Many home sellers, especially FSBO sellers, have discovered the marketing power of social media. And social media works just as well for home buyers. All you have to do is reverse engineer what the sellers are doing with social media. Sellers who use Facebook ads, for example, aim those ads at a highly targeted audience, so if you fit that audience profile, you know those are homes you’re likely to be interested in. Let’s take a look, then, at how to go about using social media to buy a home in Central Florida.
As we just mentioned, Facebook ads are highly targeted and very effective for sellers. And that’s why 69% of real estate agents use them. Facebook is also a channel of social media to buy a home in Central Florida for the same reason.
Here’s the kind of specific demographics sellers can target with Facebook:
- Married couple
- Mid-forties
- College educated
- Earning $75,000 to $90,000 yearly
- Within 15-mile radius of Central Florida
- Seeking ranch style, three bedroom, two bath
- Price range: $135,000 to $150,000
Now, if you’ve searched a few real estate sites through Facebook and put out the word that you’re shopping for a home, along with a few of your details and criteria, then you need to pay attention to the ads that are served up on your Facebook page. The homes you will find through those ads are likely to be what you’re looking for.
YouTube
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video may be worth a million words. That’s why over half, 52%, of marketing professionals see video as providing the greatest return on investment. Many agents (and FSBO sellers as well) now often use Facebook as their primary marketing tool. And that, in turn, means its a great place for home buyers to shop.
The great thing about YouTube as social media to buy a home in Central Florida is that you can tour the home without ever leaving the comfort of your chair. Real estate companies now use videography companies that can provide virtual tours, including drone footage, of the interior and exterior of homes for sale. You can, then, tour a home you’re interested in without having to go out and do an actual walk-through.
Snapchat
Although lacking the precise analytics of Facebook and the extensive search and video capabilities of YouTube, Snapchat is still a valuable aspect of using social media to buy a home in Central Florida. After all, it has 178 million daily users, many of whom are home sellers. Snapchat is great for getting a feel for what living in a home you’re interested in would actually be like. Because sellers have only a small window to create content that will capture buyers’ attention, their strategy on Snapchat is to create brief day-in-the-life videos and vignettes.
The fastest growing social media platform, Instagram has 800 million monthly users. What sellers like about it is the ability to receive almost instant feedback on photos of properties and neighborhoods, as well as being able to experiment with various captions, photo styles, and hashtags. And this means that as a home buyer you can quickly get more and different views of the home(s) you’re interested just by providing that feedback. Sellers will be eager to serve up what you need on Instagram so you can easily find what you want.
Use an Agent with Social Media Expertise
If you’re really serious about using social media to buy a home in Central Florida, then the best way to go about it is to hire an agent with social media expertise. A good agent is skilled in using social media to help sellers, and, as a result, she will know exactly how you can use social media to buy a home.