Details matter. This is a subject that I talk about all the time with my loan officers, real estate agents, and coaching clients. Everyone is so focused on just “getting things posted” that they forget about the details of their content. The details are what makes your content stand out in a noisy space.
Some days I will be on social media, media stalking my competition and others, and I will see some great examples of what NOT to do. Today was on one of those days. Details matter people. That is one of the reasons why Apple products stand out and why Steve Jobs (according to those who worked with him), was so intent on perfecting the "little things." He knew that tapping into the emotions and experience of a consumer, by his products’ details, would be what set Apple above the competition.
That premise is also true for the real estate and mortgage industries. It is starting to get noisy and more difficult to make your content stand out. With so many options for consumers, it is important that you are doing everything to put your best foot forward in your marketing. Below are some examples of lack of detail in social media content posting that have easy fixes.
Vertical video – In a mobile-first world, doing vertical video is key to the various "story" platforms (Snapchat, Instagram). But if have plans to publish your video to mainstream channels like, YouTube, Vimeo, your website, etc. do not do it in vertical mode. The vertical format does not translate well to "landscape" channels. You get the "black bar" effect on the sides of the video which makes the video harder to watch. Make sure to go landscape mode when planning on syndicate on other channels.
Know your platform – This ties into what we just talked about with landscape vs. vertical. Each social media channel has their best practices for image and video posting. One size does not fit all. What looks great on Facebook, can look like crap on LinkedIn and Twitter. You should also be changing your content to meet the best engagement for that channel. The same goes for the type of content you are producing for each channel.
Flyer content – 99% of the time those one-page flyers do not translate to social. By default, flyer content is not optimized for social media. A flyer traditionally is produced for a certain medium, like a PDF or printing a physical document. Taking a screenshot of that bad boy and posting it on Linkedin will make a crappy looking image, not to mention the negative view on your brand. If you are going to build a flyer for social, then build it in the best format for that specific channel.
Sharing content – If you are doing "blind shares", you are missing an opportunity to "piggyback" your opinion/thoughts onto a trending article. People who follow you will care about hearing your perspective. It is why they follow you to begin with. Also, make sure you read the article you are sharing. Form an opinion so that you can engage in a discussion. That should be your goal on every single post.
Canned content – Again, don't sleep on the details. Look, I know it seems like a huge task to find your content for you to posts/blog. There are a ton of services out there where you can get content to share. The problem with that, however, is that so can your competition. Instead of sharing canned content as is, take what they are providing you and edit it to add your perspective. It is important to make it sound like you, that it is your voice. People want content from experts, people with the experience. You can't convey how awesome you are via canned content.
All of the above are examples of when the details are not even thought about. Thankfully, these mistakes are easily fixed. Keep in mind that every time you are posting content on social, it is a direct reflection of your brand. Your brand is what your customers say it is (to other potential customers), so you need to make sure to focus on the details.
