LinkedIn is one of the most under-rated but highly valued networking sites you can be using in 2020! The most important thing to remember about LinkedIn, at its core, it is an online resume. It’s also likely to be among the first handful of results to come up on a Google search, and might be the first place a potential client looks to review your credentials. Most clients won’t choose a real estate agent who appears to lack knowledge, education and expertise. So it’s wise to set yourself up for success and utilize this powerful tool.
So, YES, LinkedIn is extremely important and a must-have in today’s digital world. It’s also the perfect place to promote yourself, your real estate listing, and boast about the skills you bring to the table.
Here are the top 6 things you should focus on with LinkedIn:
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Your Profile:
Fill out each section to include all levels of education, all accreditations and current and past positions. Include a high quality professional photo of yourself. Be sure to include a LinkedIn Banner image that includes a call-to-action (your phone number, your email, etc). Your headline should be catchy and stand out. Be sure to fill in your summary section to include real estate listings and other statistics that will jump out to potential clients. Be sure to use keywords or phrases (real estate, real estate agent) throughout your headline and your summary to increase search engine optimization. Also encourage previous clients to give you a recommendation so your LinkedIn profile is a non-stop shop for anyone who comes across it. Upload videos and links to enhance your profile. Customize your URL and use it everywhere (advertising, business cards, posts, etc).
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Connections:
61% of real estate agents on social media view it as a way to connect to the community. LinkedIn revolves around businesses, employees and their connections, so it’s the perfect network for real estate agents who work in an industry predicated on connections, referrals and being involved in the community. Reach out to everyone in your sphere, alums, etc. Remember LinkedIn is the best social media platform for professional networking, which means connect with everyone. Take advantage of the biggest networking platform ever!
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Content:
This is where many real estate professionals go wrong. What doesn’t work is just content about listings (remember the 80/20 rule) in hopes of generating sales leads. What does work is highlighting your professional experience, education and network strength.
Try these 6 content ideas to maximize your effectiveness on LinkedIn:
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- Share real estate news, industry updates or trends. Don’t forget to include a caption with your thoughts and opinions as well as a call to action soliciting others opinions and thoughts. Remember, it’s about engagement so ask questions.
- Share information or updates about your local city. Remember people are very patriotic when it comes to the city they live in, so find local information to share. Also, now that LinkedIn allows the use of hashtags, include local hashtags in all your posts so anyone searching for that hashtag might come across you, and in turn check out your profile.
- Thoughtful and conversational posts. Try something that will resonate with others such as your struggles, wins, inspiration, or something you overcame. These are going to be the best conversation starters you can share on LinkedIn. As real estate agents, you go through a lot, so sharing that will resonate with your audience.
- Networking events you’ve attended. Include connections you made and give them an @mention, photos, food, the service, highlight the event, the vibe and your takeaways. It shows your connecting with people in your local city. Often times you’ll hear people say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. That’s why this works.
- Native video uploads. Every platform, whether it’s Facebook or Instagram, wants you to use the video feature that is native inside the program. This doesn’t mean go to YouTube and share it to LinkedIn. It means, open up a post on LinkedIn and use their Video icon and shoot native video within LinkedIn. This will keep connections engaged longer in the LinkedIn program and hopefully on your profile. Our best recommendation for video ideas would be “value added” for the consumer (i.e., Buyer/Seller Tips, Market Updates, community highlights, business you’ve interviewed, etc.).
- Write LinkedIn Articles. When you write an article on LinkedIn, everyone in your connection list receives a notification. You couldn’t ask for better advertising than that. If you are a blogger, this is a perfect place to use the content you’ve already created and post it within LinkedIn as an article.
So, take the time, get your profile set up for success, start connecting with former and current clients, friends, colleagues, etc. and work on creating great content.