As a busy home builder, your first priority probably isn’t staying on top of the latest changes in social networks. Still, social media marketing is important to your business, and platforms like Facebook and Twitter seem to make changes frequently. That’s why we have compiled a list of important recent developments in social networks that could affect your business. Here are five things that have recently changed or will be changing and may require attention from you or your marketing staff.

Pinterest Introduces “Place Pins”

• Important for Model Home & Custom Home Marketing.

At the end of 2013, Pinterest introduced “Place Pins.” This is a new feature that allows you to display a mapped location associated with an image you have placed on Pinterest. So, when you pin images of your model or custom built homes, you can also display where they are located. This is helpful because if home buyers see a home they like on Pinterest, they will immediately know where that home is located. This could inspire them to visit your model home or drive by a custom built home to see an example of your work. For more information on how to use Pinterest and Place Pins to market your homes, check out “Pinterest Tips for Builders and Selling More New Homes.”

New Twitter Profile Layout

• Check Your Profile Images.

Just last month, Twitter made a big change to the layout of Twitter profiles. If you post to Twitter regularly but do so from a third party app like HootSuite or your mobile device, you may not have noticed. The new Twitter profiles look a lot like Facebook profiles now. The “header photo” in Twitter is now like the “cover photo” in Facebook. It’s much more prominent than it used to be, stretching all the way across the screen. Many people didn’t include a header photo with their old Twitter layout. If that includes your company, you’ll want to add a header photo so that your profile looks complete and up-to-date. Twitter also increased the size of profile images, so you’ll want to check to see if your profile picture and header photo do not appear stretched.  The new size for profile photos is 400 x 400 pixels, and header photos are now 1500 x 500 pixels.

Twitter Introduces Website Cards

• You May Want to Consider Twitter Ads Now.

Two weeks ago, Twitter rolled out a new ad unit called Website Cards. Twitter describes them as:

“ A new way for advertisers to easily surface website content within a Tweet and drive relevant traffic to any page of their site, such as their home page, product page, or an important blog post. This card allows users to easily discover interesting content while giving advertisers the ability to drive a higher volume of URL clicks since users are able to preview an image, related context and a clear call to action in their timeline before tapping.”

Twitter reports that testing of Website Cards produced higher engagement and click-through rates and lower costs-per-click compared to standard advertised tweets that just contain an image and a link. Last year, Twitter introduced an ad unit called “Lead Generation Cards” that allow companies to collect the contact information of an interested Twitter user directly within tweets. They are helpful because you don’t have to work to first drive an interested user to your website before collecting their contact information. These new Twitter advertising features provide significant benefits beyond simply exposing your standard tweets to more people. You might even find the benefits are now significant enough to consider advertising on Twitter.

Facebook Rolling Out New Business Page Layout

• Familiarize Yourself and Ensure Display Looks Good.

Facebook is currently in the process of rolling out a new layout for company pages. Some businesses have already received the new Facebook page layout and others have not. The most noticeable change to pages will be the new one-column layout. Posts will no longer be displayed in two columns, so your desktop profile will look more like your mobile profile. Keep an eye on your Facebook page daily so you know immediately when you have received the change. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with the new location of things like admin tools, Facebook metrics, and private messages. You definitely don’t want to overlook any private messages from Facebook fans interested in learning more about your services. You’ll also be able to rearrange the order of some content on the left side of your profile. So, keep an eye out for the profile change so that you can change the order if you don’t like the way it looks.

LinkedIn Rolling Out “Publisher” Feature

• Important for Growing Your Network.

In February, LinkedIn began rolling out its new LinkedIn Publisher feature. It’s not currently available to all LinkedIn users, but it will be soon, and you can request early access now. This feature will allow you to publish content similar to blog posts and articles on LinkedIn. These posts will be visible to all LinkedIn users, not just those in your current network. So, if you create helpful interesting content, more people will want to connect with you. For information on how to use LinkedIn Publisher, check out “How to Use LinkedIn Publisher for Business.”

Have you experienced other new social media developments recently? Share in the comments section and tell us how they might affect your home building business!