4 Reasons To Use Pinterest for Real Estate Marketing

I recently made this list in preparation for a strategy call with one of my clients, so I thought I would formalize it and share it with you, too. It's a basic run-down of why Pinterest is important to your real estate business.

If you haven't implemented Pinterest as part of your real estate marketing plan, I highly recommend you consider it. Pinterest is not just another social media platform; it's so much more! It's also a search engine, and a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website, blog, and landing pages.

1. The 2018 statistics on Pinterest (from Sprout Social) show that 29% of US adults are using Pinterest, and 40% of them have a household income of $100K+, and a whopping 93% of users say they use Pinterest to plan for purchases. These three stats alone show that Pinterest is a good target audience for real estate, but take the time to click over and read some of the other data for yourself!

2. Pinterest is a great platform for getting your name in front of people in your area, and people from out of area who are relocating or looking for investment/vacation properties. When you have a strong strategy for your Pinterest presence that includes good quality local content, you are building your networking and referral potential, and you're attracting buyers and sellers who are in the planning stages of their sale/purchase.

3. The life of a pin on Pinterest is amazing compared to a Facebook or Instagram post. A pin can live on for weeks, months, and even years. If someone saves your pin to their Pinterest, they'll see your name every time they visit that board, and they'll have it there for when they're ready to take action on their next real estate deal or when they need a local referral for their friends and family.

4. The SEO potential for Pinterest is huge. Because Pinterest is a search engine, it often ranks high in Google searches. This is another good way for you to capture your corner of online searches AND drive traffic to your own sites. It takes a good strategy to get Pinterest SEO right, and, honestly, many real estate accounts I've seen on Pinterest aren't leveraging this part of Pinterest correctly. Do your research or hire a pro when it comes to Pinterest strategy and SEO (just make sure they have experience in the real estate industry – Real estate can be it's own animal when it comes to some areas of Pinterest strategy)!

Being a modern real estate pro means having a strong online presence across platforms. When reviewing your marketing plan, be sure that Pinterest has a prominent place in your plan. As with all online marketing – remember, it's a marathon not a sprint.

If you're starting from scratch, I recommend my clients commit to a 3-month plan to start, then re-evaluate. It can take some time to gain momentum on Pinterest, but once you've built a good foundation and have an effective daily/weekly/monthly strategy in place it will be easier to build upon and maintain your business Pinterest.

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5 Simple Facebook Features: Up Your Influence and Reach

Facebook features can change rapidly, so here's a quick roundup of current tips and tricks for real estate pros to quickly increase your brand awareness and networking potential on Facebook.

1. Your Personal Profile - It's important that your profile shows you are a real estate professional when someone hovers over your name and gets a preview. Make sure your personal profile is updated and privacy settings allow for people to see your work information.
   BONUS: You can link your Facebook business page to your profile too, so it's easy for someone to click over and find you there.

2. Friends Lists – Many agents receive a lot of unsolicited friend requests on Facebook. You are missing opportunities to connect, network, and grow your sphere if you're declining these requests. I get it, we all like our privacy and separation from our business life – You can have both!!
   You can create custom lists for different classes of Facebook friends. They'll never know which list you've put them into, and if you put them in the preset 'Restricted' list, they will only see the information that's shown on your public profile.
   Now, why should you do this? Because, you can also add them to another list that you create, where you can network and engage with them on their posts. This keeps you top of mind and helps you build a network all while protecting your privacy.

   BONUS: This also helps you stay focused on networking and avoid the social media time suck when you are only looking at and engaging with specific friend lists.

3. Share Button – This is key to increasing your reach and influence on Facebook. Love a post from a local business? Share it to your personal or business page. You are building your networking relationships and showing your engagement with the community. Who knows, maybe they'll share a post from your business page next month!
   Share your listing posts to local groups, share weekend events to your personal/business page, share the occasional post from your business page to your personal page – Remember, staying top of mind takes some effort on social media.

4. Private messages - Did you just accept a friend request from a distant acquaintance? Make sure you send them a private message thanking them for the connection! Facebook messages can be a great casual “touch” to include in your plan to keep in touch with your sphere. It's easy to hop onto a person's Facebook page, see what's happening in their life, and send them a quick private message. It will mean a lot more to them than just a comment on one of their posts.

   BONUS: When you private message someone, the message stays in their Facebook messenger history, so they will see your name and message every time they visit messenger!

5. Facebook Groups - Have you started your own local-centric Facebook group yet? What are you waiting for? With the 2018 Facebook changes that focuses on limiting business posts, you need to find another way to get in front of your audience. Group posts show up more often in a person's feed and notifications, and they are a more personal place to focus, network, and provide value. You will gain tons of organic exposure as people often see your name popping up on their feeds and notifications as you network and post in the group – make sure you have a group that offers real value to your community.

“A strong social media marketing strategy for real estate professionals begins with Facebook.”

Facebook is a fantastic way to connect with potential clients of a wide age range, keep in touch with past clients, as well as market your listings.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a plan and stay consistent. Your social media marketing strategy is a sprint, not a marathon. You need to show up consistently every week, even when you're buried in closings or on vacations. Try using a scheduling tool or hiring an experienced social media manager to support your goals. If you're looking for support with your social media, message me – I'd love to chat!

Original Content written by Amanda Behm, Copyright 2018