All the cool kids are on social media these days. The not-so-cool kids seem to be there as well. That means the buyers, sellers and renters are looking at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms.
You want to connect with those buyers, sellers and renters.
The trouble is that social media is a pretty broad universe. Trying to keep up with it, post content to it and generally make your presence known seems like it would take an army of assistants.
There are benefits to keeping up with social media, though.
Social media can:
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Boost traffic to your website
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Establish you as an expert on real estate
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Show you care by trying to provide information to others
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Target your advertising to specific demographics
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Connect you with people who can help your business
The bigger your presence on social media, the higher the likelihood that you will make things happen in your business.
It’s All About Scheduling
As you post more and more content on social media, you start having more and more people follow you. Assuming you are posting useful content, people will start expecting a regular schedule from you.
Many social media experts will tell you that it really doesn’t matter the frequency of your posting. What matters is that you do it consistently.
That’s where our latest Tech Tip lesson comes in…
There’s a website called Buffer that helps to schedule all your posts to your social media accounts.
Without something like Buffer, you will have to upload your posts individually to each of your accounts inluding:
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Facebook
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Twitter
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LinkedIn
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Pinterest
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Instagram
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Google+
Not only that, but if you want the posts to go out at different times, you have to be available to post at those times. That could put a serious crimp in your schedule. After all, motivated sellers, investors and potential buyers don’t check your social media schedule before they call you.
You don’t want to miss their call so make sure you post on time. Buffer takes the worry out of posting on time.
You can set up a free account to start with Buffer. Although a free account will only allow you to post to two social media platforms, you can still effectively promote your business.
Once you have set up your account you can go to your Buffer dashboard.
Buffer has several tabs in the dashboard that allow you to manage your social media content all in one place. Just as if you are posting on one social media platform, you can add various forms of content:
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Links to useful content
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Photos and videos
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Your own content, comments or edits on the other content
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Newsfeeds from your or other people’s websites
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Create your own images and customize them for your business
Buffer has teamed up with the website Pablo to allow you to create an image with promotional or informational text on it. That way, you can create great custom images to support your content.
After uploading your content to the dashboard, you will want to schedule when your content goes out and where it will go.
Head on over to the scheduling tab. From there you can schedule both days and times to push your content out.
The days that will have content pushed out are highlighted in blue. If you want to suspend posting but keep the schedule intact, just un-highlight all the days and it will stop.
‘Content inspiration’ can hit at any moment…
You may be surfing the web, or out and about with nothing but your smartphone. Buffer makes it easy to capture that content.
For times when you are surfing, Buffer has an extension that you can add to your browser. When you see something worth posting, add it to Buffer with just one click.
If you find something on your phone, Buffer has apps for both Apple and Android operating systems.
Is Your Time on Social Media Worth It?
Even with Buffer, social media management takes time. You still have to search for or create great content, and set up Buffer to push it out.
Wouldn’t you like to see whether all your efforts are paying off?
Buffer just launched a ‘Buffer for Business’ part of their software that has detailed analytics tracking. Buffer has partnered with Google Analytics to give you a very good idea of the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.
Buffer can give you a graphical representation of your ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ from all the social media accounts you have registered with the site.
If you like the more ‘spreadsheet-y’ way of seeing your data, you can put it in table format as well.
The business version also allows you to collaborate with your team to coordinate your social media campaigns, and export your analytic data for further analysis. As you can imagine, the business version of Buffer is a little more expensive as well.
In another tech lesson, we also reviewed Hootsuite. Hootsuite is an alternative to Buffer. This video can show you whether Buffer or Hootsuite is better for you.
Successful real estate investing requires a successful marketing campaign. These days social media needs to be part of any successful marketing. Buffer and Hootsuite can help you at a very reasonable cost.
Questions, Comments
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Get on Social Media – You can bet your competition is doing it. And they are seeing results!
Use Automation – You can’t possibly run all aspects of your real estate business on your own. Find tools that will help you automate that business.
Help Others – If you come across something that would help out a friend, colleague or other acquaintance, send it to them. Without expecting anything in return. Don’t worry. Whatever goes around, comes around.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.