Social media apps

Social Media As A Selling Tool

Remember thatSocial media apps notorious short film made by an ambitious real estate agent in 2015? They used drones, actors and Facebook to sell a house on the Gold Coast. After the airing of the film, it sold in three days for a cool $1.6 million.

Some real estate agents and marketing firms push social media to the bottom of the pile, but I’m here to say that social media has power when it comes to marketing and selling.

Social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and Tumblr, are all used to share a huge amount of information each day.

We love to tell people when we are out with friends, eating food or even when we’re on the toilet. Well maybe that’s just me? Why not use it to sell our homes then? After all, social media is one of the most powerful online tools to date.

Social media allows users to have access to special tools, which can be monumental in terms of advertising. It is the new word-of-mouth, but on a digital and global scale. Reposting, tagging and ‘liking’ can send your advertisement, post or photo to thousands of people worldwide. All of that in a few minutes.

The power is in your hands to use social media to your advantage – a kind of social leverage to use in conjunction with your real estate agency network. Lucrative connections on LinkedIn for example, can be exploited to showcase a listing.

Similarly, using sites like Instagram and Pinterest can generate interest from potential clients. This is useful for clients who might live abroad and can’t physically travel to see the house.

Using social media to advertise property is becoming increasingly popular, simply because of the accessibility and quantity of people it can touch in a short space of time.

A wicked Facebook campaign

When your agent goes ahead and lists your property, you should push for them to advertise through social media. Especially Facebook. This might come at a little bit of an extra cost to you, but it is worth it. Facebook is an excellent tool for advertising property online.

Ultimately you can decide how much you want to spend on advertising, which will determine the reach your Facebook ad has. Facebook’s various algorithms allow you to really home in on a specific audience, which will increase your chances of making a sale.

An example of this is that you might choose to target everyone between the ages of 21 and 36 within 25km of the property. You could also try to target people who have specific interests; i.e. if there is a swimming pool at the property, think about targeting people who post about/follow swimming online.

So what should go in these posts I hear you ask? Well agents who want to maximise the reach of a post should consider the following points: 

Social media has constantly changing algorithms, so it can be hard to determine what will rank highest at a given time. Facebook tends to give more screen time to photos and videos, over pure text posts. It is also not a huge fan of links as it detracts from Facebook itself.

Walkthrough videos are becoming popular, especially with the advent of 360 degree cameras. A short tour of the property can visually display its redeeming features, especially that stunning balcony view of swimming pool.

The aim should be to stop people from scrolling through the daily social media feed. It’s like sifting through a great big garbage can and finding a diamond the size of your fist. Drones are a good idea, as they’re creating quite a buzz in the property industry at the moment.

Whatever you choose to do, be creative. The content that gets the most attention on social media is that which has a bit of thought and effort behind it. If it stands out from the crowd, the crowd will share it about.

That is the best kind of advertising you could ask for – and it’s free.

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