Hey REALTORS®! Are you struggling with content ideas to post to your social media accounts on a consistent basis?
We’re going to help you tackle some of your social media post challenge concerns next week and even reward you for putting the effort. Creating a strong and consistent content strategy for your social media presence isn’t always easy to do or easy to maintain, but once you read this article in its entirety you will see how you can do it, how we can help, and how it will pay off!
- Understanding Social Media Posting Frequency
- Tackling Social Media Post Timing
- Three Social Media B’s
- Winning with Our Social Media Post Challenge
This week was a little shorter for many real estate professionals, teams, and brokers because of the Independence Day holiday. But that shorter holiday week came as a relief for some because they thought – shorter week, less to worry about when it came to a content strategy and they didn’t have to think as much about any social media post challenges. There was a built-in topic: Fourth of July. So, yes – you could have talked about the amazing weather this week, Fourth of July projects and events with family, new listings or open house opportunities, but what are you going to post about on your social platforms next week – or the week after that?
Understanding Social Media Posting Frequency
Part of understanding the social media post challenge is to understand the frequency and timing of it all.
When it comes to the frequency of posting, the biggest challenge you’ll need to overcome is really two-fold:
- Consistency in your content, branding, and frequency
- Understanding your unique value in content, branding and frequency
As a REALTOR®, you really should be posting to the following platforms on a consistent basis.
- Facebook at least once a day, 5-7 days a week — this should be done to a business page
- LinkedIn 3-5 days a week — this should be done to a personal profile page
- Instagram around 5 days a week and/or Pinterest 3-5 times a week — this could be done to either a personal or a business profile
You should also be publishing content on Google My Business at least 3 times a week. And, if you have the capacity to do so, you should be uploading content to a business channel on YouTube several times a month or more.
For those larger teams with more activity happening, more collective content, or any real estate professional looking to enhance SEO strategies for their own websites – you can also be looking at the incorporation of Twitter! To be most effective with Twitter, plan on posting several times throughout a day and 5-7 days a week.
Understanding the Timing of Social Media Posting
There is no real cut and dry answer for this. WHY? Because every business is different, every market is different, every geographic location is different, and every individual’s network within that platform is different. Additionally, the time spent engaging with consumers and users on these platforms will vary from business owner to business owner – and that cannot be predicted.
There are THREE BIG B’s when it comes to Social Media:
- BE Present – you need to be there to be seen
- BRING Value through Content – no one will pay attention if you don’t have something useful, fun, or engaging to say
- BE Responsive – you need to engage with your audience so you’re not seen as just a junk content pusher who doesn’t care what others are saying, asking about, or feeling – AND, you also need to be ready to respond – if you just push content one day and don’t check back in until days later, you’ve most likely already missed an opportunity to make a connection
If you are just opening up a business page and pasting up your logo to it along with the occasional funny post – or worse yet, just advertisements of your products, services, or solutions – then you are missing the point! And, with this lack of discipline you will continue to teeter totter, waste your time, your energy and your resources. The struggle is real, but it can all be avoided.
You need to understand your own usage patterns – insights to your post reach, engagement, and what times of the week and times of the day are best achieving your goals.
BUT! What if you don’t have your own usage history and data to refer to, yet? Where or how do you know where to start?
We start by looking at one of two things:
- Platform-wide statistical data and patterns of usage – or –
- Your competition
The first is easier than the 2nd since we’re not always privy to enough data about the 2nd to make some reasonable assumptions. Platform-wide stats are often reported to or through large, public statistical analysis resources. Although, more keyed-in information and data has been locked down for privacy reasons, data like platform user consumption on certain days and at certain times is information still freely and safely provided. So, then it’s just a matter of seeking out that information from reputable reporters. Fortunately for you, we’ve pulled together a number of these for you already!
- According to recently shared data from our friends at sproutsocial, Tuesdays through Fridays are the best days, with THE best day happening on Wednesday between 11 AM and 12 PM.
- Ironically, LinkedIn looks very similar for someone who has not established their own following and reach trends. We turned to Oberlo.com for this insight who notes that weekends and after work hours are usually the hardest to connect with. However, we should note, at the time of that research, a lot of employees were still in the office during the hours and utilizing breaks throughout the day to research personal job growth opportunities or strategic moves. But, since COVID-19, workerforce activity online has adjusted to new at-home-work-scheduling.
Both sproutsocial and Oberlo are great authorities and trusted resources when it comes to general small business information and advice amidst statistical data, so we turned to them again for platform wide stats for the following as well:
- Instagram – Best times are Wednesdays and Fridays between 10 AM and 1 PM. Worst time – Sunday.
- Twitter – Best times again are Wednesdays and Fridays between 9 AM and 11 AM. Worst time – Saturday.
- YouTube – Best times to post were Thursdays and Fridays between 12 PM and 4 PM or Saturday and Sundays between 9 AM and 11 AM. This gives the video enough time to be indexed and then consumed by the public in the evening hours or weekends when they’re most likely to watch. (Although, again, consumption of this medium has changed a bit since COVID-19 where viewers are taking a break in the middle of the afternoon to find more uplifting content like John Krasinski’s popular channel – Some Good News (SGN).
With all that said – YOUR best days and times could be vastly different than this because of who you’re reaching, who finds your content of interest, and when they are most likely to be online, so it’s important that you monitor your social media’s insights and adjust accordingly. We work with several businesses who routinely find success going against the platforms’ norms!
OKAY – So, we’ve talked about which platforms you should look at. We talked a little about the frequency for each of those platforms and we even discussed what times you should be focused on publishing content when you do publish content. So, now here’s the big question everyone asks — “WHAT should I talk about? What should I post on social media for my real estate business?”
We have a LARGE list of topics you could talk about, but we think it’s more helpful if we actually break it down into bite sized challenges for you to try rather than just giving you list with 50-100 topics to choose from without rhyme or reason. So…
This is Our Seven-Day Social Media Post Challenge for REALTORS®
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to post about these topics on two of your social platforms every day for the next week – and ONE of those platforms MUST be Facebook and those posts must be on your business page. Once it’s published, go ahead and SHARE the post to your personal profile and TAG @Back2BasicsMN and include #REALTORSocialChallenge.
For EACH post you complete and successfully share with that hashtag to @Back2BasicsMN, we’ll enter you name into a drawing for a prize valued at $50.
Rules/Restrictions? You only qualify if you meet each step of the process. All posts must be completed no later than July 19th. You only get credit for one post per subject per day. And, you must post the daily challenges consecutively as published below. You must complete the consecutive 7 days within 8 days from your first post; Day 1 – example: if you start the post challenge on July 1st, your LAST post must publish by July 8th. You can post to any social platform you like, but you must post to your business page on Facebook. And, finally, you must share that published post to your personal Facebook timeline and tag @Back2BasicsMN with #REALTORSocialChallenge when you share it.
What do you win? Your choice of $50 credit to JB Anderson Inspections (Twin Cities Only), $50 Visa Card, or $50 credit to Office Depot online.
Here is the DAILY Post Challenge for SEVEN DAYS.
DAY 1) Highlight upcoming events THIS WEEK – online & offline – especially if they pertain to your local market area.
DAY 1.2 ) Highlight local neighborhood stats – your online community loves to see what’s happening to their market, even they’re not quite ready to make a move. Show them you’re still on top of it despite their urgency.
DAY 2) Highlight your favorite local pub or restaurant – and tag them in the post if they have a profile on that same social platform, or provide their website address. This shows your lighter side, your connection to your neighborhood, and your support of other local businesses.
DAY 3) Time for some Q&A. You know the questions. You’ve been asked them hundreds of times, which means others have the same questions. Show off your expertise. No question is too silly or too small.
DAY 4) It’s Favorite Pic Day – Pick your favorite social media image and recirculate it with your own short caption! #favoritepicoftheday
DAY 5) Are you planning any open houses this coming weekend? Whether you’re holding a live open, your planning an open house via LIVE Stream, or you’ve pre-recorded a home tour and want to plan a “Open House Reveal” event time… let the world know you’re out there doing your thing!
DAY 6) CLIENT CELEBRATIONS – There’s nothing more fun for you AND your clients to see then a celebrated win on social media. Whether they were selling or buying a home, clients love to share their success stories with family and friends, as well as being appreciated for their business with you. So let them shine today!
DAY 7) Coming Soon posts are great for everyone! They make sellers happy to see your efforts and to be able to share your posts with their social network. But, it also puts potentially interested buyers and their agents on notice in this limited inventory market! Win-Win posts.
How many of these will you complete the week of July 19th?
REQUEST access to our new VIP Page on Facebook for a BONUS draw! We’ll draw winners the week of July 20th and post the winner to our Facebook Business page.
For more great social media posting challenges OR for help with your social media strategy and content development needs, contact Back2Basics, LLC today for free initial call to discuss your options today.
