Social media is a major part of the daily lives of most people these days. With the availability of smartphones, everyone has access to multiple social media platforms. That said, it's easy to see why social media has become a crucial part of real estate: it's where the eyes are. When done right, it can have a big impact on your listing's prospects. These are just some of the reasons that The A-Team puts so much emphasis on social media in its marketing.
One of the biggest advantages of using social media is the opportunity to engage with buyers. This is vital to the home selling process: images and video tours give everyone a chance to see what a house is like before asking for a showing. It also generates interest among potential buyers hunting online:
Engage with your audience
Social media is known to help sell a property fast. Keep in mind that most buyers are now using online tools when searching for their next home.
When selling a property, it’s vital that you make it available for listings, viewings and open houses. By using the digital tools, it makes it easier.
You can make videos and share them with your followers. Make sure that the videos are interactive. In that way, your potential clients can have the same experience as they do in real life while you’re reaching to a bigger audience.
On Instagram, for instance, you can show videos about your property tours, brokerage information or neighbourhood profiles. The videos must be engaging, and they must capture the imagination of your viewers online as you deliver information about the house you sell. Via socialbarrel.com
The ease of interaction that platforms like Facebook provide means that buyers have many ways to get in touch. Whether it's a private message or a comment tagging a friend, it's not too hard to express interest.
Engage with your audience!
In particular, Facebook is our platform of choice for marketing homes. Along with the aforementioned engagement, Facebook is also a place where we've built up a rapport with the community.
Advantages of Facebook
Facebook is also a great platform for self-branding, marketing all aspects of the real estate business, gaining clientele, and encouraging an increased referral rate. Facebook directly connects agents with potential clients, so it’s important to always post good, clear photos with detailed captions of the properties you’re trying to sell. It’s also a good idea to build rapport with the community. Sharing tidbits of knowledge and helpful market information develops deeper and more reliable connections with community members, potential buyers, and clients. And unlike Twitter, which has a 140-word character count, Facebook has no limits. So if you have a longer message that you want to share, Facebook is your platform. Via realtormag.realtor.org
Being active on Facebook also gives us knowledge of local places of interest; a good example is our recent blog on Fort McMurray attractions and activities. While it mainly helps people who want to have more fun in town, it also shows that we know our stuff:
The good thing about social media is that there's always a ton of people on any given platform. An ad on Facebook can reach almost everyone in a given area. A home that everyone sees has a much better chance of selling than one that nobody knows is even on the market:
Exposure
The goal when marketing your home is to gain as much exposure in the market as possible. Increased exposure in the housing market will put your home in front of the greatest number of potential buyers. The larger your pool of buyers, the higher the likelihood you will field multiple offers. And, any time you receive multiple offers, you’re fostering an atmosphere where prospective buyers will offer their highest and best price to compete with other offers.
I find that the most effective strategy is to run a promotional blitz as soon as your home hits the market.
One final component to a successful marketing strategy is scrutiny. I track and analyze all of the marketing showing activity. This is the primary place where the market will “speak to us.” One way to “listen” to the market is by keeping up-to-date with recent sales and comparable listings.
When we market a home, we put it where the most eyes are; namely, Youtube and Facebook. It's not as simple as paying for an ad, however. Buyers like to see professional images and videos, and will often skip house simply based on a poorly shot impression.