Many people are marketing their properties using online platforms to raise awareness and generate more interest in the property.
Social media marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy today due to the huge audience of buyers available online.
As of April 2020, over 70% of the New Zealand population had a Facebook account which means there is no denying the need to market your property on social media. But how do you cut through all the cat videos and TikTok compilations and get in front of potential buyers?
Here are three simple steps your real estate sales consultant should be using to help your listing stand out.
Introduce lifestyle photos into your marketing.
Lifestyle photos allow buyers to imagine themselves being in your home – evoking feelings, emotions and telling a story. When buyers are searching for their next home, yes, they are interested in the fundamentals of how many bedrooms, bathrooms and car parking spaces it has. But they also want to see themselves cooking breakfast for their kids in that kitchen or having a BBQ with friends in the backyard. Painting a picture of everyday life to buyers early on helps them get a better understanding of how the home fits in with their lifestyle.
Think of the types of photos used in interior design magazines, such as styling the home to look more lived-in by placing a chopping board and cookbook on the kitchen bench, books and flowers on a bedside table, or soap and nicely placed towels in the bathroom. Use unique angles to offer a different perspective of the room instead of straighton angles or photos taken whilst standing in the corner of the room.
Lifestyle photos bring certain elements into focus to add a sense of welcoming warmth.
When to use lifestyle photos and when to use real estate photos.
So, what is the difference between a lifestyle photo and a real estate photo? Real estate photos are ones most commonly used to market a property. They tend to show a straight-on angle of the room or an overview shot to get everything in frame.
When you’re trying to attract the attention of buyers on social media, it’s important to recognise that they aren’t actively thinking about property at that moment in time. If they were, they’d be on realestate.co.nz or another property website. But that’s not to say we can’t market to the passive buyers on social media and grab their attention.
With that in mind, if you show social media users a typical real estate photo while they are scrolling through their newsfeed, they will most likely dismiss it. Again, they aren’t on social media to look for their next home. But if you use a lifestyle photo, it adds an element of emotion that will capture their attention and stop them from scrolling through.
For example, if you post a photo of a home office set up near a window during peak hour traffic on a Monday morning and caption it, ‘Over the Auckland traffic? Imagine relaxing with a coffee in your own home office.”, it is sure to get buyers’ attention and have them contemplating the possibilities.
Actively engage buyers once you’ve captured their attention.
Now you’ve got a potential buyer to stop scrolling and actually engage with your post, where should you lead them? Obviously to find out more about the listing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean to a page where you show them more static photos and a floor plan.
In today’s digital age, there are a range of interactive property marketing tools designed to help keep buyers on your property listing for longer and to move them through the home buying journey more effectively. Virtual tours are a great way of engaging buyers by giving them the ability to tour your listing from the comfort and privacy of their own home. Adding digital renovating, furnishing and decorating tools to your listing further enhances the experience by allowing buyers to personalise the home to their own tastes, helping them to visualise what it could look like.
Think like a buyer
The key to success is to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. What would they want to see? What information would they want to know? A skilled real estate sales consultant will know which features of your property to focus on and recommend ways to make the process as easy and engaging as possible for potential buyers.
Credit: Howard John, NZ Sales Manager, Diakrit
