It’s no longer a question of if companies should have a social media strategy, it’s now about how to best execute it. I’ve you’ve been following some of our prior blog posts, you should have a general idea about what outlets are available to get your video content out to people, so now let’s dive a little deeper into that content. Whether it’s a blog, website, Facebook, or Twitter, people will only view your content if it’s relevant, compelling, and captures their attention. Let us help you optimize that content with the following list of Ten Things to Avoid When Marketing with Video:

  1. Coming Off as Impersonal or Unrelatable

Whether you are in the video or not, don’t forget to show a personality from time to time. Representing your brand means showing who you are, what you stand for, what you like, etc. Sharing a photo or video of you on a tour with a client can help humanize you/your brand. Posting about things besides real estate (but still relevant to your audience) helps show that you’re about more than just business. There is a face behind your social media content…show it. People want to see it.

  1. Promoting Your Business Too Often

This is one of the quickest ways to lose viewership or quality of followers. Avoid being overly promotional. Yes, sharing your listings and showing homes that you’ve sold is great…occasionally. You don’t want to overdo it and come across as conceited or only centered on your business. An easy way to avoid this is to mix in other content like infographics, reports, and thought leadership pieces. Creating your own content like a blog post will take 1-2 hours max, and it’s worth it to build that trusted following.

Check out this great piece by Rick Jarvis on Inman News about why real estate needs to drop the “humblebrag”.

  1. Not Posting New and Original Content

We know…finding content from other bloggers, websites, or organizations can be a real time saver, and if you’re crammed for time, that is great. But make sure that you post original content that you have created as well! If your content has a specific focus or keywords – it helps you target those who are specifically looking for the type of content that you’re producing. You can also backlink to your sites, profiles, etc. which will optimize SEO and get you more bang for your time.

  1. Not Using Videos and Images in Posts

We’ve talked about how visual elements are key and hopefully you’ve now realized the potential of video. Video, images, and slideshows catch our eyes much faster than words which can help boost engagement, but video and photos also gets a higher priority from search engines which can return your content much higher in search results. Check out our blog post about easy add-ons that can help you create higher quality videos. There are apps or devices that can help you capture and edit photos or videos, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.

  1. Giving Social Media Accounts to the Wrong Person

Your social media represents you and your brand, therefore you really need to trust who you give access to your social media accounts. Misinformation or poorly thought out content can easily happen without someone’s knowledge and once released can open up quite the furry of responses. Obviously people make errors, but the internet, unfortunately, is not a very forgiving space. Unless you have a full time resource that you’ve vetted managing your social media accounts, it may be the safest bet to control your social channels yourself.

  1. Publishing at the Wrong Times

Social Media Timing

Did you know the best time to publish on Facebook is 1 – 4 PM EST? Or LinkedIn from 7 – 9 AM and 5 – 6 PM? Knowing what days and times to post your content can maximize your visibility. Don’t forget to post, repost, and post again to keep your content in front of people at the optimum times. Play around with what content you schedule, to what platform, and when. Here’s an easy schedule that you can follow from the Guide to Social Media Mastery.

  1. Not Automating to Make Your Life Easier

This comes with everything to gain, and, most likely, nothing to lose. No longer are the days where professionals need to manually enter every single social media post. Personally, we have had great success with Boomerang, an automated email system, and Hootsuite or TweetDeck for scheduling social media posts. Now thanks to Bugger, Edgar, IFTTT and other services, your blog posts and other content can be shared whenever you want as well. Why not save the time and effort? Just don’t become too scheduled and lose the real feel.

  1. Not Following Through With Social Media Platforms

Let’s say you’ve taken our advice and now have several new social networking platforms to that you’ve signed up for. You assigned your marketing team to develop content for these platforms, and it happened for several weeks, but…that’s as far as it went. No one is updating your social media accounts or blog on a regular basis. Whoops. Without a regular cadence, it’s unlikely that you’ll build an audience, let alone get anyone to engage with you. Think about your reason for being on each platform and why it’s good for what you want to communicate, then put processes in place to make sure that a cadence is followed and all accounts are regularly attended to and updated.

  1. Focusing on Just One Social Media Platform

Everyone knows the big names – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, to name a few. There are so many social platforms out there that utilizing all of them is impossible. However, having a present on several of them can be very beneficial. Be creative and think about how your audience on Instagram would interact with your content differently than your audience on Facebook or LinkedIn would. What are they looking for on each platform? Ever think about using Instagram video to promote your business? Instagram’s hashtags can significantly increase your post’s searchability, the videos are short and sweet, and there are even features like Hyperlapse that can help innovate the content you are producing.

  1. Ignoring Your Audience

Whether it’s positive feedback or comments from the grumpy, bad apples, responding to your audience is a key part of engaging with your users. Make sure to reply shortly after receiving comments – it’s fresh on people’s minds and can help identify potential leads or cutoff negative comments before they grow into a larger discussion. If someone has a question about a post, make sure to answer it quickly and succinctly, but don’t be afraid to ask for further feedback or questions from the user. If they like a video you shared, keep the conversation going. Even if you aren’t getting real estate leads, positive feedback can only help!


Looking for more? Social media channels are always shifting and changing, so make sure to check back for more social media tips moving forward!

Until next time…keep it real!