More sellers these days are learning how to use social media to create buzz around their listings. Whether it is an individual using Facebook to let others know their house is for sale or real estate agents tracking Twitter feeds about house hunting in their city, there are a number of ways that using social media real estate tricks can help move a house in this hard to sell market.
Facebook is Real Estate’s Friend
Although difficult to measure, many realtors know how to use social media icon Facebook to highlight listings and spread the word. Individuals become a friend of the real estate page because they are considering buying or just know someone who is. When it comes to social media real estate listings, they are often passed from Facebook page to Facebook page amongst friends looking for homes.
This means that your Facebook listing could be passed on to a prospective buyer by someone they know and trust. That recommendation will have them considering your listing with more interest. The MSN website recently profiled Massachusetts real estate broker Margaret Roberts who uses Facebook to market her company’s listings. With sales happening offline it is hard to know for sure if her Facebook listings are resulting in sales. However, two properties she listed on her Facebook page recently sold only three weeks after being posted. Not bad for a very slow market.
YouTube – Picture This!
Another great social media real estate tool is the video, specifically YouTube videos. A great example of a real estate company who has embraced how to use social media is Corcoran Group. YouTube and other sites are linked through their “Do More” tab on Facebook. They do indeed do more, as they have 1600 walk-through tours on video of premier residential properties and then have these videos linked on other sites such as foursquare, Tumblr and Vimeo. These combine to give them a widespread reach across their market so that you would have to be deaf and blind not to know what Corcoran is offering. And, of course, all of this is part of their regular Twitter blasts to connect smartphone users to videos of homes for sale in their area.
As you can see, once an agent knows how to use social media to reach their market the sky is pretty much the limit. The days of using Facebook to just connect with friends are past; now users considering that first home are using iPhones and social media to find what they need.
