Leveraging social media networks to sell more real estate isn’t new.

Agents have been building audiences of engaged home buyers and sellers, which has, in turn, helped their real estate business see phenomenal growth.

With more than 300 million active users¹ in the United States it’s no longer should you leverage social media; it’s how.

Combining social media with your efforts for SEO and email marketing is a guaranteed recipe for success.

This article will tell you exactly how to use each social media platform to grow your real estate business.

Facebook

• Active monthly Facebook users: 2.93 billion active users.
• Average demographic age: 25-34
• Average time on the platform: 33 minutes

Facebook has been a staple for real estate lead generation for years.

With the ability to craft audiences of the ideal homebuyer or engage with geo-specific Facebook groups, it’s no wonder agents love the platform so much.

You have two choices on Facebook to get the most from your lead generation efforts:

• Build a personal brand.
• Create a professional page.

How you want to interact with your target market is entirely your choice. From our experience, building a social media presence is easier when people can put a face to a name.

Types of content that work well

• Video content (house tours, client testimonials, meet the team).
• Success stories (selling properties over market value for past clients).
• Repurposing a localized blog post from your website.

Benefits of using Facebook

• Free and easy to set up.
• You can build a sizeable network in only a few months.
• The average age range² (25-34) is an ideal demographic for selling homes.
• An extensive range of advertising options.
• You can see how other agents are creating ads.

Negatives of using Facebook

• Organic reach has continued to decline over the last few years.
• The iOS 14 update has made tracking conversions unreliable.
• Bidding on ads, while still cheap, has become more expensive.
• A large pool of existing real estate agents (more competition).

YouTube

• Active monthly YouTube users: 2.5 billion active users.
• Average demographic age: 15-25
• Average time on the platform: 29 minutes

The growth of selling real estate on YouTube was unprecedented.

Taking influence from real estate shows like Million Dollar Listing New York, real estate agents are becoming influencers in their own right.

If you're comfortable in front of a camera, YouTube could fundamentally change how you find real estate clients.

You can generate more leads by leveraging long-form media by selling your personality. Something you can't easily do through written content.

People watch over 250 million hours³ of YouTube per day.

If that doesn't excite you as a real estate agent, then we don't know what will.

Types of content that work well

• House property tours geared for potential clients.
• Tips and tricks on how to improve your home's appearance.
• Reactive long-form media to trends and real estate industry news.
• Local content about developments in the area.
• YouTube shorts and live streams.

Take a look at what Curaytor client, Ken Pozek, had to say about growing his YouTube channel to over 30,000 subscribers.

Benefits of using YouTube

• It's a great platform for natural client attraction (pull instead of push).
• Widely accepted as a lead generation channel in the real estate market.
• Less (good) competition to worry about.
• An exciting way to explore new ideas to find new business.

Negatives of using YouTube

• Time-consuming.
• If you're not comfortable selling on camera, it's not for you.
• A mixed audience with young people⁴ being the overwhelming demographic.
• Real estate agents need more available resources.

Popular real estate YouTube channels

• Ryan Serhant, SERHANT Team
• Enes Yilmazer
• Ken Pozek

Instagram

• Active monthly Instagram users: 1.48 billion active users.
• Average demographic age: 25-34
• Average time on the platform: 28 minutes

Instagram is one of the best social media platforms for generating leads.

It should be a key part of any digital marketing plan or, social media strategy for real estate agents.

Like Facebook (owned by Meta), you can focus your efforts on closing deals through Instagram's targeting options.

However, the benchmark for what's considered great content continues to change.

With the introduction of Instagram Reels, this social network has focused on short-form video content.

This a change that real estate professionals should pay attention to.

If you want to generate leads from posting on Instagram, you've got to do the work. The attention is there, you need to learn how to capture it.

The best way to get the attention of Instagram users is to focus on trending sounds and hashtags.

Couple this with consistently producing high-quality content and

Thankfully, Curaytor continues to produce 'Instagrammable content' to give other professionals inspiration.

Types of content that works well

• Instagram stories (behind the scenes, new property listings).
• Instagram reels (pro tip: videos with captions always perform better).
• Covering a local event or development in a series of videos.
• Instagram live (great for engaging with your audience).

Benefits of using Instagram

• The ideal age range for leads.
• Going 'viral' can be achieved by capitalizing on trending sounds.
• It doesn't just have to be real estate content.

Negatives of using Instagram

• Publishing posts is crucial to keeping your account active.
• Organic reach can be difficult to maintain.
• Spam accounts can inflate engagement on videos and posts.
• Buying followers is common.

Realtors you should follow on Instagram

• Luis Iglesias Real Estate
• Chad Carroll

TikTok

• Active monthly TikTok users: 1 billion active users.
• Average demographic age: 18-24
• Average time on the platform: 52 minutes

TikTok has taken the world by storm.

And real estate agents were quick to react.

TikTok is a great platform to get started with your real estate marketing if you're a new agent.

Why?

Because TikTok's organic algorithm can accelerate your exposure overnight, new influencers and big personalities continue to build popularity on this platform.

While it's unlikely that TikTok will be where you get most of your direct business, it's a great opportunity for agents to build a relevant social following.

The goal of all social media channels is to support the awareness of your business.

Being able to attract the attention of thousands of eyes daily (oh, yeah, and it's free).

We recommend you use this newfound attention to build audiences of potential clients. Using TikTok's pixel, you can create powerful remarketing campaigns to attract leads.

Types of content that works well

• Question-and-answer video format.
• Micro-vlogs.
• Home tours.
• DIY-specific for homeowners.
• Motivational content for buyers and sellers.
• Live videos.
• Behind-the-scenes.

Benefits of using TikTok for real estate

• Less competition in your local area.
• You can use trending topics to boost your brand's awareness.
• Great for building audiences for remarketing.
• Amazing organic reach.
• Bring people into your sales funnel early.

Negatives of using TikTok

• It'll be harder to sell to your ideal clients immediately.
• Lack of control over who sees your content.
• No private groups.
• Potential privacy issues with how data is tracked and stored.

Agents to subscribe to on TikTok

• Tat Londono
• Stevie Soucie
• Heider Real Estate

LinkedIn

• Active monthly LinkedIn users: 66.8 million
• Average demographic age: 25-34
• Average time on the platform: 17 minutes

LinkedIn is a social channel that doesn't often get the attention it deserves. If you're unfamiliar with LinkedIn, it's a B2B platform for professionals.

But, what is often overlooked, is how granular you can be with your targeting.

If you're able to invest in LinkedIn premium, you're able to split demographics by:

• Company.
• Job title.
• Location.
• School

It's Facebook targeting but on steroids.

Just because it's a professional network doesn't mean it isn't a popular platform for homebuyers.

Let's consider this example:

• You collate a list of company directors or company managers in your area.
• You review their profile and learn about their experiences and where they've moved to and from (this is important).
• You send them a personalized DM (not automated) asking them how they're finding this new area.
• You build rapport and share your contact info 'just in case' they're considering selling their home in the next few months.

It's great because you can build an outreach list based on your target area's average job title salary.

Genius, right?

Benefits of using LinkedIn

• Industry-specific groups to network in.
• You can build a presence by engaging with other popular agents (piggybacking).
• Leverage review-based content for other agents.
• Consistently post content on real estate to become an authority.

Negatives of using LinkedIn

• It can be hard to navigate in the beginning.
• It's hard to find your 'voice,' and hard sales are often immediately ignored.
• Building a network takes time.
• Advertising is expensive.

Pinterest

• Active monthly Pinterest users: 443 million.
• Average demographic age: 30-49
• Average time on the platform: 14.2 minutes

Similar to TikTok, Pinterest is great for building a digital presence.

It's less likely to generate leads for your real estate business. But, it can be a fantastic source of referral traffic.

Again, you can leverage this for remarketing purposes.

As far as social media tools go, Pinterest is purely a visual outlet for real estate. If you're not creative, then Pinterest shouldn't be included in your social media marketing strategy.

Rather than publish posts, you're adding 'pins' to a board. This board could be about:

• Home improvements.
• House values.
• Market studies of real estate.
• Visuals of attractive properties (maybe even those you're selling... hint, hint).

If Pinterest users engage with these pins, it takes them to the source of the image. Which just so happens to be your website.

Remember, real estate marketing is about building funnels.

And what better way than sending thousands of visits to your website?

Benefits of using Pinterest

• Great for creative agencies.
• A fantastic way to show off attractive properties.
• Billions of monthly users.
• Amazing for sending referral traffic to your website.

Negatives of using Pinterest

• Not ideal for lead generation.
• You can't control who your pins are shown to.
• There are no engagement groups like Facebook or LinkedIn.

Bonus: Google My Business

Google My Business (or Google Business Profile) isn't technically a part of the social media landscape.

But, that doesn't mean it can't be treated like one.

Over 50% of all Google searches⁵ are people looking for local businesses.

Yet, most real estate agents neglect their profile.

Let us tell you that you're throwing leads away by not being active on Google.

Our advice to you?

Repurpose your website and social media content for your Google My Business profile. And stop relying on Zillow for leads.

This means:

• That awesome creative on real estate in Miami needs to be a post on Google now.
• Written a blog on your website? Great. Take excerpts of text and post them.
• Selling a listing? Of course, you are. Share the details on your profile.

What's the worst thing about social media platforms?

When they're neglected.

You wouldn't let your Facebook profile collect dust. Don't let your Google Business Profile either.

Honorable Mention: Twitter

• Active monthly Twitter users: 76.9 million
• Average demographic age: 25-34
• Average time on the platform: 34 minutes

Twitter should be considered an engagement tool.

And nothing more.

Sure, there are paid advertising options, but it's not where people buy real estate.

Twitter should be used to create conversation. We think it's another easy way to build a personal brand.

You can use Twitter's advanced search function to find the right conversations. It's incredibly easy to do. And it's powerful.

Jump into a trending conversation about rising house prices at the right time, and you'll pick up followers in no time.

That's the true beauty of Twitter users. They can take your content from zero likes to viral overnight.

Honorable Mention: Reddit

Reddit is mainly for memes, right?

Well, kind of.

But it's also a great place to source data, build a community and show off your brand.

The benefit for realtors is these 'subreddits' focus specifically on real estate and particular regions or areas.

Again, you're unlikely to generate many leads through Reddit. You can, however, show off how knowledgeable you are as an agent.

Brand recognition can influence direct searches on Google.

And, the more people searching for your brand, the more everything else falls into place.

Honorable Mention: Quora

Do people even still use Quora?

The answer is unequivocally, yes.

Similar to Reddit, Quora is more of a forum-based social media platform. It's where agents can respond to specific questions about real estate.

People often ask things like:

• Can I buy and sell a home at the same time?
• How much are property taxes in this location?
• How can I sell my home over market value?

And it's completely open for anyone to respond to.

This is where agents can shine.

Prove your knowledge and show why you've got the experience to offer advice.

You can share links to your websites, but if they're seen to be self-promotional, they'll be removed.

Real estate agents should use Quora as a way to build brand recognition. Just like Reddit.

Summary

We recommend focusing on only a select number of social media accounts. Without the right resource, you could end up with many empty platforms.

It's a problem we see far too often.

It looks bad for your brand, and your potential clients are less likely to consider you.

Choose the platforms based on what your goals are. Is it brand awareness, or is it lead generation?

The goal of real estate marketing is to bring it all together. Make your social media work for your email and website, too.

Holistic social media marketing.

Let us know how social media has changed your business.