Aaron Kirman is an icon in the real estate world, being named the Top Agent in L.A. and selling over $6 Billion in properties in his career. Getting to that level takes a consistent and deliberate marketing strategy, but what exactly is it?
So, I decided to deconstruct Aaron’s online marketing strategy to find out exactly what his team is doing to be so successful.
And now, you can use these same methods to take your company to the next level, no matter if you are a:
- Real estate agent looking to scale your business or get to the next level
- Small business wanting to increase exposure and sales
- Startup trying to launch with no following
- Anyone wanting to learn multi-million dollar sales strategies
- In a Rush? Download the Cheat Sheet
- Who is Aaron Kirman?
- Reverse Engineering Aaron Kirman’s Marketing
- Aaron Kirman’s Website Analysis
- Inside Aaron’s Social Media Marketing
- [TIP 6] Identify the Social Media Platforms that Work Best for You
- [TIP 7] Grow Your Audience and Target Your Engagers
- [TIP 8] Use High-Quality Instagram Photos and Plenty of Hashtags.
- [TIP 9] Tweet & Post on Different Topics
- [TIP 10] Use Social Proof to Increase Authority
- [TIP 11] Use Video to Convey a Message and Engage Visitors
- Reverse Engineering Aaron Kirman’s SEO and Paid Traffic
- Conclusion
In a Rush? Download the Cheat Sheet
Who is Aaron Kirman?
Aaron Kirman is a top luxury real estate agent in Los Angeles, which is one of the most cutthroat and high-priced markets in the country. Just take a look at some of his stats and try not to be impressed.
- $6 BILLION in lifetime real estate sales
- Ranked #5 in the U.S by the Wall Street Journal
- Name Top Agent in Los Angeles multiple times
- Record holder for highest price per square foot in Hollywood ($4,722)
- Sold the Danny Thomas Estate for $65,000,000
- Sold the Eddie Goetz Estate sold for $45,000,000
- Sold the Lion Gate which sold for $46,250,000
If he looks familiar, it might be because he is the star of CNBC’s Listing Impossible.
One thing that stands out to me is that Aaron started from humble beginnings. He didn’t grow up with money but was able to build his own business and create his own path. His first large sale was $1.7 million and he has continued to grow since.
Job Title: President of the Estates Division at Compass in Los Angeles & Founder of Aaron Kirman Group
Websites:
Reverse Engineering Aaron Kirman’s Marketing
Obviously, Aaron is super successful. He’s figured out how to sell real estate to the ultra-rich through his personal branding, marketing, and personal touch.
I wanted to look under the hood to see exactly what he’s doing that’s helping to drive his success. By using a variety of tools and reverse engineering tactics, we’ve put together a list of the top actionable tips based on Aaron’s marketing.
We’ll take a look at his website, social media, content marketing, and his approach to getting high-ticket sales.
Ready to see how you can apply these same lessons to your business? Let’s jump in!
Aaron Kirman’s Website Analysis
The first thing we’ll look at is Aaron’s website since that is his primary digital real estate. Having an effective website is essential to grow a business and gain authority in an industry.
[TIP 1] Build a Network of Interconnected Top-Level Websites
Aaron has a few different websites that are used to showcase different aspects of his business.
We’ll start with his personal website that is for his own brand: aaronkirman.com. This is the first organic website that appears in the search results when you search for “Aaron Kirman”.
The purpose of this site is to promotes himself as a real estate agent to build his own personal brand. The goal is to drive awareness of him being a top luxury real estate agent and persuade potential clients to contact him.
For anyone searching for his name, they’ll find this website first and be able to learn more about him and his services.
Next, we can see that he also cross-promotes two other websites. The first is aaronkirmangroup.com, which is his real estate agency, and the second is compass.com.
These both show up in #2 and #3 in the search results and are prominently linked in his main website menu.
[TIP 2] Design Your Website to Serve a Purpose
Aaron’s personal website exudes sleek elegance, perfect for positioning him as being able to sell multi-million dollar homes.
Everything above the fold is quite simple. It has a picture on Aaron himself, his name logo, and a menu to the most important pages.
After that, there is a showcase of featured property listings and more detailed information about Aaron.
About midway down the page, there is call-to-action to get people to contact his team. He is clearly looking for people who want to either buy or sell high-value properties to contact them.
The rest of the website homepage gives information on his social presence, including Instagram, Listing Impossible, and other media outlets.
From looking at his homepage, we can see that there are two main purposes of the website.
- Educate visitors on Aaron Kirman himself to position him as an expert in the field
- Push qualified visitors to buy or sell a property with him
[TIP 3] Promote Your Expertise and Connections
Through his years of experience, Aaron has become a world renowned real estate expert that people look to for advice.
This has given him publicity options including his own TV show on CNBC and interviews on top media platforms like CNN, CBS, and E!.
His website helps to position him as an industry expert by showcasing his media appearances. He links to many of his articles and interviews on other platforms so that people can easily find his advice.
The power here is in associating himself with other respected sources and leveraging their distribution channels. One of the best way to get noticed when you’re first starting out is to associate yourself with other experts and use their network.
Even though Aaron is quite well known in real estate circles, these interviews help to build trust with visitors that may not know him as well.
[TIP 4] Reverse Blog: Share Great Content on Multiple Channels
Every marketer knows content is king these days in order to rank higher and engage visitors. The common tactic is to create a blog on your website and post regularly with tips and new ideas.
However, Aaron uses a slightly different strategy for his content marketing.
The majority of his content is actually posted on other websites and not his own. Take a look at at his media page and you’ll see that he features all of his best media appearances and interviews.
I call this the reverse blogging technique because you’re creating great content but posting it on other, highly-trafficked websites. If your website doesn’t get a ton of traffic, this is a great way to get your content in front of targeted visitors.
He does something similar with his videos that he has created for other platforms, such as interviews with CNBC or People TV. Those videos are listed on those websites to help drive traffic but he showcases them all in one place on his website to increase his credibility.
Taking a look at ahrefs.com, we see this strategy playing out in the number of backlinks AaronKirman.com has.
Aaron has 12,738 backlinks pointing at his website that help to drive traffic to him. They include a variety of industry blogs, as well as larger publications like the NY Times and Business Insider.
[TIP 5] Give Back to the Community and Promote It
When businesses and people get to a certain level of success, they should think about giving back to the community. Not only does it give back to people who need it, but it builds your reputation.
Aaron feels passionately about homelessness, rebuilding homes in Puerto Rico, and supporting dogs in need. He created the Kirman Foundation to help support these causes.
He created a .ORG website dedicated to the Kirman Foundation and also features it on his personal website.
Both of these are ranked #1 and #2 in Google for the keyword “Kirman Foundation”.
Supporting a great cause can be a powerful marketing tool. Not only are you giving back, but it’s great publicity and helps to expand your online presence.
As long as you are actually making a difference, don’t feel bad about making it known that you support (or run) a charity.
Inside Aaron’s Social Media Marketing
Besides his websites, Aaron has a strong social media presence across multiple channels. Let’s take a deeper look into what helps to make him successful.
Luckily, we can find them all linked from his own website.
[TIP 6] Identify the Social Media Platforms that Work Best for You
Aaron Kirman is active on all of the major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and Linkedin. But, we can see that there are certain ones that are more effective for reaching his target audience.
Let’s take a look at the stats of each of his social media profiles:
| Platform | Followers | Posts |
| 2.5k | 4 per week | |
| 16k | 219 tweets | |
| 305k | 479 posts | |
| YouTube | 11.3k | 21 videos |
| 500+ | N/A |
Now, this is some interesting information. There’s a huge difference between Aaron’s 305k following on Instagram vs. the 2.5k following on Facebook.
This could mean that he has simply not spent the time growing his Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube platforms. At the same time, it is clear that he has decided that Instagram is the platform he prefers and likely works the best to drive engagement.
This makes sense for an industry like real estate where it is very visual. It’s much easier to capture people’s attention by sharing gorgeous houses on Instagram.
Another thing to note is that Aaron has relatively small followings across his social media. Even so, he is successful at creating meaningful connections with people and finding buyers and sellers. This works because he is in a relatively low sales volume industry and can target his buyers.
[TIP 7] Grow Your Audience and Target Your Engagers
Aaron’s largest social media following is on Instagram, with 305,000 followers. Since this is the most popular platform for his following, let’s take a closer look at his ‘gram.
Running some quick analytics, we see that he has 304,980 followers and is following 4,015 people, at the time of this writing.
Engagement rate is how many likes and comments his posts get and it is 0.90%, which is composed of a 0.88% Like Rate and 0.02% Comment Rate.
This makes sense since more people will hit the Like button instead of actually leaving a comment. While 0.90% doesn’t sound like a lot, that still means that over 2,700 people are actively engaged with his Instagram content.
Aaron just needs one of those people to be the right fit to sell a massive house.
But, how does that compare to his competitors? Josh Altman is another top real estate agent in LA and Barbara Corcoran is a real estate titan in New York. Both have similar stats, with Josh’s engagement rate being 1.09% and Barbara’s being 0.75%.
While Aaron doesn’t have as many followers as some of his competitors, his engagement rate is right on par. We also see that each of Aaron’s posts gets an average of 2,670 likes and 63 comments.
This shows that he probably has a core group of 3,000 to 5,000 active followers that regularly engage with and view his content.
[TIP 8] Use High-Quality Instagram Photos and Plenty of Hashtags.
Now that we understand that about 1% of Aaron’s followers engage with his posts, which ones have performed the best?
Below are the top three Instagram posts by Aaron that had the most likes and comments. Each one had about 3,600 likes and ranged from 43 to 117 comments.
The top performer is a gorgeous photo of a mansion that just sold for $15,500,000. It’s interesting to note that the photo has a “Just Sold” text overlay while most of his other posts are just photos.
Each of his posts provides a little information about the house itself and then has a list of hashtags to help attract targeted traffic.
[TIP 9] Tweet & Post on Different Topics
Twitter is Aaron Kirman’s second largest social media following with around 16,000 followers. Since joining in 2012, he has only tweeted 219 times, but uses it as a platform to expand his digital real estate.
Looking at his tweets, it is a mixture of promoting specific listings, sharing articles he has done in other publications, and general community support.
A great example of giving back to the community is this tweet supporting Give a Mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is staying relevant with what is happening in society while also giving back to those in need.
Aaron also continues to do appearances with CNBC and other news sources. Whenever he does and article or interview, he’ll tweet or retweet the post to help promote it to his audience.
Aaron is staying relevant with this article by addressing concerns that his audience may be interested in. COVID-19 is obviously a huge concern throughout the country and Aaron helps to address the real estate market during these turbulent times.
Of course, he also has plenty of tweets that promote his available listings, sold properties, and other media appearances.
Our analytics show that Aaron tweets include a link 68% of the time and includes media 67% of the time. He includes hashtags 24% of the time and @mentions 19% of the time.
[TIP 10] Use Social Proof to Increase Authority
Social proof is a phenomenon where people are more willing to take an action if they see that a situation has been successful for other people.
If all of your friends and family start raving about a new TV show, you’ll be more willing to spend the time to check it out, as well. The same idea works with social media marketing to build authority.
Aaron Kirman knows how powerful social proof can be and you can see that he uses it across his social media platforms. In his case, he is demonstrating that he has successfully sold multi-million dollar houses and can do it again for you.
Take a look at this Instagram post:
This is awesome social proof for his business. He’s broadcasting that he just sold a $15.5 MILLION house and made another client happy. People will see this and think “hey, I’m sure he can help me, too”.
Which is exactly what we see happening in one of the comments on this post:
Every time that Aaron posts that he has sold another mansion, people will be reminded how great of a real estate agent he is. Aaron uses this social proof method across all of his platforms to build his image as super successful.
On Twitter: SOLD! $8,995,000 with an article in LA Times. This is a double social proof whammy. Not only did he sell a $9 million house, but he was featured in the LA Times.
Pro Tip: Link to Other Social Media Profiles
Note the link in this tweet was to an Instagram post. By linking to your other social media, you can grow your following on multiple platforms.
On his website, he has a whole page dedicated to all of the biggest listings he has sold.
His Listing Impossible TV show is just further social proof that he is at the top of his game. Every episode features at least one house being sold by his team and this helps to attract new clients that want similar results.
[TIP 11] Use Video to Convey a Message and Engage Visitors
Video is a very powerful tool when used with social media. People love watching videos because it can often tell a better story than a photo or article.
It is also perfect for industries like real estate because it is highly visual. A great walk-through video of a property could make the difference in generating enough interest to sell it.
Aaron Kirman takes full advantage of this by producing stunning videos of his properties for sale. Check out his YouTube channel to see the quality of videos that his team produces.
Here is an example of one of his videos:
He also uses video in his Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter posts to engage his followers.
This Instagram video post has 11,861 views, which is about 3.88% of his total audience. These videos help to get potential buyers interested before they even contact him.
Similarly, he posts links to his Youtube videos with property descriptions on Facebook.
Of course, he also uses video heavily on his website to promote his listings and interviews. These make it easy to see what he has for sale and educates visitors on his company. The high quality of the videos positions him as an expert and authority in his field.
Reverse Engineering Aaron Kirman’s SEO and Paid Traffic
Besides Aaron’s social media strategy, he also benefits from organic traffic from search engines. His team employs strategic paid advertising to make sure he is reaching the people most likely to become clients.
[TIP 12] Build Out the First Page of Search Results for Your Main Keyword
Aaron benefits from name recognition since he is well known as a top luxury real estate agent in LA. When people search for his name in Google, the top results are all highly relevant to his own brand.
Let’s take a look at the first page of Google search results for the keyword “Aaron Kirman”.
The first thing you’ll notice is a paid ad that directs to AaronKirman.com. This helps to draw the searcher’s attention to his own website before they see anything else. The ad includes sitelinks to his top pages, making it easy to find and contact him.
This is one area where Aaron may want to test to make sure it makes sense to target his own name for ad keywords. Since the same website show up number 1 organically, it is redundant to pay for an ad.
However, that strategy does work well if your website is ranked farther down the page or you want to send traffic to a different landing page.
The other thing to notice is the bio box in the top right corner of the Google search. Whether it is a celebrity’s bio or the more traditional business info, this real estate is critical for getting traffic.
[TIP 13] Share Videos on a Variety of Platforms
Farther down the search results are his other websites followed by featured videos.
The interesting point about these videos is that they are all from CNBC, not YouTube. Many marketers assume that YouTube videos rank higher than others, but Google has evolved their algorithm.
Now, we can see that they will feature videos from other sources as long as they provide value. The trust factor of cnbc.com also helps.
The remaining search results on page one are primarily social media and directory listings. They include Wikipedia, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, and Realtor.com.
[TIP 14] Rank Valuable SEO Content for Keywords Related to Your Business
Using SEMrush, we can see a little more detail into where the organic traffic is coming from for Aaron’s personal website. 49.32% of his organic traffic comes from the keyword “Aaron Kirman”, which shows how powerful name recognition is.
What gets interesting is the second organic keyword that drives 12% of his traffic, which is “aaron kirman net worth”.
Aaron’s website ranks #1 for this keyword but he doesn’t actually give away how much he is worth. Instead, it talks about how he has worked with ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Like most people, he isn’t going to share his private details about how much money he makes.
This is a great strategy to identify related keywords that people may search for. Then, create content that can rank high for that keyword, even if the meaning is slightly different.
Same thing for his third organic keyword “listing impossible”. Aaron has leveraged the publicity of the TV show along with keyword association to drive traffic to his own website.
By featuring the show on his own website, he was able to rank #3 for “listing impossible”. Not bad since the top two spots are occupied by CNBC.com and NBC.com.
[TIP 15] Match Landing Pages to Your Paid Ad Copy
Aaron’s team uses paid ads strategically to drive traffic to new listings. We already mentioned that he advertises on Google for the keyword “Aaron Kirman”.
Using KeywordSpy and SEMrush, we can see a few examples of other text ads that he has run in the past.
They all focus on a specific location, such as LA, Beverly Hills, or Hollywood Hills. This is important in attracting local visitors who are more likely to make a purchase in those neighborhoods.
The landing pages are all customized to match the ad, which helps conversion rates. If he’s advertising for Beverly Hills real estate, keep it consistent and send the visitors to a landing page about Beverly Hills.
Aaron also has a Facebook tracking pixel installed on his website, which allows him to retarget anyone who visits.
At this time, he is not currently running any Facebook ads, according to the Facebook Ads Library. Running a retargeting campaign to people in the LA area could be a good way to re-engage lost visitors.
At the time of this writing, it does not look like Aaron’s team is running many paid ads. He has probably determined that the most effective traffic is organic and he relies on his connections to match up buyers and sellers.
Conclusion
Aaron Kirman is one of the most recognizable real estate agents in the country. His success selling to the ultra-rich has made him a top agent in LA. He’s sold over $6 billion in real estate in his career. He’s worked with royalty and sold some of the biggest houses in Hollywood.
Getting to that level of success did not happen without a strong marketing strategy. By reverse engineering some of his current online presence, all businesses can learn how to grow.
If you’re a real estate agent looking to scale up, see how you can incorporate some of these tips into your own marketing.
If you’re a small business owner in an different industry, many of these tips still apply.
Key Takeaways from Aaron’s Marketing Strategy
If I have to boil Aaron’s strategy into three key takeaways, they would be:
- Build an attractive and functional website for your business that serves as your marketing hub. Grow your digital real estate from there, linking to other websites you own, articles, and social media.
- Create compelling content that educates visitors and increases awareness of your brand. Share this on other websites that already have traffic to reach more people and position yourself as an expert.
- Pick one social media platform that you know works for you and dedicate yourself to growing it. Once you are successful on one platform, look to expand to others.
Bonus Tip
Make personal connections with your followers.
This is so important in an industry like Aaron’s where sales volume is relatively low. He’s not trying to sell a million houses. He only needs to sell a dozen or so multi-million dollar houses.
That means he needs to find a dozen buyers that are perfectly suited for the dozen houses he’s selling.
To do that, he has to know his buyers and fully understand what they are looking for. He does that by cultivating a core group of followers that trust him and who he understands.
By doing so, he can then reach out to specific people when he knows he has a great fit for someone.
Do the same in your business by learning about what your customers need. Then, fill that void.
Read more:
- Learn more about Aaron Kirman’s marketing on Medium
- How other top real estate agents use social media
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