Real Estate Marketing Strategies: 3 Ways To Thrive This Season With Katie Lance

Last Friday, we published a blog about creative ways to boost business on Halloween.

On Monday, I received this catalog in the mail.

Yes, that’s my Halloween tablecloth.

While many of us still need to pick up candy for trick-or-treaters, much of the retail and consumer world has already moved onto the winter holidays.

Because, let’s face it, November 1st marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

And the holidays can be a really important time for agents to reconnect with past clients and prospects and bring value to new, qualified leads.

Even if it doesn’t seem that way.

Everyone has their own thing going on during the holidays.

But this time of year offers numerous opportunities for you to grow your business and reach your audience on a more personal, lasting level.

To find out the best ways agents and real estate pros can take advantage of the giving season, we reached out to former Chief Strategist and Social Media Director for Inman News, Katie Lance of Katie Lance Consulting.

Here are her top tips to thrive online this season.

#1) Plan Ahead To Stay Off The Naughty List

Katie’s first tip is to plan out your social media posts ahead of time.

“Not weeks or months out, but plan once a week to schedule 3-5 or so days worth of content.  The holiday season is a busy time so scheduling some of your content in advance can help,” she said.

Meet Katie: CEO/Owner, Speaker and Social Media Strategist at Katie Lance Consulting

This may already be part of your marketing strategy but if not, the holidays are a great time to get on a schedule.

If you are stuck on what to post, this content grid from Katie will give you 30+ ideas.

Once you decide what you want to focus on for the week, you have several options for deciding how you’re going to roll out the content.

You can do it manually, or schedule with a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite.

On Facebook, you can also schedule posts directly to your business page and then edit them later on.

Again, everyone has their plates full this time of year so planning ahead is going to be crucial to ensure that you continue to provide quality, valuable content for your network.

Because whether your audience is on the go or not, chances are they’ll still be connected on social media.

It’s your job to make sure you remain part of the conversation.

Here’s a free flyer we made for agents last Thanksgiving to help them get more referrals.

Providing helpful advice to your area about how to winterize their property (how to prevent pipes from freezing, for example), DIY and holiday decorating projects or a holiday guide to your city are all great ways to speak to your audience right now.

Remember, no matter how many selling or buying guides Zillow or Truila put out for the winter season, they can never replace you as the local expert.

So, get a head start and put together the ultimate guide for selling during the holidays.

Small gestures can go a long way as well.

Last Christmas, we also put together a few totally free, customizable greeting cards for agents to mail out to their lists.

#2) Get Your Content Together

Katie suggests setting aside a designated time each week to create content.

Again, hopefully you’ve already carved out some time for this.

Katie recommends putting just one hour aside to create 5-7 graphics to accompany your social posts.

Her favorite phone apps for quick graphic designs are WordSwag or Over.

She, like us, also uses PicMonkey.com or Canva.com to create custom graphics.

We posted this Canva image to Facebook to wish fans a happy turkey day last year.

Once you have ‘batched’ content, put everything into a Dropbox or Google Drive folder and when you are ready to schedule your content (see tip 1) you will be good to go.

#3) Make It Personal

The holidays are a great time to share your own personal family holiday traditions.

Katie said that a personal photo or post is more meaningful than a generic stock photo and that this is a great opportunity to connect on a personal level.

If you’re still working to add that personal touch to your business, your time is now.

Share photos of your Christmas tree, decorating, gift wrapping…etc.

I mean, this is all stuff you’re going to be doing anyway.

So let your network in on the fun.

Even sharing related content to give viewers a good laugh can be a great way to relate and get some of your content shared and engaged with in a new, organic way.

And if you haven’t updated your profile picture all year, now’s a great time to show your holiday spirit and replace that professional head shot with a more personal photo.

Also, don’t forget to comment and engage with your clients when they share their holiday traditions!

In addition to providing tips and advice, this is also a great time to get directly involved with your community.

Consider organizing a canned food, winter clothing or toy drive.

If you start now you’ll have plenty of time to prepare and encourage others to join you.

You can create a Facebook event, set goals and post weekly updates on your Facebook business page.

About Katie

 

Katie is the Founder of Katie Lance Consulting and the #GetSocialSmart Academy. Katie’s clients include companies such as RE/MAX International, DocuSign, RPM Mortgage, SmartZip and many others. Katie has been ranked the last two years by Inman News as one of the top 100 individuals in real estate. Katie is also a frequent keynote speaker, a contributor to The Huffington Post and formerly was the Chief Strategist for Inman News.

Keep up with Katie and read her blog HERE 

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Tyler Zey

Hey! I'm Tyler with Easy Agent Pro! We provide top notch marketing content for realtors... And we do it for FREE! I get excited about sharing tactics and strategies that can be implemented TODAY.

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