Whether you just started your home inspection business or have been running it for some time, social media can be an essential tool to accomplishing your business goals. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even TikTok can help you connect with prospects, build your brand equity, and generate more sales.
While the value is certainly there, you want to be sure that you are targeting the right audiences with your social media work. One particular audience that is critical for the growth of your business is realtors. Realtors are an integral part of the buying or selling of any property, yet home inspectors sometimes miss opportunities to connect with these key figures on social media. With realtor referrals being a great way to find new customers, this is a task that deserves your full attention.
Because of this, all of us at Inspector Media want to share some key tips and strategies on how to connect with realtors on social media. Instead of meeting realtors in-person and trying to persuade them on a one-on-one basis, you can leverage the power of social media to make valuable connections at scale.
Keep the Long Game in Mind
Before we get started with specific tactics and strategies, however, it is important to focus on one overarching point.
That is the fact that social media is about consistency and patience. In other words, it is very difficult to build a rock-solid relationship—or even make a sale—after one meeting or interaction. Human beings don’t work that way. It’s easy to see how difficult that is if you were the one being sold to, rather than the one selling your services to someone else.
Therefore, when connecting with realtors on social media, it is absolutely vital to keep the long game in mind. Instead of thinking that relationships or sales will form right away, shift your expectations. Exercise patience and continue to post content to your social media feeds. By embracing the long game, you will end up getting the most out of it.
Settle on Your Digital Pond
With patience and consistency in mind, let’s now get into the real work. Like any social media campaign, a critical part is understanding who you want to target. Thinking of it another way, you want to settle on your digital pond so that you can catch the most attractive fish.
Granted, you can (and should) be posting organic content to your social media channels. You’ll have to do some digging, but in all likelihood, there are at least several real estate agents that are following you. Creating organic content that addresses real estate agents—including the problems or issues that they face—can be a great way to show your knowledge and experience. This type of organic content can start relationships with realtors, but you’ll likely want to direct message them to further nurture that relationship.
Regardless of your prior relationships with realtors, however, you’ll likely want to directly reach out to others. Unfortunately, there are no instantaneous ways for you to find the highest quality realtors in your area. However, a great starting point is your social media platform’s search feature. For instance, if you are trying to find realtors on Facebook, head on up to the search bar and type something like “realtor” or “real estate agent.” Along with this, you will want to include your city (or any other relevant city that you want to target). The search results that you receive will be a good starting point.
The search function on social media websites isn’t the only way to find real estate agents. On Facebook, for example, you may find Groups of real estate agents in your area. While you will want to tread lightly and not be too salesy in the beginning, you may meet some promising people in Facebook Groups. LinkedIn’s mutual connections feature is also a great way to find realtors that may be close to some of your customers, friends, or family members. If you want to take a more direct approach, you can also purchase social media ads, which can promote your content and display it on the feeds of realtors in your area.
The bottom line? Don’t hesitate to experiment when searching for realtors or real estate agents. Social media platforms give you plenty of tools to use, so make sure you are taking advantage of them.
Communicating with Real Estate Agents
Once you have identified some real estate agents in your area, you will want to start building those relationships. Essentially, you are pitching yourself, your home inspection business, and how you can provide value to the realtor’s clients.
At this point, some home inspectors may get stuck. It’s easy to think that you need to adopt a salesperson’s mentality or persona to build and strengthen the relationship.
We think this is a misguided approach. In fact, by being too salesy in the beginning, you may be creating more obstacles on your path to more business referrals. Even though we may feel like we “should” be salesy, your secret sauce is actually your authenticity. You want to be yourself—even if you feel you should be acting a different way.
Along with authenticity is the importance of offering value to the realtor or real estate broker. Like in any face-to-face meeting, you want to spend most of your time focusing on the realtor’s problems and how your home inspection services can solve their problems. This may be somewhat trickier than other sales interactions because you need to think about both the realtor’s problems and their client’s problems.
By stepping into the shoes of the realtor and their clients, you can create extremely effective social media posts. Reaching out to a particular realtor, for instance, you can do something as simple as pass along an article or piece of news that is relevant to realtors in your area. You can ask the realtor about common problems that they are facing in their work. You can even refer that realtor to some of your digital contacts that may be looking to buy or sell their homes.
Whatever the case may be, you don’t need to put a ton of pressure on yourself. You don’t need to come up with some earth-shattering or groundbreaking idea for every single post or direct message. Remember that you are playing the long game. By being patient and continuing to add value to every conversation, you are planting the seeds for a blooming relationship.
Finding the Time
Ultimately, social media can be a fabulous tool to connect with realtors in your area. The opportunity is there for the taking. That said, some home inspectors find it difficult to fit social media marketing into their busy schedules.
We recommend that you start small. Try to connect with one realtor per day. It only takes a few minutes to find a realtor and create a post or direct message. By getting started today, you’re that much closer to finding new clients for your home inspection business.
At Inspector Media, we can also help you develop strategies to help you leverage social media and grow your business. To learn more about us and how we can help you, click here.