Learn how to use LinkedIn to network and generate leads
LinkedIn is one of several social media platforms businesses use to connect with their target audience and even generate valuable leads.
Each social media channel has its primary purpose. Facebook is for connecting personally with friends and companies, Instagram is for highlighting visuals through photos and videos, and TikTok is a platform for short, trending video sharing. At first glance, LinkedIn may seem like it’s only good for networking with professionals in the same industry, but you can generate real estate leads, too.
Here are some ways real estate agents can use LinkedIn to grow their business and generate valuable buyer and seller leads:
Build a strong LinkedIn profile
If you’re getting started on LinkedIn, you need to create your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile is a landing page where other users review your job history, experience, and skills. It’s crucial to have a strong LinkedIn profile to showcase your real estate business and network with other professionals.
Here are a few key elements your LinkedIn profile should have to help you stand out as a real estate professional:
A professional headshot
Every LinkedIn profile page has a place to upload your default profile picture. Your profile picture should be a professional headshot. Your profile picture is viewed by anyone exploring your landing page and other users who direct message you.
A cover photo
Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to upload a cover photo. A cover photo adds uniqueness to your page, which helps you stand out. Use a high-resolution image for your cover photo that highlights your professional career. For example, you can use a real estate image of a previous listing or a graphic that includes the logo of your brokerage and contact information.
You can create your cover photo on a template-making website like Canva.com. The dimensions of a LinkedIn cover photo are 1128 x 191 pixels.
An about me section
The LinkedIn about me section is the ideal place to feature your real estate bio. Users see this section above the fold on the website, which means they view it before scrolling your page.
The about me section can be a short overview of everything else visible on your LinkedIn profile, like your job history, experience, and skills. It could also be a more extended narrative about your personal and professional life. Keep in mind that the longer your about me section is, the less likely users spend reading it in its entirety.
Additionally, a longer about me section risks other page features losing visibility above the fold, meaning users may not see your uploaded articles or work experience.
Job history and experience
LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals. Your profile page has a section for work experience where you include your relevant job history. Listing your experience allows other industry professionals and potential clients the ability to learn more about your credentials as a real estate agent.
Connect with real estate professionals
LinkedIn is the prime social media platform to network with other real estate professionals. While real estate agents are your competition when trying to win listings, they are also helpful for referrals and resources.
As you start building your connections on LinkedIn, opt to have your email contacts uploaded. That means if any of your email contacts are active on LinkedIn, they automatically receive a connection request from you. Adding your email contacts to LinkedIn sets you up for networking success.
Additionally, you can search for other real estate professionals on LinkedIn and request to connect. LinkedIn gives you the option to search for people by company, title, and name. You can also find company pages on LinkedIn and search those pages for people who work there.
Endorse other real estate agents
A significant way to stand out on LinkedIn is through endorsements. As a LinkedIn user, you can endorse other professionals for the skills they highlight. For example, if your colleague real estate or investment properties as a skill, you can endorse the skill by clicking the plus sign next to the skill.
When you endorse your connections, LinkedIn notifies them. Those connections will likely return the favor and endorse you back, which gives you more credibility.
Promote your listings
LinkedIn is not just for viewing professional profiles and endorsing connections. There is also a news and post feed. The feed is where you can share your newest listings, real estate industry news, or tips and insights.
To promote your listings on LinkedIn, consider sharing professional real estate images of the listing as well as a link to the single listing website. Your connections can engage with the post about your listing by liking, commenting, clicking, or resharing the post.
By posting your listings on LinkedIn, you expand your listing visibility and can generate buyer interest. Promoting your listings also allows you to work with buyer’s agents who can schedule showings for your listing.
Publish real estate content
You can flex your real estate industry expertise on LinkedIn by publishing articles. Like the content writing and reading platform, Medium, LinkedIn allows users to write and post their own blog articles directly to their profile. As a real estate agent, you can provide helpful insights about the industry to other professionals and users looking to buy or sell properties.
There are several many topics to write about, including industry news, hyper-local real estate trends, home buyer tips, home seller tips, and more. You can share a guide on how to prepare a property for a listing photo shoot. You can write a post about the home selling process. Because LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals in various industries, your target audience can be home buyers and sellers or other real estate agents.
Join real estate groups
Another way to network on LinkedIn is to join real estate groups. Participating in industry groups on LinkedIn enables you to connect with other industry professionals across the globe. This can be helpful for out-of-state referrals as well as gaining valuable experience.
Find real estate groups on LinkedIn, type real estate or something similar in the search bar, and select “in groups” on the dropdown.
LinkedIn is an essential social media platform for real estate agents to grow their brand and connect with other industry professionals. You can develop your real estate network, strengthen your brand, and generate valuable leads on LinkedIn by building out your profile, endorsing other agents, promoting your listings, and joining real estate groups.
