The latest innovations in automation, artificial intelligence and virtual reality are having a major impact on different elements of digital marketing (social media, PPC, SEO, video marketing etc.) for all industries – real estate included.
We – here at Realty Crux – specialize in real estate marketing and sometimes it is overwhelming even for us to stay up-to-date. Though it may feel challenging to keep pace, there is definitely a bight side of all this mayhem. If you are in it for the long haul, you eventually come to realize that these innovations have made the execution of digital marketing strategies a lot easier.
In this guide, I am going to explain 7 extremely easy-to-implement trends that you should leverage in 2020:
Trend#1: Text messaging is back and with a bang!
Amid all the fuss about AI and VR, one marketing trick that has found its way back into the limelight is Text Messaging.
Text Messaging had somewhat become obsolete, but a growing number of real estate professionals are realizing how effective it actually is. Text messages bring convenience to the conversation after the first contact with the lead.
There are a lot of WordPress plugins which you can install with just a couple of clicks and enable visitors to send you a text message from your website itself.
Trend#2: Chatbot marketing for Realtors
Chatbot marketing is a form of text messaging marketing – backed by artificial intelligence. According to a study by HubSpot, as many as 57% of consumers prefer to receive communication from chatbots on websites.
Facebook Messenger is one of the most effective tools to implement chatbot marketing in 2020. It’s extremely easy set up a Facebook Messenger chatbot. There are a lot of tools in the market to help you with implementing a chatbot on your website in less than 5 minutes.
Chatbots allow your visitors to get in touch with you without having to share their phone number on your website.
The reason you should use chatbot marketing is that it is more effective than email marketing.
Studies show that you can get an open rate of up to 25% with email campaigns, while Facebook Messenger offers an open rate of up to 85%.
Facebook Messengers wins hands down when it comes to CTR also. Email campaigns provide a CTR of up to 6%, while Facebook Messenger up to 25%. In a recent article, I shared some tips on how to implement Facebook Messenger chatbot on your website. Be sure to check it out.
Trend#3: PPC automation
Manual bidding is going to be a thing of the past in 2020. This year, automation is going to be the norm for PPC advertising.
For example, Google Ads now provides real-time recommendations on keywords, the best bidding strategies and how to improve the quality of your ads. It helps you experience a better conversion rate and run more targeted paid promotions.
You just need to follow these recommendations to get a better Ad Rank and Ad Quality Score.
Trend#4: Featured Snippets
Google is making it extremely easier for people to get information online. People now don’t have to even visit a website to find answers to their search queries. The search engine makes this possible with Featured Snippets which most digital marketing experts refer to as ‘Position Zero’.
Featured Snippets appear on the top of organic results in the form of a list, table or text box. The user gets the answer to his or her search query right away. The biggest benefit of getting your content featured in Featured Snippets is brand exposure. Studies show that Featured Snippets lead to a better conversation rate and more revenue-per-click.
Below is an example of a Featured Snippet:
So, the question is: how can you get your content to appear in search results as Featured Snippet?
Well, you can’t! According to Google, their systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a user’s search request, and if so, elevates it.
However, you follow the best SEO practices, provide your users a to-the-point and relevant answers to popular search queries and properly implement Scheme Markup, your content will potentially appear in Featured Snippets. We have made this happen for a lot of our real estate clients and believe us, it’s not rocket science.
Trend#5: ‘OK Google’ (voice search)
Google Voice Search was introduced in 2010. The technology has come a long way in the past 10 years. (back then, you had to call a phone number and say your keyword to get results with Google Voice Search). it has now become so intuitive that even a toddler can perform a voice search.
Whether you are performing a regular search or a voice search, you get the same results. And the good news is that you need to follow the regular SEO best practices in order to optimize your content for voice searches.
What it basically means is that in 2020, it has become even more important to help search engines understand your content. Now there is no room for lousy SEO mistakes.
It is important that you perform SEO audit of your real estate website at least twice a year to make sure that you are staying up-to-date with Google algorithm changes.
Trend#6: Immersive and interactive content
The information overload has caused attention span of users to substantially decrease. Unless your branding messages are really effective, story-based and personalized, your engagement rate will suffer.
The best way to make your content more engaging in 2020 is to make it interactive. And how do you do that? Well, here are a few ways:
- Online quizzes
- Competitions
- Polls
- 360-degree video
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Virtual Reality (VR)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
Virtual Reality will change open house and many other different aspects of real estate marketing. Even before the shovel hits the dirt, people are now able to put on a headset and take a tour of properties in the virtual world. Not only that, they are able to make cosmetic changes in an immersive VR environment.
It’s important that you make your content as immersive and interactive as possible to get leads online.
Trend#7: Video marketing
Videos have been a prominent marketing tool for real estate brands in 2019 and the trend is going to stay in 2020 and beyond.
With the growing popularity of new social media channels focused solely on videos (TikTok is an example), it’s high time you start leveraging video marketing.
And when it comes to video marketing, live videos hold a distinctive importance because they can help you connect with your prospects on a more personal level.
There is no dearth of video marketing ideas when it comes to real estate industry:
- You can interview mortgage lenders and clients
- You can feature best places in your neighbourhood such as restaurants
- You can feature most expensive home or featured listings
The list goes on….
Trend#7: Segmentation based on Geo-Fencing and Geo-Farming
These marketing tactics have been popular for a long time now, but you will be able to target mobile users based on their location and demographics more precisely in 2020 with the introduction of advanced AI-backed technologies for tools such as Google Maps and Google My Business.
Geo-Fencing and Geo-Targeting enable you to show ads to people based on demographics, behaviors, interests, keywords, and where the person is located. You can Geo-Fence a neighborhood, an event, business locations, even competitor locations using the GPS location and IP address of the user’s mobile device.
You will have access to more targeting options and show ads to people who meet specific criteria or ‘conditions’ depending on their current location.
Since real estate is a local business, it makes sense to leverage these geo-targeting tools to reach more people in your target neighborhoods.
In conclusion
As I mentioned, these AI-backed digital marketing tools will help you create a more focused promotional campaigns for real estate business.
Advertising and marketing will become more intuitive with advanced machine learning technologies, so you can hope to get better conversion rates from your marketing budget.
Let me know in comments if you are currently using any of these real estate digital marketing strategies and what results you expect from them in 2020 and beyond! And if you need any help with implementing all these latest tactics, check out this page.
The post 7 Easy-to-Implement Digital Marketing Trends for Realtor in 2020 appeared first on Realty Crux.