Ahhh, yes, the holidays. A time to unplug, be with our families, and escape the real estate race…
PSYCH! You just boarded your flight, and every client you’ve ever had suddenly needs something from you. Your escrows are on fire, you haven’t bought one gift for your family, and you left a light on at one of your listings. Your seller has already left you three angry voicemails since you’ve been in the air.
But this is WHY you got in the business, right? Real estate never sleeps. As we enter Christmas weekend, I wanted to make your life a little easier by giving you some holiday marketing advice.
Here is what agents should NOT do over the holidays—and some brilliant ways you can stay top of mind (without being annoying.)
1. Don’t post generic graphics.
You know my take on this by now. Do NOT post a generic Holiday graphic that says “Happy Holidays.” You think your clients want to see a square, poorly colored, Keller Williams-branded graphic while they are scrolling? NO! Nobody wants to see that. It is impersonal, unthoughtful, and pointless. It gets no engagement and guarantees an immediate scroll-by and eye-roll. If you have nothing to post on Christmas, don’t post anything. It’s better to just leave the feed alone than to curse it with that FILTH!
INSTEAD: Post photos of your family and your holiday traditions. IG stories will pop over the holidays because people want to see more authentic content and less BS in the feed. Upload videos and photos of how you’re spending the holidays and humanize yourself a little. Show people you aren’t a real estate robot. Here’s a perfect example from Taya DiCarlo:
2. Don’t send generic emails.
Do NOT send a generic Holiday email that says “Ho Ho Home” or something stupid like that. Want to stand out over the holidays in people’s inboxes? Don’t send one! Everyone’s email is already clogged with meaningless “Merry Christmas” messages, so maybe sit this one.
INSTEAD: Send something that is actually meaningful. Personal emails to clients about why you’re actually grateful for them could be nice! If you do want to do something real estate-related, check out 25 email subject lines to send over the holidays. Or, send them the news about mortgage rates coming down after the last Fed meeting by using one of these scripts from Tom Toole. (Obviously, don’t send that last one out on Christmas. But you can definitely share the news before the new year.)
3. Don’t text on Christmas.
Do NOT text your clients a generic “Merry Christmas” message on Christmas. Handling text messages is already a burden, don’t force your clients to respond to a copied and pasted message from their Realtor. Sometimes it’s good to just leave people alone.
INSTEAD: Send a personal video message or audio message… on INSTAGRAM. Do this on the days leading up to Christmas, so you’re not annoying people on the actual holiday (and when people are more likely on their phones). This strategy is GENIUS because it also juices the algorithm as people respond to your DMs. Remember, Instagram values DMs as the number one form of communication on the app, so the more messages you send and receive, the more you will pop up in people’s feeds.
4. Don’t post real estate content on the holidays.
Do NOT post your regularly scheduled content on December 24th, 25th, and 26th. Christmas will be a dead content day (except for holiday-related posts). A Reel about why buying is better than renting, a screen-shotted Zillow review, or a “here’s why the market is NOT crashing” post will not be well-received. It’s obviously not offensive, but it definitely won’t perform well because nobody wants to see that content right now. Save it for the week after Christmas. If you have regular real estate content scheduled on a third-party service or Facebook Meta Business, push the content back a few days, so the content is not wasted. Remember, a lot of people are just waiting until after January 1 to go back to their regular schedule.
INSTEAD: What are you doing in the community over the holidays? Charity, giving back, toy drives, Christmas light tours—that type of stuff will play well. Or again, just don’t post anything.
Hope that helps! Having said all of that, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of you reading this. I hope you have a few days of peace and get to spend time with your families.
This Simple Instagram Post Generated 97 Comments (and a Month of Content Ideas)