I always enter a new year with grand ideas, but one thing I’ve learned is that nothing happens without a specific plan. January is a great time to take stock of your online activities and put measures in place for the coming months.
Here are a few things to think about:
Your Website
Very few of us take the time to go through our own website, but I recommend going through your site page by page. Read the copy and click every link to make sure everything works. If text needs to be updated or links need to be fixed, it’s a good thing to discover it before somebody else points them out.
Check your website out on your phone. If it looks the same as it does on a computer or it’s hard to navigate, it’s time to call your web designer and have them update it!
If it’s been a few years since you’ve updated your website, it may be time to give it a facelift or try a new template. I recommend using a company that specializes in real estate websites.
Google Business Profile
When someone looks you up online, nothing creates credibility faster than being verified by Google. If you haven’t set up a profile yet, there’s no time like the present. And, it’s free. Click here.
This year, I suggest you create an email template that’s ready to go once a transaction closes. Include a link your clients can click to leave you that review and offer some suggestions as to what they might say about the service. If you don’t ask those happy buyers or sellers to leave you those five-star reviews that are so important, you’re far less likely to receive them.
Once you have the review, don’t just let it sit on Google. Post it on your social media (this is where a site like Canva can come in handy) so potential clients can see what a great job you’re doing.
Email Marketing
A monthly plan for email marketing will ensure you stay in touch with your past clients and, when done right, it can make it easy for them to refer you to their friends and family.
If you’re already sending something out regularly, that’s great. Now could be the time to freshen up the look of the template, clean up any bounced emails from your database and check the numbers, including the percentage of people who open the email and how many clicks your articles are getting. (For a baseline, the average open rate for a real estate newsletter is about 22%).
It’s also a good time to make sure your database is up to date. Have you added the people you did business with in 2023? Aa best practice is to call or email them first to ask for permission.
To make sure your emails get sent regularly, bookmark sources for content, and set aside time in your calendar to put it together, along with the date that you want to send the email out.
Social Media
Try to look at your social media profiles from an objective point of view. Is your headshot consistent? Is the information current? For instance, if you’ve moved brokerages, is that change reflected?
If you’ve been spending more time on one social network than others, perhaps it’s time to delete the account and simply focus on what works.
If you’re looking for inspiration, spend a little time checking out the competition to see what they’re posting and the kind of reactions they’re getting. For more on creeping your competition, click here.
Video
If you’re not yet using video in your marketing, make 2024 the year you do it! (I said the exact same thing last year. And the year before. It’s not going away.) Short of being in person, nothing conveys your personality, your charm and your charisma (and I know you’ve got them) like video. Click here for a past article with some tips.
Whether it’s a market update, a profile of a local business or a walk-through of your latest listing, video is content that keeps on giving. you can put your video in an email, on a YouTube channel, on your website, and on your social media.
Pick One and Make It Happen
If you don’t know where to begin, simply pick the one initiative you like the most and start there. When that is complete, pat yourself on the back and pick the next. Implement one digital marketing improvement at a time.
If digital marketing makes you squirm and you just want to get on with helping your clients, get in touch and I can help you set your digital marketing plans for 2024. Looking forward to hearing from you.