How to build a social media content plan

We understand that agents lead very hectic lives, and because of that, a lot of things can go unchecked or be put on the back burner, like a social media strategy for instance.

One of the great advantages of social media is that the content and strategy part can all be planned and scheduled well in advance. You could take a couple of hours on a Monday morning for example and schedule all of your posts for the coming week. The engagement part however will take a little bit more active work on your part during the week. But you’ll really only need to focus on answering people’s questions and responding to the occasional comment, so it won’t eat up a lot of your time.

Here is a day-by-day outline of what your weekly social media content plan as an agent could look like and some ideas on how to get it going.

Monday

• Market wrap up- You should be spending approximately twenty minutes summarising auction results and property data from the weekend using reputable sources (such as REIV), and what kind of impact it will have upon your market. This positions yourself as the well-informed, local expert and gives your audience a quick update on what they need to know about the market and property this week. Your market recap could be hosted on your blog and shared via your professional Facebook and Twitter pages.

• Expert tips and advice- Towards the end of the day share out one expert article or piece of information. This could be any information that you think buyers, sellers or renters that follow your page may find valuable. Such as tips on attending inspections, a guide to preparing to bid at auction or how to add value to your home etc. The Homely Advisor blog has a lot of handy tips for buyers and renters.

• Sales results and client testimonials- Monday is a great day to share any news about a successful sale or auction result (or two!) from over the weekend or glowing feedback you’ve received from a satisfied client. You could include a short quotation from the clients in the post then link it back to your testimonial page so your followers can read the full review and more. This shows former and future clients your consistent track record of good sales results and happy vendors.

Tuesday

• Team insight- Social media gives you another opportunity to build up a rapport with your audience, so showing them the goings on inside your business and personalising your team members is a great way to connect. One way this can be achieved is by giving every agent a personality and building up their profile. A snapshot of a team at a board meeting, industry conference/event or explaining what the team is up to every week can give a very personal insight in to your business. Use agent profile videos to provide a quick snapshot into each team members role and everyday life to bond with followers.

• Social questions- To up your engagement invite people to ask questions and voice queries via your social media accounts. You could even set up a hashtag such as #askouragentsMcGrathNorthbridge so you can easily keep track of questions and responses. For example have people ask your team questions about your local market, selling their home and current listings. After all, you never know where your next lead could come from.

Wednesday

• Prestige/ feature listing of the week- Decide which one of your listings you really want to showcase and promote for the week. Then create brief pre-planned text for the post and select an image that best shows off your feature listing to appear alongside the link to the listing on homely.com.au. For really exceptional properties you could even write up a blog post to share out explaining the history of the property, why it is up for sale and other stand out selling points. Don’t forget to include your details in the status update!

• Agent opinion- You could go around your office and poll team members on certain architectural trends or home decor ideas and publish the results on your social pages and see if your followers agree or disagree. You could also pick a new team member each week to feature in a Q&A, have them talk about what they are finding good in the market as well as challenging, put together a blog piece on them and use it as an expert opinion to summarise your local market happenings. Ensure to leave their details so people can follow up for a chat.

Thursday

• Throwback Thursday to a success story- Take people through a beginning, middle and end, and explain how you achieved a vendors goal and surpassed their expectations sometime in the past six months or so. A success story recap is a great way for you to show that you are helping vendors achieve their goals. Getting one of these up every week is a fantastic testimonial for your office and highlights different team members dedication and hard work.

• Business development post- Ask people that if they are looking to buy, sell or rent or know of anyone that is to get in touch. It’s amazing how much business you’ll get from just asking people if they’re considering buying or selling. Provide a very clear call to action, such as ‘Call Ron, our property specialist on 3333 333 333 for more information’. This way you are giving them a task to follow up on and a clear point of contact.

Friday

• Promote upcoming inspection and auction times- Create a fully encompassed schedule that shows all of your listings and open times for the coming weekend. It may be worth hosting this on another page and having your post just say: ‘This weeks open times are now available, take a peek at when you can visit your dream home here’, this can then link them to all your listings and the complete timetable for inspections and auctions.

Weekend

• Just sold and results showcase- The weekend is the best time to showcase which of your feature listings have just sold, achieved great success or a simple inspection reminder. As the weekend is the busiest time for agents, we recommend writing up your ‘Just Sold’ posts before auction/sale day and quickly adding in the result live from the auction right before the post goes up. If you’re lucky enough to get a great result for a listing, shout it from the rooftops and always include the result alongside a snap of the happy new owners.

When it comes to social media updates it pays to plan, strategise and schedule your posts well in advance. We hope these ideas will set up your social media content plan for success.