Few social networking sites provide as big of a chance to generate free real estate leads as LinkedIn. If you know where to search, you can find a ton of free lead chances on the site, despite the fact that it now has a ton of cutting-edge paid features and basic functionality that are now only accessible with expensive plans. In fact, having the most fundamental elements configured correctly and presented in an educational, aesthetically pleasing manner can put you light years ahead of other real estate brokers on the site.
Why Generate Free Real Estate Leads On LinkedIn?
Only LinkedIn, a top social media platform, is business-centric (it forces users to think like businesspeople right away). The average LinkedIn user is 30 years old or older, makes at least $75,000 annually, and has a college degree in 50% of cases. You're also considerably less likely to encounter spammers or trolls on LinkedIn than on any other network, making it the ideal depiction of people who are actively attempting to buy or sell a home or who are thinking about doing so.
It's perplexing why more real estate brokers aren't utilizing LinkedIn given the demographic data that strongly suggests the network as a crucial real estate lead creation method.
Simply put, you should never judge a book by its cover. Realtors are drawn to Facebook, the most popular social media network right now, by its massive 2 billion-person audience and numerous advertising opportunities. However, a larger audience does not always equate to a more active or engaged lead; quite the contrary. LinkedIn helps real estate brokers to interact more personally with their audience than Facebook, despite having a smaller global user base. As a result, the network has been found to be 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook.
How then do you get and develop those top-notch LinkedIn leads?
How To Generate Real Estate Leads On LinkedIn, Step By Step
1. Increase Traffic To Your LinkedIn Pages
The first thing to consider is how people will find your LinkedIn profile. Include your LinkedIn widget in any marketing materials you make or in your signature. Your email signature, the bios of your other social media profiles, your websites, and landing pages are among the fundamentals.
The idea is to make it simple and natural for people to follow you from the page they are on by placing your LinkedIn profile front and center. To ensure that your LinkedIn widget or symbol is not overlooked, make sure the color sticks out.
2. Prepare Your Profile
Commercial Accounts
The safe bet when deciding on your profile type is typically a business account. With a business account, you may include connections to your other social media profiles and the URL of your real estate website in your bio. You can be creative and write a few phrases in the individualized personal summary about the regions you specialize in, the reasons you love real estate, and a little bit about your background.
The next step is to select a polished and alluring banner image for your header. Real estate leads who visit the page are immediately aware of what she does, who she is, and the kind of content she publishes (which provides additional hints about the caliber of her job and her hobbies). As a potential target client looking at your LinkedIn profile for the first time, imagine yourself in this position. What details would you be seeking? What kind of profiles would you be interested in?
Ask our web designers about our branding and logo integration if you need some assistance creating your brand's visual identity. We'll take care of creating a comprehensive, individually tailored brand and logo that you can use in all of your marketing materials.
Maker Mode
Selecting creator mode would be a sensible first step for real estate agents who wish to elevate their thought leadership and social media reach. For instance, Mike Sherrard, an eXp real estate agent, and real estate marketing influencer, frequently share a variety of content kinds with high levels of engagement on each post, thus creator mode is undoubtedly advantageous to him.
The connect/message button in creator mode has been modified to a follow button and is now displayed more prominently. This is the first discernible change. To encourage additional content views, your posts are also shown above your own summary. The option to go "Live" on LinkedIn, during which your profile banner transforms into your live video, is the feature that stands out the most. In order to improve your outcomes once your profile is active, LinkedIn will frequently recommend growth tactics based on the sort of profile you have.
To choose the best account type for you, consider your time commitment to your LinkedIn profile, if you want to consistently produce material, and the outcomes you want. A company account will do if you want to primarily contact hyperlocal 1-to-1 leads. Creator mode, however, can provide the additional view bump you're looking for if influencer marketing is at the top of your list of digital marketing objectives.
3. Establish Links
Start with the easiest targets. Once someone accepts your invitation, write a brief thank you note and let them know that they can contact you and share your profile on LinkedIn. Take contacts from your existing CRM (email addresses make it easy to search profiles on LinkedIn).
It's simple to jump into lead searches right immediately, but establishing credibility first by growing your professional network is highly recommended. As you develop relationships with professional contacts, you'll come across a few different kinds of connections.
First connections are those you have made firsthand.
Second connections: Individuals who are a part of your network of contacts.
Third connections: People who are linked to your second connections.
You can communicate with your first and second connections without paying anything if you have a free LinkedIn account. Third connections are only accessible to users who have paid. However, you might be able to communicate with them by stealing their email from their bio.
LinkedIn will automatically suggest individuals who share attributes with you, such as a similar degree program, employer, location, or job title. Sort through these contacts and send a cordial note to each one introducing yourself and the reason you want to connect.
You could want to establish strong referral ties with other agents in your hyperlocal area. Connect with local investors and small businesses as well, since they may be able to offer you partnerships, discounts, or other forms of local recognition or insight.
Advanced Lookup
We advise starting with an advanced search straight away in order to find the precise leads. You may use LinkedIn's advanced search to narrow down the results to the precise demographic you're looking for by selecting criteria such as city, school, career, or firm.
You can conduct in-depth research on prospective clients you already have in your pipeline in addition to finding targeted prospective clients.
Be truthful when contacting a potential client and inform them that your goal is to make connections with locals who could be looking for a home. Mention anything specific about their background or line of work that brought you to them in the message to make it more personal.
LinkedIn has set a cap of 100 connections per week, so be judicious about who you connect with.
4. Join Groups On LinkedIn
You may not be aware, but LinkedIn features "groups" that resemble Facebook Groups. You can learn a ton of information about LinkedIn users who might be potential clients in local groups. Common conversational subjects like income levels, social media links, and information about people's lifestyles might show you who is ready to purchase or sell.
Search categories can be found using names, regional keywords, interests, and more. Use filters to hone down on the groups that are most pertinent to you from these results. Don't be a silent participant when you initially join a group. Make an introduction and comment frequently on other members' posts. Here, being top-of-mind is key, so participating in the group actively will probably result in more leads in the long run than a lot of postings with overtly promotional content. Connect with certain group members you believe would make excellent future clients after you become more comfortable with the group.
5. Pay Attention To Niche Posts
Frequently posting on LinkedIn is a very easy and efficient technique to reach the proper audience. As a general rule, only publish authoritative, valuable information on this site (whether it's original from you or a repost).
Here are a few suggestions for real estate brokers trying to generate leads:
- merely sold posts
- home design advice
- market data locally
- customer reviews
- upcoming market release
- Aim-oriented listings
- your landing pages' links
The majority of post formats are supported by LinkedIn, including URL links (to a blog post or website, for example), embedded videos, surveys, and plain text notifications. To keep your connections or followers interested and engaged, switch up your posting platforms and target market. For instance, you might repurpose a blog article about advice for first-time purchasers and then, a few days later, repost a video from a hyperlocal news source. See this list of 25 eye-catching video ideas that will catch viewers' attention mid-scroll.
Only sometimes should hashtags be used. A fantastic strategy to draw attention to your material is to capitalize on a hot topic by offering insightful information. However, hashtag stuffing or utilizing unrelated hashtags to attract attention can harm your LinkedIn professional brand.
Whatever you post, be consistent (it's advised to post at least once every week).
6. Engage Your Audience
The three most basic engagement strategies on LinkedIn are like, comment, and repost.
There are some suggestions to help your engagement initiatives stand out, though:
- Posts should be commented on and liked as soon as possible. If you contact the person who created the post as soon as possible after it is published on LinkedIn, they are statistically 100% more likely to notice your gesture and initiate a conversation. President of Corbett Public Relations, Inc., Bill Corbett Jr.
- You can "like" and "love" as many posts as you like, but leaving comments is a much more useful and practical way to engage with others.
- Decide which postings you wish to interact with each day. It has been proven that 40 to 50 post engagements each day are the most efficient for building your network quickly.
7. Examine Analytics
You've made all the necessary adjustments to your LinkedIn profile, but you're not sure if they're having any positive effects. Analytics will clearly show you what has been effective and what needs to be changed for better outcomes.
To track links, clicks, impressions, and interactions with your postings, use LinkedIn's analytics tools. Pay serious attention to subjects that pique your interest. If a pattern emerges, you'll be able to use that information to your advantage in subsequent pieces.
You may compare the number of impressions, clicks, views, responses, comments, shares, follows, and engagement rate (given as a percentage) on each and every one of your posts in a more thorough view of the analytics page! To determine when and with whom your content is most effective, experiment with the dates and demographic data. Check out the YouTube video above for a full explanation of how to use the demographics on LinkedIn.
In Summary...
If you use LinkedIn properly, it can be a generous source of targeted, high-quality real estate leads. While many expensive features are available to assist real estate brokers in generating leads, there are a ton of clever free techniques that work just as well.
Your profile is the first step, followed by developing the appropriate networks, producing the appropriate content, contacting leads who are interested, and consistently nurturing the entire process.