The need to build relationships with consumers and demonstrate a brand’s value is more important than ever. For real estate companies, content marketing is the key.

Research backs this up. According to a recent study by Kapost, content marketing has been shown to produce approximately three times as many leads per dollar as paid search.

The Importance of Content Marketing for Real Estate Companies

The benefits of content marketing are clear:

  • It provides solutions to client problems.
  • It helps to build trust with clients.
  • It increases brand awareness.
  • It drives organic traffic through SEO.
  • It generates more qualified leads.
  • It builds the company’s reputation.
  • It gives you something to share on social media.

Content Marketing for Real Estate: Best Practices

Start with a Great Website

It’s crucial to give visitors a good first impression of your company with a professionally designed website. Keep the design clean and uncluttered, use clear navigation that includes a search tool, and link to your blog and social media channels.

Plan Your Content

Without a plan, you’ll struggle to maintain content quality. Creating an editorial calendar is the first step. Here, you can develop content ideas, schedule content, and ensure you meet deadlines.

Develop Blog Content

A blog is one of the most effective ways to deliver new content to your target audience, build brand credibility, and improve your search engine rankings. Provide a blog archive with clear categories to make it more user-friendly and navigable.

Build an Email List

Use email to promote new content, deliver industry news, and send out property updates. To grow your subscriber list, include a clear email subscription button on your website and blog.

Once you have a big enough list, you can start to test different email copy and measure the results using email marketing tools such as MailChimp or GetResponse. You can then start to organize your list into different buyer types to maximize conversions.

Get Active on Social Media

Social media can be a surprisingly effective way to connect with potential clients and learn content idea. Share listings, reach younger buyers, and build connections with people inside and outside the industry. Monitor real estate conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and then join in the debate. For Instagram and Pinterest, your content needs to be more image-centric.

Publish New Content Regularly

Creating fresh content for your website, blog, and social media channels is important for SEO, building credibility, and generating leads.

To stand out, deliver high-quality content in various formats across multiple channels. Use a mix of written and visual content. This can include blog posts, ebooks, guides, how-to videos, infographics, gifs, graphics, and photographs.

Content Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Companies

Written Content

  1. Your brand’s story. Why are you passionate about real estate? How did you get started in the industry? Who works in your company?
  2. Customer stories. Describe the problems they faced and the challenges they overcame.
  3. Describe locations. List the services and facilities in each geographical area. Share the history of a local town and link to property listings in the area.
  4. Industry news. Are there any national or local news stories that would be of interest to buyers?
  5. Tips for buyers and sellers. For example:
  • How to Prepare for the Buying Process.
  • How to Make Your Home More Valuable and Sell Faster.
  • Home Improvement Tips for First-Time Sellers.

6. Customer questions. What do customers always ask you? Give your expert answers in an FAQ page.

7. Ask a question. What do your customers think about a topic? Gain valuable audience feedback that you can discuss in future content.

Video Content

  1. Set up your own real estate channel on YouTube to list properties.
  2. Post “virtual tour” videos of homes for sale to your website and social media channels.
  3. Create videos of the neighborhoods in which your properties are located to give prospects a real sense of the area.
  4. Interview staff members for insights into how you work and what you offer clients.
  5. Interview happy clients – with their permission – for credible client testimonials.

Visual Content

  1. Infographics highlighting recent surveys or statistics from the real estate industry.
  2. Property photos. Hire a professional photographer to take images of the properties you represent.
  3. Staff photos. Show your fun side with photos of your team and bios. They’re great for building trust in your company.
  4. Slideshows. They’re perfect for how-to content, market information, and quick guides.

Wrapping Up

Outstanding real estate content can create a belief in the level of service that you offer and build an authentic connection with potential clients.

To execute it properly, you need a plan to ensure you consistently produce original and useful content for your audience. Then you should monitor the results using analytics tools to see what works and what doesn’t. Only then will you gain the competitive advantage.