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How to Get Shared, Liked and Go Viral

Ever wonder why some videos, photos or blog posts go viral and others don’t? It’s not like only the funniest, craziest or best things get shared over and over. Some really amazing things are happening online, but no one is seeing them outside small, private circles. You can’t control the end game 100%, but there are some things I can tell you about how to get shared, liked and go viral online.

People share things that trigger an emotion. That emotion can be light-hearted or heartbreaking, hilarious or serious, but it has to be felt and felt deeply on some level. Whether a post, video or photo elicited a chuckle or a tear, it’s that emotional connection that prompts social sharing.

There are things that tug at our collective heartstrings. Have you ever worked with a military veteran, and helped the vet and his/her family into their first home? Ask to use them as a case study. Film them moving in or signing their contract, ask them some questions about the significance of the home purchase on their lives and their family, get the video edited and post it on social media. Write a blog about them, take some photos, follow up in a year. These are ideas that spring to mind quickly, but the general idea is to follow things that tug at your own heart, and when possible, make those stories available to others. Share good fortune when you can.

What else can you do? Write. On your blog or website, take the time to create insightful, researched, long-form content (2,000 – 10,000) words. Not as many people do it, which means less competition, and research by the NY Times and BuzzSumo agree that long-form content is shared more often.

Remember that images, videos and infographics are all shared more readily than text alone. Images on Twitter get twice as many shares as text alone, and the same goes for Facebook. Lists and quizzes are also popular, the latter because they appeal to many people’s inherent self-involvement.

There are some great tools available online that you can use to create your own infographics, quizzes and more, without spending any money or needing graphic design skills. Have a look at Creative Bloq’s 10 Free Tools for Creating Infographics and Top 10 Social Media’s Ten Free Infographic Maker Tools for Social Media to get started.

Lastly, try not to focus your attention on going viral or the numbers of shares your posts will receive. Thinking too much about results can make your social media efforts stilted and forced. If something feels important to you, share it! You might find you’re not the only one.

How to Increase Twitter Engagement by 324% – Infographic

So, recently, blogger and social media strategist Garin Kilpatrick created an awesome infographic that shows us how to increase Twitter engagement by 324%! If you think tripling your Twitter engagement would be awesome (I do), you definitely should check this out.

Use Twitter to Build Your Brand Recognition

Don’t fool yourself. Even if you are a single agent, working for yourself, you still have a brand. Your brand is more than just your image – it is people’s perception of your image, of you, of your business, your credentials, your reputation – you get the idea. As social media takes a stronghold on the world of branding and marketing, we are learning newer and better ways to use it to our advantage. Let’s talk about how you can use Twitter to build your brand recognition.

You may want to sit down and map out a brand strategy. Do a bit of Google research or play around on HootSuite (after setting up a free account, of course), and work out ways other people are building brand awareness through social media. See what catches your eye and what you personally find attractive, endearing or smart. Twitter can also be a great platform to promote open houses and other home events.

Twitter can be instrumental in building brand recognition, because it operates in real time and has tremendous reach. You don’t have to be someone’s “friend” or “connection” to start a conversation. Using hashtags and Twitter Chat gives you – and anyone – the chance to be in on the conversation. This is where the real connections get made.

Make sure others will want to know you by updating your Twitter photo and bio. Be approachable, include an interesting fact or two about yourself or your business, say what you like to talk about, and use a great picture (don’t be the egg!).

Here a few tips to getting the most out of Twitter when you’re trying to build brand awareness:

Use photos and videos. Twitter stats show that tweets with images and videos get retweeted more often.

Use hashtags. Experts say to use three separate hashtags for each tweet to help your tweets rise above the masses. Mix them up, post the same content in different ways, using different hashtags. And absolutely use relevant trending hashtags – get involved in larger conversations for greater exposure.

Ride on the coattails of others. If you’re selling a fixer-upper with a ton of potential, try tweeting about it during episodes of Rehab Addict. Want to encourage buyers to use an agent? Tweet while they’re watching Love It or List It. Or use the Million Dollar Listing time slot to tweet about that gorgeous horse ranch you’ve just listed for a new client. Research shows that using relevant hashtags during a trending TV show can really boost your Twitter exposure.

Be yourself. As a real estate professional, your brand ultimately comes down to YOU. Make things personable and personal. Stick to what you know and what you like. Tweet things that interest or engage you. Retweet and comment often, when others tweet things that are important or interesting to you. Thank those who follow and retweet you.

Where Should You Focus Your Social Media Attention?

Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr … the list goes on. But there are only so many hours in the day, and the home buyers and sellers you want to target may not be everywhere. How do you determine the best social media approach? Where should you focus your social media attention?

You want to be where your target audience is, first and foremost. Your goal should be to build a community around your business, while you work to expand awareness of what you do, how you do it and the properties you’re selling.

Here are five social media sites you should look into when planning your social media strategy:

Facebook, as we’ve discussed in earlier posts, has a HUGE reach, of over 1 billion global users. The social networking site makes it easy to present yourself as an individual AND as a business, and is working continually to release features that keep it competitive in the social media market. Facebook is used by marketers to reach consumers in just about every industry imaginable, and it is very applicable to real estate professionals marketing properties.

Twitter may not be the ideal place to market a listing (think Facebook and Craigslist for that), but it is a great way to make connections online, boost your SEO, generate conversations, and learn more about your industry, market or potential clients. Twitter has more than half a billion users, and it’s a great site for monitoring trends.

LinkedIn provides good professional networking opportunities, thought leadership, business promotion options. The majority of LinkedIn users are college educated, and involve themselves in the social network for professional advancement, rather than personal socialization. Professionals earning more than $150,000 annually make up the largest bracket of LinkedIn users.

Google+ has been booming, and its user numbers rival Twitter. With its connection to YouTube, the introduction of Google Authorship and the popularity of Google Hangouts, Google+ has a lot of potential for reach, for SEO benefits and brand building. Google+ has a higher than average number of well-educated professional males in its demographic.

Pinterest has exploded in the last couple of years. While it originally caused a lot of people to scratch their heads, its relevance grows more and more clear every day, and it holds a lot of potential for real estate professionals. It’s a great way to showcase images, build links and drive traffic to your site. Remember: pin from your own site if that’s where you want people to end up! Nearly three-quarters of Pinterest users are female, and the majority are college educated. Home décor and home design are two of the most popular topics – this is great if you can showcase beautiful properties (linking back to your single property websites), home staging tips and more.

How Facebook is Cornering the Property Market

Facebook has more than 1.31 billion active users. According to NAR (the National Association of Realtors), 90.5% of real estate agents and brokers use social media to some extent. In a study of traffic sources conducted by Properties Online, using Google Analytics, single property websites received the most referrals (50%!) from Facebook.

Changes to Craigslist in late 2013 mean that referral traffic from the site can no longer be measured. This gives Facebook a boost in ratings, so to speak. And the social networking giant is doing all it can to maintain its place at the top.

Twitter has been growing, but hasn’t had the impact on real estate professionals that Facebook has. Still, at more than 645 million users, the social media site is a significant force, with a lot of potential. One problem for real estate listings is that Twitter is home to A LOT of information. Tweets can easily get lost and end up unseen. But there is something to the platform – something that has had Facebook on alert for a long time.

You may have noticed the subtle integration of some of Twitter’s features into Facebook this year. Actually, just before the New Year, Facebook began by renaming its ‘subscribe’ and ‘hide all’ options with ‘follow’ and ‘unfollow.’ Facebook is using an algorithm—based on your usage—that then controls the content that appears in your newsfeed.

Another Twitter-ish update was the move to ranking link posts from publishers higher in the newsfeed. This seemingly small change led to big things for Facebook, with publisher content referral traffic from Facebook rising 50%, to account for over 15% of all social referrals. At the same time, mind you, Twitter referrals decreased four percent.

Now, as we know, Facebook is great for sharing photos and videos (and this is great for real estate professionals). But Facebook saw Twitter’s edge when it came to user-generated content and changed its algorithm to rank text-only status updates from users higher in the newsfeed. Their research showed them that users respond positively to these types of updates, and that they prompt more of the same. So, that that and run with it – share your thoughts about a listing, the market, anything of interest, with your Facebook followers.

Facebook may never replace Twitter when it comes to real-time news, but it doesn’t need to. And while a full-blown social media presence is great, if you can pull it off, you don’t need that, either. Facebook is a fantastic option for busy real estate professionals, and it’s gotten even better in 2014.

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