Your social media content doesn’t have to suck, branding expert says

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Real estate can be a roller coaster. If your social media marketing is just like everyone else’s, you’re setting yourself up to ride alongside them to the bottom when the market turns.

But if you take steps to set yourself above the pack, with an arsenal of content that is unique, personal and well-made, you’re setting yourself up for success in all markets, marketing and branding expert Katie Lance told a group of real estate professionals at Inman Connect New York on Tuesday.

“What happens is, if your marketing is in a sea of sameness it becomes this feast or famine situation,” she said. “And you start all over again at the bottom” during downturns.

To highlight the sea of sameness, she used an example of an iconic but borderline cliche image that’s frequently shared on social media after vacation.

Some people like seeing a picture of the blue ocean from your recent trip to the tropics, but far more would be interested in seeing the abundance of beautiful aquatic life just below the surface, she said.

She said agents should get comfortable with their bodies and their voices. To get started, she said, “done is better than perfect.” 

“But when you get to the point where we get comfortable being on camera, you get comfortable with how you look…there comes a point when you think, ‘How could I be doing this better?’” Lance said.

One of the ways to get better, she said, is simply by creating more content. People become comfortable appearing on camera over time.

Lance told agents to give the audience — however big or small that audience might be — “more of you.”

She encouraged them to speak directly to the camera, to quickly get to the story they’re trying to tell.

“It’s you. You’re talking to one person,” she said. “There’s not a crowd of people watching your YouTube videos.”

She advised the group to not talk as though they were speaking to a group, such as by opening a short social media video with “Hey guys!”

“More of you, and less of…’Hey everybody, I’m at Inman Connect,’” she said. Instead, advising them to get right into it by saying, “‘I’m at Inman Connect and I just had to hop on Instagram and share with you what I’m learning.’”

As always, she said, look for ways to stand out from the pack.

Rather than sharing a picture of a flower on the first day of spring, Lance suggested a video with short clips of various flowers in the garden and music overlaid in the background.

“I don’t think there’s any shortcut to getting better on camera. We’re all going to be a little bit different,” she said. “The way you get better at being on camera is you just get on camera more. Go through that awkward phase of how you look and how you sound.”

“I had a good friend of mine a few years ago who lovingly told me … ‘Katie, that’s how you look, and that’s how you sound, so you’ve got to get over it.’”

Email Taylor Anderson