2014 is just around the corner and it’s getting to be almost impossible to avoid the hype of social media for one more year. Social media can help almost any business, person or brand market itself—especially real estate.

How Social Media Can Take Real Estate to the Next Level

1. Brand exposure
2. Referrals
3. Connecting With Other Professionals

Before we dive into the nitty gritty, we should probably tell you what social media is—in case you don’t know.

What is Social Media?

Social media is a platform for people within virtual communities and networks to share and/or exchange information. It also gives real estate professionals the opportunity to announce their residential or commercial listings across major social networking sites, according to Geek Estate. The plethora of social media sites available will also give real estate agents the chance to dive into their community, make themselves more accessible to their clients and become more than just an agent. The goal is for prospective buyers to feel like they know you, which will make it much easier for them to trust you.

Brand Exposure and Getting Your Name Out There

You don’t want to be seen, not heard. You want to be both, but you don’t want to sound like a broken record pushing marketing campaign after marketing campaign. That will drive users away from your site.

Our friends at Geek Estate suggest that you create a business site and start a blog to get started. We personally like WordPress, but you can use whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

Blog about your community—what there is to do or why you personally like living there, announce new listings or write about current trends in the industry. It is completely up to you. Just make sure you’re providing users something with value.

Success won’t happen overnight, but if you keep at it, you will see results. Eventually people will flock to your site, but for now, you’ve just got to keep plugging away.

Brand Exposure Creates Referrals, Helps you connect to Other Professionals

Once you’ve got an audience, post your content to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is great for connecting with other real estate agents. Join groups, comment with something of value and you’ll see your network grow before your eyes.

Twitter is great for posting links and small tidbits of information like new listings.

A real estate agent that has been working with Fifty Social Media since May of 2013 says more home buyers have showed up at almost all of her open houses since June, that have found out about the listing from Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin (from a referring agent).

She has closed three real estate transactions from leads generated from her social media campaigns, according to the article from Geek Estate.

If you make it a point to post on your blog, social media sites, connect with other professionals and keep up on the latest trends in the industry, social media for real estate should be a no brainer. Remember that success won’t happen overnight, but if you keep plugging away, you will see results.