Let's be honest, you've put time and effort into your content marketing, carefully crafted those property showcase posts, and shared valuable market insights so it’s no surprise that you’re shocked when those engagement numbers aren't quite what you expected.
If you're wondering why you’re not getting the traction your content deserves, you're not alone. In fact, many Commercial Real Estate (CRE) professionals face this same challenge in today's crowded digital space.
The Hidden Cost of Low Engagement
Before we get into the solutions, let's discuss what's really at stake. Your content’s poor performance isn't just about low like counts—it's affecting your bottom line in ways you might not realize.
Think about it: if you are a brokerage firm and your content underperforms, your listings get less visibility, potentially extending time-to-lease or sell. But it goes deeper than that. In today's digital-first world, your social media presence is often the first impression potential clients have of your business. A lackluster social presence can raise questions about your market relevance and your overall credibility as a trusted property expert and advisor.
Understanding the Challenge
Over the last 5 years, we’ve noticed commercial real estate firms embracing digital content in new and exciting ways. From market analysis reports to property showcases, firms are creating increasingly sophisticated content and we’re here for it.
However, many firms find themselves frustrated when their thoughtfully crafted pieces fail to generate meaningful engagement and generate the returns they were after. It’s time to acknowledge a fundamental truth: in CRE (and well, in any industry hoping to make it in the online space), it's not just about creating content, it's about creating content that drives business results. If you don’t understand the platforms, your audience pain points, and how they want to consume content on a deep enough level, your content will never be compelling enough to drive meaningful action.
TURNING FRUSTRATION INTO RESULTS: HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONTENT TRULY WORK FOR YOU
Defining Your Audience
One of the most common reasons for low engagement is that you’re not talking to the right crowd. Think about who you're trying to reach. Are you creating content for investors but using language that speaks to small property owners? Or perhaps you're targeting retail REITs with content that would be more relevant to office property managers?
To get this right, you need to go beyond just demographics and really understand the distinct pain points, goals, and needs of each target audience segment. What specific challenges keep your potential clients up at night? What market insights or data would be most valuable to them? What trends interest them? How do they like to consume content?
Pro Tip: a simple rule of thumb – always remember WIIFM, “what’s in it for me?” This is the question you need to ask yourself from the perspective of your target reader. If they engage with your content, what will they get out of it?
The next step is tailoring both the content format and messaging to resonate with that group. A detailed market analysis report might be appealing to investors, while retail REITs may be more interested in a quick-hitting video highlighting emerging trends that they can take advantage of in real time. Pay close attention to the language and tone you use, what sounds compelling to one segment may fall flat with another, but you also want to ensure you’re communicating your messaging in line with your brand, and the platform itself.
Choosing the Right Platforms
Not all platforms are created equal, with each having a different appetite for the type of content that it favors and the way it delivers that content to it’s users. It's important to understand the demographics, engagement style, and audience mindset when it comes to each social platform to determine how it can best fit into your overall content strategy.
LinkedIn might be perfect for sharing detailed market analysis reports or creating content that identifies you as an expert thought leader in your industry. The professional audience on LinkedIn are open to being “sold” to in a value adding way and are often seeking informative, data-driven content. You can leverage this mindset to position yourself as a trusted advisor.
In contrast, Instagram works better for taking your audience through a visual experience, be it through property tours, or the behind-the-scenes of a brokers day-to-day. The opportunities within commercial real estate to take advantage of Instagram’s algorithm are endless, but you need to be investing time in quality content that will help separate you from the noise. “People like people” - the moment your audience can put a face to the brand they are more open to listening to what you have to say (and remembering it!), and this is especially true on the video centric platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Celebrating your company culture and the people behind it is a good place to start on a visually driven platform like Instagram.
Delivering Real Value
Here's a hard truth: your content needs to solve problems or provide insights that your audience can't easily find elsewhere.
Instead of just sharing that a property sold, explain what the sale means for the market. Rather than simply posting about rising vacancy rates, provide an analysis of what this means for different stakeholder groups and where the potential opportunities or challenges lie.
Instead of telling your audience that “X is moving its headquarters from San Francisco to Texas.” Rather, share your insights into how the move to Texas underscores a growing trend of tech companies shifting operations to business-friendly states with lower costs and how this may impact the CRE landscape and different asset classes in those areas.
The real value comes from combining data with insight. Don't just tell your audience what happened, tell them why it matters and what they should do about it.
The Over-Promotion Trap
You wouldn't start a conversation at a networking event by immediately trying to sell one of the assets in your portfolio, right? Yet many CRE firms flood their feeds with nothing but listings. Opting to have a mix of market opportunities, industry news, and expert insights helps you build a community of people who see the value in your content and trust you as an expert, garnering more meaningful engagement and a higher chance of action when you do post those hard sell pieces.
Measuring What Matters
But we’ll be honest, none of this is worth it if you’re not factoring in the time to properly analyze your metrics to determine what content truly resonates with your audience. Shift your focus from vanity metrics like how many likes you received and prioritize indicators of genuine engagement like shares, saves, comments, and direct messages. Content saves for example, are a strong signal that your audience views your content as a valuable reference they’ll return to more often.
Keep an eye on profile visits as well; an increase after a post suggests you’re capturing authentic interest from potential clients or partners. Finally, pay close attention to the quality of comments. Insightful questions, and thoughtful feedback indicate that you’re fostering meaningful dialogue and establishing authority within your industry. And don’t forget to engage with those comments too but acknowledging, replying, and answering any additional questions.
The Path Forward
Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to mastering content, and improving your engagement doesn’t mean garnering more “likes”. It’s an ongoing process that requires the consistent creation of valuable, authentic, and meaningful content that will cut through the digital noise and help you build a trusting community.
You are the content and if you shift your mindset to one that understands and authentically engages with your audience, you will start to see results. Focus on providing value, maintaining consistency, and engaging authentically with your audience.
So, don’t be afraid to start, keep testing different approaches, and measure your results to find out what works. Your social media presence is an extension of your brand. Every post, comment, and share should reflect the quality and expertise your clients can expect from you as a CRE professional.
If you feel that your content marketing efforts keep falling short of your expectations, or you just don’t know where to start, let’s have a conversation about getting your message to resonate with your audience in a way that compels them to take action.
ATYPICAL specializes in helping CRE businesses transform their marketing content and social media presence into a powerful, business development tool.
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