Why Social Media is Important for Selling Your Home
When selling a home, it’s important to get that home in front of as many potential buyers as possible. Realtors do that via multiple different avenues. One of the newest is Social Media, websites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. These websites allow users to actively share information and pictures with their friends, and follow their favorite brands all in one place. Over 1 billion people use Social Media websites today. But do they really make an impact on your home being sold? In order to fully understand why Social Media is important for selling a home, you need to understand that there are two different kinds of buyers: Declared and Undeclared.
Declared Buyers are people who are actively looking for homes. They have a Realtor, are in the process of getting or already have financing, are set-up with auto-searches to stay up-to-date on new homes, are scanning real estate websites, and doing neighborhood drive-thrus, if not already viewing homes. Good pictures, engaging descriptions, virtual tours, flyers, yard signs, classifieds (online and print), the multiple listing service (MLS), and agent-to-agent communication are the best way to grab the attention and gain interest from this group of buyers.
Undeclared Buyers are people who may consider buying if the home is right or they may not be in the market to buy at all, but have friends or family who are. Their attention is harder to gain, because they aren’t really looking for homes for sale. However, they are likely to share homes they see with anyone they know are looking to buy and this is good as you’ll see in the paragraph below. Just Listed postcards, monthly newsletters, Social Media, and yard signs are the best way to reach this group.
Social Media is probably the easiest way to reach Undeclared Buyers and the most convenient way for them to “pass on the word” about homes for sale, because all it takes is a click of the “Share” button (or Retweet, +1, Re-pin, Stumble, etc. depending on the website) for a listing to appear in front of their friends. This is good, because 81% of the respondents of a recent study conducted by Market Force reported that their friends’ advice, whether in real life or on Social Media, affects their purchase decisions. 78% of that same group said a business’s Social Media activity affects their purchase decisions. So, having a presence and sharing listings on Social Media is very important.
However, not all Social Media websites are made the same. Market Force’s study revealed about 95% of people in the US, who are online, have a Facebook account, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an active account. Many people have signed up for Facebook to discover it isn’t for them and have moved on to other Social Media websites. Right now, Google Plus (or Google +) and Pinterest are the fastest growing social websites, because each take a different approach to sharing information and ideas than we have typically seen in the past few years. Different types of people populate each Social Media website, because each website has a different focus - pictures, blogs/articles, status updates, products, links, groups, professional-to-professional networking, etc. It’s important to share listings on as many different Social Media sites as possible, in the most appropriate way for that site, without spamming followers and friends.
We on The Cameron Team actively participate on numerous Social Media websites and share listings, both via team and personal accounts. We consistently see traffic from Social Media sites visiting our listing pages and have found qualified buyers this way too. If you are one of our sellers, we encourage you to join us on these sites and share your listing on Social Media. Below is a list of our main team profiles:
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
YouTube
Pinterest
Tumblr
LinkedIn
Every like and share helps, so please help spread the word!
If you are considering selling and would like to hear our full marketing plan, please give Melanie a call at 910.202.2546 or send her a message through our Contact page. Our marketing plan is multifaceted and designed to provide all the key features for maximizing your home’s selling potential. You definitely don’t want to pass over a chance to learn all about it!
