Everyone wishes they had more closings each month, but, unfortunately, it’s something you can’t directly control. However, you can control how many contacts you make. Lead generation needs to be a priority at your business, as with consistent lead generation come consistent closings.
To succeed, you need to use what’s working best today. To help you out, I’m going to explain the top five internet lead generation ideas most real estate agents overlook. Always remember: your sphere is the foundation of your business. If you’re not growing your sphere, your business growth stagnates.
Sphere lists are what fuel a profitable business.
To succeed, you need to use what’s working best today. To help you out, I’m going to explain the top five internet lead generation ideas most real estate agents overlook. Always remember: your sphere is the foundation of your business. If you’re not growing your sphere, your business growth stagnates.
Sphere lists are what fuel a profitable business.
Use Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is the marketing term for a free item or service that you give away for the purpose of gathering contact information. Typically, realtors offer lead magnets (also known as guides) that relate to buying or selling. For instance, a guide could be called “How to Sell Your Home in 28 Days” or “8 Things Not to Do When Buying a Home.”
These are great, but I want to challenge you to think beyond information about real estate. That’s because some of the highest-converting lead magnets aren’t about real estate at all.
For example, let’s imagine you want to position yourself as the real estate expert in Dallas, Texas. What kind of lead magnet would work for this? Something like “The 5 Most Family-Friendly Activities in Dallas, Texas” would be perfect. Whatever you do, give it your branding.
Generating leads is all about solving problems for your ideal clients. Take a minute to think about where your ideal clients are hanging out and what kind of information is important to them.
When someone clicks on the lead magnet, it should send them to a landing page with a built-in lead capture. This asks visitors for their name and email address, allowing you to deliver the guide straight to their inboxes. Once you have the email addresses, make sure to stay in contact with leads by continuously sending them content that shows you’re the real estate expert in your area.
These are great, but I want to challenge you to think beyond information about real estate. That’s because some of the highest-converting lead magnets aren’t about real estate at all.
For example, let’s imagine you want to position yourself as the real estate expert in Dallas, Texas. What kind of lead magnet would work for this? Something like “The 5 Most Family-Friendly Activities in Dallas, Texas” would be perfect. Whatever you do, give it your branding.
Generating leads is all about solving problems for your ideal clients. Take a minute to think about where your ideal clients are hanging out and what kind of information is important to them.
When someone clicks on the lead magnet, it should send them to a landing page with a built-in lead capture. This asks visitors for their name and email address, allowing you to deliver the guide straight to their inboxes. Once you have the email addresses, make sure to stay in contact with leads by continuously sending them content that shows you’re the real estate expert in your area.
YouTube Videos
Most of you already have a YouTube channel, even if you haven’t realized it. If you have a Google account (such as for a Gmail address), you have a YouTube channel. YouTube is a great place to showcase yourself as an expert. Plus, it’s great for search, since videos rank well in Google search and appear in the YouTube search results.
Take what you learned about lead magnets and apply it to creating videos. For more ideas about what types of videos to upload to your YouTube channel, check out “5 Real Estate Videos Every Agent Should Be Creating.”
At the end of the video, you need a call to action. This should be something like “Hey! To find more information on this topic, click below to download our free guide.”
Take what you learned about lead magnets and apply it to creating videos. For more ideas about what types of videos to upload to your YouTube channel, check out “5 Real Estate Videos Every Agent Should Be Creating.”
At the end of the video, you need a call to action. This should be something like “Hey! To find more information on this topic, click below to download our free guide.”
Blog
Blog content is an incredibly powerful tool that helps your ideal client find you through search. You may be overwhelmed by the thought of sitting down and writing a bunch of content. Maybe you feel like you’re not a great writer or perhaps you simply lack the time. However, blogging doesn’t need to be an intimidating or time-consuming process — just keep things simple.
For instance, take the videos you’ve created for YouTube and transcribe them. There’s no need to do this manually — use a site like temi.com and you’ll only pay 10 cents per minute. Then, you can use the transcriptions as blog posts, giving you two for one.
If you just want to blog, rather than making any YouTube videos, open a Google Doc and enable voice typing. You can just start talking about a topic and the software will transcribe everything.
For instance, take the videos you’ve created for YouTube and transcribe them. There’s no need to do this manually — use a site like temi.com and you’ll only pay 10 cents per minute. Then, you can use the transcriptions as blog posts, giving you two for one.
If you just want to blog, rather than making any YouTube videos, open a Google Doc and enable voice typing. You can just start talking about a topic and the software will transcribe everything.
Facebook Live
According to Facebook, the average user opens the Facebook app between eight and 14 times a day. Plus, fans spend three times longer watching live videos than pre-recorded videos. If your sphere is hanging out on Facebook anyway, there’s no better place to stay top of mind and market yourself as the expert. In addition, Facebook notifies your followers every time you start a live video.
You can create live videos based on the topic ideas above. However, some additional ideas just for live videos include:
You can create live videos based on the topic ideas above. However, some additional ideas just for live videos include:
- Open houses
- Interviews with custom builders in your areas
- Q&As
- Tours of model homes
Facebook Ads to Your Sphere
This one of my favorite tips — it’s one that all our coaching clients use. Rather than take out a Facebook ad to target the masses or a cold audience, run an ad to a custom audience that consists of your sphere of influence.
These hero ads are essentially online billboard ads to keep you top of mind for referrals. They’re typically much cheaper than the traditional postcards you may be sending. Plus, your sphere only sees your postcards once a month and likely throws them in the trash. And don’t even get me started on the cost of magazine ads. For the same cost as a magazine ad, you can quadruple your exposure with Facebook ads — or maybe even increase exposure by as much as 10 times, depending how much you’re spending.
I know all this because I used to use magazine ads and postcards before I learned about online Jedi hacks. When your sphere sees you every time they open their social media, their perception is going to be that you’re a genius at online marketing. That will give them the confidence to send you referrals. By the way, I’ve covered all this in greater depth in “Getting Real Estate Leads from Facebook.”
These hero ads are essentially online billboard ads to keep you top of mind for referrals. They’re typically much cheaper than the traditional postcards you may be sending. Plus, your sphere only sees your postcards once a month and likely throws them in the trash. And don’t even get me started on the cost of magazine ads. For the same cost as a magazine ad, you can quadruple your exposure with Facebook ads — or maybe even increase exposure by as much as 10 times, depending how much you’re spending.
I know all this because I used to use magazine ads and postcards before I learned about online Jedi hacks. When your sphere sees you every time they open their social media, their perception is going to be that you’re a genius at online marketing. That will give them the confidence to send you referrals. By the way, I’ve covered all this in greater depth in “Getting Real Estate Leads from Facebook.”
What to Do Next
After you’ve implemented these strategies, you may be wondering what to do with the leads you’ve generated. How can you stay in contact and provide constant value to the new leads?
Providing constant value is exactly what we do in our sphere influencer program. We help you create a model and a system to stay top of mind. We even offer monthly video scripts to help you when you’re stuck for inspiration.
Providing constant value is exactly what we do in our sphere influencer program. We help you create a model and a system to stay top of mind. We even offer monthly video scripts to help you when you’re stuck for inspiration.
