5 Common Mistakes Real Estate Agents Are Making with Their Online Marketing

Jan 6

Ok, it’s time for some real talk! In this video, I’m sharing a few REALLY common mistakes I see real estate agents, teams, and brokerages make with their marketing again and again… and again.

In case you don’t feel like watching the video, keep scrolling for the blog version!

Mistake #1: Talking about the same stuff that everyone else is talking about.

If I have one more agent remind me to clean my gutters on social media… y’all. I really might lose it!

If you are sharing the same home maintenance checklists and other ~boring~ content that everyone else is doing, you’re going to be just like everyone else.

In order to stand out from the herd and attract your ideal clients, you need to create content that stands out. This means that you need to talk about stuff that your specific audience actually finds engaging.

Mistake #2: Not marketing listings because homes are basically selling themselves.

In a hot real estate market, most homes sell super fast with multiple offers. So if you’ve properly prepped your listing, it’s probably going to sell! But a big part of marketing your latest listing is not to get it to sell—it’s to attract new future seller clients.

Smart and savvy sellers want to make the most of their investment when they go to sell their home, so you need to show off how you’re going to make that happen for them. You can do this by having a robust marketing strategy for every single one of your listings. As a writer and creative professional, I have a portfolio of my work that I can share with potential clients, and as a listing agent, you should have the same thing.

Now, in a down market, not marketing your listings is just not an option. Your listing may stay on the market for weeks or even months. It is crucial to find a way to keep marketing the home while keeping your sellers happy. If you’d like to learn a *ton* of ways to market your listing online, my webinar “Leverage Your Latest Listing: 10 Ways to Market Your Listing Online” is packed with ideas, examples, best practices, and strategies for getting it done.

Mistake #3: Spending way too much money on a fancy website you don’t need.

In my experience, real estate website’s are pretty intense to talk about with agents. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about this one. I’ve also learned that many agents have different ideas about how their website’s going to work vs. how it actually works. Some people seem to think that SEO is this magical thing that’s going to get you tons of traffic and clients. Then some people think you need a whole home search feature on your website.

Needless to say, there are all kinds of ideas out there. But if you’re a single agent or a team, my opinion is that the best website for you is one with a simple, stylish design that you know how to update yourself and update regularly.

Now, I know this isn’t going to work for everyone, but if *I* were a real estate agent, I would get a Squarespace website or a site that is super user-friendly. I don’t have to worry about anything breaking because Squarespace handles all of that. It would be important to me that I personally own this website no matter what brokerage I might be at, so my online presence is not dependent on a specific brokerage. Also, you really don’t need a home search as a single agent or team unless you are prepared to spend the money it takes to compete with Redfin and Zillow. A home search on your website is not the value you bring to your clients!

Mistake #4: Making social media faux pas that make you look unprofessional.

Ok, so I have kind of a long list here. But I’ll share just a few of my pet peeves:

The first big mistake is *not putting your location in your Instagram bio or Facebook “About” section.* I have been on SO MANY agent social media accounts where I cannot figure out which city or even which state the person works in without digging through their content. This is so bad!
Another social media faux pas is sharing content directly from Instagram to Facebook. The only time it’s ok to do this is if you open up Facebook right after posting to Instagram and edit the post so it makes sense for Facebook. For example, a lot of the time, people will tag another account on Instagram, but when it pushes to Facebook, the tag loses that hyperlink. Sometimes your Instagram post might say “link in bio!”, and when this pushes to Facebook, there is no way for someone to easily find the link. So, you need to make sure you are opening up Facebook and editing that out (and adding the link right there, since Facebook allows that).

Basically, just make sure that you’re sharing content in a way that is appropriate and optimized for the platform you’re on.

Mistake #5: Using “set it and forget it” marketing.

If you are buying generic, pre-written blog posts that a thousand other agents are using, or if you’re completely outsourcing your social media content to someone who doesn’t really know much about your business, you are really missing out on huge opportunities. And, in my opinion, you’re actually hurting your brand.

Ask yourself, “What do you offer that a robot does not?” Well, probably a lot! But you’re not showing that if you have “set it and forget it” marketing. You probably actually have in-depth, current local market knowledge, and expertise on the different types of homes in your city, and a unique community that you love spending time in, for example. So talk about those things!

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Thanks for stopping by! If you found this helpful, you might enjoy my webinars, in-person classes, and workshops. Click here to learn more about Home Scribe Creative classes.