I’ve been investing heavily in marketing over the past few years and I wanted to take a moment to talk about how to demystify social media. I was hesitant to even start a blog a few years ago. My husband who is a technology marketer, encouraged me to start publishing my insights on the real estate industry and I’ve since extended my outreach on LinkedIn, Facebook, and particularly, Instagram.
My goal for social media is to give my friends, family, and clients a curated view into my life. I acknowledge that it’s a limited set of highlights, but I’ve recently been getting a lot of positive feedback on my content. I am often asked how I approach my social output, how much time I spend, and if it comes to me as easily as it looks.
Well, I have to level with you – It’s hard! I spend a lot of time thinking about how I want to present my personal brand and what type of content will resonate with my audience. I also write, rewrite, and rewrite again. Iteration is the only way to improve on original ideas, so I thought I would take this opportunity to demystify social media and give you a behind the scenes example of how I create, modify, and ultimately publish my social media content.
THE CONTENT IDEA
Due to concerns over the economic impacts of the coronavirus the federal reserve has recently lowered intra-bank lending rates, as well as implemented programs to buy corporate and mortgage debt. The impact of these fiscal interventions has been to drive down home mortgage rates for residential borrowers. This has created once in a lifetime opportunities for buyers who are interested in entering the housing market.
In an effort to explain the opportunities presented by these fiscal changes, I decided to create a short Instagram video discussing how these trends can benefit my clients. This is the first take of that video:
VERSION 1
Total fail. Abort. This happens all the time, by the way. No problem. Just take a breath and give it another shot:
VERSION 2
Definite improvement and I got all the way through, but it was stiff, and didn’t have the flow I was looking for. Also, after watching it, I realized I didn’t create a compelling value proposition around the benefit of the extra monthly savings from a lower interest rate on a 30-year mortgage. So I tried again:
VERSION 3
Even better. I reviewed this version a few times and was almost ready to post it. However, there were two things that stood out to me that I wasn’t completely happy with. The amount of the monthly mortgage payments at different interest rates was confusingly specific. I realized my message would be more clear if I were to round the numbers.
The other thing I recognized was that I didn’t have a compelling call-to-action or CTA. Any good marketing content needs a strong CTA to encourage the viewer to take action, so I took another pass and this is what resulted:
VERSION 4
Final cut! My aim for social media is to provide high value, insightful content. Moving forward in these uncertain times (which I have coined #PoCo for post-Covid), frequent and proactive outreach is more important than ever. Improving the quality of communication by using the highest touch channel (video ideally) is a key way to remain connected with friends, family, and clients.
I improved my delivery over prior efforts, the metrics were compelling and clear, and I provided a strong call-to-action to contact me for more information. This whole process took less than 30 minutes. It required researching the current state of interest rates, modeling a compelling example, considering the financial benefits for my clients, and recording multiple versions of the video. While no one has a crystal ball to forecast the future, chances are interest rates will rise as the economy gradually recovers. As confidence improves more buyers will enter the market, driving up prices. During this current period of #PoCo uncertainty, there remain fantastic opportunities for buyers to take advantage of.
When leveraged properly, social media can be a wonderful platform to tell compelling stories and offer useful guidance. It is also a means of determining if your values match those of the professional you seek to partner with. Hopefully you enjoyed this behind the scenes look into how I think about creating compelling content that connects with, and educates, my existing and prospective clients. Hopefully this post helps demystify social media, and helps you to start building your own social brand as well.
