Is TikTok a Good Place for Real Estate Agents to Market for More Listings?
In real estate, as in other businesses, it’s important to remember that you need to know who your “audience” consists of if you ever hope to effectively target them with your marketing. Many agents target “anyone who is breathing,” and that’s understandable.
It was how they generated leads as a newbie. They had little other choice. But, think back to those days. That type of marketing is not only expensive but time-consuming as well.
As we grow into our business, we know better than to shoot arrows and hope something sticks. Target marketing is far saner and more efficient.
Who is your audience on social media? It depends a great deal on the platform, first. Some are chock-full of folks you should be reaching out to, while others simply waste time and effort.
It’s time to update our social media recommendations for real estate agents, and we begin with TikTok.
First, let’s nail down your target audience
While it was somewhat lucrative to target first-time buyers in the past, you may want to change your strategy this year. They made up only 26% of last year’s real estate consumers, which is a huge drop from the previous year’s 34%, according to the folks at the NAR.
With the country’s current wonky economy, don’t look for that number to improve this year.
If you plan on sticking with the first-timers, you’ll be targeting folks in their mid-to-late 30s (NAR calls the 36-year-old “The typical first-time buyer.”)
Repeat buyers are always worth an agent’s consideration because of the very real chance that they also have a home to sell. This target’s age is 59 years.
Your largest buyer pool will be the baby boomers, who comprise 39% of all buyers. Millennials have dropped to 28% of the pool.
Finally, if you’re after listings, stick with older Gen X folks and baby boomers. “The typical home seller was 60 years old,” according to the NAR.
When it comes to social media marketing, spend your time on platforms with the robust participation of baby boomers (folks age 59 to 77).
Does that include TikTok?
Not at all. Let’s take a look at who hangs out on TikTok.
According to the platform’s survey of its users:
- 80 million Americans are “active users” of TikTok.
- The largest share of these users (60%) are age 16 to 24. “80% are between the ages 16-34.”
- Although Gen X (age 47-58 in 2023) “is highly active on social media … less than 5% of them are on TikTok,” according to digital content provider Gitnux.com.
- Baby boomers are almost invisible on the platform. Those who are age 55+ make up 5.1% of users. Throw in the next youngest demographic (age 45-54), and that number nudges up to about 13%, according to Oberlo.com.
Your TikTok takeaway
Unless you love hanging out there, we believe other platforms are far more worth your marketing time and effort (Facebook is one).
Wherever you decide to market on social media, remember that your post needs to be relevant to your target audience.
Check back soon when we look at Instagram and whether it’s worth your marketing time and energy.
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