Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you’ve been on Facebook lately...
Whether it’s posting images on Facebook of your precious one's cute moments, or pinning your favourite ideas on pinterest, social media has proven its power to grab and hold our attention.
But did you know that apart from entertainment, social media can also help you do more important things, including selling your home? In this blog, we’ll look at some of the simple ways in which you can use the power of your social network to spread the word, build interest and increase the number of potential buyers for your home.
If you don’t tell, it won’t sell
Checking Facebook feeds has become as important as grabbing that first flat white in the morning. This is powerful behaviour which you can use to your advantage when selling your home. The moment you decide to sell, start by posting a status update about it to your social network. This simple act takes just 30 seconds, but gives you instant word of mouth with hundreds of people on your friends list.
Make sure to ask your friends to spread the word on their walls too. Remember, even if ⅓ of all your friends share your post, your reach could grow by several thousand views in just a few hours. And every view could lead to a potential buyer.
However, before posting, remember the golden rule of social media - don’t be boring. When posting about your home, try to keep your posts as interesting as you can. Also, remember to always link to a site where readers can get in touch with your realtor.
Don’t saturate your timeline with posts about your home for sale either. Too many posts can begin to get repetitive and lead to a blind spot with readers. Put up one post when you first list your house for sale. Then add more posts to highlight any key selling points of the house or explain any major changes, such as an adjusted price.
Talk less, show more
With data becoming accessible on mobile devices and faster speeds in homes, video has quickly become the medium of choice over text on the Internet. Today, a staggering 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! That’s more hours of video than major television networks broadcast in a year.
With such surging popularity, it makes sense to use YouTube to create virtual ‘tours’ of your home to give people a 3D experience of your home. Video walkthroughs also help people envision themselves living in your home, which goes a long way in convincing a potential buyer and closing a sale.
Most good agents will provide this service for you, so you should share their content to your own pages.
If you decide to create your own video content, here’s a quick tutorial to help you get started. Remember, your video doesn’t have to be fancy or have complex editing. It just needs to go through each of the rooms slowly, highlight a few features of the house and show off any landscape the house may include. All this can be achieved with just a few minutes of filming because if your video is too long, you run the risk of people skipping parts of it or dropping out.
Best of all, a YouTube video can be shared across all your social networks thus increasing the reach of your video and gaining the interest of more customers.
Tap into the power of blogs
Blogs can be a great way to reach new audiences. If you or someone you know maintains a blog, be sure to write a post about your home. Given that a blog is a longer format than a status update or a tweet, use this opportunity to be more descriptive about each of the selling points of your home.
A blog also allows you to use multiple pictures, so be sure to include a few to help describe your home better. If your blog is well-written, there is a possibility of it getting picked up and cross-shared across other blogs. And given that blogs tend to have larger audiences than just your own personal social network, your reach could grow exponentially.
Blogs are also a great medium because the interlinks between blogs help boost search rankings and ultimately discovery of the content. This means the post about your home is likelier to show up in an organic search; a feature which other social posts cannot always guarantee.
Choose an agent who can sell on social
Choosing a good agent who understands how to harness the power of social media to sell your property is a must these days. Here's some tips on what to look for in a good 'social' agent:
- Slick social pages: Their personal profile is a great place to start. But also check their business page setup across the leading social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube among others. These pages will help you see how active they are on social media and get a feel for how they will promote your property.
- Polished photo galleries: While each of us is carrying around a pretty good camera on our smartphones these days, a professional photographer can make a world of difference. Your agent should arrange professional photography of your home taken in high resolution, so that viewers can really zoom in to examine the finer details.
- Geo-targeted ads: Through Facebook’s data metrics, ads can now be delivered to a specific region and to people who fit pre-defined criteria. Check with your agent to see if Facebook advertising is part of his or her marketing plan for your home. This allows your ad to be seen only by people who have expressed an interest in purchasing or renting a property and thus cuts out any wasted time talking to just casual browsers.
- Better LinkedIn reach: While LinkedIn may not be idea for selling your home directly, a professional realtor can leverage it by reaching out to his wider circle of contacts and spreading the word discreetly.
Get a head start by downloading our eBook
When it comes to selling your home, social media can prove to be one of the most hardworking channels.
If you really want to maximise your own social media efforts and learn some more tips on selling your home, download our free eBook “How to Get Ready to Sell Your Home” today. We wish you the best of luck in your efforts and we hope your social network helps reel in the right buyer for your home.
