Self-promotion or strategy? The social media mistake costing agents listings

Barry Plant Doncaster East managing director and auctioneer, Spiro Drossos, said refining personal branding had become increasingly important, but many agents were neglecting their audience in their strategy.

He said that in real estate, clients were the most important people in the relationship, and agents needed to focus on creating content that was valuable to them.

“The biggest mistake I see is the self-centred approach, the competitiveness of agents wanting to be better and better than another, versus serving a community and serving a client,” Drossos told Real Estate Business.

Rather than launching a “mass marketing” campaign where they flaunted their achievements and wealth, Drossos said agents’ social media pages should inspire and motivate their audience.

“Instagram could be almost like a body of work or a portfolio of work where an artist would say, ‘this is what I do’,” he said.

“There’s no reason why an estate agent can’t do the same thing and say, ‘this is my body of work, these are the properties I sell, these are the experiences my clients have’.”

Ultimately, Drossos said prospective clients wanted to know what they would gain from the relationship and how the agent would represent them.

When posting sold properties, he said that agents should go beyond the price and share buyer interest and feedback, as vendors want deeper insight into demand and market sentiment.

“These are a lot of interest to somebody living in the street, it gives them more information, and it adds value to the relationship, versus a big ‘sold’ sticker and a $20,000 commission.”

For agents just starting out in their social media journey, Drossos advised covering key concepts of the buying and selling process with their audience.

These might include what would happen after they sold, which removal companies could help them, the settlement process, how often they would hear from the agent, and whether they needed a conveyancer.

“Video around what a good open home is, like our auction performances, they’re also ways that we show our craft and provide more confidence to a client to use us,” he said.

While a successful social media strategy should include educating the audience, Drossos warned agents not to make the content excessively analytical.

Additionally, he said agents should draw on aspirational content to appeal to the audience’s desires, such as good photography or testimonials from past clients.

“Testimonials and vendors’ experiences are a great way to provide credibility, instead of a thumbs up in front of a sold sticker, which a lot of agents do get caught up in.”

“We are moving away from that now into more client experiences, having clients talk about their journey. Video testimonials are the best way to do that.”

When it comes to personality, Drossos said it was important for agents to display their own character and style in their content, helping them to build a rapport with vendors in their area.

“It’s very important that they bring that out and not try to be somebody else, but represent in the market – what’s their brand in the marketplace?”

“You can’t be all things to all people. So we have to identify who we want to target and then bring that personality out to meet that market,” he concluded.