As a real estate agent, jumping into the world of social media marketing you’ll find you have a few primary goals:
- Establish brand awareness
- Connect with potential buyers
- Build a network.
Once those steps have been achieved, it’s time to use real estate social media and these well-established connections to increase property viewings.
Ask any realtor with a solid real estate social media marketing strategy. The first thing they will tell you is that simply posting the listing link and leaving it is not enough. As of 2017, millennials accounted for 66% of first-time homebuyers in the US according to the National Association of Realtors. Millennials are comfortable doing most things over social media if they have developed trust in the platform and brand- just look at Apple. Additionally, most millennials begin their home search on social media.
Utilizing social media offers the opportunity to create eye-catching visuals in the form of photos, videos, and other unique content for listings. Traditional media tools are visually pale in comparison to these social media tools. These days, when selling a home, marketing your listing on social media is a must; but how can you best use these platforms to increase property viewings?
Facebook is the most used social media platform and what most people are familiar with and comfortable using. But, simply sharing the link to the listing on your personal page is definitely NOT the extent of how you could be using this tool.
Post from your Facebook Business Page. Hopefully, you’ve already done the heavy lifting of growing a network and establishing brand recognition. Facebook prioritizes the Facebook Live feature. It would be super beneficial to go Live on your Facebook business page to feature the listing. Be sure to include the link to the listing in the post description before you publish.
When you do share the link, whether to a personal or business page, it is important to ensure the featured image is a showstopper. If you have not set a specific featured image on the webpage, Facebook will automatically grab the first image that appears on the page. This should be the most stunning image of the property. An image that will attract attention and get the viewer to stop scrolling.
The copy on the FB post, itself, needs to be attention-grabbing and captivating. You don’t want to simply rely on the property description. Potential buyers may not even click to it and, if they do, you don’t want them to simply see duplicate content.
Don’t overlook sharing the listing to Facebook neighborhood groups. Most towns and neighborhoods have Facebook groups, these days. The community will likely share the listing with friends/family that they know are looking for properties in the area.
Encourage the sellers to also share the listing on their personal Facebook pages and in any neighborhood, town, or county groups where they interact. Make sure the post is set to public so that friends-of-friends can view the content.
Don’t forget to interact with commenters on all link posts and shares. The more interaction in the comments, the higher Facebook will favor the post in their algorithm and the more likely it will be to show up in more feeds. In Facebook groups, every comment bumps the post back to the top of the group feed.
Less Important Facebook Tools:
Targeted Facebook ads– It is generally considered more important to spend your Facebook ads budget on leads and driving traffic directly to your site as opposed to specific property listings.
Hashtags- Facebook does not emphasize hashtags quite like some of the other social media platforms. Hashtags are rarely used for searching on Facebook.
Instagram is all about the visual. It’s also the least likely social media platform to lead to actual link clicks. This is why it is imperative that the listing link is easy to find. If you say link in bio make sure the link is in your bio. If you need to simultaneously feature multiple links in your bio, use one of these great tools: linktree, bio.fm, or campsite. You can also create your own custom landing page and provide that link in your bio.
Like many other social media platforms, the Instagram algorithm prioritizes video content. It is a great idea to add a video featuring the listing on your Instagram feed. This could be an actual tour, a slide show, a virtual tour, or a stylized viewing of the actual listing page. You can also choose photos that showcase the most unique details and features of your listing to post on your feed. Most people scrolling through Insta are looking for visual appeal. Give it to them!
Aside from videos on your feed, the top way to be seen on ‘Insta’ is on your story. Use your story to go Live or to showcase the best images of the listing. Make the story interactive by adding text, gifs, and questions right on the images. If you already have over 10k followers, use the swipe up features to direct traffic straight to the listing page. Not everyone knows this, but it is a MUST to use hashtags in your story. Trends are showing that more Instagram users view stories than scroll their feeds. Using a hashtag in your story will get that clip featured in the story for that hashtag. This will increase your story views exponentially.
Instagram is heavy on hashtags. People search for hashtags regularly and view specific hashtag stories. Do quality hashtag research to ensure you are using the most optimal hashtags to feature your listing. Shy away from overused and under-used hashtags. Use the town name and neighborhood name as well as town and neighborhood nicknames.
As opposed to other social media platforms that emphasize connection or communication; Pinterest’s primary function is to drive traffic to your site.
It is important to follow the current pin size guidelines. This will make your pin perform better. It may mean modifying at least one image on your listing page to these size specifications. Make sure this pin is on the actual listing page and that you pin it directly from the listing page.
As seems to be the trend across all social media platforms, Pinterest is also prioritizing video content. Pins with embedded video content are relatively new, so getting on this trend early is a major bonus!
On Pinterest, you can create boards to pin to. It’s a great idea to create boards that feature the town and/or neighborhood name. Pinterest users can search the city, town, or neighborhood names and your board will pop up. Within the board, they should be able to find images from the listing.
Utilizing quality hashtags in the pin description will also be beneficial. Again, do your hashtag research and avoid both over and underused hashtags.
As Pinterest is evergreen and pins can be searched and seen any time, it is important to remove a pin once the property is sold.
LinkedIn is more for business-to-business relationships and because of this, it is often overlooked when selling a home. On this social media platform, your primary goal will be marketing your listing to other realtors so they will share with their clients.
LinkedIn also offers groups. You will want to join groups of local realtors. Once accepted into these groups, you can post your listings directly to the group.
Don’t forget to post the listing link from your personal page, business page, and to share it in any local groups. All of the above information about the featured image and copy on Facebook will remain true for LinkedIn.
You will also want to follow the guidelines outlined above in the Facebook section for interacting with all comments and shares.
Social Media platforms offer a wealth of opportunity to increase property viewings and sell a house. Make sure you are maximizing these valuable tools and making them work for you!
