Category: Technology

Two tech tools to brand like a pro on social media

Anne Ewasko Leave a comment

We all love our brands, and because of that, we are loyal to them. When we find something we love, we stick to it and buy it again and again. We do the same thing when it comes to finding the right hairstylist, doctor, contractor and, of course, Realtor.

There is no better way today for us Realtors to build our brand (and our business) than by using social media. But it’s always a huge challenge to stay on top of our social media and continue to sell homes. Juggling the two can be quite difficult, as both take so much time to do it right, and often it’s our social media presence that suffers because of it. However, with today’s available tech tools, there is no need to hire a social media manager or a graphic designer to keep your brand and messaging consistent. You can DIY — Do It Yourself!

Here are two ways to manage both and stay on top of it like a pro: One, find the right social media management platform; and two, find a good online design tool that can quickly put together your concepts (even if you aren’t that creative or tech savvy) to create posts that reflect who you are and enhance your brand. There are tons out there, so do your research to find what fits your budget and skill level.

I chose eclincher as my management platform because it’s simple to use, has great 24/7 customer support and allows me to organize and manage all of my accounts in one central hub. With just a few clicks, I can carry out automated tasks that can be simultaneously posted on multiple platforms — and they have all the major ones I need (not all of them do): Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest and even TikTok. It comes with a single inbox so you don’t have to move from one platform to another to stay on top of messages, and it makes it so much easier to interact. They have an unending supply of recommended content (including image libraries) that one can pull from and stay fresh. I love the fact that I can plan and curate my posts as far out as I like with their visual content calendar (so easy to plan ahead for holidays) that will automatically post once they are plugged in. This allows me to set it and forget it so that I can stay consistent in my postings and focus my time and energy on my main business, selling real estate! What’s even cooler about this platform is that you can boost your posts and monitor their performance with their analytics tracker. This allows me to see what types of posts bring in more engagement and helps me to pivot my efforts to attract more business, and who doesn’t want that?

One could get away with merely using this social media management tool, but if you want to up the ante and really come across like an expert, then add on a design tool to create visually striking posts that keep your brand identity consistent across all your platforms. I use Canva, and the good news is that it can be fully integrated with eclincher. So again, everything is in one place, which makes this all super-efficient. With their vast selection of templates and over 3,000 fonts to choose from, all you need to do is change them out to your brand colors, fonts and imagery — it’s that simple. They even allow you to set up a “brand kit” so that your colors, fonts and style stay consistent.

OK, so what if you have never defined your brand? Then this is a great place to get started. Scroll through their templates and fonts, and see which ones are “you” and the brand/image that you want to convey to your audience. It’s a lot of fun to hunt around and you will know it when you see it. It will feel “right” — just like a homebuyer knows when they’ve found the right home. Once you have found the one that fits you best, then you need to stick to that theme consistently so that your audience will be able to tell immediately that it’s you — THAT is how you build your brand and, most importantly, a dependable following. You can carry that theme into your listing presentations (and Canva can assist you with that, too), print brochures, e-campaigns and all of your print/digital marketing. Once clients see this consistency throughout, they will know they are working with a true professional and will want to hire you to sell their home.

So, no more haphazardly posting random content and discombobulated images on the fly that detract from who you are and how you want to position yourself in your market. Now you can control it, save time, stay consistent and look like a pro by using these tools. Your target market will find you, follow you and fall in love with who you are and stay loyal to your brand, which, in turn, will be a great pipeline for success and bring your sales volume up.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.

Using the right tech to get in front of more clients

Special Contributor Leave a comment

By Candy Miles-Crocker

Good real estate agents make the job look easy. That’s because excellent real estate agents always seat their clients in the restaurant and never in the kitchen.

If you have ever peeked into the kitchen of your favorite restaurant, you likely saw chaos. It may have been organized chaos, but it was chaos just the same. The chef is calling out orders and the staff is trying to keep up the pace to get the food prepared and out the door — while in the restaurant, it is elegant, peaceful and without the slightest hint of confusion.

The “kitchen” is where the magic happens.

Real estate agents are constantly in the kitchen, but if you use the right technology, you may get out of the kitchen and into the restaurant. Or at the very least, your kitchen will be organized chaos.

Technology makes it easier to manage and systematize various aspects of the business. Let’s take a look at a few incredible tools you may want to consider.

Organize your day and stay calm

Without organization and systems in place, it is super easy to feel frustrated and out of control. To get all of that clutter out of your head, there’s a wonderful app you can download called Todoist. Todoist is intuitive to use and gives you the confidence that you haven’t forgotten something. Sync this app with your email and calendar to get reminders, prioritize tasks, delegate tasks and so much more.

With Todoist, you can focus your energy on serving your clients and generating new business, instead of stressing about what you need to do. You can even set up daily or weekly goals to help you stay focused and motivated.

Todoist is an excellent way to get more time in your day and have a little peace of mind.

Stay in touch

To run a thriving referral-based business, you need to keep track of your sphere of influence: your past and present clients and prospective clients. You will also need a system in place to follow up with all of your contacts. Most agents are horrible at following up. If the prospect doesn’t respond immediately to a text, email or call, the agent promptly writes them off.

Research has shown that people need to be “touched” at least seven times before they even remember who you are. After seven times, they might give you their attention, but it might take more attempts than that.

With that in mind, it’s important to have a tool that tracks who you have contacted and when. Follow Up Boss is a CRM tool that allows you to keep in touch in record time. Follow Up Boss can be linked to your Gmail or Office 365 account to automatically sync and log all of your email communication in one place.

You can set up email drip campaigns for new prospects and to stay in touch with past clients, as well as your sphere of influence. Set up your campaign to deliver valuable information, and people will look forward to receiving your emails.

Here’s a tip: Don’t make all of your emails about real estate. Remember, you want people to see value in the information you are providing. Make your emails timely. In the summertime, you may have an email about staying safe in the sun. In the fall, your email may be about prepping your home for the winter.

The beauty of Follow Up Boss is that you can set up various lists depending on the type of information you want to deliver. You may have one list for a particular neighborhood and another list for first-time homebuyers. Remember, one size does not fit all. Be creative.

Use video to stand out

A tried-and-true tech favorite of mine is BombBomb.

Everywhere you look, you read that people love watching videos. If you don’t believe me, check your social media feed. Video viewership is king, so why aren’t you making better use of it in your marketing?

This is where BombBomb comes in. You can shoot a quick video on your phone and text or email it to one of your contacts in a matter of minutes.

Let’s say you are in the neighborhood of a past client and notice a cool restaurant. Take a quick video of yourself in front of the restaurant and ask your client if they have been there and perhaps invite them to discover it with you in the future.

Or maybe you are doing pop-bys and stopped by a client’s house only to discover they are not home. Pull out your phone and take a video in front of their home to let them know that you have left a little something for them. Instead of calling and leaving a voicemail, leave a video message. It’s a great way for you to stand out from the crowd. Think outside the box and have fun with it.

There is so much technology out there that can make you more efficient, but it’s easy to go overboard and get frustrated. Just know that you do not have to use every tool out there. After you have determined what type of technology tools you need, do your research to see which tools you are most likely to use and go for it.

For more on real estate tech, see our courses on technology for real estate agents and technology to manage your team.