5 Social Media Tips for REALTORS®

Wahi consults industry pros for pointers on how REALTORS® can use social media to build trust, grow their brand, and gain new clients.

By Josh Sherman | 4 minute read

Social media is an increasingly important channel for REALTORS® to grow their businesses on, but there are several important things to consider before posting.

To be a top REALTOR®, you’ve got to be active on social media. “If you’re looking to grow your business in real life, most people are going to check you out on social media,” says Andrew Perrie, CEO of The Fine Estates Team and Director for Revel Realty Inc. “You have to have a presence,” the Wahi Partner Realtor adds.

Perrie should know. His Instagram account has amassed nearly 34,000 followers, and his team is in the top 0.1% of REALTORS® in Niagara. 

However, to be successful, it’s not enough to just create an account on your favourite app and begin posting. Wahi recently caught up with social-media savvy members of the real estate industry, including Perrie, for their tips on how REALTORS® can use social media most effectively.

1. Be consistent  

“You have to really set a strategy in place, and you can’t just freestyle it,” says Mark Savel, a salesperson at Sage Real Estate Ltd. and co-creator of the Toronto Livings Real Estate Podcast. Figure out what medium is the best match for your communication style first, he suggests. Some people are more comfortable in front of the camera, which could work well on Instagram or YouTube, while others might prefer the written word, so X, formerly Twitter, might be best. Whatever platform you choose, sticking to a schedule of three posts per week is the absolute bare minimum, suggests Savel, who has about 3,000 followers each on X and Instagram. For best results, you’ll likely want to be much more active than that. “You’ve only got a couple of hours to get as much reach as possible, and that’s why you’ve got to post a couple of times a day,” says Perrie.

2. Listen to your audience  

Posting consistently is important, but you should also look at your social media analytics to see what type of content your audience responds to. If you notice a certain type of content consistently performing better than the others, post more of that type of content. On the other hand, if your posts aren’t gaining any traction, it’s time for a rethink, especially in the early days of implementing your strategy. “That [low engagement] means that you need to start switching up the style of content that you’re posting, maybe the time of day that you’re posting — it’s really trial and error for the first six to 12 months,” says Perrie. It’s also important to engage with your audience by replying to comments and commenting on other posts. That’s where Perrie directs most of his effort. “If they’re going to take the time to engage with you, you should be taking the time to engage right back.”

3. Stay focused  

You may log into an app with every intention of using it for work, but it’s easy to get distracted. Social media algorithms are designed to serve users with relevant content, so it’s only natural that a photo carousel or video might catch your attention when you should be working. To stayed focused, Savel — who says he lacks the willpower to resist scrolling — downloaded a distraction-blocking app called Freedom: “From 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., social media is completely locked off my phone, and that was to get me using it specifically as a tool and not a time-waster.”

Also don’t let social media distract you from other parts of your business. “If you’re focusing too much on social media and not enough on developing your skills as a REALTOR® — going out and meeting people face to face, whether it be door-knocking, events, just talking to people, messaging people — I don’t think any amount of social media is going to really help you become the top producer.”

4. Be authentic  

Authenticity builds trust. “You’ve got to remember that social media, it’s right in the name — it’s social. It’s not sell-able media, it’s not pitch media. People don’t want to go there to be sold on something,” says Perrie. Instead, focus on providing value to your audience. Try to entertain or educate. “You don’t have to have a call to action,” Perrie continues. “You just have to be yourself and create content that people will want to watch and return to.” Savel is on the same page. “Be authentically you,” he says, stressing that you shouldn’t try to copy anybody else or be something you’re not. “The first TikTok real estate dancer had tremendous success,” he says. “The 90 that copied them are cringe.” 

5. Be professional  

Being authentic doesn’t mean posting every thought that comes to your mind, especially if it might be controversial. Maintain a level of professionalism. “Social media… it could be so powerful and helpful to your business, but at the same time it could be incredibly detrimental and potentially wipe you off the face of the real estate earth if you do say something… that’s viewed [as] problematic,” Savel says. Perrie suggests there’s a good rule of thumb for whether or not you should post something: “If there’s something that you wouldn’t say in front of a buyer or seller, I probably wouldn’t put it on the internet.”