A TIKTOK GUIDE FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS

When a new form of social media takes precedence over other platforms amongst one of the largest generations, it’s important to understand what it is and why it’s become so popular. Unlike its other social media counterparts, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, TikTok is a video-only social media platform that launched in the U.S. in 2017 and quickly rose in popularity. Created by Zhang Yiming’s company, ByteDance, TikTok was originally launched in 2016 under the name of Douyin, but Zhang expanded the app’s accessibility worldwide in 2017.

About a year after its launch, it was downloaded 663 million times– beating Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube for most downloads by September 2018. Six months later, it surpassed one billion total downloads worldwide, according to the mobile intelligence agency, Sensor Tower. This shouldn’t come as a shock, however, since TikTok’s U.S. predecessor, Vine, also had quick and substantial growth in popularity during its lifespan. So, what is it about these video sharing platforms that attract so many users?

What is TikTok

TikTok is a user-friendly video creation app that’s available worldwide for mobile devices. Providing its users different filters, effects, music and sound bites, there’s a variety of ways those who use TikTok can create videos that tailor to any message they want to get across. Video length can also range anywhere from 15- to 60-seconds long.

Why is TikTok so Popular

To understand why TikTok is so popular, it’s important to understand what Vine was. Before video creation platforms were as popular, user-friendly, and as easily accessible as they are today, there was a mobile app by the name of Vine that paved the way for similar platforms today.

It was a short-form video creation app that let users create and share six-second clips– think Instagram, but only with videos being shared. Vine was purchased and subsequently discontinued by Twitter in early 2017, but there was still widespread popularity, leaving Vine’s audience disappointed. Then came TikTok. The influencers who rose to fame on Vine were the ones who initiated TikTok’s popularity. From there, it was a snowball effect which led to TikTok becoming the fourth most-downloaded, non-gaming application for all of 2019.

Why Real Estate Agents Should Start Using TikTok

There’s a number of reasons why you should start branding yourself on TikTok as an agent. For starters, the app currently has over 14 million active users a month in the U.S. who spend an average time of 47 minutes on the app during each use. While you may be thinking TikTok is primarily used by Generation Z, approximately 50% of users in the U.S. are between the ages of 18 and 34 with an additional 20% between the ages of 35 and 44. Not only are those prime home buying ages, but 37% of its users have stated they have a household income exceeding $100K! Your target demographic is on TikTok, so why aren’t you?

Real Estate TikTok Examples

Some real estate agents have already broadened their reach into the world of social media. Here are a few examples of what active real estate TikTok videos: Silvano Barocio, Daisy Daniels, and Ashley the Las Vegas Realtor.

Tips to Elevate Yourself as an Agent Using TikTok

If you’re interested in using TikTok to market yourself as an agent, but not sure where to start, try using some of these tips to start creating video content that can reach almost 10 million users who fit the homebuying cohort.

• Find evergreen content. Evergreen content is content that will be a resource for years to come and isn’t related to a trend or fad.

• Home tours. Turn your listings into virtual home tours by using TikTok’s filters, effects, and music features on the app.

• Keep up with TikTok trends. On your “for you page” you’ll begin to see videos that follow a similar format to others, but with different content. Use this to your advantage and get creative with how you can incorporate real estate into these trends.

• Hashtags are important. Whether you’re providing tips for first-time homebuyers, doing a virtual home tour, or participating in a TikTok trend, make sure you use the best hashtags. If a trend has a corresponding hashtag, don’t forget to include it!

• Be creative. Don’t be scared to try something new. TikToks uses an algorithm with artificial intelligence to make sure user’s content will be seen. You can create a video that will go viral without even expecting it to happen!

HOW TO USE TIK TOK REAL ESTATE VIDEOS FOR LEAD GENERATION

With over a billion active users, professionals from every industry are represented on TikTok, including real estate agents. By adapting your video content and employing these effective TikTok real estate lead generation strategies, you can build your online brand, attract more clients, and increase your business’ bottom line revenue. Keep reading to learn how to use TikTok videos for real estate lead generation.

Here are 11 tactics showing how to use TikTok for real estate:

1. Create Your TikTok Real Estate Profile & Get to Know the App

The first step to generating real estate leads from TikTok is to create an account. The sign-up process is quick and easy, and you can register with your Google or Facebook profile or set up an account using your email address or phone number. The most important step of this process is choosing your username.

Try to choose a username that matches other social media platforms to make it easy for people to find you. It’s ideal if your username can include the term “real estate,” “realtor,” and/or the name of your area. If you don’t get it right the first time, however, you can always change your username later.

The best way to gain an understanding of the app and start getting ideas is to start scrolling. The app is split into two sections: “Following” and “For You.”

The “Following” page shows content from the people that a user is currently following, like most other social platforms.

The “For You” page is full of videos that have been picked based on the user’s interests, and is often where TikTok users spend the majority of their time on the app. It allows users to interact with videos from new and unfamiliar creators, influencers, and businesses. This is a golden opportunity for you to capture an audience and build your following faster and more efficiently.

2. Target a Real Estate Niche

It’s especially easy to establish a real estate niche and an audience on TikTok since there are constantly new trends that are designed to be adapted to any industry or topic. In fact, some TikTokers have grown their audience by hundreds of thousands by creating a series of videos or doing the same trend multiple times with very small changes.

For example, TikToker @stefaniekebede created a popular series of similar videos, showing what million-dollar houses looked like in different cities throughout the U.S.

One strategy would be to narrow niches down to very specific client types, like expired listings or FSBOs. But it’s also OK if you want to attract more general types of clients, like homesellers and buyers. You should still get specific when targeting content for those categories, like first-time homebuyers, home flippers, or empty nesters. Envision the ideal client within your niche, write down their common questions and concerns, and then make content that specifically addresses those topics.

Over time, you may find that you get more engagement and leads from one type of client on TikTok. Continue to improve your results and increase engagement by responding to comments from this audience and making more targeted content for the TikTok users who represent your niche audiences and who are most active on this platform.

Example of a commercial real estate niche video from @realestatesource

For example, @realestatesource has established a niche in commercial real estate. She posts educational videos where she simply talks and answers questions about commercial real estate. She also uses trends and features like stitching (including part of someone else’s video in your own) and trending audios to adapt them to her field.

3. Be Creative With TikTok Real Estate Content

TikTok is still a relatively new platform and its content has a very different style than other platforms. One of the many reasons why it’s attractive to users is because its algorithm uniquely gives all users an equal opportunity to go viral. Plus, TikTok users continue to increase by the millions. Therefore, by posting consistently, TikTok can give you a larger organic reach than most other platforms.

You can repurpose existing video content from other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook as well as videos for your listings, but you should also try new things and take advantage of trends to increase your reach. For instance, in addition to listing videos, post videos with quick home staging tips, curb appeal tips, running through a buyer or seller checklist, decluttering, negotiating, and so on.

Are you camera-shy or worried about fumbling with your words while being recorded? You can post videos of yourself talking, but you can also, or alternatively, put content into graphic text blocks along with popular music or audio.

In combination with your TikTok real estate lead generation strategy, you can grow your social media reputation and business using a lead generation service like SmartZip. SmartZip is unique because it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify homeowners who are likely planning to sell, and then targets your marketing directly to them.

There are already homeowners in your area who are considering selling their home, and you can find out exactly who they are by using SmartZip. If they start seeing your ads, receiving direct mail, and simultaneously seeing your organic videos on TikTok, you’ll increase your chances of converting them into clients.

4. Use Popular TikTok Audios

Another unique element of TikTok are “audios.” An audio can be a clip of a song, random sounds, or a clip from a TV show or movie. Unlike Instagram or Facebook, where many posts don’t have sound at all, the sound or music used on any video is just as important as the actual content because it will attract an audience’s attention.

Although you can upload a video without any music, TikTok is heavily driven by audios. Scroll through TikTok for just a few minutes, and you’ll notice multiple videos with the same song or sound, which means those sounds are currently trending and likely have billions of views every single day. Think of the audio as a trending hashtag that will attract others who are looking for the same hashtag.

An example of the power of audios is the following video from @doggface208. He posted a simple, 22-second video of himself riding a skateboard, drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and listening to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. According to Rolling Stone, the 1977 song returned to number 29 on the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs Chart, was streamed over 1 million times a day, and sales for the song nearly tripled. In addition, Ocean Spray had 15 billion media impressions since the video went viral.

Think about the sound you attach to every TikTok real estate video before you post it. Even if you want to post a video without music, you can still attach an audio to your video and turn the sound all the way down so your voice is still heard in the video. This is an easy and practical way to make it more likely for TikTok to show your video to a higher number of people, even if the sound isn’t actually audible.

Another great TikTok real estate video example from @stefaniekebede. She recorded an educational video about purchasing a multi-family home instead of a single-family home, then added a popular sound to the background of her video. You can still hear her speaking clearly, but using the sound helps her video get seen by more people.

5. Capitalize on TikTok Trends

TikTok is a unique social media channel for many reasons, and it’s created a culture with its own humor, style, and trends. There are constantly new TikTok trends, meaning that a large number of people are using an audio, dance, or filter to jump on the trend bandwagon. Since these trends are extremely popular and familiar, they are a great way to grow your audience and tweak the trends to fit your real estate brand and niche.

Take a few minutes to scroll the “For You” page on TikTok and you’ll start seeing and understanding the trends. Take note of the audios, filters, and dances you see repeatedly, and think about how you could tweak the trend to fit your real estate TikTok strategy.

@texastattooedrealtor has many perfect examples of how you can do this. She uses popular trends, talks to her target audience, and answers questions or problems that they have. The video below plays an audio clip of Will Farrell from the popular movie “Elf” to show the excitement that homebuyers have when they’re house hunting. Her second video below includes dancing to popular audio while plugging her expertise as a real estate professional.

Most trending videos are well under 30 seconds in length but still drive millions of views, and so offer an easily accessible way to grow your audience and build your authority with TikTok trends. By including humor, popular audio, and common concerns, you too will attract your target real estate audience.

6. Post Your Real Estate Listings

Virtual tours on Zillow

Zillow (the largest real estate database online) encourages real estate agents to add property videos to their listings. Therefore, a powerful and efficient way to market your listings would be to film videos of the property and repurpose them for use on your real estate TikTok page.

Since Zillow videos can be up to 10 minutes, you can splice them to create multiple videos to share on TikTok. Cut your walk-through videos into several shorter videos, or use simple video transitions with trending audios to make your listing videos even more engaging. For example, split your videos up by room to showcase the features and encourage viewers to scroll through each of your videos to get a full snapshot of the home.

Take, for instance, the listing videos of @heider_realestate on TikTok. She does a video tour of her listings and then speeds up the video to make each tour fit into a 30-second to 1-minute video. She also includes music in the background to fit the ambiance of the home.

Real estate listings with video receive 403% more inquiries than listings without videos. This means creating videos doesn’t just offer another way to appeal to buyers, but is a necessary task if you want to reach the highest number of people.

Reach the largest possible audience for your properties and generate more leads as a Zillow Premier Agent (ZPA). It gives your profile prime location on listings and generates more highly qualified leads since it’s the largest real estate database online. You’ll even be able to communicate with leads and clients through the Zillow app and get exposure on other Zillow-owned real estate platforms like Trulia, Street Easy, and RealEstate.com.

7. Adapt Your Real Estate Video Content for TikTok

Starting a new social media platform doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make content from scratch. If you’ve created any type of video content in the past, like for YouTube or Instagram stories, you can easily edit your existing videos to fit on TikTok. TikTok videos can be up to three minutes long, but TikTok videos that are 15 seconds or less have a 90% watch time.

Even if you don’t already have video content, you can come up with many TikTok ideas with just a little bit of strategy. Go through your existing content, including blogs, emails, and social media posts, and think about how you could consolidate the content from those posts into short videos.

If you still need more ideas, think about each type of individual you want to target—like first-time homebuyers, foreclosures, expired listings, or sellers. Then write down common questions and problems they face and scroll through the “For You” page and real estate hashtags to get ideas about how you could present the information in an engaging way.

TikTok user @Stefaniekebede has many great examples of adapting content for this platform. In one short video, she gives her audience five things they need before buying a house. This information could have easily come from a long-form blog post or live video training, but she compiled it into a 15-second video that got over 116,000 views.

As part of your TikTok real estate lead generation strategy, make sure you also plan how to track, nurture, and convert your new leads from this platform. At the minimum, you need a real estate client relationship manager (CRM) software app to organize, segment, and target leads and automate your marketing outreach.

By combining the Market Leader customer relationship manager (CRM) with your TikTok strategy, you’ll be able to increase your audience and make the most out of every viewer, and you’ll be confident that you’re not missing any opportunities to grow your business. Market Leader is a real estate lead generation platform that offers a robust CRM as well as exclusive leads—which immediately cuts down your competition. Plus, multi-channel automated marketing helps you start effectively following up with your leads without spending weeks creating a funnel.

8. Direct Viewers to Your Website & Landing Page

TikTok allows you to put one link on your profile, and it’s front and center for anyone who clicks on your name and views your profile. An ideal way to use this spot is to link to your website or a landing page. Having a website is one thing but you must have it optimized to convert leads from TikTok. Using a landing page specifically for TikTok can also provide you with clearer insights into how many people are interacting with your content.

For the most in-depth and user-friendly analytics, HubSpot provides visual data like traffic analytics, visitor engagements, contacts, and behavior charts. The HubSpot Marketing Hub is an all-in-one CRM, landing page and website builder, and marketing software. Review the analytics dashboard to understand where your leads are coming from, if those leads are converting into clients, and how you can improve your content to increase your engagement.

9. Use TikTok Real Estate Hashtags

TikTok hashtags work very similarly to Instagram hashtags. Hashtags tell the TikTok algorithm what your content is about so your video can be shown to people who are interested in relevant topics. To find popular and relevant TikTok real estate hashtags, go to the “Discover” page within the app and search for real estate-related topics. Look at the people who are successful in real estate and take note of the hashtags they use.

For example, @vanesaaragonrealtor adds a few general hashtags to each of her videos, like #realestatetips and #realestate. Since she’s creating content for buyers in Arizona, she also frequently uses #homebuyer and #arizona to help her get in front of a targeted audience. Use hashtags with varying levels of popularity. You have a much better chance of being found through real estate hashtags that have under 100,000 views, whereas hashtags with billions of views might just bury your video too quickly.

10. Share Your Content on Other Platforms

The short, attention-grabbing nature of TikTok content has reached over 37 million users and is forecasted to increase until at least 2025, but it doesn’t have to stop with TikTok. Every time you invest your time and effort into marketing your real estate business, it’s important to get as much mileage as possible out of it. Share your TikTok real estate videos on other platforms, like Instagram reels and/or stories, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook posts, and even Facebook real estate ads.

• Snapchat: Snapchat is a visual platform with images that only last 24 hours and can be shared with groups or between individuals. This is a great platform if you want to connect with younger millennials or Gen Z homebuyers in particular.

• Instagram: Instagram is a highly visual platform, and its addition of (video) reels made it TikTok’s biggest competitor. Repurpose all of your TikToks as reels to engage your audience day in and day out in your Instagram feed and Stories.

• Facebook: Facebook is still the largest social media platform, and it’s used by every age group. Upload your TikTok videos directly to Facebook for extra exposure.

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is created for professionals to create and nurture business connections. If you want to target young professionals or work in commercial real estate, then upload your TikTok videos to LinkedIn for lead generation.

If you don’t have a digital marketing strategy or don’t feel confident cross-posting on multiple social media platforms, you might need assistance. Take advantage of Aerial Agent, a digital marketing company specifically for real estate agents. If you don’t want to waste your valuable time learning how to best use social media, the experts at Artur’In can multiply your effectiveness with automated marketing, real estate ads, and specialized expertise.

11. Input Leads Into a CRM

Before TikTok real estate leads start pouring in, you need to have tools in place so that no potential clients fall through the cracks. Look for a real estate CRM with lead generation and follow-up tools that integrate with TikTok, like Pipedrive.

Through a Zapier integration, every lead you generate from TikTok real estate videos will automatically be added to the Pipedrive CRM. Since Pipedrive has a visual pipeline process and tracks every communication you have with each lead, you’ll be able to nurture your leads without spending hours replying to comments and messages.

With Pipedrive, you’ll also be able to move your leads along the pipeline more smoothly with the automated emails and calls and the ability to live chat and easily schedule appointments. Pipedrive helps you not only generate and communicate with leads, but truly nurture them at every turn and build the rapport and trust you need to ultimately sign them as a new client.

TIKTOK REAL ESTATE MARKETING STATS

Still not convinced that TikTok can be an asset to your real estate business? Take a look at some additional statistics below to see the positive power of TikTok and the TikTok audience:

(Source: Hootsuite)

• TikTok ranks as the second-biggest app in consumer spend

• 89% of U.S. adults recognize the TikTok brand

• According to Statista, 22.4% of TikTok users are between the ages of 20 and 29, 21.7% are aged 30 to 39, and 30- to 39-year-olds make up the largest portion of homebuyers in 2021, at 26%

• 81% of TikTok users plan to spend the same amount of time or more on the platform

• TikTok got the most positive reviews of any app in the U.S. in 2020

• According to Marketing Charts, 37% of TikTok users have an annual income of over $100,000

BOTTOM LINE

TikTok is a unique social media platform, and most real estate agents haven’t taken advantage of it yet. That equates to a huge opportunity for real estate agents and brokers to reach a large audience with relatively little competition. By optimizing your TikTok real estate profile, using trending videos and audios and addressing your audience’s problems, you’ll be able to attract a targeted audience and grow your real estate business.