Social media is potentially the most powerful – yet misunderstood – tool in a real estate agent’s modern-day property marketing arsenal.

Today, consumers are better informed than ever before yet are drowning beneath a tidal wave of daily advertising messages that compete for their attention wherever they look – from the bus stop to their smart phones.

For a social media campaign to work in Australia, real estate agents must first understand the fundamental difference between advertising and social media.

Slap a run-of-the-mill property listing up on Facebook and you’re simply adding to the deafening symphony of advertising messages that consumers are getting increasingly skilled at tuning out.

Rather, engage your audience by posting content that genuinely presents value to the reader beyond a short-sited advertising message and you’ll go much closer to winning the battle. Professional real estate photography, interactive floor plans, real estate videos, property websites and microsites, and virtual property staging are all tools that can help you add value to your real estate listings.

A scatter-gun approach to social media simply does not work. What works on Facebook may not work on Twitter, and posting identical content to Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and the long list of other social media platforms will likely fall flat.

Instead, identify the one or two social media channels where you feel the largest majority of your market hangs out and where you think you’ll be most capable of starting a conversation with them.

Over time, you’ll build a concise understanding of who your audience is and what makes them tick, which will allow you to create content that you know they will respond to while not wasting your time wildly stabbing in the dark.

With your audience defined, it’s now time to build content that genuinely engages them.

The real power of social media lies in tapping into its vast networks of people, and this requires shareable content.

A static, poorly written real estate listing that lacks professional property photography, or interactive marketing tools such as real estate videos, floor plans, real estate websites and property microsites will not gain significant attention.

Rather, invite people inside your property for sale with a vivid portrayal cinematic real estate videos, interactive floor plans, property microsites and beautiful professional real estate photography and they’ll be much more likely to hit the share button.

Succeed in creating excitement within their social group, and you’ll be a master of the social media universe.