With the hustle and bustle of every day and the physical and social restrictions imposed by the current pandemic, it can be difficult to stay connected with your sphere of influence and your former clients. If you used to depend on touching base at the dog park or grocery store, you may find you no longer get the facetime you once needed to stay top-of-mind.

Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to build digital relationships and connect to past clients through a variety of virtual platforms.

Forging connections through digital platforms

Digital communication is about creating connections and conversations. This can allow you to stay top of mind with your previous clients and become a trusted friend and advisor to them over time. By building on your existing professional relationship, you can create a deeper connection that you can leverage in order to reach their sphere of influence.

Social Media

The good news about connecting with your sphere and former clients through social media is that you have a variety of options available. If you are more visually oriented, you may want to focus on Instagram and video content. If you are a natural writer, you may want to create blog posts and share them on Facebook. If you focus more on professional and investor clients, LinkedIn may be your platform of choice.

Rules for Social Media Posts

Keep the following in mind as you post on social media:

• Follow-up and conversation are key. Create thoughtful comments that add value and invite additional opportunities to connect.
• Don’t give in to the temptation to argue with or post controversial opinions. Don’t respond to overtly political or social issue content or content that could be construed as offensive or discriminatory.
• Don’t include confidential information about current or former clients or homes. Don’t criticize homes you’ve viewed or make fun of home features.

Value-added Content

The key to sharing content that gets read and shared with others is the value you provide. Your expertise and knowledge of the local market and the real estate sale and purchase process makes you a valuable resource both for your past clients and for their friends and families as they consider their own real estate-related transactions.

Blog Posts

Create or share curated content about your local market, the real estate process, and home ownership. Use can use local market statistics and conditions as a springboard or talk about the newest commercial development. Consider interviews with local leaders, and make your blog a useful, shareable resource. Optimize with hi-res photos available at no cost from online sources like Pixabay, Unsplash, or Pexels.

Videos

If you’re a natural performer, consider video content. Start with Facebook Live or IGTV videos and post them on your YouTube or Vimeo channel. Share videos about your community or about popular local neighborhoods. Create a video at your favorite new coffee shop or at a community event.

Podcasts

If you are big on connecting with colleagues and business owners in your area, consider a podcast about your local market complete with interviews. Talk to the new high school principal, your favorite lender, or a small business owner about the good things going on in your community.

Market Reports

If you’re a fan of statistics and graphs, you may want to put together a user-friendly monthly, quarterly, or annual market report for your former clients. Create something that’s visually appealing on a platform like Canva and share it on your website, through social media, and via email.

Email Marketing

Whether you use your office’s CMA or a platform like Mailchimp, it is essential to stay in contact with your former clients via email. Share real estate-related information and market updates as well as good news about your office. This could include expanded services, closed transactions, or awards and recognitions you have received.

Make it easy for your email list to share content and include a call to action (CTA). As you create and share valuable information, testimonials, reviews, and other items, ask your former clients to share that information with friends, family, and neighbors as well.

Creating an effective call to action (CTA)

Without a call to action or CTA, you’re not communicating with former clients—you’re simply talking at them. The CTA is the big So what? that accompanies blog posts or other digital content. Tell former clients what action you want them to take next based on the information you have provided.

Homeowner-related CTA

Homeowner-related CTAs may be geared toward helping former clients run their homes more efficiently or make better decisions relating to their home’s finances. You may want former clients to reach out to you for additional information, like a market report or updated property valuation. You may want them to follow your new video series or talk to your preferred lender about refinancing incentives.

Testimonial-related CTA

If you are reaching out to previous clients for testimonials or reviews, you’ll want to include a clear CTA directing them to a specific platform. If you’re asking for testimonials to include on your website, make that clear. If they need to join a real estate portal or review platform in order to provide their testimonial, provide them with necessary instructions.

Referral-related CTA

Referral-related CTAs focus on inviting your former clients to share your information with friends and family who may be thinking about buying or selling a home in your market. Remember to add value repeatedly before asking for a referral so that your clients feel that they are getting more than they give. Create a contest or reward for referrals in order to provide an even more powerful incentive to past clients.

There is no time like the present to begin, expand, or optimize your digital platforms in order to stay connected with past clients. ReminderMedia’s Digital Bundle offers three separate products (Local Events, Branded Posts, and the Digital Edition) for one combined, low price!