Launched February 14, 2018.

REALTOR.ca is Canada's largest real estate website.

...however, while homebuyers visited the site to view listings, they weren’t truly engaging with the brand. Consumers thought that REALTOR.ca only contained listings and weren’t aware of the wealth of knowledge that the brand offers around home buying and ownership.  

REALTOR.ca saw an opportunity to use content and social media to improve their brand recognition. Ultimately, they wanted to drive engagement with their content, so they could connect more consumers with REALTOR® members. Our initial goals were to grow the social media platforms to 20,000 followers in 18 months, across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest increase site traffic by 10%, and increase time on site by 10%.

Truly’s approach to the strategy began with extensive research including social intelligence, consumer interviews, and intense market research. We found that Canadians weren’t merely interested in the transactions aspects of buying and selling homes. Our key insight was that Canadians wanted to learn about home improvement, design, staging, different neighbourhoods, and unique listings (also known as #realestateporn), but often resorted to American publications to get this information.

Based on these insights, it was recommended that REALTOR.ca move beyond the sale by creating content that appeals to Canadians on an ongoing basis – not just when they are actively buying or selling a home. This would keep consumers in touch with the brand, so that they would always think of REALTOR.ca when getting into the market, driving more opportunities for REALTORS®. 

Our strategy was about providing ongoing value, building deeper relationships with consumers to make REALTORS® and REALTOR.ca synonymous with everything home for Canadians. This included launching social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest (as REALTOR.ca had no social presence previously).

The centrepiece to the entire strategy was the digital publication – Living Room – publishing fresh, daily content for homebuyers and sellers. We use the social platforms to drive traffic to the publication, as well as engage consumers and build brand awareness.

Results:

Note, these results were achieved without any traditional marketing, PR, or notifying people who signed up on REALTOR.ca for emails. The only paid component was a small social boosting budget, used mainly to target the posts.

• 549,189 unique publication visitors.

• 16 million impressions.

• 1,050,631 page views.

• Increased time on site to 21 minutes (+91% improvement)

• We reached 20,000 followers within 9 months (half the time of our 18-month target)

  • 20,844 followers (to be exact) across 6 different platforms in French and English - that’s an average of 2,084 new followers a month!

• Doubled our reach through consistent high relevance scores (8-10/10), creating strong organic engagement.

• Doubled lead conversions as a result of users directed from the publication.

• Awarded Finalist in Best Content Strategy at 2018 Content Marketing Awards.

• Users who searched for keywords in the publication: 3,240.

• 56% of direct visitors to the publication are new to REALTOR.ca.

• New visitors stay 60% longer on average and are more than twice as likely to convert to a lead.

• Maintained a schedule of 5-7 articles per week in English and 4-5 articles per week in French. 430+ articles published so far.

• Built a team of 20 freelancers and a growing number of influencers who contribute articles.

On a regular basis, we see this message, which we aim for every single day:

Links:

Living Room (REALTOR.ca Brand Publication)
Salon (FR REALTOR.ca Publication)
Twitter: @REALTORdotca (EN) / @REALTORpointca (FR)
Facebook: @REALTORdotca (EN/FR)
Instagram: @REALTORdotca (EN) / @REALTORpointca (FR)
Pinterest: REALTORdotca (EN/FR)