So you’ve decided to sell your house and you want to reach as many people as possible. You want to try to use Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, but don’t want to screw it up.
Social media is a powerful tool in any form of PR, in particular with housing. Real estate has the second-highest inbound engagement by industry, just behind utilities, meaning people want to talk about it. The response, though, is thirteenth, meaning those reaching out to chat about properties aren’t getting answers, which are unexplored opportunities.
If you want to take advantage of this eager market online, here are a few tips.
Professional staging and photos are a must
If you haven’t staged your home for your listing, and your photos aren’t top quality, there’s no point in sharing your sale. You want to gain traction from people you don’t know, and the only way to do that is to grab their attention. Well-lit, professional photos are essential for so many reasons, and social is definitely one of them.
If your photos are beautiful and show off your home’s potential, others will share your post. It could even get picked up by real estate sites (like our Knockout Listings!), which is like striking gold.
Use concrete info / Don’t try anything weird
People want to know the facts, so give them what they want:
- Location
- Price
- Square footage
- Open house date
- One or two key features to highlight
And that’s it. Don’t talk about how much your family has loved it here or the tree you planted. Potential homebuyers want to know they can make the home theirs, not assume your memories and living space. Make your home seem welcoming and warm while keeping it impersonal, like a blank canvas.
Use your friends and family
While you might have an established social media network, I’m willing to bet that your network also has a network, one that differs from yours. Be sure that once you share your home sale, you tell the people closest to you to share and retweet.
And don’t expect them to do it on their own! They might miss the post or get busy, but if you email them the link for the post, making it as simple and quick as possible, they’ll do it. Most people want to help you with something this monumental, but need a nudge to get it done.
Also, your real estate agent likely has a network, too. Even if your agent doesn’t use Facebook much, their colleagues could be social media mavens, so inquire about how your agent is pushing your home sale online.
Create a brief posting schedule
While you want to get your loved ones to help you, you don’t want to annoy them either. Facebook should be used sparingly, Instagram should be used once, and Twitter should be targeted at varied times, to reach different people.
Be sure to include one image with every post, and 5 or 6 images in your initial Facebook post. (Images make people stop scrolling, so a beautiful kitchen or front yard is sure to stop them in their tracks!) Also, don’t forget to include a link to your home sale webpage—You have a home sale webpage, right? Talk to your agent. Something like this.
If you list on a Tuesday, your open house is Saturday, and you’re accepting offers on the following Monday, here’s a hypothetical timeline:
Tuesday
Initial Facebook post with half-a-dozen images
Morning Twitter post
Wednesday
Instagram post
Evening Twitter post
Reach out to friends and family, asking them to share your Facebook post or retweet your
Thursday
Afternoon Twitter post
Friday
Open House Facebook post
Open House Twitter post
Saturday
Comment on your Open House Facebook post, reminding potential homebuyers that it’s about to start
Morning Open House Twitter post
Monday
Morning Offers Twitter post
Afternoon Offers Twitter post
Tuesday
Tell everyone on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that you’ve sold your home!
Think about what you’d want to share
I’m sure you’re on Facebook already, if you’re reading this. So what would you want to see? What about a home excites you and makes you want to share? It’s likely been said above, but if there’s something else—a great deal, for example—include that.
There are no cut-and-dry rules to showcasing your home on social media. Be clean, concise, and organized and you’re sure to snag at least a bit of extra attention. You never know who will see your posts online; it could be someone looking for their next home, who winds up buying yours!
Unsplash: Nick Turner
