Boost Your Business Series: Offer Valuable Content

In the age of social media, valuable content is king. When it comes to growing your real estate business, you have probably heard a lot about the power of social media. That includes email marketing and creating enough content to keep your audience engaged.

But what content should you share? And what content actually gets people to think of you the next time they need a Realtor?

Depending on your audience and real estate niche, there is a wide range of content that could be valuable to both you and them. That’s why the first step in developing a content marketing campaign is knowing what your audience wants to see.

Dig deep into what your audience likes

The first step in creating valuable content is finding out what valuable content is. They are the people who open, follow, like, share or retweet your current content – and who engage with you frequently (via emails, events, etc.). You want to continue to keep yourself top-of-mind with these people. They’re going to be a rich source of future referrals and business.

To stay relevant and in their periphery, ask yourself:

• What can I offer that others don’t readily have?
• Do I have a bunch of knowledge on a particular subject?  
• What are my followers/audience liking/sharing/tweeting frequently?
• What do I love to do or research?
• Is there something about my business that stands out? (e.g. Single mother running a real estate business from your dining table? An Austin downtown real estate expert?)

Think of unique ways to share the themes or topics you came up with when you asked those questions and ask:

“Is this content that would be interesting to my audience or am I stretching to try to come up with something?”

We are all guilty of posting just because it’s been a while, or creating a blog just because we see other agents doing it. Instead of creating content to create content, make sure you have your audience and their preferences in mind. Now, it’s time to generate ideas.

Batch brainstorm content

It’s a lot easier to stay in the mindset of your audience if you block out a chunk of time to think about content topics and ideas. This way, you can expand ideas into connected content, see which blogs should be a series and/or recognize which topics are really “trending” and should be scheduled sooner.  

For example, you may decide to write about a particular location that you know well, such as the northwest side of Austin. You could batch this content into “Best Restaurants in ____ Neighborhood,” or “Family-Friendly Places That Make ____ a Great Place to Move!” From there, you’ll be able to come up with new, connected ideas that will continue to give people content they want to consume.

Create demand for your content

A great tip for generating content that is valuable is to create content people can’t find anywhere else. Consider creating lists relevant to your expertise, niche or even what you see your specific audience is sharing/liking lately – but that nobody else is really offering (like the “Best Restaurants” or other lists mentioned above). Great examples of this include:

• Little known facts about your area of expertise
• Information about particular home builders or architecture styles
• Research and/or predictions for real estate in the near future
• Specific tools you use that improve your real estate services

With the help of Builder Boost, you can also create a “New Home Inventory” list in your area of focus — Let your sphere know that you have information that is not easy to find without the help of an agent! Our team updates new home inventory each and every week directly from the homebuilders so that you have the most current pricing, making you very valuable as an agent! These homes are not readily found on online portals, as they may have come back on market that weekend, or may not be on the MLS yet.

These topics are a great way to provide relevant content that you can replicate in the future; the list and/or information is always changing and you’ll need to release a new, updated piece of content that people will be more intrigued to click, open, share, etc. Your network will also need to “stay tuned” to your content if they want the latest updates, thereby creating demand. Exclusive content is another way to create demand for real estate content.

Offer exclusive content

The big return on content comes when you get a lead from anything you create and share. For example, you might share a blog on the “Best Restaurants in ____” and get a comment like, “That sounds like a great place to live for a foodie like me!” That’s what we in the real estate biz like to call a warm lead. You could reach out this person with an additional piece of exclusive content created to start the conversation, like “New Homes Close to Foodie Heaven” or “Best Home Communities Within Walking Distance of _____.”

You can also use exclusive content to get email signups from people visiting your website or signing up at an open house, for people who participate in a contest, as a bonus for requesting information about your real estate services, etc. Just make sure that any exclusive content you create is worth the “payment” – people don’t want to give out their email addresses or phone numbers for a generic blog about homes in the area.

Make it worthwhile

Valuable content isn’t content that is just valuable to you. It’s content that is valuable to everyone who reads it, opens it, shares it, saves it, etc. When you put time to generate content that actually helps people learn something, you actually generate more credibility. Buyers and sellers alike are also more likely to choose an agent that they “see” frequently, whether that’s in person or in their Facebook newsfeed.

Hopefully, these content ideas and steps to creation help you stay top of mind. Valuable content shows people that you know your stuff – so start working on your content library now with your ideal audience in mind!