Real estate agents working in today’s industry know that being their own marketing director is not only smart but necessary

While there are many moving parts in real estate marketing, an important aspect is Lead Generation. This part of marketing may feel difficult, initially, for many agents to navigate. How are leads generated? What are the best ways to generate leads for real estate? Listen, while hiring out is an option, you don’t need a lead generation company.

We created a comprehensive and thorough guide for real estate lead generation ideas that will help you win valuable real estate leads.

But before we dive in, do you think you know real estate lead generation stats? Test your knowledge and see how you stack up against other agents with this 10 question quiz:

Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas:

Social Media

Over the last several years, social media channels have provided real estate agents with a platform for selling properties, connecting with other agents, and developing relationships with prospects. If cold calling and direct mail fail, turn to social media for valuable lead generation.

Below are three lead generation ideas to incorporate into your social media strategy.

#1 – Share links to “gated content”

This is where your value-based content will come in handy. Gated-content is content that is made accessible through a user completing a lead gen form. If interested readers perceive the promoted content as valuable, they will be willing to input their contact information to gain access.

A lead form is only worth it if online users see it and engage with it. Share the link to your landing page, which will house the gated content and the lead gen form, on your social media channels. Those who see the value in the content will fill out your contact form in order to download the offer

Gated content can include white papers, webinars, case studies, videos, infographics and more.

#2 – Promote your listings with digital flyers

Social media channels, especially Facebook, are great for sharing content to a targeted audience. That content needs to attract users, though. Instead of posting a listing description and tour link on your Facebook page, try dressing up the post with a digital listing flyer. The post can include the description and tour link in addition to your spiffy new listing flyer.

Digital listing flyers are cohesive, shareable, and eye-catching. This is especially true if you use a professional real estate photographer to market your listings.

Not only will this social media marketing strategy help spread the word about a specific listing, but it will also attract prospects to your page. This could be future sellers and/or buyers in your area that like the way you market your listings.

#3 – Social proof your social media channels

Using social proof can dramatically increase leads as well as conversations. This psychological phenomenon, where people conform to the actions of others based on the assumption that their behavior is correct, has shown promising results for marketers.

Studies show that nearly 70 percent of consumers look at product reviews prior to purchasing. Consider your services and brand a product. You want to showcase why you are valuable through the lens of your clients and colleagues.

After you sell a listing or close on a home, send your clients an NPS (net promoter score) survey. On a scale of 0-10, you will see how likely your clients are to recommend you to others.

A score of 0-6 means they are a detractor. These clients are unhappy and will not recommend you. A score of 7-8 means they are passives. Passives are happy but not enthusiastic. They remain vulnerable to competitive offerings. A score of 9-10 are your promoters. These clients are loyal and enthusiastic. They will keep using you and are more than happy to share their success stories.

So, what is the best way to show off your promoters? With testimonials and case studies. Ask your promoters to provide a testimonial. These little nuggets of social proof can be shared generously on social media platforms and within email campaigns. Pair these testimonials with your real estate photography images for extra visual oomph!

Branding

To find success in real estate, developing a strong brand is imperative. A professional brand image helps you stand out from your peers and other agencies during listing presentations and beyond.

Below are three lead generation ideas to incorporate into your branding strategy.

#1 – Shine with a stellar Google My Business page

Google is the market leader for online searches with 63.5% of all searches moving through its engine. While the internet arena can be competitive for local real estate agents, Google My Business can play a huge role in elevating your brand awareness.

Google My Business is a free platform provided by Google. It allows business owners to build out a customized page to promote their brand with images, a location on Google Maps and customer reviews. This is a platform that you will want to keep updated and optimized, ready for any algorithm changes Google unveils.

One of the best parts about having a Google My Business page is the preferential ranking Google awards business pages with positive reviews. In fact, there is speculation that online reviews make up 10% of how search engines decide to rank search results. We suggest that agents not only build out their business page but also create an email campaign directing previous clients (who are considered promoters) to write a Google review.

And this brings us back to the idea of social proof for lead generation. Social proof doesn’t have to be specific to social media channels. Reviews, especially ones on Google, are highly credible forms of social proof.

#2 – Optimize and maintain your website

A website with no lead generation optimization does no one any good. If your web page looks great but lacks an enticing CTA (call-to-action), you could be missing out on some valuable prospects.

The unfortunate truth is that most prospects are not ready to become a customer during first contact, or even second contact. It takes some nurturing to attract valuable leads. There are a number of ways, however, to optimize your website for lead capturing. To start, you can add lead capture forms to the pages you know drive the most traffic. If you find that you are bringing in a large amount of local traffic, your web visitors are finding relevance in your content. This is a great place to add a “subscribe to updates” opt-in.

You can also create listing-specific landing pages. According to a survey conducted by HubSpot, company websites hosting 30 or more landing pages generate 7 times more leads than websites with 1 to 5 landing pages.

#3 – Improve your brand with consistently beautiful listing photos

If you are a listing agent, the portfolio you build throughout your career is your bread and butter for gaining valuable leads. Your portfolio should include your marketing statistics, neighborhood metrics and real estate images from your previous listings.

In real estate, your brand image is reflected through your published listing images. Not only do you want these images to be beautiful and professional, but you also want them to be consistent. As you start your career in real estate or are in the process of revamping your brand image, find a real estate photographer or real estate photography vendor that you can depend on!

lead generation -real estate photography image

This real estate photographer should be your go-to for all of your listing photos. Why? Because consistency is a great aesthetic for successful agents! Find a real estate photographer that is flexible, dependable and offers great images at a fair price.

Content Creation

Content is at the root of all marketing strategies for every single company. Without content, there’s nothing to post and nothing to help generate traffic to a website. Consider content an integral part of generating valuable leads.

Below are three lead generation ideas to incorporate into your content creation strategy.

#1 – Publish value-based realtor content on your blog

If “Content is King”, then value-based content will land you on the Iron Throne.

Begin publishing valuable content that speaks to the needs of your audience. When potential customers feel that your content provides them with industry insights, they are more likely to continue engaging with you.

As you publish more value-based content, your audience will consider you an industry thought leader. Thought leaders are highly regarded in their space and pull in a significant number of leads through their content alone.

When it comes to content, the more value your content offers, the better chance you have of earning impactful leads. Remember to always incorporate the keywords you want to rank for. Keywords can be one word or ‘long-tail’ phrases you know your prospects are searching for.

#2 – Optimize your website for search engines

You have fantastic value-based content and you have a portfolio with professional listing images – so where’s the traffic? This is where optimizing your website pages come into play.

Before you publish your content, take a look at your title and meta description.

Your title should relate to your post and include your farm area. Google loves localized links. Your title should also be under 60 characters. MOZ suggests that you can expect 90% of your title to show on Google if it stays below that 60 character count.

Likewise, your link’s meta description needs to relate to your post. This is the perfect space to describe what your value-based content is all about.

Although Google announced that meta tags and meta descriptions do not affect their ranking algorithms, they remain important. The purpose of the descriptions is to draw in leads. When you improve your page’s CTR by writing a captivating, non-spammy description, you will see positive ranking impacts from Google.

#3 – Add a testimonial page to your site

Just as testimonials help build social proof for your Facebook and Twitter accounts, they can also positively influence your website visitors. After you email your clients with the NPS survey, mentioned above, shoot a follow-up email to the promoters requesting a testimonial.

For SEO purposes, gently guide your promoters’ testimonial narratives. Instead of asking for their referral through an unstructured email exchange, send them a form they can fill out.

Include questions that prompt branded and non-branded keywords. Think about the services you offer as an agent and phrase them into an open-ended question. Your keyword phrasing should have three distinct markers, according to Placester. These markers include general, local, and hyperlocal.

An example –

Your prospects search for “3 bedroom house for sale in Denver” and you have the exact matching phrase on your testimonial page: “John Snow was an incredible realtor. When we were searching for a 3 bedroom house for sale in Denver, he set us up for a number of showings in the area. We highly recommend.”

It’s really that easy!

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That’s all for now on our guide for real estate lead generation ideas. Keep an eye out for two new installments to this guide: