Hello everyone, my name is Matt Leighton and
in this video, you’re going to learn how to best use snapchat in your real estate business. We’re going to touch on 7 tips as well as
2 mistakes that real estate agents and businesses in general are making on snapchat right now. I’m going to put my snapcode right up here
so if you’re not already following me, you can do so right now.
This video is going to consist of 3 parts. First, we’re going to briefly touch on why
you should be using snapchat. Then we’re going to dive into how to best
use snapchat with 7 tips on how to best use the platform as a real estate agent. And then we’re going to finish up with 2
mistakes that agents and how to avoid these mistakes when using snapchat. Ready? Let’s begin. Why should you use snapchat? Well there’s 100 million reasons you should
be using the platform. That’s how many people use snapchat every
single day. There’s over 10 billion daily video views
on snapchat. Just think about that for a second 10 billion. It doesn’t matter if you’re 20 years old
or 70 years old, snapchat is being consumed at an incredible rate. Now is the time to get in. Maybe your clients aren’t on there now,
but they will be eventually. And when they are, you’re going to have
this huge following, you’re going to know how to use the app the most efficiently, and
you’re going to be ahead of your competition if you can learn how to master snapchat in
its infancy.
And snapchat has been around for a few years
so I use the term infancy loosely here. But I meet agents all the time, even in my
own office that say that stuff is not for me. Or I don’t ‘do’ social media. And these agents are still posting their ads
in the news paper and in the same magazine with zero results for years.
I’m excited to see what happens with those
agents that don’t want to move with the times. And that don’t want to adapt with changes
in the market. I’m excited, I want to be ahead of the game
when it comes to the next platform because I know what real estate agents were doing
10, even 5 years ago, may not be as effective as something new today. The bottom line is that snapchat is growing
and there are tangible things that you can be doing in your business involving snapchat
right now, that will help you build your brand and close more deals in the future, so let’s
start off with 7 tips on how to best use snapchat.
Tip #1 — Tell an actual story. It’s called Snapchat Story for a reason. If you take 1 snap of a house and post it
as a story, and that’s your only snap of the day, without any context…well there’s
not much value there. There’s not much to go off of. Create a story around what you’re doing
that day. Have a home inspection? Great give a tour of the house, follow the
inspector around, give some insight into any problems that arise. Don’t just post 1 picture of your lunch,
or 1 picture of your office, or of a house…1 picture or 1 video is OK if there’s text
to go along with it, if there’s content to go along with it.. Maybe at a closing and your only snap is a
snap of the happy new home owners and its obvious that that is what you are conveying. That’s the exception, other than that, tell
an actual story.
Tip #2 — Alternate between pictures and
videos. Personally I prefer videos because I feel
like I can convey a better message over video compared to pictures. But sometimes pictures can do the trick. When posting a snapchat story, I think that
you should try to always keep the same medium, either pictures or video, over the course
of your snapchat story. Unless it’s the beginning or the very end,
I find stories that alternate between pictures and video every other snap a little more difficult
to follow and a little more chopped up. What I mean by alternating between the two
is try posting a story using all pictures. Then the next time you post all videos. Check out how many views, you’re getting,
gauge the reaction, and see which one works for you. Tip #3 — Engage and Reply Back. Snapchat is a two-way street. Imagine using Twitter and only posting your
own tweets instead of replying to others, asking questions, and messaging other users. You’re probably missing out on a huge function
of the platform right? Well the same goes for Snapchat. Ask opinionated questions in your story. Tell your followers to screenshot which house
they like better when you’re out seeing properties.
Better yet, watch other people’s stories
and engage with your followers either via Chat, or by sending them a Snap directly. It builds community, you know you can make
connections with other followers and other real estate agents, and it’s going to be
more likely that they will engage with your content as well. Don’t just be a producer, be an engager
as well. Tip #4 — Use Geofilters. On almost every single one of my snaps, I
have something other than the picture or the video. I have text, or an emoji, or if there is a
geofilter, I have a geofilter. What’s great about snapchat is that you
can connect with people all across the country, and across the world. And I think by including that location anchor,
so to speak, it adds another dimension and makes things more interesting. I especially like doing this when I know I’ll
be running around, so I’m in the Northern Virginia area, so I’ll post a snap from
Reston, then i’ll be in Falls Church, then Alexandria, then maybe I’ll be in The District,
before heading home to Clarendon.
It’s a lot more interesting and more engaging
when people can see that you are running around the city and that you might be in their part
of town. And even mundane tasks could be more interesting. So switch it up, make it interesting and use
geofilters. Tip #5 — Create your own Geofilter. Ahh you probably saw this coming. Creating your own personal geofilter is a
lot easier and cheaper than you might expect. Go to fiverr, get someone to create your image
for $5 bucks, then go to snapchat.com and upload your filter and pick the time and the
place. Super easy. I think the best times to use them are for
open houses 1-4pm, for events, maybe you have a client happy hour that you planned, maybe
you’re taking your clients bowling, or maybe to a ball game, or even use it for community
events.
Say the Taste of Arlington, or the Taste of
whatever city you are in. Or any sort of event where there’s a lot
of people in a small confined space. What’s going to end up happening is that
people are going to find out about the filter and use it and send it to their friends. The snap itself might not be about the filter,
it could be just like a puppy face sent from one person to another, but the idea is that
they are spreading your marketing for you. I’ve used this for open houses and one of
my filters got over 1,000 views. The goal is to build up that brand because
when other people start adding it to their story and all of their followers see your
filter and your message, that’s when things can really start to snowball.
Quick note about this is I probably would
not have it running for more than a few hours, that’s why its important to keep it to a
defined event or open house or something like that. It can get pricy if you keep it going for
weeks on end, and I don’t think the engagement will be there unless the filter is created
around a certain activity. Tip #6 – Go to Neighborhood Hotspots. Be the neighborhood insider. This is your city, your town. You are the expert. Show people the coolest parks, bars, restaurants,
and hiking trails in your area. Do a “Hidden New York City” or “Hidden
your town” where you go to a spot that you don’t think many people know about. Real estate is not always about houses and
contingencies and inspections and addendums, it’s about your neighborhood right? You’re in real estate in your specific city
because you love that city, now go show it off! Tip #7 – Promote Snapchat on other Mediums.
How to get snapchat followers is a question
I get a lot, and since right now the Snapchat platform itself doesn’t really have a good
way at all to find users without knowing their exact names, you have to use your other platforms. I found a lot of success growing my following
from my Twitter, my Instagram, and my Facebook page. Leverage these other social media platforms
to draw attention and followers to your Snapchat account. Those are the 7 tips I have for you to grow
your Snapchat following for your real estate business. Now I also have 2 mistakes that people make
when using snapchat for real estate. Mistake #1 — Not using enough discretion. Not everything needs to be on snapchat. Some individuals that you’re going to be
around will not appreciate you having a video catalog of your time together. Here in Arlington, I work with a lot of people
looking at luxury condos and naturally these places are really nice so I want to share
them with you all on my snap story, but first I will ask the client if it’s ok for me
to take a few quick snaps.
I usually don’t like snapping when I’m
with the client one-on-one unless it’s something really cool. So what I will often times do is get there
about 20 minutes early take a few snaps and then meet with the client. I feel that it is much more respectful this
way so you don’t have your phone out when you are with your client. Other places to use discretion are – at the
closing table, these are lawyers and attorneys that you’re dealing with, be careful what
you are taking pictures of.
And finally when you’re driving. Never snap and drive. If you do you are a terrible human being,
maybe that’s a little harsh, but you are being extremely irresponsible and you are
endangering yourself and those around you. Don’t do it. Mistake #2 — Being too vanilla. Don’t be boring. If all your snaps are you in the office talking
about the trends in the real estate market and market statistics, a lot of people are
going to start to tune you out. You don’t have to be like Johnny Real Estate
Agent 24/7 every single day.
Take a deep breath, relax. At one of my first jobs out of college, a
sales job, I thought I was a big businessman and I tried to act all professional and upright
and proper…after the first week my manager came to me and said, ‘Matt I need you to
do something for me. I need you to go home, have a couple beers,
relax and come back next week a little more loose.’ What was happening was I thought in my mind
that this is the image I needed to portray in order to be successful, when in reality,
I was hurting myself because it was so transparent that mr.
Serious all the time was not me and people
knew it wasn’t genuine. So on snapchat, just be yourself. Don’t be Gary Vaynerchuk, don’t be DJ
Khaled, be yourself, be John Smith realtor from Kansas City. Show the real estate side but also have some
fun, show your trips, show your personality. People want to know that you’re an actual
person. And I guarantee you will get much better reactions
and better engagements if you are genuine to yourself rather than trying
to create an image of this guy or gal that just goes on and on about monotonous real
estate topics day in and day out.
There you have it, 7 tips for real estate
agents or businesses in general to use when trying to grow their snapchat following, as
well as 2 mistakes people are making every single day. I hope you found this video helpful. If it was you can hit that subscribe button
so you get more content like this, if you’re already subscribed, hit the thumbs up button
so I know you liked it. I’ve put my snapcode right here so you can
follow me, and I will follow you back, so long as you’re not making these mistakes. Okay thanks again for watching, until next
time..create a productive day. Take care..
Sell your Home for a $5000 flat Fee Full service Soldier to Soldier
