Social sales coach and author Chelsea Peitz is one of the best in her field. With 21 years of being immersed in the real estate industry and a wealth of experience training at the corporate level, she brings incredible insight to agents on how to use social media to grow their brands and get more business.

So what should you post on social media to achieve those results? According to Chelsea, your brand is determined by three variables on social media platforms: algorithms, perception, and content. The algorithm is the way your content interacts with the social media platform you are using and perception is the way your content is understood by your audience. Both of these factors are completely out of your control but the one thing you can control is your content.

The highest quality of content on social media is relatable, achievable, and recognizable. In order to create this type of content, you have to learn how to make your content searchable, shareable, saveable, story-focused, and conversation-starting.

Searchable

Any effective content on social media has to be easy for your community to find. The first step to making your content searchable is to optimize your profile description with effective industry keywords, clear descriptions of your services, and calls to action. Updating your profile will not only help make a good first impression to new consumers, but it will also help interested users find your profile.

When you are creating content on Instagram, make sure to add hashtags that your consumers would search for instead of generic keywords. You can also add ‘Alt Text’ on Instagram posts that enhance your content’s searchability. Your ‘Alt Text’ should have a clear, readable description of the content and related keywords. Click here to learn how to add Alt Text. Finally, it is a good idea to add closed captions to your video content because it offers accessibility for those with hearing problems, increases engagement with users that don’t have their volume turned on, and also increases searchability. Click here to learn how to add closed captions to your Instagram Stories.

Shareable / Saveable

Now that your content can be found on social media, the next step is to make your content shareable and saveable. This type of content is less about you and more about establishing yourself as an informational resource to your audience with value-driven posts. Shareable content can be something funny or entertaining that people relate to, it can be tips or tutorials to learn a new skill, or it can be inspirational content that empowers your followers to do something. Chelsea points out that not every post has to be shareable. She says that you should have a mix of relatable, human content, marketing content, and shareable content. Human content could be a picture of your pet or a fancy meal, while marketing content is pure product or service promotion.

Saveable content involves creating posts that bring value to your followers while promoting your brand at the same time. As a real estate agent this sort of saveable content could be commuting times from certain neighborhoods to downtown, deadlines for signing up to summer camps or school programs, a list of farmer’s markets in your area, a list of medical specialists in your area, or a list of every vegan restaurant in your area. This type of content brings value to your sphere while promoting yourself as a local authority.

Story-Focused

Although creating value for your followers is very important, another way to build your brand on social media is to create a story around your content. This involves showing the behind the scenes of your profession, such as working hard to tackle a stack of paperwork or handling multiple offers on a house. These may seem like tedious or boring tasks to share, but they help to create an understanding of what you do as an agent and the work you put in to make transactions run smoothly. According to Chelsea, the best way to do this is by creating Stories on Instagram and Facebook because these formats create the most “human content”.

Creating story-focused content also depends on creating narratives around your content that promotes engagement. If your post is of a recently sold home or a picture of your clients holding the keys to their new home, then describe the process of getting to that point and what it was like working with those specific clients. This sort of content helps your followers understand your brand and remember the services you offer. Finally, another way to create story-focused content is using “you” language instead of “I” language. Instead of saying, “I had the best barbecue at this restaurant,” try using verbiage like, “What is your favorite barbecue in town?”. “You” language starts a conversation with your community and establishes yourself as a tastemaker.

Conversation-Starting

The last facet of creating engaging content is starting conversations. The biggest piece of this is commenting on other people’s content as opposed to releasing your own. Commenting on other posts is a form of content creation because your engagement will establish yourself as an active presence on social media, which attracts people to your page.

You can also create conversations with survey posts or content that asks for people’s opinions. This is especially effective when you can add a little light-hearted controversy, for example, “Who has better pizza, New York or Chicago?” This sort of playful debate can drastically increase engagement on your page.

There is no magic recipe for creating a successful brand on social media, but consistently creating meaningful conversations on direct message and in comments, producing relatable, human content on your stories for your followers, and making shareable content on your feed to attract new followers will boost your social presence.

If you want to dive in deeper, check out this webinar with Chelsea. If you want to connect with Chelsea, you can find her on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and her website.