Many real estate professionals have exercised tremendous creativity in their approach to overcoming challenging markets by incorporating social media into their marketing plans and business practice. Agents and brokers are also finding success in lead generation, brand recognition, increased sales and recruiting. 

Social media sites that are being widely used include:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Flickr

Using photo and video sharing for listings and marketing them through social media have proven to be successful in tough times. Social media tools are an extremely cost-effective way to get additional marketing and exposure. In real estate, you know the saying, “location, location, location.” Real estate professionals can boost their visibility in a given location very easily and inexpensively through social media sites and are able to market themselves more effectively as well. 

Additionally, in a market such as Houston with its large international audience, social media marketing can help get listings out to potential foreign buyers. These consumers often times purchase properties never having set foot in them. Don’t forget about the “out-of-town” domestic buyers, too. The more photos, videos and social media sites a property is on can sometimes increase the likeliness of the property garnering enough exposure and being sold quicker and generate leads.

Perhaps social media is now a staple of marketing. While there still may be resistance by some to subscribe to the social media craze, it is being proven successful in real estate. Why not give it a try?  

A few social media tips:
1. You must work at it on a consistent and regular basis.
2. Be Patient. Success takes a little time.
3. Integrity. Be yourself.
4. Post/tweet variety. It keeps things interesting for your audience.
5. When getting started, it can help to use training.
6. Make notes of your successes and learn from any setback.

HAR offers a number of social media classes and an SMP (Social Media Pro) HAR Designation. Go to www.har.com/edu for more information.

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