Learn How To Create A Content Plan and Download Free Calendars.

Creating a content strategy for online marketing should form an integral part of your overall business strategy. We take a look at creating a content marketing strategy, and a content marketing calendar as a powerful mapping and tracking tool.

The website is set up, Mailchimp account ready to go, and Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts are live.

You’re ready to tackle the beast that is online Marketing and wow your clients with

• expert articles
• thought-provoking posts
• interesting newsletters
• high-converting emails

that will make them pick up the phone and hire you as their agent.

Enthusiastically, you’ve already knocked out a blog post, a few Facebook posts, and sent out a newsletter.

You rinse and repeat over the next few days, but jeez it’s tough squeezing in hours to write this stuff (and let’s admit it, you’re maybe a better salesperson than a writer).

A new lead comes in and suddenly the content on your digital platforms takes a back seat.

Days go by with only the odd post being published.

Two weeks later, you’re horrified to see you’ve lost three-quarters of your Facebook followers, your website page views have plummeted, and 90% of your database has unsubscribed from your newsletters.

What the heck just happened?!

Gone are the days where digital content was simply a nice-to-have additional bonus.

Instead, having a cyber presence is now an extension of your brand. Not surprisingly, reaching as many, if not more, of your target audience than traditional lead generation tactics.

90% of the population is online – actively! In fact, they are searching for homes, hunting down neighborhood information, and interacting with agents more than ever before.

Think about it – we connect with the prospects or clients in their personal space, and on their time. Be it on their phone, computer or tablet – anywhere they are.

When an agent is inconsistent with the content he/she sends out to the market, they are placing themselves at a disadvantage.

Implementing a content marketing strategy is the key to beating your competition and thriving in a digital community.

Content marketing strategy

Just as one does not start a business without a business plan, so you should not begin sending content without a content marketing plan.

Fail to plan, then plan to fail. 

We get it. The thought of carving out even more time in your busy schedule has your stomach in knots.

Just remember, low-quality content and consistency is worse than not posting at all- as low-quality content can damage your brand’s reputation.

Want to know the good news? It’s not very difficult to put together a content marketing strategy, and it’s baton –the content marketing Calendar. Here’s how…

01  Identify the purpose of your online platforms

As a real estate agent, you want your platforms to:

• Promote yourself as the agent of choice
• Beat Zillow Be the go-to site for viewing and getting accurate information on properties
• Provide leading articles on market and area trends
• Provide useful information on real estate, that is well-researched, accurate, relevant, current, and trustworthy

02  Identify your target audience

In so doing, a message can be crafted that speaks in the “tone” and “language” they identify with. In addition, targeted ads offer a better bang for your buck.

03  Do an audit of your existing content assets

Depending on where you hang your license, your firm may have pre-written content available for use.

Typically in the form of postcards, e-newsletters, etc. The upside is this can be repurposed into other materials– think videos, brochures, and other marketing material. The downside is it’s usually run-of-the-mill boring.

Check and see if you have any old blog posts, surveys, or other data in your CRM that you can repurpose. There is so much untapped potential, all it takes is a little creativity.

04  Fill in the gaps

Knowing who your target audience is and what existing content is available, offers the ability to see what is missing and brainstorm topics to fill those gaps.

Content marketing calendar

The second part of the content marketing plan may be the most important – creating a content marketing calendar to strategically map out blog posts, articles, newsletters, and Social Media Posts.

Those who create a proper calendar will reap the rewards. Including (but not limited to)

• knowing exactly which posts are scheduled for which dates
• being able to track the publishing of content
• accountability if multiple persons are executing tasks on your calendar
• ensuring relevant seasons, holidays, etc are noted and catered for in your content

The practicality of being able to schedule the publishing of content on various platforms means that once it is written and put in the “publishing pipeline” so to speak, your time is freed up to focus on other aspects of your business.

Here’s a 101 on how to set up your content marketing calendar:

01. Create a living document where your calendar, blog titles and social media posts live.

Use Google Sheets or a simple Excel document with multiple tabs to do this. 

• The first tab would host your 3-month calendar overview, with each month broken into which blogs will be posted per week, which emails and/or newsletters will be sent, and which social media posts will be published.
• The next few tabs are a breakdown of the calendar overview, with each focusing individually on blog topics, social media platforms and posts, and email newsletters. This is where blog posts, newsletters, and social media posts are fleshed out to represent the exact word-for-word content that will be published.
• Remember to include times that the blog/social media posts will be published in order to capture your audience when they are online. In doing so, you can make sure your posts remain at the top of their newsfeed vs. the bottom where it may never be seen.

02. Use a color system to mark posts that are in various stages of delivery what is being written, what is under review, what has been scheduled online, and what has been published.

By color coding, the system becomes much easier to navigate and get a quick birds-eye view of the status of your content.

03. Analyze the results of your posts on a monthly basis 

Google analytics, social media analytics, and post insights are invaluable in identifying content that is doing well. Posts with a higher reach and engagement will be used again.

Consequently, content with low interaction will serve as a learning experience and a new approach will need to be tested.

Always A/B test your content.

You’ve heard of the ABC’s of real estate; Now it’s time for the ABT’s. Always Be Testing.

04. Review and repeat

Whether you’ve created a 3-month content or a 12-month content calendar, your content and analytics should be reviewed on a monthly basis. In doing so, you can ensure the right content is being delivered to your audience.

As a result of the right content being delivered, your site will have a higher rate of return visits and engagement. Which will grow your brand’s digital footprint.

Because we care, we’ve added a few calendars that may be helpful for you to download.

Curata

Hubspot

Pam Moore

Vertical Measures

Lee Odden

Web.Search.Social

98TOGO

WebpageFX

CrackerjackMarketing

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