Calling all agents! Embrace social media and don't look back: Part 1

Competition is as fierce as ever, and with margins being squeezed ever more tightly, we need innovation, and we need it now. There are many factors of innovation to consider, but we're going to focus specifically on social media within this post.

Embracing social media as an agent is a vital part of how you should operate. Using social media can be a way of making you stand out from the crowd, impacting the way your business is represented and operates in the current market. We have listed our top ten tips when it comes to using social media, which we will be sharing. We will be publishing these tips in three different parts, so keep a look out for part 2! Follow us on Twitter @VTUK or find us on Facebook.

Tip 1: Create a community

It's vital from your first day on social media to establish a community that will admire you. Always make sure you welcome everyone to your community. This way they will feel part of the community and will want to engage with your material. As well as this, if you're using Twitter, giving your followers a re-tweet or favourite also helps establish a community. On Facebook, it's also useful to share and like other people's content making them aware of your presence.

It's not just interaction with your followers that will help establish a community. Make sure your social media presence is something people will want to revisit. Using engaging backgrounds and cover photos will help draw people to your community, before you even invite them. It's important to treat every follower as a customer and be polite, as well as re-tweet and reply to them. This way a community will form as you grow on social media. As an agent, by establishing a community that's relevant to the property sector, you'll begin to make people aware of your company. We recommend targeting people who are based around your location, who may be likely to rent or buy a house from your agency, as well as the industry leaders.

Tip 2: Challenge normality

Our second tip we feel property professionals should follow, when using social media, is the idea of challenging normality. Don't post tweets everyday about your industry, this won't make you stand out. Challenge normality and post material that is more likely to be shared. This may be an engaging photo, video or tweet. The way to identify if you're being boring is to examine what everyone else is posting and try and be different.

Many agent's make the mistake of posting the same information as everyone else. This only means you get lost in the mist of social media. Posting content that is different and challenges your competition will only make you stand out. What this information is depends on how you brand yourself as a business. There are different types of content you should consider when it comes to being different. Focus on information you produce, rather than copying articles. This will help you establish your brand and become unique. As agents, posting information focused directly on you as a business will help you become more visible. Create a dedicated blog for your business which can separate you from the competition. This can be used as a central point for all the information you produce.

As well as written material, the use of pictures can also prove useful. If correctly produced, pictures can prove powerful ways to get a message across. Publish photo's that will get people's attention and will get shared regularly. Posting humorous photos works extremely well and often gets shared. It's not just pictures that can be utilised, videos can also be used. Utilise YouTube as a way of showing off your property and business to a wide audience. YouTube can provide your business with potentially more views than a television broadcast and should definitely be considered, when it comes to using social media.

It's not just content you should consider when trying to be different. The way you use social media as a tool, also makes a difference. As agents, you should follow relevant people who are likely to buy or rent houses depending on your business. How relevant your followers are will impact the success of your business. As well as the people you follow, you should try and create a unique way of using each platform. Create weekly events your fans can identify with which will make you stand out as a business. Whatever you plan to do, always consider your competitors and the difference you provide as a company on social media.

3 Don't be scared to create debate

Don't be afraid to create debate. That's our third tip we recommend for agents using social media. Debates are something to utilise around every social media platform, don't be afraid to use them. They can get your community talking, giving you leads and something that could enhance your social media presence.

On the other hand, you should be aware of the topic youre depicting, before you send it out. Consider the message and make sure it does not take a biased approach. We feel many agents may be afraid to start debates, as they feel that social media can cause controversy and potentially cause harm to their business, which it can if a debate goes wrong. If you believe debates are too risky, it is only a matter of good planning to really get your followers talking. A well balanced debate and a great argument will only get your followers excited, giving you more shares across your whole network.

Overall debates can provide you with a great way of creating engagement. They can be a way of demonstrating your voice within the industry as you grow on social media. It is quite clearly a great way to establish community engagement.

Keep a look out for part 2! Follow us on Twitter @VTUK or find us on Facebook.

To find out more about VTUK! Give us a callFREEPHONE 0800 3280460 or visit www.vtuk.com to find out how we can assist.