With more than 3.8 billion people actively using social media, it’s hardly surprising that most businesses have now jumped on the bandwagon too. From encouraging engagement and building relationships to building your brand and showcasing your achievements, social media is full of opportunities to help your business flourish. Now, enough with the wishy-washy stuff – let’s get specific.
Research has found that 47% of businesses in the real estate market noted social media as bringing in the highest quality leads, and since your ultimate goal is to sell, rent or manage your properties, let’s look at how you can transform your social media accounts.
Dig deeper
I’m sure we’ve all heard it a million times, but having a good understanding of your audience is essential for any successful marketing strategy. It’s not just enough to know who your audience is – you need to dig deeper – find out about their likes and dislikes, their preferred channels and when they are most active online (to name just a few).
Everything you post should be done with your audience at the forefront of your mind. From knowing which channels to use – for example, LinkedIn is generally best for finding high-net-worth buyers – to what time of the day to post.
Tell your story
Marketing is ultimately just an elaborate form of storytelling. When used correctly, social media can be a powerful tool to build your brand and tell your story, but in order for it to be able to do that, you need to first establish the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘why of your business. Think about why you got into property development, your values and goals and your USP.
The Berkeley Group Plc uses LinkedIn to differentiate themselves by demonstrating their involvement with CSR (corporate social responsibility), frequently showing their commitment to helping to overcome key issues such as climate change and homelessness.
Build relationships
The great thing about social media is it gives you the means to interact directly with your audience. From answering questions to providing them with property updates, communicating with your prospective customers can help to build a strong relationship and establish a level of trust.
Barratt Homes use their Twitter account to regularly update their audience with key information and helpful advice, making their posts engaging with the use of direct questions, interesting statistics and a mix of images, videos and GIFs.
Bewley Homes frequently update their Instagram account with property development updates, including key dates and property information. They also regularly post images of happy customers who are now living in one of their developments, helping to make their content more relatable and establishing a deeper, emotional connection with their audience by adding an element of humanity.
(Visit @bewleyhomes on Instagram to see more)
Make a house a (show) home
Marketing is all about storytelling, so why not tell the story of your properties? Take your audience on a journey with you; keep them updated on your progress, get them invested in the development of your property. From progress photos to virtual tours to interior design tips, the list is endless.
Jones Homes frequently publish videos to their Facebook page which showcase their properties and allow their audience to view them in a more interactive and engaging way. They also incorporate images of specific rooms to offer interior design inspiration and highlight the versatility of their properties.
(Visit @JoneshomesUK on Facebook to see more)
Adopting a similar approach, Miller Homes makes the most of YouTube, using the platform to bring their developments to life. Posting videos that showcase their properties and the surrounding areas, making them more relatable to their audience by using families to explore the homes themselves.
Make it Pinteresting
Pinterest is a social platform that is often overlooked, however when used correctly, it can be a really powerful marketing tool for your business. Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your website, increase your brand authority and keep up with key trends, but perhaps one of the greatest advantages is the lifespan of content. Typically, social media content has a very short lifespan, ranging from a couple of hours to a few days – however, Pinterest Pins can stay relevant for months. Oh, and bonus points for property developers as home content is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest!
The key to being successful on Pinterest is to post high-quality, aesthetically pleasing content – it needs to be inspirational for people to want to ‘pin’ it. Showing us how it’s done, Miller Homes UK have over 11, 700 monthly viewers, attracting people with their high-quality images and quirky interior design.
(Visit @millerhomes_uk on Pinterest to see more)
If you’re looking to develop your social media strategy, taking inspiration from some of the most successful names in the industry is a great place to start, but remember everything you post should be true to your brand and engaging for your audience. To learn more about social media and digital marketing for property developers, check out our property developers page here.
