How to Get Started with Organic Social Media
Need to get your social media done but really not sure what you need, where to start, and how to make it work with everything else?
A Quick & Easy Organic Social Media How-To for Your Real Estate Business
Keep on reading to find out what tools of the trade you’ll need, what social platforms you really need, and how to link it all together and make it all work to bring you visibility, leads, business, and SEO in today’s real estate market. And if you decide you just don’t feel like doing it yourself or need a little help, then check out how I can help you at WGSD and give me a call or email for a special discounted price for platform creation or social media posting packages for Active Rain Members only.
Have questions about Organic Social Media vs Paid Ad Strategy? Go to my most recent Blog Post “Social Media Organic and Paid, Kind of Like Peanut Butter & Jelly!”
Why Organic Social Media?
It’s not just a marketing tool – it’s a necessity!
Social media is not just about getting likes. That’s a just small part of it. According to a survey performed by Animoto, 58% of consumers visit your social profiles before they visit your website. What you post on your feed will shape their opinion of your business—and that matters. Organic social media is an opportunity to show who you are, your personality, your team, and your values. Organic posts work to build trust in your brand. According to research from Sprout Social, when a customer feels connected to your brand, 68% will recommend your brand to a friend, and 76% will buy from you over a competitor.
While paid can get you fast followers, organic can gain you loyal customers who do the groundwork over time to bring you more meaningful business. Remember: A loyal consumer can do more for you than someone who sees and likes your content just once.
Setting Realistic Goals
Use your Organic Social Media to build & nurture customer relationships. You want to be seen as a trustworthy face for your brand. You want people to think of you when they want to buy or sell a house. You want them to recommend you to their friends. You want them to say ‘Hey, check out my awesome REALTOR®” because they have come to know you, trust you, and love you – because you offer value and insight and information and give them great service. You can do this on social media by:
- Creating high-quality, memorable content of value
- Connecting with business partners and community members
- Connecting with loyal consumers and prompting them to advocate for your brand
- Developing messaging that shows your brand values
- Creating a “face” for your business that creates relationships and creates trust
If you keep posting organically, the followers and the likes will come. But remember – Organic Social Media does take time – this is the long game, but also the NECESSARY foundation.
So, Let’s Talk Platforms
You really need more than one, and I recommend 3 minimum! (different markets – different niches) Usually post 3 times a week to each one – but you can cross post. Use varied content Varied times of day – FB will actually tell you now when most of your followers are online.
In order of importance:
#1 – Google My Business
#2 – Facebook
Definitely Needed – Largest demographic for Realtors Clients in addition to Google and by far the easiest platform to post on. A MUST HAVE for Future Ads and paid posts for leads, etc.
#3 Instagram
IG goes hand in hand with Facebook now – yep – I know it’s a pain – But you definitely need it and you can automatically link it to your FB Account for certain posts. This platform is really more photo/graphic based – much more visible, but you still need copy and hashtags (we’ll get to those hashtags, don’t worry) Downside – NOT link friendly unless you are posting stories or reels – a discussion for another time.
#4 – Tik-Tok
Yep – Tik Tok – Crazy, right? I Never Thought I would say it, but here I am – sayin it. If you love creating 15 second videos, this is for you! Over 500 million active viewers daily! (includes international) There is definitely value in this platform and it’s becoming more and more effective for realtors. It allows you to grab clients attention super quick with beautiful video. It’s not about doing a silly dance or stunt anymore – Realtors are using this platform to quickly capture a stunning shot of a property, a specific feature, a specific view, overlaying it with some important information and a brief audio or comment and they are gaining clients.
- Short videos
- Super simple
- Grabs attention quickly & more accessible to view than IG or YouTube
- Can re-use this video content on other platforms – Stories & Reels on FB & IG & YouTube – automatically can share with IG and You Tube – increases your reach and drives traffic
- NOT oversaturated yet for Realtors – you can stand out more
- Reach the next generation of your demographic
- In the US – 138 million Tik Tok users daily
The percentage of U.S.-based Tik Tok users by age:
10-19 – 32.5%, 20-29 – 29.5%, 30-39 – 16.4%, 40-49 – 13.9%, 50+ – 7.1%.
This means that the TikTok userbase is aging up (so get on it now!). All data via Comscore.
2 great videos on this to watch – they’re short, I promise!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggNl1mx8LS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIT2XhYcsN4
#5 – Linked In
Anybody with a business (and a pulse) should have a Linked In account. While the vibe may be different, the connections are there and invaluable.
#6 – YouTube
I think everyone should have a you tube channel. This is an invaluable resource as a holding place for any videos, you can brand them, upload your listings, virtual tours, open houses, etc. and really just share your Realtor Knowledge. You can also upload your Tik-Tok videos here as well. Did I mention SEO?
#7 – Twitter
– meh – couldn’t hurt, but not a huge priority, not a huge fan, can you tell? With billions of people tweeting every single second it is hard to be seen effectively. and you would have to post every day. Don’t get me wrong, it is good to use it, but not as much a priority as the top 3 or 4.
Tools of The Trade
Here are a few tools and applications that will make this much easier – and bonus – all have free versions.
a super easy intuitive graphics program that will let you create your own graphics, cover headers, simple logos, posts, and even videos for your social media platforms. Canva has tons of templates for social media posts in all formats – you can change the colors, text, add your logo and branding, and even post directly to social media from Canva. It truly is a MUST HAVE.
another graphics tool with a free version – great for graphs, flow charts, infographics, etc.
The emoji search engine. A fast emoji search experience with options to browse every emoji by name, category, or platform. I keep this tab open when I post social media so I can grab my emojis quickly to add them to my posts.
A link shortener – so basically, instead of including long cumbersome urls/links in your posts, you can create a much shorter version of that same link. This comes in handy when your character count may be limited in a post or even if you want to customize a link.
Google Calendar
a simple and free way to create your own content planning calendar. You can add the graphic you created as a file and put the post copy in here and have a calendar created in advance so you will keep track of when where and how often to post. Also, a great place to store your hashtags so you can copy and paste them into each post.
Get suggestions from Grammarly while you write in desktop applications and sites across the web—as you move between apps, social media, documents, messages, and emails. Great way to check your copy, mechanics and spelling and get suggestions for word choice.
Research your Keywords: https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/ – Just like what Charra from YourSiteNeedsMe had shared previously for websites – the same goes for social media posts – Keywords matter! Choose Keywords that will bring you a CUSTOMER – be specific instead of using “Homes for sale in NV “ Use “houses for sale in Las Vegas Nevada” which gets 1K – 10K searches a month and has Medium Competition and 7 words in the phrase. Additionally, it SCREAMS “I WANT TO BUY A HOUSE!”. .
Google Docs
a great place to write all your copy first and make any corrections before you add it to your posts.
These are link applications that allow you to have all of your social media, website, or any other kind of URL housed in one LINK for people to go check you out. I highly recommend you create one of these as certain platforms like Instagram limit the amount of links you can have in your bio and this will get you around that. Also – free 
Check them both out – and see which you prefer. This is a MUST HAVE!
a great way to make sure you stay within your allotted character count – a necessary evil.
For those of you feeling brave – Video Software to edit, tweak, etc. – Kapwing. Lets you take out dead space, shorten, add music, add graphics, etc – and yep, they have a free version – definitely has a learning curve if you are not familiar, but a valuable tool for sure!
Platform Creation
***SUPER IMPORTANT – SERIOUSLY***
Always Make Sure you create a Business Page/Profile (not just a Personal Profile – You risk having your account disabled if you use your personal account for business :-( The only exception to this would be Linked In, where you CAN create a business page, but don’t have to. Try to also utilize your business email address – preferably one that has your domain name in it – example: Lisa@WGSDVirtualAssistant.com
What You Need to Build Your Profiles
A profile/page name – this should be simple and can be your company name or “your name/Realtor”, etc. If you work for a franchise, IE – Remax – I would not suggest having that in your profile name, but you should include in the info on your page.
- Bio Pic – People want to see YOU
- Cover Pic – Each platform requires a different size. Canva is your friend
- A Short Bio/About – what you do, how can you help them, what will they gain by choosing you.
- The areas you service and any specialty that you are known for.
- Your name
- Company name
- Your logo/company logo
- Contact info – email address, office phone, cell phone, license #, etc
- Company address
- Your other social media URLs
- Link to your website
- LinkTree or SmartBio link
- Calendar schedule link if you use one
- Your business hours
Plan/Strategy – What to Post
- Newest listings, open houses, solds
- Update of the week
- Amusing anecdotal silly or fun memes, inspirational quotes, things that show you are human and spotlight your personality a little bit
- CTA’s – a link back to your website, saved searches, a link to the free home valuation report to collect their info – bonus!, A link to your most recent blog post (SEO SEO SEO)
- Community events, real estate helpful hints & tricks, decorating trends, a random recipe, homebuyer checklists
- Videos of open houses, virtual tours
- Client review videos if you have any
- Office agent videos just saying “Hi” or introducing a new agent
- Videos Videos Videos
Things to exclude: Politics, religion, hot topics that are controversial – these are for your personal page – NOT your business pages.
What to Include in Your Post
- Headline
- Great simple clear concise copy with KEYWORDS sprinkled in
- Details/links depending on what the post is for (use those IDXBroker Saved Searches & Blog Links)
- Instagram posts get a “Link In Bio” statement for any links – This is why you need LinkTree or SmartBio
- Bright colorful on-brand graphics and/or VIDEO
- Call To Action
- Emoji’s
- Request to “Please Like & Share”
- Hashtags
We Interrupt this Broadcast to Bring You Hashtags
Why are hashtags important? Think of Hashtags as similar to keywords in their searching purpose for social media – They are a searching mechanism, So Let’s say someone is on Instagram and they enter the #realtorsinatlanta – Instagram is going to come back with a bunch of profiles or posts that have used that hashtag. Kind of brilliant I think, but so simple. So – the more relevant hashtags you use, the more you will show up when people search for the specific hashtags you have used.
How Often and When to Post
Keep in mind that these are generalizations. For more specific and exacting days and times check out: Statusbrew.com
- Google My Business – Once a week, 9am – 11 am
- Facebook – 3 times a week, 9 am, 1 – 3 pm
- Instagram – 3 times a week, daily for stories and reels 10 am – 3 pm Before work, lunch time, after work
- Tik-Tok – Once per day or more – Yikes! Crack of dawn
- Linked In – Once a week, 9 am – 5 pm Wednesday & Thursday
- YourTube – As frequently as you can, 2 – 4 pm, Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday
- Twitter – Multiple times a day – Nope!
Bonus Material Coming Shortly – Platform Creation Videos & Canva Video
Watch for Next Blog where I will walk you through “ALL THE THINGS” and show you how to get your platforms done.
And – If you decide you just DON’T want to do it yourself – you can have me do it! *Mention this blog for a special discount!
If you’re just not feeling the whole “organic social media thing”, but you know you need it – ’cause yeah, you do need it – I can help you with that too – *Mention this blog for a special discount!
I’d love to hear your comments on this post! And, if you have any ideas you would like me to blog about please feel free to add them in the comments for me!
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