Supercharge Your Online Marketing

Today’s web is a very noisy place, so competing for eyeballs is no small feat. Smart marketers know that it’s no longer enough to talk about you, your product, how fantastic your service is, throw a couple of testimonials on your site and call it a day.

In order to create action & engagement, you must first earn the interest and trust of your target. So how do you do this?

Create content that informs, educates or excites, or all of the above. When you create content that people read and interact with, that is a great start. Create content that people share, well now you’ve discovered the secret.

Bring on social media and blogs. The rise and popularity of social media consumption gives you as a marketer a great opportunity to create the type of content mentioned above and convert social media and blog readers into customers. But, don’t think of your online presence as a hard sale sales tool. Not only will this type of content not attract new readers, it will turn off the readers you have. So as tempting as it is, listings don’t make for effective blog posts.

Where to start? What to write about? This is the challenge that content marketers face every day. Think about your interests, your passions, think outside real estate. Connect with people with common interests.

If you’ve a passion for black and white photography, write about it from time to time. Or gardening, collecting fabulous wine, etc.; you get the idea. Not all posts must or should be real estate related. Connect online to people as people, with a shared interest, just as you do in the real world. Interact with them on your blog, Facebook page, etc. and forge relationships with those readers; you’re adding these relationships into your pipeline of eventual customers (when the time was right).

Now think back to real estate. What do you know about the market, selling a home, home staging that consumers would be interested in? Write about it! Position yourself as a leader, an expert, another great way to build trust.

Social media is not a short term strategy, it takes time, patience is a virtue, write like a human (no corporate speak), let your personality shine through, look for new and interesting angles, use the web for inspiration (what are your peers blogging/posting about, what content is working for them) and have fun!

Source: Marie Still, Director of Marketing for MRIS.