During these days of “sheltering-in-place” mandated by the coronavirus, RE/MAX agents are looking for ways to keep their business rolling forward. One good use of your time is to polish your marketing plan by building your collection of Agent Insight posts. If you have not yet made any submissions or created your personal agent page, this is an excellent time to get started.
A quick reminder on why to post your photos and written insights: Agent Insight gives you a platform to introduce yourself, your expertise, and your community to current and potential clients. Just like other real estate websites, Agent Insight lists houses for sale. However, it is a much broader venue for introducing the features and qualities of your marketing areas because aspects of your community can be covered with a much wider brush. Agent Insight helps website visitors answer the most important questions such as, “Can I see myself living in this community? Is this a good place to raise a family?”
So, how do you do this while you are working from home until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted? First, go through all the photographs you have stored in your phone or other mobile device. You should find plenty of appropriate pictures of your neighborhoods, city streets, sports arenas, parks, schools, theaters, shopping areas and more that tell the story of your community.
Write a good, descriptive caption of 14 to 16 words and send it in. Including a subject and a verb will make your caption much more active than just a simple label. “The Annual Balloon Festival is a great community event for the whole family” makes a much better caption than just “The Annual Balloon Festival.” Once you get the hang of how to submit your photos, you’ll find that each one only takes a few minutes to complete.
Take this time to compose written submissions, too. There are two main goals for any written post. First, make the subject attractive to your potential clients to pique their interest and think about reasons to live in the area you are describing. Second, put yourself into the article so your reader knows you have first-hand knowledge. Keep your writing style informal, just as if you are showing a listing to a client. Talk about the events you enjoy in the city park every summer. Tell about how impressed you are with the menu of the restaurant you just passed or how much you enjoy the dog park or why your family loves visiting the museum that opened recently. Submit insights about all your favorite neighborhoods, and remember to write them in first person for a more direct appeal.
The following submission about a local shrimp tour was written by Tonya Chevis of RE/MAX Along the Way in Long Beach, MS. Her style and content tell you this is something she loves sharing with visitors. Her story shows that she is very much a part of the community and could be an informative source for her clients.
“The Biloxi Shrimp Tour is really a fun way to spend the day. We always bring out-of-town company on this tour, and we can usually find a coupon for it as well. It is a real shrimp boat that takes you a short distance out, and actually drops the shrimp nets. It is always a surprise to see what they pull up, and they do a great job of explaining everything that is in the net. It is touted as a 70-minute “living marine adventure” and I can tell you that it definitely is!”
Every community or neighborhood page in Agent Insight shows a “Featured Agent” in the top right corner. When you post on that page, your name and picture will be in the rotation to appear as the “Featured Agent,” and your article and photo will be displayed continuously to website visitors. Try to write one or more written posts and photos on every page in your marketing area. Keep your face up front!
More information on how to make submissions to Agent Insight can be found on our blog, Insight Insider, on the Getting Started pages. You also can find hundreds of ideas for your posts on the Featured Insights pages.
Good luck with your business during these challenging days. Load up your pages with new posts. Agent Insight is a fun and easy project to do while waiting for this difficult time to pass.