Any real estate developer, home builder, or realtor knows that leads aren't the problem. It's qualified leads that are hard to get. Leads who are the right fit for your real estate development or community. Leads who are in your area, motivated and ready to list or buy. There are all kinds of leads out there on the web, but the qualified ones are hard to come by.
If you're working on boosting your real estate company's qualified lead generation, there are tons and tons of tactics and strategies out there. I'm going to focus on just 5 real estate lead generation tips that are relatively easy to implement and follow-up on. Check 'em out:
01. Give Social Media Advertising a Chance
02. Start A Blog
03. Turn Your Most Popular Resources into Content Offers
04. Invest in Video and Virtual Tours
05. Get Good at Conversational Marketing
01. Give Social Media Advertising a Chance
The real estate industry is notably competitive when it comes to paid advertising. But, that shouldn't scare you away from using a remarkably effective tool that can deliver leads right to your inbox.
With more than 77% of realtors already actively using social media for real estate in some form (according to the National Association of Realtors), it's pretty clear that realtors and real estate developers already understand the value of social media. You know that you can promote your listings or your development on Facebook and Instagram — people love a good home tour (we'll get to that later).
Investing in social media advertising is just the next step up. Facebook is smart, and it's well documented that the platform uses tactics to limit the reach of what it considers to be "promotional" unpaid posts.
If it sounds business-y, and you're not paying for it, it's not going to reach most of your audience.
Social media advertising is the solution here.
When implemented properly, you can see the same high level of engagement you enjoy on organic posts on your Facebook and Instagram ads, in a more targeted way. The benefit here is that you can track and measure each of those engagements, and you can reach a broader pool of qualified potential leads based on demographics you choose.
If you're concerned about your organic social media platform's reach, and you have a goal of drawing in more qualified real estate leads, it's worth giving social media advertising a shot.
It's a bit cheaper compared to Google Ads, and if you develop ads that are really visual — using a video or professional photos of your real estate development or listing — you're likely to see a good return.
Interested to try your hand at social media advertising?
Check out this blog on Building a Real Estate Advertising Strategy That Sells Homes.
02. Start a Blog
A blog is one of the easiest ways to boost real estate lead generation. Why? Because it's difficult to generate leads if you don't have traffic on your website.
Blogging pulls in the right kind of traffic to your real estate website. From there, you can use other lead generation tips and tactics to convert them into leads.
But, you can't convert anyone if they're not on your site to start with. And blogging is how you get eyeballs on your pages.
Here are a few reasons why blogging is an easy way for real estate developers and realtors to boost lead generation:
- You're already an expert. You know what information your ideal clients are looking for, and you have answers to the questions they're asking.
- Starting a blog is free. It'll take your time, sure, but that's all it costs if you're just looking to get started.
- A great blog will catch your ideal clients during their research phase. By answering the questions you know your ideal client is searching, you're pulling them into your website when you know they're a qualified lead.
What's one thing you know about your ideal real estate client?
They do research.
Before anyone buys a home or even decides to move, they're going to look up the neighborhood, check out the average market value of homes in the area, and figure out what they need to do to buy a home, sell their old home, and move out.
If your blog answers those questions well, you're providing all of those ideal potential clients with the information they need, exactly when they need it.
When they read your blog for more information on that ideal neighborhood, or how to list their home the right way, they're going to turn to you when they're ready to finally make the jump.
Blogging delivers inbound real estate lead generation at its finest. The trick is writing in a way that answers your clients' questions and catches the attention of search engines. If you can balance those priorities well, you'll start seeing your website's real estate lead generation potential soar.
Not sure where to start? Here are a couple of resources:
03. Turn Your Most Popular Resources into Content Offers
If your real estate website has traffic steadily flowing in, content offers are the best way to convert those visitors into leads.
You can do this easily with resources you already have, like community brochures, floorplans, pricing sheets, and any other documents you know your ideal client will have an interest in.
Think about what qualified leads ask about most often. Is it pricing? Is it your floor plan options? Is there a particular document that sales has great success with when it comes to converting leads?
Whatever it is, take that resource and turn it into a content offer by gating the content.
When I say "gating" I mean restricting access to that piece of content until someone has completed a contact form.
So, before a visitor on your website can download your site plans, you request their email address and any other very important information, like their name.
When the visitor completes that form, they're able to access the content offer, and you've got a lead complete with contact information.
Now, you can take that information you've gathered, and follow up with that lead directly, or add them to an email list where they'll receive more relevant information.
Either way, once you've got traffic on your website, content offers can help you improve real estate lead generation by giving those visitors a reason to offer up their contact information and convert to leads.
04. Invest in Video and Virtual Tours
There is nothing more shareable than a home tour video.
People love to look inside other people's homes.
Especially in today's climate, when clients are looking for homes remotely, a video or virtual tour of your listing can start drawing in real estate leads in an instant.
Here are three different ways you can use video or virtual tours to boost real estate lead generation today.
04.1 Videos for Social Media
Like I said, there's nothing more shareable than a home tour. When you post a video of your real estate development or a virtual tour of your listing to your Facebook or Instagram account, it can spread well beyond your organic reach.
Let's say one of your followers shares the video because she thinks its cool. One of her followers sees it and says, "oh, that'd be perfect for so-and-so!", and she shares it with her good friend so-and-so.
Even if that friend doesn't love that specific home, your one video post was shared two consecutive times (at least), exponentially widening your agency or development's reach. And now that friend who is actively looking for homes in your area knows your real estate company's name and can talk to you about other properties that might suit her better.
Outside of home tours, video testimonials, like this one Couch Mountain used, and even drone footage that's edited well and set to good music can go a long way to get your real estate development or agency's name out there.
The key is video. Consumers respond well to and engage with video content — from low-quality phone videos to well-produced footage. If you can incorporate video footage in any way, it's a great way to spread awareness and improve real estate lead generation.
04.2 Video Content Offers
Maybe you have a short clip of a video tour you're sharing around Facebook. It's gotten a lot of traction, and people are coming into your real estate website to learn more.
You can turn the rest of the video tour or the interactive virtual tour into a content offer by gating it.
Instead of leaving the virtual tour of your entire real estate development open to the public, you can tease it with a short video of your property. When people are interested enough to want to see the whole site, they can trade their email and contact information for access to the complete virtual tour.
The benefit?
You've got a qualified lead and their contact information, and they're able to take a closer look at your property.
Leveraging video and virtual tours as content offers is a great, easy way to improve your real estate company's digital lead generation. It's a simple website edit that you could do today. Once in place, as long as you have traffic flowing to your site, you could start to see leads coming in immediately.
04.3 Develop Informational, Evergreen Videos You Can Use Over and Over
The last two real estate lead generation tips on video focused on home tours and virtual tours. Another smart way for real estate developers and realtors to utilize video is in an informational format.
- Maybe that's a quick "How to List Your Home" video.
- Maybe it's a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" video.
- Or maybe it's a longer-form Q&A Instagram Live session where you take questions from your followers about anything related to your new real estate development.
Let's take the long-form Insta-Live Q&A session as an example.
You complete the Instagram Live, and you had a few hundred attendees.
That’s it for now, but there is certainly more to come as we move forward with this rebrand, and as we continue to grow. Be sure to keep an eye out for additional updates from us! And, before you go, we’d like to say thank you.
- Cut it up into single question-and-answer videos. Post them on your social media pages, or use them for your social media advertising campaign. You could get tons of small video clips out of that one live session — one for each question you answered in the live session.
- Turn key questions from the Q&A into blog posts. In addition to answering the question again in writing, you can embed the video in the blog post to increase shareability and engagement.
- Turn it into a content offer. Edit and repackage the footage from that Q&A session into a webinar or video offer that welcomes new leads into your real estate development. Call it "Everything You Need to Know About Life at [Your Development's Name] A Video Guide", and offer it on your website in exchange for a lead's contact information.
No matter which of these options sounds great to you, there's no denying that the average consumer loves a good video.
Whether you opt for video tours, virtual tours, or short how-to videos, incorporating video into your real estate development or realtor agency's regular marketing content is an easy way to boost lead generation.
05. Get Good at Conversational Marketing
For any real estate professional, whether you're a realtor or a developer looking to sell lots in your community, conversational marketing is your ticket to quality lead generation.
Your ideal buyers are looking for a home. No matter how experienced they are, they'll have questions about any potential new home. The better and faster you answer those questions, the more leads you'll get. One great way to implement conversational marketing is through chatbots on your website.
How Do Chatbots Work?
There is a range of different types of chatbots that come from different providers, but the general gist of all chatbots is the same. They make it easy for a potential buyer to contact you or ask a question, the minute they think of it.
A chatbot is that little messenger icon you see in the bottom right or left of your screen when you head to a new website.
Most chatbots say something like, "Hey, got a question?".
When you respond, the chatbot can supply you with a range of additional information depending on what your question is.
Chatbots for Real Estate Developers
Chatbots don't have to be difficult. In fact, they can be really simple. For your real estate development, you probably know what most people are looking for when they head to your site — site plans or floorplans.
On your pricing or floorplans page, you could have a chatbot pop up that says, "Hey, do you want to take a PDF of these site plans home with you?"
The person responds yes, gives their name and contact information, and the chatbot auto-delivers the content they're looking for, directly to their inbox, in a matter of minutes.
Chatbots for Realtors
The same goes for a chatbot on your home page. For realtors, a home page chatbot could say something as simple as, "Hey! Are you looking to buy or sell?"
When the visitor interacts with the chatbot, it can walk them through a few preset qualifying questions that help you determine whether that person is a good fit for your real estate agency.
- If it seems like they're still in the early stages of research, you can send them away with a quick guide to the area.
- If they seem like a qualified lead who's ready to list or buy, the chatbot can gather their questions and contact information, and send that directly to the realtor who can handle that lead.
BOOM! Lead generated.
Chatbots are a great option for any website, but particularly for the real estate industry. From home builders to realtors to developers, they give your potential leads access to you now.
If it's feasible, you can even set your chatbots to auto-forward to your sales team during the workday, so they can personally respond when a lead reaches out.
It's all about offering your leads the content and answers they need when they need them. If you're able to do that, you'll crush it, both in generating leads and closing them.
The secret to real estate lead generation is prioritizing it digitally. If you want more leads, now is the time to invest in your digital presence.
The real estate industry continues to trend towards digital engagement. From websites like Zillow and RedFin to the increased popularity of homeowners making moves across states, more and more consumers are using digital resources to find and sell their homes.
If you can position your real estate development or real estate agency well online, you'll be able to capture the lion's share of those digital leads.
We hope these real estate lead generation tips help you start pulling in more digital leads, fast! If you're looking to sell more homes, we can help. We've worked with home builders and real estate developers for years to draw in more qualified leads, and turn them into sales. We'd be happy to help you too.
