People are increasingly using search engines and social media to find answers for their questions, many of which are associated with buying a home, selling a home, and ways to improve a home. These potential clients are using real estate-related terms in hopes of finding their next dream home and, more importantly, the right agent to help them through the process.

Homes.com recently took a look at the most effective social marketing strategies that real estate professionals should be keeping a close eye on in 2014. At the top of this list was "social signals are running the show," and we know that it left you wanting to know more. This is why we have decided to dig a little deeper and explore why this is a key theme for real estate professionals to consider.

1. Start Showing Your Social Networks a Little Love

Search engine gurus report that Google's algorithms are getting increasingly sweet on signals from social networks more so than from traditional avenues like backlinks and other technical cues (although both are still important), because users are actively curating and engaging with the content on social networks.

How does this affect you? It means that focusing on engaging with your social media fans should be top priority, because pages with the most likes, comments, shares, +1s, retweets, repins and others, receive the highest search engine ranking. Until recently, many people solely focused their efforts on optimizing a single platform like Facebook. According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, today's most successful marketers are actively engaging with fans on an average of seven networks.