How Often Should You Post to Social Media?
A common question that I often hear when it comes to your Naples area real estate social media efforts is “How often should I be posting?”
And the answer, as it seems to be for so many things, is “it depends.” For this particular topic, how often you post depends on the social media platform we’re talking about posting to. I found this post from Keeping Current Matters to be a great guideline filled with useful information, but have went ahead and added my own take below.
Don’t Post Just to Post
Another part of the “it depends” answer is what you plan on posting. Keeping a regular posting schedule is great, but only if you have relevant content to post for your audience. Think images and updates on listings, real, timely advice, Naples and Marco Island area information, etc.
Posting at random on a set schedule does nothing but pollute your followers’ timelines. This will hurt your credibility and could eventually lose you some followers. You need to make sure each and every post you make to your various social media channels gives your followers something they want or need so they’ll keep coming back for more. Relevant information about your market trends and local Southwest Florida news is key.
As they begin to learn that you will provide them with good content that is aligned with their interests, they will look to you as an expert in your field and routinely read your posts rather than skip right by. You can imagine that this is an especially valuable tool for those looking to buy a home in Naples or Bonita Springs.
“Pay attention to the 3 E’s of Social Media Content – Enlighten, Engage and Entertain” – Nicole Baker
Different Social Media Platforms
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the various social media platforms in play for the real estate market and put together an outline for how often you should be posting.
You probably thought I was going to start with Facebook, didn’t you? But from a volume standpoint, you should be posting on Twitter much more often.
This is because of the platform’s design. Twitter is a high-volume/low-value network, meaning you have to post often to keep up with the fast pace of conversations. This involves interacting with other users on the platform and replying to any responses you get to your tweets.
It might be quite difficult to come up with 40 quality tweets per day, while three should be relatively easy. If you’re not tweeting at all currently, it’s a good idea to build up your posting regimen slowly. You can also a management platform to schedule your posts in advance to make your life easier.
Here is a nice list of 13 of the best Social Media Posting and Scheduling tools.
“Within few years, Instagram has been able to attract more people than any other social media website ever did. It has reached more than 150 million active users. Thus, if you are not using Instagram for business, it means you might be missing out on millions of potential customers” – FanZappy
Instagram is a great platform for real estate given its visual nature. You can easily fill up your feed with great (professional!) photos of your listings and the natural beauty of Naples and the Gulf Coast, but that doesn’t mean you should be dropping dozens of posts per day.
Instead, carefully curate daily posts with one compelling image or with multiple images to showcase a given area. Make sure the images tell a story rather than filling the space just because you had to post something today. Instagram posts have a decent lifespan, so you don’t want content that won’t age well or does not hold any real value to your audience.
Not only should you be strategic with the images you choose, but also with your accompanying hashtags. Use a few hashtags in every one of your posts to build up an image pool that people can search through. You may also find some influential accounts that you can tag in your posts to reach a bigger audience.
Consider a daily Instagram post as well as one or two stories per day to start and see what kind of engagement that brings you. Here is a great list of 7 Instagram Stories Ideas to Get More Followers
Facebook is an incredibly useful social media platform for real estate. Like Instagram, Facebook values quality over quantity so you don’t want to oversaturate the newsfeed. A daily post should be just fine on Facebook as well.
You can even conduct some research on your Facebook audience to find out when they are using the platform so you know the optimal time to post. As far as lifespan is concerned — a Facebook post will land somewhere in the middle between a tweet and an Instagram. High-quality posts is the most important factor here.
When posting images on Facebook, like all other platforms you may want to pay attention to your image sizes for different types of posts. This way that amazing Naples Area Stock photo you picked out will look just the way you imagine it will when your audience sees it in their newsfeed. The guidelines for different images on different parts of a Facebook feed are ever changing it seems, but here is a link to the latest.
LinkedIn has less value than the above three when it comes to real estate postings, but if you are posting relevant market information instead of just images of your listings, then it is worth having a presence. You’ll only want to post to LinkedIn sparingly during the workweek and keep your focus on market trends and insights.
Since LinkedIn is a professional network, your followers will look to you as an expert in the real estate market and seek information from you on investment opportunities, the local market, plus news on area amenities and attractions.
Some home buyers will use Pinterest to envision what they’d like in a home, so it may be of value for you to have a presence on the platform. When you have a feature in a listing that someone covets, they may very well find you through a Pinterest “pin.” You can easily post to Pinterest several times a day without issue since it operates differently than the other platforms.
Any relevant images you have for listings are fair game for Pinterest content. Just make sure you use the appropriate hashtags so people can find your content and it may be a good idea to mention it to your professional real estate photographer that you would like a few detail shots of your listing for your social media posts.
If you are looking to jump into the Pinterest game here is some good info on Pinterest and Real Estate Marketing
Summary
Overall, the frequency with which you post to social media largely depends on your market, your following, and how much valuable content you have to share. If you have tons of great images of your listings, you can spread them out over time until the property is sold. If you have access to a nice selection of stock photos of the Naples and surrounding areas then you can also create a steady flow of interesting Social Media posts and content.
Create a plan that won’t overwhelm you and make adjustments as you learn what works and what doesn’t. As long as you aren’t overdoing it and spamming your followers with irrelevant posts, you should drive interest and engagement which hopefully brings more of the right eyes to your listings.
And it’s not as much work as it sounds. Think about how much time you already spend looking through other Naples agent’s content. And don’t forget, there are platforms available like Hootsuite and Bufferthat will send your post to multiple social sites at once, and you can customize them as you see fit.
Looking for a professional real estate photographer in Southwest Florida? Jon Kreider at Sun Services SW has expertly photographed properties in the area since 2013. A commercial photographer serving the Naples, Marco Island, and Bonita Springs communities, Jon specializes in real estate photography, Naples Stock Photography and video, bringing homes to life online before they are viewed in person. Visit Jon’s website or shoot him an email today at jon@sunservicessw.com to discuss your real estate photography needs.