Is it just me or do any of you out there feel that trying to plan and produce content while trying to stay consistent on social media is actually worth the effort?
Do we really need it in our business?
I guess the answer differs for many but for me the end goal for my business would be to answer the following question?
“Is it actually getting new client leads or encouraging repeat business with existing clients??”
Firstly
Its been a long time since many of you have heard from me and in a nutshell I’m still shooting real estate video, photo etc down here in New Zealand.
Work
I don’t know about you guys but for me I find it really hard and time consuming deciding what I am going to put up on my Social Media (which is basically just Instagram in my case).
I spend far too much time obsessing over what I want to say, does it look professional and then often end up procrastinating so much that I don’t post anything.
Perhaps that is a factor of the industry we are in and they we feel the need to only show our best and polished work?
And then when I finally do post something to my 147 dedicated followers (mainly realty agents) I might get 3 likes and sometimes 1 comment! It bacsically feeels like shouting into a vacuum which then brings me full circle to think “Is it actually worth it?”
Results
To my knowledge I don’t think I have ever had a new client through Instagram.
Interestingly I have been making a point of asking every Realtor I work with what they think of social media and whether it works for them?
I’m not sure whether the answers to this question is skewed due to the type of agents I work for or whether its unique to state of the New Zealand scene but the overwhelming answer is that they don’t believe its bought them new listings.
They are active mainly to show their clients that they are marketing their property and basically ticking the box because they feel they ought to be doing it and posting “New Listings”, “Just Solds”, “Market updates” and occasionally behind the scenes posts.
I know from personal experience of buying and selling 4 houses over the last 15 years with my wife that using social media in that process does not even factor in!
And it still wouldn’t!! Maybe I’m too old school.
Getting New Clients
My goto method for trying to get new clients for my business is directly approaching Realty agents and trying to meet them face to face to buy them a coffee and introduce myself. This has just about always resulted in getting at least one job from them or a referral. Realistically this actually takes way less time trying to plan, produce and post multiple social media posts every week.
What am I going to do?
I said earlier in this post that for me it has to answer the question “Is it actually getting new client leads or encouraging repeat business with existing clients??”
I don’t think it is so do I stop bothering with social media and close my Instagram account?
Well I am actually afraid to and if I look around I see a lot of people with their heads craned towards their phones in their hands so that certainly seems to be where the eyeballs are!
But are they eyeballs on our businesses or perhaps I’m just doing it all wrong!!
That is what I personally think the fundamental issue driving social media for businesses is, the fear of missing out.
Am I completely wrong?
What do you think? Do you have social media dialed in and find it a breeze and have new clients coming through the medium?
Would love to hear your comments below.
Hi Grant – great post. It’s something I constantly grapple with and like you, I’ve even thought about just deleting IG altogether. I honestly can count on two fingers the amount of business I’ve gotten from IG over the past 10 years and I’ve been super consistent with posting content. I even have a team of 2 offshore VAs posting daily carousels, reels and helping me to comment and engage. Crickets…
Hey Dean – appreciate your feedback especially as I see what a good job you are doing with your social and Youtube feeds. I find it a really tough one to figure out. I was just listening to a podcast the other day and they were talking about the 80/20 rule where 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. If you followed that rule I think I’d be shutting my social media accounts without any hesitation!
Hi Grant
Great to hear from you again Grant 👍🏽
I’m on the other end of the planet in N. Ireland and Social media absolute pain in the ass! Something like yourself spend more time thinking about the perfect post and imagery to go with it, for couple of likes or quick flick, so disheartening lol
Honestly now I just treat fb & insta as a portfolio for potential new clients who heard about you and want to check you out before they message or call. So I’ll post once in a while for that reason mainly.
As for new clients always word of mouth or call in for a chat…
But what has worked recently is a good old A5 flare postal drop with QR code, offer and my contact details on it, followed up with a mailchimp email.
(You can get a guy on fiver to gather all contact details of agents in your target area or take a few hours at it)
This has landed me a few jobs, I think it worked because it hits their desk and sits there or their old school also.
In a nutshell I’d keep it as a portfolio reference, with the odd post showing your A game!
That seems to be a common theme in the responses…Cheers
Great topic.. I feel most people say that they should post on social as it’s the right thing to do. But also feel it’s just a time waster as no work will come from it. So just place to show case some of your work if someone wants to look me up on Social but I hardly post much.
Reels and photos are for listing agent and our posts are just for us to show something special we loved now and then.
I feel similar and if nothing else I post just to let clients know that I’m still in town and active!
Excellent points. Yes, I think to a large degree social media is not directly relevant to getting business. Although I do recall st least one realtor saying they found me by seeing who of their Facebook friends does real estate photography… so maybe Facebook rather than Instagram is marginally better. But I get more new business through SEO, and of course blog posts like this one you did for example can help SEO, so maybe that’s better use of our time….
Hi Grant,
I have the same concern. I post and I get maybe 6-8 likes on the post. I feel that you have to be really careful about what you post or you can turn off many more buyers than attract them. I basically post just so my sellers can see their new listings and to show off the fancy photos and videos as we have to put them somewhere. Although I have noticed that because of the algorithms I do not feel my followers even see what I post anymore and it makes me want to quit doing it. Also and all of the horrible negative stuff that comes along with social media, doom scrolling and the targeting and constant marketing are making people turn away. that being said other people sweat by it and I have got a few new listings over the years specifically because of the way I market my properties. that being said I secretly wish we could make this all go away. this being said The More you post the more google recognized you as a viable working business professional so it’s a catch all, you have to do it to stay in the rankings. Google My business is a much better place to put your energy!
THIS !
I agree with Audra. I suspect that it’s now a great big waste of time, but there is one elephant in the room: consignment selling.
In the consignment sales game, such as Real Estate, unless you have listings you have no business. So if your opposition is all over the socials – but you’re not – you have a massive disadvantage.
If I can be politically incorrect, from my decade in the sales game, most major purchases only proceed if they are approved by the woman in the relationship.
Who are the major users of the socials by a massive majority???
So if I were still in the sales industry, more than ever I’d be all over the socials directly – but respectfully – specifically targeting women (like Apple seems to do).
How you’d do that in the pro video & photography for Real Estate business, I’m not sure – but I’d likely be trying to network with female principals and sales agents as much as I could.
Good point thanks
Appreciate your feedback Audra.
I have picked up some business from my posts on Facebook but it has come from promoting other aspects of my business! I don’t advertise my real estate photography on Facebook, instead I might be advertising my coffee mug printing business and then people go to my website and see that I am a photographer/videographer, which has led to new business.
I don’t have any other social media accounts but just advertising on the various local Facebook groups takes time but the benefits have been worth it to some degree. I guess we all receive different results, and one has to weigh up the pros and cons and make decision based on the end results.
Hi Grant,
It amazes me that you have to look for work at all because frankly the quality of your work is incredible. I can’t believe that any real estate agents in your locality don’t know about you so using SM to attract new business should be defunct for you.
At the end of the day, people buy people and even though you are on the other side of the planet to me, I get the impression you are a really nice guy and one I’d like to work with. If I met you for a coffee and a chat I’d give you a shot at the title.
You certainly were very nice and super helpful to me when I was starting out on my video journey. In short, going for a coffee with a prospective client is going to win you a lot more business than SM posts. SM is mainly for maintaining brand awareness … maybe its like that saying I once heard that its the photos that sell a house & the video that sells the agent.
Stick to doing the fantastic creative work you do and word of mouth will do the rest. However, your loyal followers around the world still want to hear from you so don’t go to ground completely on us !
Best wishes,
Alan
I appreciate the kind words thanks Alan.
I agree with you 100% Alan. Grants work is incredible and there are few that can match his talent let alone in his region. However, there are people in the game that offer discounted fees and other incentives and unfortunately agents buy into it. Those professionals (agents) should know better and particular know Grants work and therefore not be swayed by new comers incentives. If you feel the need to advertise yourself on sm then that’s what you must do. It is your decision at the end of the day.
Hey Grant, great idea for a post. I’ve been an RE photographer for 12 yrs now and a lot has changed in that short time. A great of my clients came from marketing emails I obtained via LinkedIn. In the beginning i also posted to IG & FB and I’m pretty sure I got a few clients from that. I’m also an old school professional and found cold calling was still a viable way to get new clients. I’d say over the last three yrs the market here in Vancouver Canada has been very unpredictable and RE’s are looking for inexpensive photographers/videographers. Not to mentioned new ppl are offering low rates that is killing the business for us seasoned pros that built our business over the yrs. Very frustrating to see loyal clients move on to the less expensive newbies. Back to your question about social media. What I am seeing more are photog/videogs posting how the shoot a property with short clips sampling what they do.
I have seen a little bit of that trend as well down here. Appreciate the comment thanks.
Hi, I create mainly virtual tours for my residential building company clients in Japan. I took your course Grant, and my main client was thrilled with the video I made using your technique.
I will speak about that client’s own experience rather than my own.
Recently I asked for an hour to exchange on the topic of net marketing in general. They said the source of work ranking was; 1. A builder’s listing site, 2. Their website, 3. YouTube. On instagram they said even with thousands of followers no work requests.
On the builder’s listing site they said, although there were many leads the quality was not very good. The leads were mainly people comparing prices.
By far the website was their best lead source. So their current strategy is to facilitate more leads to go to their website from all sources.
Also posts (web or social) got the most reaction when they have people in them (like employees or buyers).
Great insights thanks.
Hey, Grant. I have a network with a lot of other RE professionals here in the US. Most have their social accounts (IG, FB primarily) as a current portfolio. But where it has translated to business is from sending messages to agents that follow you back. Depending on what you offer them, your page helps make the sale. I have not done this a lot personally, but many in my network swear by it.
I haven’t tried direct outreach via Instagram but maybe I should give it a go. Cheers
Hey Grant great to hear from you. I have had a number of jobs from my insta account and I’m honestly only posting once or twice a month. You never know who may be looking. I concentrate way more on my website for business any thing else a bonus with social media
I’m definitely leaning towards what most are doing here and just using it as a showcase for my work and maybe a little behind the scenes. Cheers
HI Grant. Great to hear from you! SM definitely eats up a lot of my time (FB and IG) but part of my “appeal” to agents is that when I deliver their photos next day, I also post their listings on SM to help with the sale. MANY agents have found me that way “Oh Paula, I have seen your postings on SM so that is why I called you – your work is beautiful”.
If I shoot 12 homes, I make 12 posts and share on both platforms. That’s 24 posts total plus my personal page , so 36 posts for 12 homes! I make my “write up” in Notes on my iPhone. Copy and paste after changing price, how many beds, baths etc with cute emojis.
It works very well for me.
You can see samples here: http://www.facebook.com/paulacellaphotography
For the past year I have been shooting video with just a DJI Pocket3 for vertical as well as horizontal videos.
I am now upping my video game with a Sony FX3, Ronin RS 4 Pro gimbal , Laowa 12mm Cine , Sony 16-35GMii and a new DJI Mini 4 Pro. I plan to start using it all in March of this year.
Thank you for all of the inspiration and great advice, Grant!
Thanks Paula – great to hear how others are managing social media. Cheers
I think that each case is different for each of us, I have been in business for over 25 years and I have given up all social networks, my client list has grown enough through direct contacts and shared interests. Some of them even paying are a scam.
It’s just my opinion
Its great that you have a solid client list. Cheers
Hello Grant, I use Instagram for my wildlife photos as i have no website. The only reason i keep Facebook is to stay in touch with friends and rellies, otherwise i would ditch it. I steer clear of tiktok, reels, threads…and the news nowadays.
I hear you.
Hi Grant! I primarily use IG for portfolio purposes, but do reach out occasionally to agents via direct messaging on IG, and mainly to followers. I’ve found 90% of my clients this way. The rest via referrals, and one via a brochure I left in her office months before!
I can post several times a week to stay “visible”, but some days get no responses or likes, other days get many. It frankly feels like a rat race.
I have seen some competitors posting three times a day, and can only deduce they’re not very busy shooting! But I’ve actually blocked some because the consent posting becomes annoying. I can only wonder what agents are thinking…..
I do have a website, but not getting a whole lot of traffic via SEO yet. I need to work on that.
I think SM is slowly becoming an echo chamber. Go out and engage face to face.
I think face to face might become the competitive advantage!
Those relationships matter!
Hey, Grant I really enjoyed your question and how you feel about the time and energy posting your great work on social media. I’ve been shooting real estate here in New Jersey, USA for just over 12 years now. For me it is a part time retirement job that brings in extra income. When I have the time, I mainly post my photo shoots on Facebook and even then, it’s only occasionally. I have done very well years ago when I contacted RE agents using local emailing with offers of discounted photo shoot pricing. I got quite a few jobs as a result and 12 years later I still have those same clients. As a matter of fact, just today I got a phone call from one of my first clients 12 years ago that still follows me on FB. He wants me to do a photoshoot in a few days. I was so happy to hear from him after so many years only because he kept following me on FB and saw my photoshoot progress.
Thanks Gene