Automating Your Social Media Without Losing Authenticity

Social media works best when people feel they know you. At the same time, you are busy with appraisals, opens, buyer calls and contracts. Smart automation helps you stay present online while you serve clients in person. The key is simple. Automate your system while keeping your human voice in every post, comment and message.

This guide shows you how to do both with clear steps, ready to use templates and a weekly workflow tuned for property professionals here. You will learn what to automate, what to keep personal and how to protect trust with every click.

The goal of automation

Automation should give you more time for clients and community. It should never make you feel robotic.

• Save time on repeat tasks like scheduling, resizing and cross posting

• Keep a steady posting rhythm even on busy listing weeks

• Share more useful content across suburbs you service

• Respond faster to common questions with approved replies

• Protect your brand with checklists and approvals

Avoid these mistakes

• Fully automated comments that sound fake

• Auto DMs that feel pushy or ignore consent

• Posting sales promos with no value for locals

• Ignoring replies because the queue is full and you feel done

The golden rule

Automate distribution. Keep connection human.

• Automate planning, batching, scheduling and basic analytics

• Keep human hands on comments, DMs and sensitive topics

• Add a real photo, voice note or short story to balance each automation

• Check tone before anything goes live

Create a one page voice guide in 15 minutes

A short voice guide keeps your content real even when scheduled. Use this template.

• Audience

  • Who you serve

  • Suburbs and price bands

  • Common worries buyers and sellers have

• Brand promise

  • In ten words, what you stand for

• Tone

  • Calm, clear, helpful, confident

• Do say

  • Plain words, local examples, next steps

• Avoid

  • Jargon, shouted capitals, pressure phrases

• Visuals

  • Natural light, tidy spaces, real smiles, local landmarks

• Compliance notes

  • Always get consent for client stories and photos

  • Keep personal data private and secure

Print this on your desk. Share it with anyone who helps with your content.

Pick your content pillars and brand scenes

Content pillars keep your feed balanced and helpful.

• Listings and sneak peeks

• Local market updates

• Education for owners and buyers

• Behind the scenes

• Community highlights

• Proof like reviews and case studies

Brand scenes are simple repeatable shots that viewers learn to trust.

• You holding a sold sticker

• Coffee with a client near a local cafe

• A street sign for a known pocket

• The open home doorway with your board

• A whiteboard with this week’s auction stats

Capture one brand scene photo each week. Add it to your library for future posts.

The 70 20 10 automation mix

• Seventy percent scheduled education and community posts

• Twenty percent semi automated engagement with saved replies and comment prompts

• Ten percent live human moments from your day

This mix keeps your feed active while your voice stays warm and present.

A weekly workflow that protects authenticity

Follow this repeatable plan. Book a one hour block each Monday.

1. Review your calendar for opens, auctions and key meetings

2. Choose three to five post ideas across your pillars

3. Draft captions using the prompts below

4. Select photos or short clips from your brand scenes folder

5. Run the authenticity checklist

6. Schedule posts for the week across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn

7. Set two daily ten minute engagement windows

8. Save three story ideas for live moments

Daily rhythm

• Morning

  • Ten minutes to reply to comments and messages

• Midday

  • Post a story from your day such as a door unlock, a view or a staging tip

• Afternoon

  • Ten minutes to engage with local pages and profiles

Tools that fit this plan

Use simple tools that do one job well.

• Planning and notes

  • Notes app or Trello for ideas and checklists

• Creation

  • Canva for templates, reels covers and infographics

• Scheduling

  • Meta Business Suite, Buffer, Later or Metricool

• Inbox and monitoring

  • Native app notifications plus saved replies

• CRM handoff

  • Add hot leads to your CRM with tags and next steps

Keep logins secure. Give assistants limited access only.

The authenticity checklist before scheduling

Run these quick checks for every post.

• Is this useful for someone in my local area today

• Does the first sentence speak to one person

• Can a twelve year old understand the main point

• Is the image real, clear and not over filtered

• Have I removed private details and gained needed consent

• Is my call to action helpful and clear

• Does the caption sound like me when read aloud

If you miss two or more checks, edit before you schedule.

Build your Human Touch Kit

This is a small library that adds real life to automated posts.

• Ten photos of you in local settings

• Ten short clips like walking a street, opening a gate, checking a contract

• A story bank with true client wins and lessons

• Five personal snippets such as favourite cafe, park run, weekend reading

• A voice note of you reading a common tip to help your writing sound natural

Attach one item from the kit to most scheduled posts. The feed will feel alive.

Engagement that feels personal

Use saved replies, but personalise the first line. Keep it kind and specific.

• The ten ten ten practice

  • Ten comments to locals

  • Ten replies to your own comments

  • Ten DMs that answer a question or share a resource

Tips

• Use names when you can

• Refer to the street, suburb or feature mentioned

• Offer a next step such as a checklist or open time

• Move complex chats to a call with permission

Copy and paste prompts for fast, real captions

Paste any prompt into your writing tool of choice. Then add a human tweak in the first line.

Listing teaser

• Write a friendly teaser for a three bedroom home at 12 River View Street, Chelmer. Audience is young families. Highlight the garden and school zone. Keep to ninety words. Add a soft call to action for the first open time.

Local market update

• Write a plain English weekly update for Auckland Point and surrounds. Include number of new listings, average days on market and one buyer tip. Keep to one hundred words. Invite readers to DM for a suburb snapshot.

Behind the scenes

• Write a short story about preparing a home for photography. Include a simple three step checklist. Keep to eighty words. Tone is calm and helpful.

Buyer education carousel

• Write five simple slides that explain how cooling off works in Queensland. Use short sentences and one tip per slide. End with a reminder to seek legal advice.

Review highlight

• Turn this review into a caption that thanks the client and teaches one lesson for sellers. Keep to seventy words. Do not share private details. Review text follows.

Comment prompts

• Write five friendly comments I can leave on local business posts that add value and never sell. Keep each to fifteen words.

DM follow up

• Write a warm DM for a person who asked about 25 Smith Street. Share the open time, a link to the brochure and invite questions. Keep to sixty words.

Compliance and privacy guardrails

Good automation respects people and the law. Keep these habits.

• Ask permission before adding anyone to a marketing list

• Keep records of consent for messages and email

• Do not post private information or contract details

• Use clear terms for giveaways and competitions

• Follow your state fair trading rules on price guides and claims

• Store client files and messages in secure systems with limited access

When unsure, ask your licensee in charge or office manager for guidance.

Metrics that prove you stayed authentic

Track a handful of signals each week. Watch for steady growth and real conversation.

• Comment reply rate

• Story replies and link taps

• Saves and shares per post

• Direct messages that start genuine chats

• Average response time to comments and DMs

• Positive sentiment in comments and reviews

If reach is high but replies are low, add more questions and local stories. If replies are high but reach is flat, test new cover images and first lines.

When automation goes wrong

Mistakes happen. Handle them quickly and clearly.

• Pause the queue

• Edit or remove the post if facts are wrong

• Add a corrected post with clear details

• Apologise in the comments if needed

• Message anyone directly affected

• Review your checklist so it does not happen again

Keep a short log of issues and fixes. Share it with your team.

A simple fourteen day starter plan

Day 1
Set up your voice guide. Create folders for photos, videos and stories.

Day 2
List your content pillars. Choose three brand scenes to capture this week.

Day 3
Batch two listing teasers. Schedule them.

Day 4
Record two short clips for stories. Save to your Human Touch Kit.

Day 5
Write one market update and one buyer tip. Schedule both.

Day 6
Create five saved replies for common questions. Add personal placeholders like name and suburb.

Day 7
Community post about a local park or cafe. Tag the location.

Day 8
Behind the scenes story of staging or photography. Keep it real and short.

Day 9
Post a review highlight with one lesson for sellers.

Day 10
Share a carousel that teaches a simple process such as auction day steps.

Day 11
Host a short live Q and A or answer three questions in stories.

Day 12
DM ten people who engaged this week. Offer a helpful resource.

Day 13
Check metrics. Note what felt most real and what people saved or shared.

Day 14
Plan next week using what worked. Repeat the workflow.

Keep your voice while you scale

• Write your first line last so it hooks the right person

• Use photos from your own camera whenever you can

• Read captions aloud to hear your natural tone

• Share one small personal note each week that fits your professional brand

• Thank people by name and celebrate local wins

Automation is there to carry the load. Your human voice is there to win trust. Put both to work and your social media will feel consistent, helpful and true, even on the busiest week of opens and contracts.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au