Grow your business with social media: Sonia Zarbatany master class- 3/21/2023

In February, we had the pleasure of speaking with Sonia Zaratany. She is a coach, an international speaker and leads a complete agency around social media. Her focus is on:

1. Building your personal brand
2. Creating content
3. And magnifying your message across all platforms.

Whether you partner with a social media team or brave it on your own, the first step is getting started.

The power of social media

The first step is recognizing the power of social media to grow your business. Here Sonia shows us how to:

1. Build your personal brand
2. Find your target audience
3. Create your content calendar 
4. Make amazing content
5. Build your community

There are clients waiting to know you. Let’s find out the step-by-step ways to  build your personal brand in real estate over social media.

Here are some key questions you are going to want to ask yourself:

1. Why am I on social media?

1. Are you a personal brand or a business brand? 

1. Who is your target audience?

1. What type of content will you post? 

Let’s start with the first question. So you want to get clear on why you are using social media. Is it to educate people? Is it to get more clients? Most who are on social media want more visibility. They want to build a brand for themselves and build a community around that brand.

Once you know why then you'll start to understand the importance of building your brand. And it’s completely free! If you're in real estate this is going to change your game. 

Are you a personal brand or a business brand? 

If you're a real estate agent, build your personal brand. An important tip to remember is to use your actual name in your account so people can find you! There is nothing worse than making a connection at an event and they can’t find you on Instagram. Grow your brand by tagging those you meet at events and in your day-to-day. 

Tip: People follow people, they don't follow brands. Social media is about networking with a person.

Who is your target audience?

When we build the foundation of your personal brand, it’s not for your friends and family only. It's not a personal account. It's a personal brand. So, it's very important for you to know who your target market and client is. Because as we move to create content for your audience, you need to know who you're speaking to.

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself: 

1. What level of real estate experience do they have?

1. Is it their first home? Did they get married? 

1. And now they want to go from a condo to a bigger home. 

1. Is it commercial? 

1. Is it residential?

It's important to get clear on who your ideal target market is. This ensures that you can build a social media presence that is aligned with your target market. Have a clear strategy to build your personal brand or your business brand.  This will help convert your audience. 

Content

What will one of the content pillars be? Educate your audience to show that you are the best in real estate and that you are the right fit for them. Tell them about the real estate industry itself and then niche it out. Why are you the best? What's your X factor? And what am I going to learn from you? 

It’s not about posting a house listing or sale!

Focus on what value you're providing to your community. What this means is that you want to start looking at social media in a way where you're creating content for 2 things:

1. Sharable content

1. Content people will save

With shareable content, you want people to say “this is great, let me share it!” or “that was great, I’m going to save it.”

The Instagram algorithm looks for sharing and saving content along with engagement. For example, instead of posting a picture of a home sold, tell a story and use reels. You can get creative with it! Remember to educate, entertain and show value.

Personal pillar

Personal pillar means people will want to know something about you. Real estate agents get hired because of their personality, and skill. Let's face it, you are the best at what you do! So when someone looks at your social media account, they should see videos featuring you. Don’t be afraid to show your personality!

Of course, this doesn't mean you have to show your kids or what you had for lunch that day. If you love to play golf or tennis, or ride, use this in your content. People will follow you if they can relate or connect to you. People like authenticity so be yourself!

Ask yourself, what's one pillar that I love to do and that doesn't even have anything to do with real estate? People with similar interests will follow you! Then you will be top of mind in their world when a friend asks them about selling their home. Or if they are looking to buy a home.

Build community

It's all about building community. People will want to come and live in your community. Ask yourself: How can I build community and convert my audience into clients?

The 3 pillars of your brand life cycles

The first brand pillar is brand awareness. This means that you need to show what sets you apart!  If you are the best real estate agent in your market or niche, then build your strategy around that. That means we're going to create your brand pillars. 

• Create templates of your brand

• Create your brand colors

• Your brand logo

• Your profile picture

• What type of content you want to post

Make your brand on social media to be at the level in which your business is, and in which your brand is in real life. Grow your reach, your followers and your awareness in your city, in your niche of who you are as a real estate agent. That's brand awareness. 

This is when people are following you. You're getting followers. You're somebody on social media. You're creating content and you're feeling comfortable with it. 

Brand consideration

Now your audience is starting to consider you. Are you the right fit for them? Now they're going to spend a little bit more time consuming your content. That means they're going to spend more time on your socials. They're starting to consider you for when they need to sell their home or buy a new property.

Brand Conversion

This is where you ask for the business and where you convert.

Tip: Instagram is the number one platform for real estate agents. Each platform has its own audience and strategy. But you can build your entire business on Instagram alone. From Instagram, you can also post on Facebook. 

Type for content

The content that gets the biggest amount of reach right now is Reels. Keep your reels to a max of 60-90 seconds. Anything over 90 seconds is when you go into ‘brand consideration.’  Keep your reels fast to capture their attention.

The first 30 seconds of your video are the most important ones. Get to the hook, get to the topic. What am I talking about? Why am I watching this? People will want to know what you are going to teach them.

Content that right for brand consideration

Brand consideration is where you want to go for a longer video. Once your target audience has been following you and loves you, they will take more time on your account. Then in the next step of brand consideration.

Content that is right for conversion

Let’s say you're now ready to convert them into a new home for sale or an open house or book, a discovery. Where do I put that piece of content? Your super fans are on your stories. These are people that watch you. And where are your stories? At the top of your feed!

Where to convert your business

Highlights is where you want to add anything to do with your business such as:

• Your Bio

• Link to your listings

• Link to your website

• Link to your listings on mls

You don't have to put it in your feed and have a messy feed anymore. You can have one place on your Instagram where you can direct your clients to your listings.  

Have a clear headshot

Most Real estate agents have great headshots, so use it! What you're creating is a social media presence. This is where people will go and want to buy from you and want to follow you, and you will build trust with your audience. With your name, you should have 2 to 3 searchable keywords for your ideal clients to find you. So remember, your name should be in the title. 

Your bio

The goal is to help people know what you do. Focus on your target audience when creating your bio. Find something that speaks to them! The link in your bio can be your website or a linktree.  This is where you house all the important links that you want to share with your audience. 

Book an appointment

Make sure to add buttons that point to your consumer book with you. You can link your calendly so consumers can book right in your calendar. So that while you're sleeping at night you're attracting new clients!

Your highlights are the service section of your website. This includes listings or open houses, events, and networking things. If you have a new follower, this is where they will go. Make sure you include a highlight that is all about you. Creating a video here is ideal. Let your audience know who you are and that you look forward to working with them.

Weekly content calendar

Create a simple weekly content schedule. Plan your content for the entire week. For example, Mondays can be your inspirational day. On that day, you can post a reel. The best reels can be created on your phones! So don’t go investing in expensive equipment. Your title can be: 'My Monday Inspiration.' If you're going to invest in equipment, start with getting a Ring light with a tripod.

Tip: You don’t have to post every day, 5 days a week works.

Practice makes perfect

Start practicing talking to your phone if you're starting off. They want to see a day in the life of YOU. They want to see you negotiating a deal. Or a great tip you want to offer. What's your work/life balance look like? Brainstorm ideas of what videos you want to shoot that my audience would resonate with. Remember that stories disappear after 24 hours. Don’t forget to post pictures. Choose different pictures when posting and create a Carousel post. 

Content tools: CapCut (to add captions to your reels)

Tip: Always put words to your reels and stories, because 85 0f people will watch social media on mute. When people are scrolling, they watch and read. If they are interested, they will click on your video and re-watch it with sound.

Remember, it’s all about getting started. Post your first story, it doesn't have to be perfect! Before you know it, you will be an expert storyteller on social media. You will grow your followers and business.

Social Media Links:

Sonia Zarbatany