This is the 2nd post from a Realtor this month. Check out our other interview here.

Please meet my friend Andrew Fortune who I met on social media just a couple months ago. He sells real estate in Colorado and writes an awesome real estate blog.

I was curious how he finds time to write as much as he does and what benefits he sees from the blog. So I asked him to share his story with the Easy Agent Pro community. I’ll let Andrew take it from here. -Tyler

Click here to get our free real estate blogging and social media course!

Join The Free Blogging & Social Course

Enter Andrew – 

Have you noticed how many people prefer to communicate through emails and text messages these days? I coordinated two new showing requests today through text messages from new leads. It’s become the preferred method of communication for many consumers. Up until fairly recently, being a Realtor meant constantly being on the phone. Now, some days I will have several hours between phone calls. In business, written communication is simply more professional, and is usually faster.

Since people like to have things simplified and in writing, why not give it to them that way? What are your reasons for not blogging? You’re probably already doing it and didn’t realize it. Do you find yourself putting together emails explaining how the earnest money works and/or what to expect at closing? If so, then you are already writing blog posts, you’re just not formatting and sharing it. As a real estate professional, you are constantly sharing your knowledge with people in a one-on-one environment. Imagine taking your informative conversations and turning them into public blog posts. What kind of exposure would that bring to your business? How long would that exposure last?

This is the concept behind content marketing. You are offering information in exchange for exposure. This exposure snowballs into online business growth that you can direct anywhere you want. The most common form of content marketing for Realtors is the combination of blogging and social media. Think of blogging as your keynote presentation and social media as your stage. All you need is a website and a great real estate logo design, then you’ll be good to go!

Here are 5 reasons why blogging & social media are a powerful combination for generating leads:

Reason #1: You can share your knowledge with a limitless amount of people at once.

Instead of educating one person at a time, like emails do, you can share your insights with everyone online. This may seem unappealing to real estate professionals who feel like their information and insight is something to be protected. Why would you want to share your hard earned wisdom, right? The short answer is: because we live in an information age like never before. If you don’t share your knowledge, someone else will, and they will receive the local exposure. Almost everything you know as a real estate professional can be found somewhere online. If it’s not available right now, it will be soon. You’re not the only person who knows how to do your job, but you can be the only person who provides that information to your local consumers online. There are not many individual real estate professionals doing this right now; it’s mostly national real estate companies. Blogging your personal insight and sharing it through social media allows you to reach everyone online, and target your efforts to those who you are most interested in working with.

Reason #2: It’s a Professional Way to Educate Consumers and Your Clients

I received an email yesterday from a new lead.

Here’s what it said:

“My wife and I have been reading some of your articles, which we found really helpful. Can you recommend any local lenders so we can start the mortgage pre-approval process? Thanks!”

These are the kind of leads you receive when you put valuable information on your website. People like to get as much information upfront as they can. It’s empowering for them. If you understand this and provide that information, you will be their favorite Realtor before they even meet you.

One way to always stay in front of your local consumers is to create a nice infographic template for monthly statistics. I create Colorado Springs Real Estate Market infographics every month and share it on our local Facebook Group pages. They get passed around by local consumers online, which casts my brand out over the city each month. It’s a modern day tool to educate consumers without being pushy. It provides value, while also carrying my brand. This method of blogging and sharing on social media is a great way to build your brand by educating local consumers.

Here is one for example:

Reason #3: It’s a great way to attract consumers, rather than chase them!

Is your inbox loaded with sales promotions? Do you dread the relentless phone calls from the over-caffeinated sales person from Zillow? How do you like being “chased” as a consumer? Personally, it drives me crazy. It makes me defensive and less likely to use a product or service when they treat me like a “lead”. I prefer to work with companies who offer valuable information on their website without extracting information from me. It shows that they are confident and secure. This method of doing business is much more appealing and usually attracts the best consumers. This is one of the great advantages of blogging and sharing on social media. It trains you to communicate your business style in an attractive presentation on a regular basis.

A good example of this is Carmax. I recently bought a car and my experience with Carmax was great. I searched every local dealership and talked to many sales people. When I found a car that I was interested in online, I usually had to give my contact information to receive more info about the car. I would then get chased down by sales calls for weeks afterwards. In contrast, when I went to the Carmax website, ALL of the information was available online. I could buy a car and have it shipped to my city from anywhere in the U.S. and never have to deal with a sales person. Their method of doing business is starting to change the car dealership industry. They are attracting consumers, rather than chasing them. This is a benefit to blogging and networking on social media that is extremely important to me.

Click here to get our free real estate blogging and social media course!

Join The Free Blogging & Social Course

Reason #4: Your customers will know that you are the expert before they ever meet you.

When I show up to an appointment, I receive fewer questions about my credentials than I did before using social media. Often people will research my name before we meet. They will see that I have a healthy following in the real estate community. They can also track my conversations and notice that I regularly write articles to help home buyers and sellers. They know that I am an advocate for their success before we ever meet. This makes my job much easier!

As a real estate professional, your experiences provide you with a rich depth of knowledge. The problem is that many consumers will never know the extent of your expertise unless they get one-on-one personal time with you. Blogging your knowledge and sharing it on social media gives you the advantage of having your valuable insight open to the public. When they finally meet you in person, they will have respect for you based off of your online presence. Your blogging and social media efforts will show your value to your customers before they ever meet you!

Reason #5: Social Media Gives Your Access To The Heavy Hitters

There have been times where I have become too busy to invest time into content creation and social media. It seems that every time I find myself in this situation, without fail, someone I network with will ask me to do a guest blog or help them with a project. These moments have helped me to stay on track and keep building my online presence. The professionals that I network with play a large role in my success. When you create content that is useful, other professionals will respect you for it. You will become a part of a larger group of professionals who are committed to blogging and social media. This is an invaluable group of people to be connected with.

For instance, Tyler saw a recent post I did called “What Does It Really Mean To Be Represented By a Realtor?” and reached out to me. He recognized that we are both real estate content creators and wanted to collaborate together. You are reading my article right now as a direct result of my blogging and social media efforts. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to write for many other great real estate blogs as well. Good blogging and social media creates new relationships with some of the most impressive real estate professionals in the industry. This is one of my favorite benefits of this work.

Final Thoughts

There are many different ways to grow your real estate business. From spending money on Zillow to working open houses every weekend; the options seem endless. I would sit down and calculate the long-term benefits of your preferred method of getting business. Chances are that blogging and social media yield the highest long-term benefits to your brand and sales success.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Click here to get our free real estate blogging and social media course!

Join The Free Blogging & Social Course