You’ve got to write your real estate bio and you don’t know where to start. You figured this would be easy – after all, you’re an expert on you. But the task is turning out to be anything but simple.
You’re probably sitting there at your keyboard trying to hammer out your real estate agent bio, you’re on your third cup of coffee, your foot is tapping furiously on the floor and you’re still staring at a blank word document. You’ve been here for hours, and now you’re pretty sure that blinking cursor is mocking you.
Write a quirky bio, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
Simply put, there is no topic more difficult for any writer to discuss than them (assuming you’re not a raging narcissist). If you’re hitting a wall in writing your real estate career bio, you need to not feel too bad about it. Writing about yourself is tough because it’s really difficult to know what to include and what to skip. Multiply that by all of your digital channels and you’ve got yourself quite a task!
“Know thyself.” – ancient Greek aphorism
Never fear: we’re going to get you building a strong foundation for your digital presence in the form of strong bio content, and give you a few ideas on how to vary it up so that your audience isn’t reading the same thing over and over across all of your channels.
What’s most important is to identify your audience for each channel. What’s the tone of your content? Is it for clients? Is it for fans? Is it for both?
Rule #1: The Mullet Rule
Temper your expectations on this one, but be willing to loosen the collar a little. Studies show that appearing personable can be just as important – and in many instances, MORE important – than appearing professional. Real estate agents need to find a very specific balance in this respect. You want prospective clients to know that you’re good at your job, but that a conversation with you isn’t unbearably stuffy and boring. They’ll be spending months dealing with you, and they want to ensure that spending their evenings and weekends with you won’t be a chore.
Think of your digital presence as a mullet: you want business in the front, and party in the back. The business part we’ll cover next, but let’s get you thinking fun and funny for your informal channels first.
Business in Front
Just as if you were repurposing content, the point is to always be pointing people back to your home bases with a bio – LinkedIn and professional website. It turns your online presence into a funnel in which you can strategically guide your audience to your different channels, and ultimately to your professional site – the “business in front” of the mullet metaphor.
It is ESSENTIAL that the bio reads well, is thorough, and lists all pertinent professional information. This is your “long-form” presentation – if they’ve been directed here from one of your social media channels, they’re at least somewhat interested.
Party in Back
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are primarily placed people go for a mental ‘break’. They’re the digital equivalent of the coffee break. You know how annoyed you get when coworkers insist on talking about work while it’s your time to not think about it? That’s how prospective clients feel about “sellers” on social media, so leave the blazer at the door when you’re doing your social media and just be yourself. Just remember to link to your professional bio and you’re set!
Rule #2: THE LENGTH OF A BIO SHOULD REFLECT THE TONE OF THE CHANNEL
Your LinkedIn bio will be different from your Instagram bio, which will be different from your Facebook bio, which will be different from your Twitter bio, which will be different from your blog bio, which will be different from your professional website profile. That’s because they’re all intended to “sell” you in different ways – and to different people.
View this as a progression of bio lengths, going from longest to shortest.
Longest Real Estate Bio
•Professional website profile
•LinkedIn bio
•Blog bio
•Facebook bio
•Instagram bio
•Twitter bio
Shortest Real Estate Bio
LinkedIn
The trickiest of all bios, we delve into this in more depth in the next point. The basics of your LinkedIn profile are the same things you’d put on your resume, for quick reference.
Read this article for how to craft a clear and concise bio on LinkedIn, but keep three things clearly in mind when crafting your LinkedIn/professional website bio:
- Answer the 5Ws about your audience (Who, What, Where, When, Why & How)
- Decide on key talking points (credentials, accomplishments, awards, etc.)
- Decide on how to present it all
Blog
This is where you can share the largest amount of personal information about yourself in your bio. Talk about hobbies, interests, memberships/affiliations, but also mix in a few points about some achievements and accomplishments.
Think of your blog bio as your LinkedIn bio having a few after-work cocktails.
Just remember, the more you talk about things you’ve done, the more you need to balance it out with a little self-deprecating humor, lest you sound like that person at the party who feels it’s an ideal time to rhyme off their resume point for point at any given moment.
People don’t like that person. People make fun of that person. Don’t be that person.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Facebook can be a condensed version of your blog bio if you wish because it allows more text, but what’s the fun in that? Have a little fun and riff off of your interests in your social media profiles, just DON’T make them read like your business card.
Let’s say your hobbies are softball, cooking, and watching Game of Thrones reruns; these things make you relatable to people on personal levels. They say “I love Game of Thrones!, ‘I’m all about softball!’, ‘I could spend all day in the kitchen!” – these are ice-breakers where they can approach you about your interests, meaning that you’ve got a way to make conversations about more than just business.
Be who you are first, and a realtor second, but let them know that you do other things than showings and meeting clients.
So, let’s do an example bio for your social media channels using the three interests outlined above.
“Real estate professional, aspiring Tuesday night beer league softball Hall-of-Famer, Mother/Father of Dragons, perfecting my lasagna recipe one small kitchen fire at a time.”
It’s short, it’s personable, it lets people know what you do without hammering it into them mercilessly. It lets them know you’re not in pitching mode all day, every day, and that you don’t take yourself too seriously. THAT MATTERS.
Other bio examples:
“Professional realtor, House Stark, all-star utility fielder for the (insert team name here), connoisseur of fine nachos.”
“Professional realtor, nemesis of House Bolton, bringin’ that southpaw heat to the (insert rec league name), I grill things and then I eat them.”
Or even shorter.
“I sell houses and tame dragons. In that order.”
Or, for your blog bio.
“I’m just a Game of Thrones nerd trying to help good people find great homes; I believe everyone deserves their own Winterfell! In my spare time, you can find me huffing and puffing on the softball diamond, or in the kitchen finding new ways to use bacon.”
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
Rule #3: DON’T USE THE SAME BIO ACROSS ALL CHANNELS.
That’s just lazy and lacks creativity. You’re trying to convey that you are a fun and imaginative person, remember!
Rule #4: Funnel it!
Just like a sales funnel, all of your channels should be funneled to your professional profiles. Your approachable and relatable social media presence is intended to be a perpetual ice-breaker; let them decide if they’d want to have a beer with you first, and let them decide if they want you to handle their listing or house search second.
This works to your advantage as well as it helps you attract clients with whom working is less of a chore!
A Quick Recap
- MULLET!!! (Business in the front, party in the back!)
- Length and content should match the use of the channel.
- Mix it up with different bios for all of your channels!
- Funnel it!
Use this simple system and you’ll see a noticeable uptick in people saying ‘Hey, I saw you on Instagram and checked out your blog! Loved it, and it works out that I’ll be in the market shortly!’
Happy writing!
