This one is for the agents.
I don’t think I have to tell you how important LinkedIn is, or how many of your colleagues neglect theirs. Today, I want to show you how to get the most out of your profile and use support content to get it seen.
Now, I’m all about copywriting, so what do I really know about LinkedIn? Well … I know that if you have a brilliant content strategy that leads people to target content that doesn’t impress them, you’re just spinning your wheels. Effective marketing starts with great content, but it’s equally important to examine all of your content for quality, relevance, and presentation. Every step of the process leads people either closer or further away from working with you as their agent.
With that in mind, let’s start out with a few tips that will help generate contacts and finish out with a content strategy that will help more people find you in the first place.
Your Headline
A good LinkedIn headline equates to a direct, succinct elevator pitch that will often determine if people stick around or go looking for another agent. Keep it simple and answer these two questions:
• Who are you?
• Who do you help?
Those two bits of information together serve several purposes. They identify your ideal client, establish trust, zero in on pain points, and promise solutions. Don’t treat your headline like a personal ad — too many people in all kinds of industries do this, and they have about the same effect. You might find a few people who want what you’re offering, but you will be invisible to most.
Straightforward facts are what you want here, along with some kind of detail that makes you unique. By this, I do not mean telling people that you’re “the best” or “the area’s top” anything. Tell them, in specific terms, what they can expect working with you. Get the job done without superlatives. Think resume, not commercial.
Headshot or Life Moment?
Just a quick note about your profile picture — make it good. There are different schools of thought about the kind of image you want representing you and the services you provide. The tough part here is that I don’t have a definitive answer. What I will recommend is that any kind of visual content be an accurate reflection of the mood, tone, and energy of your content. I don’t recommend using the same headshot that’s on your signage or business card.
Let your audience see the side of you that would make them most want to work with you. Your side content should be the biggest determiner here. As I’ve said before, the best content is written around visuals, not assigned them after the fact.
Contact Information and URL
This one is the most neglected and the most annoying to deal with when it gets neglected. It’s one detail many of us gloss over or fail to notice or update. Have you switched agencies? Have you changed your phone number? Think about these things and just check the details for accuracy.
As a last note about the profile itself, make sure your URL is branded and easy to remember. Independent agents should use their names as their URLs or include it along with a title, the agency name, or other defining information.
Support Content
Now comes the part where I explain why you need us.
It isn’t likely that your LinkedIn profile will be the first place potential clients see you. You need to develop content that gets you there.
To that end, I want to suggest a few of the basics that you should be considering if you aren’t doing them already:
Your Blog — Keeping a regular blog packed with useful content builds trust and confidence in you from your readers. Consistency with blogging (and coming up with unique and interesting content) is one of the easiest ways to keep your audience engaged and turn more readers into clients.
Social Media — Posting regularly to the social channels where you find your biggest audience(s) is a good way to promote your blog, as well as engage with your audience. The more visible you are and the faster you respond to comments and questions, the more people will start trusting you.
Email — If you are only sending out periodic newsletters, your open rates will be abysmal. Couple regular email blasts with carefully crafted subject lines that get clicks and taps. Stay in front of your list. Use your list to drive traffic to your blog, and include a call to action to click your LinkedIn URL either at the end of the message or in your P.S.
Fliers, Brochures, and Press Kits — Offline support content is still important for trade events and other in-person interactions. Presenting offline content the right way can also drive more traffic to your social pages and, yes, your LinkedIn profile.
Producing High-Quality Content
If you already know these things are important but either don’t have the time to develop the content on your own or can’t tell how to make it more effective, you need some help. That’s where we come in.
Real estate marketing content is one of our key focus areas, and we work with talented staff and freelance writers to ensure quality and optimization. Contact us at BeezContent today and let us give you some good advice on how to develop and present content that accomplishes any of your engagement or conversion goals.
