice and appreciate!

Shannon’s favorite apps:

Wordswag – Add words to a picture. Promote your open house or other interesting things about your listings. Create your own quote cards!

PicsArt – This is great for adding logos and headshots to your images.

iMovie – Every week Shannon does a “where is she wednesday” bit and she uses iMovie to film those interviews with local businesses. Easy peasy!

Ripl – Shannon uses this app to create videos to promote her listings or open houses. There are templates that make it easy and fun.

Remote – this isn’t an app, but you can get a remote to start and stop your video without getting your finger in the shot! Try this one on Amazon for less than $9!

My favorite part…

Keep it simple. You do not have to go crazy. No need to hire a social media agency to create a strategy for you. (Actually, if you want some of this stuff done for you – you should check out Savvy Agent Club.) Don’t worry about the number of followers that you have! Stay focused on creating content that rings true to YOU and that your audience engages with. Keep it short, keep it quick, keep it on topic. Keep it simple!

To sum it up

Social media is a long game. If you make ONE post about a house – don’t expect to get a buyer immediately. It takes time to find your groove and grow your following. Pick the social media platform you want to start with. Work on just ONE platform at a time. Two if you absolutely must. Pick ONE thing – and get good at it. Then, you might want to add another platform. It’s all trial and error, so give yourself the opportunity to try, fail, try again and succeed!

Has anyone sold a house from Facebook Live?

Have you ever wondered if anyone has sold a house from Facebook live? An agent asked me that question the other day and I was stumped for a second. I just couldn’t believe they didn’t know!

It’s like the question – has anyone ever sold a house at an open house?

But, of course, the answer is YES (to both). But, that’s not really the point of a Facebook live. (Or the open house, for that matter.)

So what IS the point?

Using Facebook Live is a cheap and easy way to get your content in front of MORE people for FREE or LOW, LOW cost.

But WHY (it’s not like we don’t have enough to do!)?!?!

Because the more people see your Facebook live(s), the more they have the chance to get to KNOW you, LIKE you, and TRUST you.

Remember the first time you saw a Gary Vee video?

OMG – the 1st Wine Library video! 

You might have thought – this is interesting. And then you saw another one. And another. And now maybe you listen to his podcast or follow him religiously. Or, just know that when you do see a Gary Vee video – it’s worth watching.

Or, when Tom Ferry started the Tom Ferry Show a few years ago… remember the first one you saw?

Episode 1 of the Tom Ferry Show! 

Maybe you already knew Tom and these videos just made you want MORE? Maybe you’d never heard of him but now you subscribe to his email list. Heck, maybe you even pay him for coaching!

These are great examples of how Facebook Lives (and videos in general) let you know, like and trust a business person.

Remember, anyone doing FB lives was once new at it too. No one is expecting you to be a media mogul right outta the gate. But, if you don’t give yourself a chance to get YOUR message out there – YOUR next clients might go somewhere else because they don’t know you’re a choice.

Facebook live also gives you great options to leverage your content (aka videos). Here’s a few examples:

·         Social proof on your FB page – when people are looking at agents, or researching YOU, you’ll have more video social proof aka: knowledge bombs, than the competition.

·         Emails that contain some value. If you answer unasked questions – people who you’re warming up on your list will be like “wow, this agent knows what’s up – it’s like she’s a mind reader!”

·         Recycle your lives to YouTube and now you’ve got a channel. More for email housing – you can embed these in your emails

·         Upload the video to your blog, or embed your FB post to your blog. Now you’re blogging, check one more to do list task complete.

·         RE-TARGET THE SHIT OUT OF THE VIDEO VIEWS – that’s where you move people further into your sales funnel.

So, that’s why everyone says “do Facebook Live” – not because they’re selling houses left and right – but because they’re expanding their audience and leveraging the videos in their business. And, you CAN too!

If you’ve ever wondered, “Do you have to look perfect to go live on Facebook?” Keep reading because we’re going to prove the answer is NO.

In this video (from a Facebook live) I practice what I preach and talk about why you shouldn’t let your perfectly imperfect looks prevent you from going live on Facebook. 

Live inspiration

I was having lunch with an agent from out of town and I was telling her about Savvy Agent Club. Specifically how we have a training each month on a specific topic. For example, we have several trainings on video marketing and how you should step out of your comfort zone and do things like go live on Facebook. Let’s face it. Real estate is a relationship business. And, even if you’re not in real estate – people like to buy from people they LIKE. It’s so important to connect with your clients on a human level. Let them get to know who you are not only as a business person, but as THE person that they’re going to have a relationship with.

And so, I said, “I should do a Facebook live this afternoon. BUT, I was out in the heat this morning and completely melted. I’ve got my hair in a ponytail. You can see the evidence of sweat. I just look terrible, so I’m not going to go live.”

Can you relate to that big BUT moment where you try to talk yourself out of a great idea? Where you let your vanity get in the way of your success?

So, my friend says, “But Heather, you should go live.” And I knew how right she was.

Time to practice what I preach.

I tell everybody who takes the Facebook live tech training with Savvy Agent that it doesn’t matter what you look like. Your people already know what you look like, and they accept you for who you are. And anyone that looks at homes with me in the summer has seen sweaty, ponytail, melted Heather. It’s just a fact of my life. So, why would I let that stop me from speaking to my people??

If you what you have to say is valuable, then who cares if you have sweat head? Who cares if you weigh more than you’ve ever weighed before? Who cares if you’re too skinny? Does anyone care if you don’t have any makeup on? Don’t hold yourself back from giving to your audience. You have information that they’re going to benefit from – so don’t let your vanity get in the way of delivering.   

Sometimes a little lipstick is all you need.

I sweat most of my makeup off and just put on a little bit of lipstick before this Facebook live and you wouldn’t really even know that I didn’t have makeup on, had I not told you. If you did notice that I didn’t have makeup on, you certainly wouldn’t be rude enough to point that out because that’s just bad manners, right?

Give yourself some grace.

You are a human being and your people know that you’re a human being. It’s okay. Now, what you have to say and the information you have to deliver to your people is really the important part. Give yourself a break. Allow yourself to be human. Accept the fact that the world already knows that you look like. If you look like a sweat head, like I do, all summer long, well, the cats out of the bag. Everybody knows because they see you sweating your head off and hiding it from a Facebook live isn’t doing anybody any favors.

Whatever is holding you back from delivering that message to your audience, GET OVER IT. Get over yourself. 

Go do a Facebook live on your Facebook page. Not just to help grow your business, but because your audience needs you. You got this, sweat head and all. 

Chat bots are an up and coming trendy technology. But will they work in real estate? Let’s talk about how to use chat bots in real estate!

In this video (from a Facebook live) we talk about chat bots and how to use them in your real estate business. 

First, what is a chat bot?

By definition, a chat bot is a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.

Fancy stuff, right? There are a lot of software options available for different types of chat bots (website, lead generation, lead nurturing, text message chat bot, etc).

Have you ever thought about using a chat bot in your real estate business?

I’ve asked real estate agents what they think, “Hey, what do you think about chat bots?” And most agents were like, “Well, I don’t really know anything about chat bots, so I don’t know.” One guy said, “I would never use chat bots because you should never replace a person, and I’m super hands-on with my people,” and blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, I think it’s safe to say that ALL real estate agents are super hands-on with their people and provide the highest level of service, etc etc. No need to be defensive!

But then when I told him, “Hey, you don’t have to spend a fortune to do chat bots. A lot of this stuff is for free that you just set it up and boom, it’s done.”

Ironically, he was less against the idea of a chat bot and much more curious about how to use it. I share this story because I think real estate agents have many opportunities to use chat bots, and use them well. And, even if chat bots aren’t ultimately for you – it’s still smart to be aware of the technology. 

Let’s keep it simple and focus on using a chat bot with Facebook Messenger.

You can set up some cool automations using ManyChat (bot software) for FREE. (Who doesn’t love free?) Click here to see an example of a chat bot on our Savvy Agent Facebook page. This bot will share with you ways you can use your chat bot in your real estate business. Plus, it’s cool to see a bot in action!

You can use ManyChat to have a better Messenger Menu. For example, on the Savvy Agent page, the messenger menu can direct you to our website, the Club signup page, I could ask you a question, send you a PDF, a download or whatever else you want. (Also, this menu shows up really well on mobile.)

But how does that translate for real estate agents?

People want to look at homes for sale, right? So why notset up your main menu on your chat bot and have people go directly to your website to search for homes for sale. Or maybe you have a home value page. So you can send people to that page, they input their address, and BOOM! You get a lead in your pipeline and they get their automated home value.

Maybe you don’t have an automated home value page. In that case your chat bot could have an automated conversation with somebody that ultimately results in them giving you their address and then you’ll get back to them in a couple days with a home value report you manually generated. 

Best practices

It’s best if you have your chat bots set up so that people know they’re talking to a robot instead of thinking that they’re talking to you. Being upfront with people, will result in a nice and efficient way to get the streamlined information you’re hoping to receive. And, it’s a better experience for your customer.

Maybe you have a sellers guide that you like to share with people. Maybe you do a buyers guide every quarter. Chat bots are great at getting these guides into the hands of potential leads.

For example, you could run an ad that says: “Comment on this post if you’re looking for the 2019 spring buyers guide and I’ll message it to you immediately.” So then they comment on the post (or they message your page or however you have it set up) and boom, your message with your PDF goes to that person immediately.

How long does it take to make sales?

If you’re picturing a sales funnel, or sales pipeline, this type of ad is going to be getting people into your funnel/pipeline. They’re pretty cold leads but that’s just part of the process of building your audience and warming them up so that they get to know you. Now you can target them with your re-marketing. You can send them other messages through your chat bot setup, whether they’re messages you type in or messages that you plan your bot to send out. But you’re warming them up so that when they’re ready, they call you up to say, “Hey, I’m ready to buy a house.” 

Somebody might need to be touched by you for five years before they’re ready to sell their house or buy a house. But the key is that once they’re ready, you’re the person that they have had the most interaction with and they’ve gotten the most value from over time. So you’re the first person that they call!

Another option, if you’re working with a builder and they have a couple of floor plans, imagine what you could do with that. You could say, “Oh, hey, you’re interested in working with ABC Builder, here’s five different floor plans that we have available. Which one speaks to you the most?” or “Click here to get a PDF mailed to you of our floor plan samples.” Lots of different options.

You can send a link to anything. You could notify them when you’re going live if you have a pretty regular live show that you do. You can send a message out at the moment you’re going live, maybe 10 minutes in advance. You have a lot of control over the types of messaging that you can do with the audience that reacts to your chat bot.

Here’s a couple bot examples you can check out: 

Bot mentioned in the video

New Listing bot

Comment bot (this is a free banner overlay giveaway)

If you’re interested in learning more we’ve got several trainings available in Savvy Agent Club. 

Read more for the full review of that time when Savvy Agent goes to

CRS Sell-a-bration 2018! 

In this video (from a Facebook live) I share what I learned at CRS Sell-a-bration 2018, what I was astounded at, and what I was surprised wasn’t mentioned by anyone. Since I sell real estate, and of course I support real estate agents, so I went to the CRS Sell-a-bration 2018 convention. CRS stands for Certified Residential Specialist, although they’ve been re-branding to Residential Real Estate Council.  

About the Event

CRS Sell-a-bration is a small event that happens annually around the end of January, beginning of February. The location varies but in 2018 it was in Dallas, TX, at a nice resort. I’ve been to several Sell-a-bration events and this was the largest. There were maybe 1,500 or so people there (this is my guess, I don’t recall actual statistics). I like this event because it’s not so big that you get lost in a sea of agents. It’s small enough that you recognize familiar faces from past events and have the opportunity to network and create new relationships. 

Daily Schedule

Each day begins with a keynote speaker. And, each day ends with a general session open to everyone.

In between there are several breakout sessions to choose from. During each session time slot you get your choice of four breakout sessions, all with varying topics. Some of the more popular sessions are repeated but most times they’re not. So, choose your session wisely!

The popular session topics

In each one of those breakout sessions, there was almost always a speaker on Facebook live or incorporating video into your business. Those were really trendy topics. Then, a lot of the other stuff was just general social media stuff. I agree, these are all important to growing our real estate businesses. 

What I’m calling BS on

In one breakout session, the man teaching mentioned, “Yeah, you should post six times a day on your Facebook business page.”

What? What is he talking about? Six times a day? Are you kidding me? Who gives a shit to hear from a real estate agent six times a day? Maybe there’s a method to his madness, but it is not anything that I am aware of and that’s going to be an exhausting strategy.

What I didn’t hear talked about at all

The one thing that I didn’t hear people talking about was connection. So, let’s say you’re a believer in six posts a day. What are you posting about? Are you posting about yourself? Are you posting about your newest, greatest listing? Are you posting about mortgage rates? I mean, things that don’t necessarily apply all the time to your audience, right? So, it’s hard for your audience to connect with that. Those types of posts probably don’t get a lot of likes. They don’t get a lot of loves. They don’t probably get a lot of reaction at all from your audience because they can’t connect with things they don’t personally relate to.

But if you do a Facebook live and your insert your own personality…

That’s something that people can connect with. When you give them something on a more personal level, they can connect with you. That’s where they’re going to like and/or love  your posts.

If you ask your audience a question like, “Hey, what do you think about oak? I have an oak closet door behind me that I do not love. But, what do you think about it?” it’s something simple that they likely have an opinion on and they’ll hopefully willing to engage with your post.

If your audience is super COLD (meaning there hasn’t been any engagement for a long time) then you might need to ask even simpler questions to start getting engagement. For example, “I’m thinking about replacing my oak door. I’m trying to decide between (A) a white door and (B) a stained door. Which do you like better?”

Facebook Algorithm

You probably heard a bazillion times already about all of the Facebook algorithm changes. The main thing to that is that Facebook is going to serve your content that’s GOOD to more of your audience.

So, posting six times a day isn’t going to beat the Facebook algorithm because it’s hard to connect with people that many times a day. You’re going to exhaust your audience because they’ll be tired of seeing your posts six times a day. (Not to mention exhausting yourself curating that much content.)

And, having six posts a day that are high quality content that CONNECT with people? Unlikely. 

The moral of this story is actually post on social media less.

Definitely use video and use Facebook live, like they were teaching at at the CRS event.

But when somebody tells you, “Oh my gosh, the key to social media is to post all day long,” they don’t know what they’re talking about. If that crazy strategy somehow works for them, they are a real life unicorn. Seriously, that’s not what Facebook recommends. It is not any social media manager recommends.

I’m passing that tip onto you because I know it to be true, and it wasn’t really talked about at this convention.

Don’t post more, but rather post LESS and of higher quality.

When it comes to quality, think about connection. What is your audience going to engage with? What can you include in your post so that your audience CONNECTS with it by liking, loving, commenting and even sharing it. Those are all signs that the post was good which will help you beat the Facebook algorithm and have your post served to more of your audience. And that’s just going to help you grow your audience, therefore, grow your real estate business, right?

So, that’s what I know after Savvy Agent goes to CRS Sell-a-bration 2018.