NEW YORK — Most agents struggle with how to create content, noted Justin Tucker, who moderated the Inman Connect New York panel about how to turn content into business.
So how can agents make content work for them? Jared Cohen, TOWN Residential’s director of marketing, and Rich Rosa, the owner/broker of Buyers Brokers Only, answered that question.
Cohen suggested a tool called Percolate, a tool that prompts different questions upon publication: Is this on brand? What’s the call to action? Message does matter, said Cohen.
“The content is the message,” added Rosa. You don’t start with the message; you start with a target audience, the client you’re trying to attract.
What are some examples of content that are actionable and successful?
Rosa has written a lot of content around how to buy a house in Massachusetts — because Buyers Brokers Only caters only to buyers. They have created a four-page guide to buying a home, which has been downloaded about 2,500 times, he said.
Cohen noted success with the My Town magazine. “Whatever content you’re creating doesn’t define who you are; it should reveal who you are,” he said. So they had to consider what the magazine would reveal about the brokerage.
And they also had to think about how content lives in different mediums. They can repurpose content from the magazine online — which is, Cohen said, like eating Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches well into January.
Consider the medium
If you’re on Instagram, your photos need to be gorgeous. And there are things on Instagram that won’t work on Twitter — and Twitter isn’t a great referral service, so using it for referrals might not be the best.
One underused platform that Rosa recommended was LinkedIn. “These are platforms that have to evolve in order to keep up with the times in order to impress their board and shareholders. I would look to LinkedIn to make some incredible product advances in the coming year.”
Rosa said that blogging should still be a cornerstone of the business. “I do it every day,” he said.
Consider the metrics
How do you validate whether what you’re doing is working?
Rosa mentioned HubSpot; he tracks visits, leads and keywords using the software.
“The true measure of success is what you’re seeing reflected back on yourself,” he said. Check in with yourself to see whether you think it’s worth your time, if it’s working and if you’re enjoying it — because your content should reflect you.