Blog / LinkedIn for Real Estate Agents
LinkedIn is an ideal (yet often overlooked) platform to successfully market your real estate business. With over 900 million members, it’s the top social platform for reaching high net-worth professionals.
From optimizing your profile for search to connecting with your ideal clients, we’ve done the research on how to best use LinkedIn for real estate agents.
Table of Contents
1. What Is LinkedIn for Real Estate Agents?
2. Is LinkedIn Good for Realtors?
3. LinkedIn for Real Estate Leads
4. 5 Elements of the Best Real Estate LinkedIn Profiles
5. What Should a Real Estate Agent Post on LinkedIn?
6. Who Should Realtors Connect with on LinkedIn?
7. LinkedIn for Real Estate Best Practices
What Is LinkedIn for Real Estate Agents?
Why is Linked for real estate agents different than say, for software developers or physical therapists?
For most professionals, LinkedIn is about finding the right job, or acquiring the skills you need to succeed in your career.
For real estate professionals, LinkedIn is about sharing your expertise, staying top of mind with clients, and expanding your sphere.
How you present yourself and what you post about should be tailored to those goals.
Is LinkedIn Good for Realtors?
LinkedIn is a great platform for growing your real estate business.
Because its demographics are ideal for reaching home buyers and sellers.
Just look at some of LinkedIn’s key user demographics:
- 82% of users are over 30
- 53% are college graduates
- the majority have a high monthly household income
Compare that to the age of most users on other platforms:
- Facebook: 50-64 years old
- Instagram: 18-29 years old
- TikTok: 18-29 years old
With the average age of the first-time buyer being 36 years old, this makes LinkedIn one of the best places for real estate agents to connect with potential clients.
Also, LinkedIn is about reaching professionals and you’ll find that it’s a very different audience than you’re reaching with Facebook and Instagram.
This makes it a great addition to your real estate marketing efforts.
FREE TIPS SHEET
10 Essential Elements of a LinkedIn Profile for Realtors
But Is LinkedIn Good for Real Estate Leads?
Yes, you can definitely use LinkedIn for generating real estate leads.
In fact, LinkedIn was found to be 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook and Twitter.
Meaning that leads you generate on LinkedIn are much more likely to convert than those that come from Twitter or Facebook.
Now, let’s look at how to get started using LinkedIn for real estate.
5 Elements of the Best Real Estate LinkedIn Profiles
As a real estate agent, when someone Googles your name, your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing that comes up in search results.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile for real estate comes down to examining 5 basic elements:
#1 Real Estate LinkedIn Banner Image
Your LinkedIn background, or what LinkedIn calls your “banner” image should quickly show people that you’re a real estate professional and where you work.
Once you’ve chosen an image, go one step further and add text to the photo that again reinforces what you do and where.
#2 Your LinkedIn Profile Photo
A LinkedIn study shows that having a picture makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others.
Some professionals prefer to use a logo for their business, but we suggest steering away from that when it comes to LinkedIn for real estate agents.
You are the face of your brand after all, so on social media, where the goal is to build trust and grow relationships, we recommend using a photo rather than a logo.
Some tips for choosing your profile photo:
- use a current photo
- smile and appear friendly and approachable
- be the only person in the photo
- use a simple background
- ensure that your face takes up at least 60% of the frame
Whatever you choose, try to use the same image for all of your social media profiles for consistency and so that you and your brand are easily recognizable.
#3 Your LinkedIn Headline for Real Estate
Your headline is the text that appears just below your name on your LinkedIn profile.
It’s one of the first things people read and needs to convey a lot of information in a small amount of space.
“[Your headline is] your own personal ad that you should treat like a mission statement, showing who you are and what you do for people.”
LinkedIn
Some tips for writing a LinkedIn headline for real estate agents:
- it shouldn’t read like a resume
- don’t make it generic
- include the name of the city you serve
- use keywords related to your business
- share a bit of your personality
#4 LinkedIn About Section for Realtors
Your about section is where you can go more in-depth about who you are and what you do.
It’s a strategic piece of content, so don’t skip it!
In your writing…
- speak in the first person
- format it so it’s easy to read
- make it primarily a professional summary
- don’t use a lot of industry jargon
#5 Complete Your Skills Section
Completing your LinkedIn skills section is a great way to showcase what you do for your real estate clients.
Create a list of the top skills you possess that are important to potential clients.
You can add up to 50, but we suggest you start out with just a few and you can always add more over time.
What Should a Real Estate Agent Post on LinkedIn?
There are two basic types of LinkedIn posts – articles and newsfeed posts.
Newsfeed posts tend to be the quickest and easiest to create, with the most immediate engagement.
That’s why we like to focus on newsfeed posts when it comes to LinkedIn for real estate agents.
Here are 6 ideas for what real estate agents can post about on LinkedIn:
- your take on industry news
- local market trends
- tips for buyers & sellers
- showcase a neighborhood
- share new developments in the works
- create explainer videos answering commonly-asked questions
Most importantly, don’t just post your listings on LinkedIn!
Once in a while is fine, but if that’s all you post, you come across as someone who is simply trying to sell something.
And if you want to generate real estate leads and referrals on LinkedIn, you want to be seen as a resource and an expert in your field.
Who Should Realtors Connect with on LinkedIn?
Building your list of connections is how you’ll ultimately generate real estate leads on LinkedIn. So, approaching it strategically is important.
LinkedIn connections (as opposed to followers) are people you’ve intentionally chosen to add to your network
With LinkedIn for real estate agents, connections are a valuable asset to your business. Because being connected to someone makes it easier to build a relationship with them. And it’s these relationships that over time that lead to referrals.
There are lot of options for people you should pursue connections with:
- former co-workers
- friends & family
- past clients
- business partners
- potential referral partners
- community connections
When you reach out to invite someone to connect with you, always send a personal note as opposed to the generic invitation LinkedIn generate.
If you have past clients who you haven’t yet connected with, send a note saying, “I enjoyed working with your family and would love to stay in touch here on LinkedIn.”
Then, get in habit of reaching out to clients at the end of every transaction.
LinkedIn for Real Estate Best Practices
Once you’ve gotten your LinkedIn profile optimized, you’re posting great real estate content, and building your connections, follow our simple strategy to keep the momentum going:
- post consistently
- always reply to comments left on your posts
- engage with other people’s content
- send the occasional direct message
- write unsolicited recommendations
- endorse the skills of others
Conclusion
Whether you’ve been using LinkedIn for real estate for years, or are just getting started, it’s a powerful marketing tool that you definitely want to be taking advantage of to grow your business.