Every month, the top five real estate websites receive over 320 million visitors, but half of those visitors are not looking to buy or sell a home. All of the sites feature the same basic listing photos and information and the same impersonal way to connect with agents — but none are geared toward today’s socially driven, tech-savvy millennials. Today’s leading real estate agents know that there’s a better way to channel technology to build top-notch real estate brands.
Enter Rila: a social media app and community-driven platform that allows Realtors and prospective buyers to connect, generate leads, and explore behind-the-scenes content and photos of homes currently on the market in Los Angeles. Rila is a robust, open marketplace where real estate agents can list properties in a matter of minutes and grow their clientele — all for free. Here’s a crash course on how to use it to your advantage:
Download the app
First things first: Download the app so you can hold the power of a vast real estate marketplace in the palm of your hands. Available for free download from the iOS Apple App Store, Rila is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPad Touch devices. After you download the app, you’ll be prompted to create a profile and log in. From there, you can mark whether you’re a registered real estate agent or prospective buyer, whether you want to peruse listings for sale/rent or both, and which neighborhoods you want to see listings from.
Search by neighborhood for optimal results
After you select your desired neighborhoods, you’ll be able to scroll through listings and see colorful, behind-the-scenes photos and informative content of homes and rental properties on the market in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and beyond. Think of it as the Instagram of real estate.
Post content
If you’re a hungry young real estate agent who loves going to open houses every week to generate content for your Instagram, why not maximize your exposure by posting photos on Rila? Simply take photos of the next open house you attend and then post them on Rila along with informative, engaging descriptions. You can then post updates to separate listings to keep potential buyers engaged and share your expertise in photo captions to distinguish yourself as an authority in the real estate industry. If a listing already exists on Rila, you can add your own photos that you took at an open house so you can become a point-of-contact. The more you contribute, the more you can become viewed as a point-of-contact. Rila allows agents to take an active rather than passive role in connecting with would-be buyers.
Attract leads
Rila is changing the way buyers and sellers connect in the 21st century by making it easier than ever to find people outside of your normal circle. Because Rila is a social real estate network, agents can grow their distinct brands by attracting people with their expertise, inventory, and point of view.
Once you’ve posted content of a property, people who follow that neighborhood will be able to contact you about the house to set up a time to see it in person. It’s a simple, effective way to generate leads in a matter of minutes. Rila is unique because all of the content is crowd-sourced by the active community, which makes it an ideal platform to use if you want to boost your exposure outside of your normal channels.
Think long-term
Whether you’re trying to grow your social media following or use Rila to expand your prospective client base, it’s necessary to invest time, energy, and effort to make it happen. Start by writing down a list of goals for your business and then develop a clear-cut strategy and action steps.
For example, if you want to generate three leads per month on Rila, calculate how many open houses you’ll need to go to in order to get the necessary content to post. When it comes to building your client base, patience is the name of the game. A successful real estate business won’t bloom overnight, but by taking small, consistent steps you can leverage Rila to grow your brand.