Using social media to sell your home in Central Florida involves a lot more than sharing your website and Zillow links with family and friends. You need to use all the social media channels, especially YouTube and Facebook, which 69% of all real estate agents use extensively. You also have to know your target market and where they hang out, and you must have a social media strategy. So here’s how to use social media to sell your home.
Video, YouTube, and Facebook
First, 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. The power of video today cannot be overestimated. So using videos on YouTube and Facebook has to be a major component of using social media to sell your home in Central Florida, 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, but with a Facebook ad no longer than 60 seconds so that it can be advertised on both Facebook and Instagram at the same price.
Targeted Demographics, Facebook, and Instagram
Using social media to sell your home in Central Florida certainly means taking advantage of the targeted demographics capabilities. Primarily, this means Facebook but can also include Instagram. They both use third-party data companies to find and keep track of people likely to move and 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 simply browsing a product. Then when you leave and go to Facebook, an ad will be served up for that product reminding you to buy it.
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, as well as a lot of specific data about that person, say, household income. Your agent can use that data and targeted demographics to show the ad for your home to buyers 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 in using social media to sell your home in Central Florida. Traditionally, agents sold homes by getting them live on the MLS 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.
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 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.
Use an Agent with Social Media Expertise
If you’re serious about using social media to sell your home in Central Florida, you’ll definitely want to hire an 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 in ways that appeal to online home shoppers.