The folks at EAP like to keep you updated on the social media scene and, a lot has happened since our last update. Social media tends to evolve slowly over time, but recently the evolution has quickened.
It’s important for agents to understand that just because a certain platform may be popular, it may not be popular among your target audience. What good does it do you to advertise or even participate on a platform where the chances of consistently generating leads on it are dinky?
Our first nugget of advice is to ignore the so-called experts in the real estate industry. Then, read advice from those outside the industry with a critical eye. Generic advice may be ideal for one industry and meaningless to another.
Your time is too valuable to invest it in marketing and lead gen techniques aimed at the wrong audience.
Focus on each platform’s U.S. demographics. That is what should inform your brand’s social media strategy going into 2022.
As you consider any social media platform, keep in mind that, according to a recent Zillow study, the largest group of homebuyers is between the ages of 30 to 39. Right behind that group are homebuyers age 40 to 49.
Home sellers are primarily between the ages of Gen Xers: 41 to 74 years old, according to the NAR’s 2021 Generational Trends report.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular social media platforms.
Facebook still reigns supreme when it comes to ranking the various social media platforms. It is, however, experiencing significant changes. Some are welcome (the youngsters are fleeing in droves) some, not so much (heavy-handed, arbitrary censorship and the various scandals).
The good news is that your most-likely clients still hang out there and engaging with them is easy.
- There are 200 million Facebook users in the U.S.
- 56% of US citizens over 65 are on Facebook.
- Users aged 25–34 years are the largest demographic (a mix of Gen Z and Millennials), while those 35 to 44 (Millennials) make up the second largest group (Oberlo.com).
While these demographics are ideal for the agent pursuing Millennial homebuyer leads, keep in mind that Facebook’s popularity appears to be waning.
“… while its global user base continued to grow, with 1.84 billion daily active users worldwide, there are serious signs of user fatigue in some of its core markets …” according to Geoff Desreumaux at wersm.com.
In the United States and Canada, “… daily active users dropped from 196 million in the third quarter [2020] to 195 million in the fourth quarter,” he concludes.
Bonus tips:
- Best times to post to Facebook are from 9 am to 1 pm on Wednesdays
- The highest engagement times on Facebook are from 10 am to 1 pm weekdays. Weekends have the lowest engagement.
Peter McMahon, VP of Learning at Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, shared his recommendation not to neglect up-and-coming social platforms.
“Make sure to also think about social platforms that the next generation of home buyers and sellers are using, like TikTok and Instagram,” he cautioned at inman.com.
He also suggests that you consider “your current contacts: what platforms are they most active on?”
Let’s take a look at a few Instagram demographics:
- 31.4 percent of U.S. Instagram users are between the ages of 25 and 34.
- Nearly 26% of U.S. Instagrammers are between the ages of 18 to 24.
- More than 18% are age 35-44.
As you can see, your target audience as a buyers’ agent doesn’t hang out a lot at Instagram. If you are a listing agent, it appears that zero potential home sellers use the platform.
As more evidence that Instagram might not be the platform for agents (at least right now), here are the top five interests on Instagram:
- Travel
- Music
- Food & Drink
- Fashion
- Film
Real estate isn’t on the list.
It takes from a half hour to nearly an hour and a half to create an Instagram post. Unless you have a staff member devoted to social media, that time will be better spent on Facebook or other platforms with people old enough to use your services.
Listing agents should look for a social media platform that attracts older Americans. So far, that would be Facebook.
TikTok
“The rise of TikTok has given real estate agents another social media platform … to help promote their businesses,” according to Libertina Brandt at Inman.com.
Really? Take a look at the platform’s latest U.S. demographics and then determine whether, at least right now, TikTok is worth your time and energy.
- Only 1/6 of monthly TikTok users live in the U.S.
- The largest group of users is between the ages of 10 and 19.
- 41 percent of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24
- The two most viewed content categories are “Entertainment” and “Dance”
You can find a more detailed demographic breakdown at omincoreagency.com.
Don’t be impressed by other agents’ number of views. Engagement is the metric used for success on TikTok, not views.
“… the algorithm favors pieces of content based on the level of engagement (likes and comments) that they receive,” according to Ada Cuica at outfront.kw.com.
She goes on to tell the story on one agent whose TikTok video brought 32,000 views. This particular video included a call-to-action to receive a homebuyer’s guide.
The response? Less than 1% of the views.
Yet the agent touted this campaign as a raging success.
Real estate CTA’s in general, by the way, have a 7.60% average response rate (VYE Agency).
It’s up to you to determine whether the time it takes to create and post these videos is worth the paltry return you may receive.
It is well-known that Pinterest’s largest demographic is women. But, did you know that the platform “… reaches 60% of all US women, including 80% of moms and 75% of millennial women?” (searchenginejournal.com)
Women control 80% of household purchases. It’s no surprise then that “nearly 80% of the home-buying decisions … are made by women,” according to research conducted by David Powers Homes, a new-home builder.
Knowing this, check this out:
The folks at Pinterest say that the search term “How to buy your first home” has skyrocketed 124%.
Ok, so does your target audience hang out here? Yup.
- A full 50% of Pinterest’s 478 million+ global users live in the US.
- The age group with the highest number of Pinterest users (38%) are 50 to 64 years old (home sellers!).
- 34% of Pinterest users are between 30 and 49 years old (homebuyers and sellers!).
Pinterest can be time consuming in the beginning. Once you get the hang of creating a post and how to link it back to your website the process goes a lot quicker.
Aside from Facebook, we think Pinterest should be on your list. Get ideas from other agents who are active on the platform at pinterest.com.
LinkedIn doesn’t get nearly enough attention when it comes to marketing for real estate agents. It’s crazy because the platform’s demographics are right in line with your target audience.
- “As of 3rd quarter 2020, 40 percent of U.S. internet users aged 46 to 55 years used the professional networking platform LinkedIn,” according to the number crunchers at statista.com.
- Another 40% of internet users age 56+ also use LinkedIn.
No social media platform comes close to LinkedIn when it comes to the ideal user age and annual salary.
LinkedIn also offers some brilliant marketing solutions, including the ability to “… define website audiences for your campaigns,” according to LinkedIn’s website.
I have a friend who is one of the most successful agents in the country. While his Facebook page is jammin’, his tweets go largely ignored.
I chalk it up to the demographics.
- More than 81 million monthly users in the US (statista.com).
- Most of these users are between the ages of 18 to 29 (statista.com).
- Twitter users only spend, on average, 3.39 minutes on the platform (statista.com).
- Most people that use Twitter say that they do so for news, according to Yin Ling at oberlo.com.
The primary user’s age group is far too young to have more than a small handful (if that) interested in buying or selling real estate. Add to that this question: What are the odds you’ll get brand exposure in 3.39 minutes?
Besides, Twitter is a rabbit hole that offers too many distractions.
From our research, we recommend you go big on Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. You’ll get far more bang for the time you’ll invest than any of the other platforms.