The real estate field is a fast-paced market that is constantly evolving. The key industry players such as real estate agents and Investors are affected by the constant dramatic changes. The Covid 19 pandemic forced businesses to shift to the online space and so did the real estate industry. The shift was essential to keep both buyers and sellers connected and ensure business continuity. Social media's importance rose from social platforms to business networking avenues with everyone rushing to establish their presence online.

Mike Sherrard is an entrepreneur and a real estate content creator leveraging social media for business growth. Mike has built a name in the real estate industry by capitalizing on social media as a marketing and networking platform and is helping others scale their business. @mike_Sherrard is rated the top realtor on social media in Calgary and Alberta, and he runs the top YouTube channel for real estate social media coaching. Mike is currently licensed as an agent and leader at eXp  Realty and runs one of the fastest-growing groups at the company. He has built his brand entirely through social media across North America and various other countries.

His principal focus is on educating agents on lead generation, personal branding, marketing, and organic video content for their clients. At 28, Mike runs the Social Agent Academy, an online training program that offers training to realtors to scale their businesses online. Visit Mike's website to get more details on the Social Agent Academy.

He has only been in the industry for less than five years, but he understands the social media dynamics in the real estate industry. Mike foresees a time in the not-so-distant future in the real estate industry where agents not properly leveraging social media will quickly get left behind. To him, the days of solely relying on physical marketing, like mailers and buss benches, and traditional methods of prospecting, such as cold calling, are quickly diminishing. It is currently estimated that more than 4.66 million social media users provide a ready market for Realtors to capitalize on.

Facebook, Instagram and Youtube continue to be the most effective social platforms for real estate marketing, each providing their own unique opportunities for agents to leverage. Facebook is without question one of the best for paid real estate lead generation, Instagram is one of the best for building your personal brand and remaining top of mind, and YouTube is the king of evergreen client attraction.

Mike anticipates constant improvement in social media content for real estate marketing. As for websites, you will need to develop high-quality content to increase your social media visibility. 3D property virtual tours are more likely to dominate the marketing scene as they provide an alternative to ordinary listings. It will be a challenging task, especially for the realtors deeply committed to traditional strategies , however Mike foresees having a strong online presence is quickly becoming a necessity and a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.

Single property websites are becoming a norm as they prove to be an efficient way of marketing listings online. Single property websites will also cushion you as a real estate agent against the competition of third-party websites. This, however, does not imply you neglect the third-party listing websites; they are still important, but the single property website trend is bound to increase moving forward.

The power of an agents personal brand is also becoming recognized as more powerful and valuable than a brokerage brand. There was a time where agents primarily relied on the brand of their brokerage to gain credibility, however nowadays agents are realizing that their personal brand is what attracts clients, regardless of which brokerage holds their license.

Mike Sherrard is available on LinkedIn and Facebook, and you can follow him to keep the conversation going.