Using social media to sell your home in the greater Seattle area involves a lot more than sharing your website and Zillow links with family and friends. You need to use all the social media platforms, especially YouTube and Facebook. Did you know that studies show 69% of all real estate agents use these two social media sites extensively. To get your home in front of the right types of buyers, you must know your target market. For example, millennials are more likely to use Instagram, and corporate executives rely on Linked In. Make a social media strategy and stick to it. Here’s how to use social media effectively to sell your home.
Video, YouTube, and Facebook
Have you watched a video tour when deciding on which homes to visit for a home buying tour? Many people have.
Consider that 66% of first-time home buyers are millennials, and 99% of them look for and research homes online.
Further, 86% of people shopping for homes use video to learn about specific homes and communities. If your home is not represented by video, you are missing out. The power of video today cannot be overestimated.
Using videos on YouTube and Facebook has to be a major component of using social media to sell your home in the Seattle area, allowing you to get your home in front of thousands of potential buyers.
One way to go about tapping into the power of video is by using Facebook Live from your open house. Then you can turn right around and convert that live video into a targeted ad. (Your agent can advise you on how to do this.) Potential buyers like and watch these kinds of videos because they give the impression of being live videos streamed by family or friends, which is very effective. The trick here is to make sure your agent has a full property tour on the appropriate website. Use a short version of your “amateur” video as an ad to draw attention, then link them to the longer and more professional video to sell them on the home. Use the Facebook ad (no longer than 60 seconds) to advertise on both Facebook and Instagram at the same price.
What Are The Targeted Demographics on Facebook and Instagram?
Using social media to sell your home in Seattle certainly means taking advantage of the targeted demographics capabilities of various social platforms. Primarily, this means Facebook, which has a tremendous ability to “spy” on its users and show them ads they are likely to click on. You can also include Instagram in this category, which is owned by Facebook.
Both platforms use third-party data companies to find and keep track of people likely to move and who are in the market to buy a home. It works in a way similar to what happens when you shop on Amazon where “cookies” keep track of your browsing and buying behavior. Then when you leave Amazon ( or a “homes for sale” site, in this example) and go to Facebook, Facebook will know and an ad will be served up for the types of products you’ve been browsing.
Your agent can do something very similar with her Facebook business page for the same kind of cookie-driven advertising that targets a very specific audience. Facebook will know that a potential home buyer is likely to move from her Internet browsing activity. Facebook also has a lot of specific data about that person, such as his household income and where he lives now. Your agent can use that data and targeted demographics to show the ad to potential home to buyers who are on the cusp of moving to a new home and who can qualify for a mortgage in your price range.
The “Coming-Soon” Strategy
This is a very effective strategy you can deploy when using social media to sell your home in Seattle. Traditionally, agents sold homes by getting them into the MLS database and then after generating some interest there, holding an open house soon after. The problem with this tactic was that buyers didn’t have much time to plan ahead in order to view the home. Much better is the “coming-soon” strategy made effective by social media. Unfortunately, the NW MLS used in Seattle wants a monopoly on housing information (as much as possible) and therefore prohibits agents from advertising homes that are not listed in the MLS.
How it would work is this: You place an ad on Instagram, Facebook, and Zillow announcing your home as coming soon, but you don’t put it on the MLS yet, which gives you (as the seller) more leverage. A lot of times, buyers who have lost out to higher bidders are looking specifically for coming soon homes so they can get the jump on other buyers. And this kind of motivated buyer is exactly what you want.
The good news is that in the Seattle market, things are so hot right now, most homes are selling within a month of being listed. Many go faster than that and with multiple offers as well. Talk to your listing agent to make sure you are ready to hit the ground running when your home hits the market.
Use a Real Estate Agent with Social Media Expertise
If you’re serious about using social media to sell your home in Seattle, you’ll definitely want to hire a real estate agent with social media expertise. A good agent is skilled in using all the social media channels to help sellers get the widest exposure possible and to do so in ways that appeal to online home shoppers.