Part 1: 11 Must-know Facts About Millennials
What exactly are Millennials expecting to find when they visit your social media pages? If this is a question you have already asked yourself, you are not alone. Though many know where to find Millennials, not everyone knows the best, organic way to attract them. In fact, the answer to this question is pretty straight-forward:
First point: post regularly and make sure all your social media platforms are up to date.
Though inactivity on social media won't be a deal-breaker, being active can be a game-changer for your business. As it is the case for your website, your social media pages speak for your business. In fact, this is a great way to show two of the main traits millennials (and any other of your leads) are looking for in their realtor: dedication and accessibility.
Contrary to appearances, being active on social media can be pretty easy if you take the time to set out a clear strategy. To do so, it is crucial that you sit down and ask yourself what social media platforms your prospective Millennial clients are most likely to use. Once you will have answered this question, you should have a good idea of where to start.
Each and every medium has a different usage. The next step will therefore be to make yourself aware of the particularities and unspoken rules of each platform. In other words, doing research to figure our how to make the most of the potential of these platforms. Keep an eye out for information which will help you understand:
To help you decide which strategy to adopt, I have put together key information related to the most frequently used social medias in Real Estate.
Pro tip: Experience different options, collect and analyse data. Though the data included in the previous visual does apply to certain cases, there is no better way than to try things out and see what works best for your real estate business.
There are many platforms out there to help you execute your Social Media strategy. Amongst these: social media management tools. Because time is precious, you don't want to spend hours implementing your Social Media strategy. These tools will:
In other words, Social Media management tools make Social Media easy. So why not try them out?
At Drawbotics, we also use a Social Media management tool to schedule most of the content we post on our social media platforms. The one we like to use is Buffer, which is widely recognized as one of the best tools out there. To give you an idea of what it does, here are the different options they offer on their website.
The best advice to be given when it comes to your social media pages is that, regardless of the strategy you choose to go with, you should always post content that is relevant and interesting for your target audience.
Back in 2015, a study showed that while the Real Estate industry had the highest frequency in posting on social media, it also had the lowest engagement rate. The reason why is pretty simple: a home is the biggest purchase of a lifetime. Techniques used in other industries will therefore not always apply to your business: your focus will not simply be to appeal to prospective leads. It will also be to stay engaged with previous clients whom are likely to recommend your business to their entourage. Word-of-mouth is very powerful so it is important to keep leads interested by not just promoting your business on social media.
The very best is to respect a 80/20 rule. Only 20% of your content should be related to your business. In the remaining 80% of your content, you should essentially focus on being a valuable source of information for your followers. This will, amongst other things, help you stand out as a reference in your area: you don't just want to be a Home seller, you want to be the Home specialist.
Now is the time to sit back and ask yourself: "What type of content are Millennial home-buyers looking for?". This should give you an idea of different topics to cover with your content.
Three easy things to keep in mind are that:
Whether you have legal advise to give or simply want to share an interesting article you came across: any content that can guide them through this major purchasing decision will be warmly welcomed. Now is the time to post blog articles, reports, graphs and explanatory videos on Youtube. The idea here is to create a more personal connexion with them by making sure they feel ready to invest in their future home.
This is where the 20% come into play. Don't get me wrong: your followers will be interested in business-related updates. Chances are, they probably wouldn't be subscribed to your channels if they weren't.
In most cases, Social Media platforms have been used by Realtors as a way to promote their listings - which, I must say, generally works very well. In fact, one of the easiest ways to engage with your audience is to make the most of your listings' visuals. With Millennials in particular, this will work a charm as they are even more visually-focussed that previous generations. So take out your beautiful photos, virtually staged interiors and floor plans: they can help you generate more leads and will set you as a
Besides this, your social media platforms can help address Millennials' need to be part of a community. They no longer are simply looking at buying a house - they want to invest in a whole new lifestyle, community and identity. Giving them the possibility to discover their new neighbourhood will be seen as a huge plus. A great way of doing so? Presenting local businesses and events, sharing recommendations and tips. For this, articles, videos and photos will come in handy.
Finally, whether it is with Millennials or your other leads, posts featuring Home tips and ideas are always successful. This is where your creativity and style can come out - especially on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. If you have a good eye for interior design, why not share this with your audience by restyling a listing or posting interior design ideas that will inspire them? If you are more of a 'do-it-yourself' type of person, why not share tips or cool DIY videos you come across? The options here are limitless.
Pro tip: Re-use content from one platform to another. Your Instagram photos will look amazing on Facebook and Twitter. Your Youtube videos also.
Reactivity is probably the most important element to focus on for how much it tells about your business. In fact, similarly to your website, your social media pages are the face and voice of your business online.
For Millennials, communication is crucial and this means one of their biggest expectancies is for their realtor to be as reactive as possible. For the way they are built, your social media platforms enable you to show just how active and accessible you are to your leads. This accessibility can be shown in two main ways:
For the importance this has for their usership, certain platforms like Facebook actually put your average response rate and time as on display on your business' page. This point demands a bit more time, work and dedication on your behalf but is definitively worth it. The more reactive you will be, the better.
You ave cool tips to share about your experience with Millennials on Social Media? Share them with us in the comment section!