Turn online attention into real business

Your social media feed may look great, with a slew of followers and plenty of likes. But if it isn’t whipping up business, it's time to look beyond the numbers.

At the recent Florida Realtors® Convention & Trade Expo, broker-owner and social media educator Billie Parrott showed how a focused message, useful content and a clear next step can move someone from a post to a conversation and create an opportunity to stay in touch beyond social media.

“Your brand can look amazing and still earn you nothing,” Parrott said during her session, The Business Behind the Brand: Turning Social Presence into Profit.

Social platforms control who sees content, and algorithms can change. A database of contacts, email subscribers and past customers gives real estate professionals a direct way to continue the conversation.

Determine what your brand says

A brand is more than a logo, color palette, posting schedule or follower count.

“A brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room,” Parrott said. “The brand is also the promise people trust you to keep.”

She encouraged attendees to test that perception instead of guessing. A simple brand audit can include:

• Asking several past customers what they believe you’re known for and what they would tell others about you.
• Showing the first nine posts on your social media profile to someone else and asking whether they can tell what you do and whom you serve.
• Searching your name and business online in an incognito browser to find outdated profiles, incorrect affiliations or abandoned accounts.
• Checking whether your name, photographs, contact information and message are consistent across platforms.
• Writing a short statement that identifies whom you help, what you help them do and the outcome you provide.

The goal is clarity. Someone visiting your profile should quickly understand the person behind the business, the market or customers served and the problems you can solve.

“Your voice, your promise, your personality, and that’s what cannot be copied,” Parrott said.

Give every post a purpose

Parrott outlined three pillars of a profitable brand:

• Visibility: Reach the right people, not simply the largest possible audience.
• Value: Answer questions, explain the process and build trust through useful information.
• Conversion: Tell people what to do next, whether that means calling, sending a direct message, visiting a website or requesting a guide.

“Don’t chase everyone. You want to attract your someone,” Parrott said.

Educational posts can address questions buyers and sellers are already asking. Short videos, carousels, neighborhood guides, homebuyer information and seller checklists can help people understand a complicated part of the transaction before they contact an agent.

“The agent who educates is the agent who gets hired,” Parrott said.

Once content gets someone’s attention, Parrott recommended moving that follower through a repeatable pathway: Start a conversation, collect the person’s contact information, add it to a customer relationship management system or another organized database and continue providing useful information.

Calls to action do not need to feel aggressive. Inviting someone to request a guide or send a keyword by direct message can open a low-pressure conversation.

Track more than likes

Reach and follower counts do not show whether social media is producing business. Parrott recommended spending about 10 minutes each month tracking:

• Direct messages initiated
• Link clicks
• Contacts added to the database
• Consultations booked
• Transactions traced to social media
• Advertising costs and returns

Asking new customers how they found you can help identify which posts and platforms are working.

Parrott also advised choosing one platform and using it well before expanding to others. Artificial intelligence can help draft content, review a digital presence and speed up follow-up, she said, but the finished work should still sound like the person posting it.

The same identity should carry into offline activities, including customer events, podcasts, community involvement and partnerships with local businesses.

“Consistency beats intensity,” Parrott said. Her formula for getting started was equally direct: “One audience, one platform, one conversion pathway.”

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