In today’s online world, people are finding themselves attracted to more eye catching visuals and less on lengthy, text-heavy articles. We’ve evolved from blog posts to Facebook to short 140 character tweets. And now, we’re heavily looking to visual content from sites like Tumblr, Flickr and Vine. This trend is an important tool for real estate professionals who are buying and selling homes. To get you started, let’s look at the two most dynamic services, Pinterest and Instagram, and see how increasing your engagement on these platforms could give your real estate business a leg up.
A Pinteresting Trend
Pinterest and Instagram are both very similar visual discovery services that allow for collection, sharing and storing of images by users. Since this is a visual medium, the selection of images you use on these sites should be well thought out, since neither Pinterest nor Instagram use much in the way of written language to convey messages. For businesses, this essentially allows you to have a virtual storefront for your properties that can include images of the exterior and interior, as well as decorating ideas, innovative home renovations, local businesses nearby and other images that will make your buyers think about the life and dream within their reach.
Use to your advantage the fact that the vast majority of Pinterest users are women, and it’s one of the fastest-growing social networks in the world with a staggering 111% growth in the past year. Instagram is similar, but is more focused (at least in the business world) on users experiencing a personal relationship with your brand based on your content. Its users also tend to be more interested in seeking out authentic content. This makes Instagram a great platform for showing your customers that there are real people behind your business that they can connect with. Instagram also means big exposure, the Facebook-owned company reported having over 300 million users at the end of last year.
What Do I Show My Customers?
It’s worth checking out one of the many great online tutorials, which are available for both Pinterest and Instagram. These tutorials help explain some of the more complex applications available within these services, such as Pinterest’s “rich pins,” which real estate businesses can use to add geographic location, price, availability, descriptions and your contact information.
Beyond the basics, use image-oriented social media to engage your audience. Expand upon the standard picture of the front house and post great content that shows off a lifestyle, not a product.
List of possible imagery:
- Parks
- Schools
- Local attractions
- Nearby coffee shops and restaurants
