Using social media sites like Pinterest as a method of real estate marketing may still be considered a novel approach. However, when used in combination with traditional campaign methods, it can be a complimentary tactic to help drive a property sale. Here are some helpful hints to get you started.
Think about aesthetics
Pinterest is now the photo sharing successor of sites like Flickr and Picasa, but it offers more in terms of being visually expressive. It evokes the imagination of the user, either through brand, storytelling or vision – and suggests a lifestyle rather than just being a picture gallery. When you look at how much real estate is based on visual presentation, it’s an ideal union when joining the tools of this 11 million user platform with the needs of real estate marketing. Here are some items you should include when creating and managing a Pinterest real estate page:
- Good quality photography. Good lighting makes a room noticeably bigger, cleaner and newer
- Be sure to emphasise how much storage the property has as this is a good selling point
- Embed media clips – such as virtual tours of the home – as your pins. Pinterest can take Vimeo and Vevo formats as well as YouTube clips. Clips are also a great way to drive organic traffic back to your source
- Split imagery ratio as 50% interior, 50% exterior
- Go beyond the features of the house. Think of your boards as points of storytelling for your neighbourhood and everything you admire, such as wildlife, DIY, green energy, foods, local bars etc
- Choose attractive board covers as these will feature the most prominently amongst pinboard images
Attributions: The Key to SEO
Many Pinterest users are missing out on opportunities to reference their brand and presence simply because they forget to properly reference and attribute their pins.
Never upload a pin without referring it back to a domain. If a Pinterest user decides to share (‘re-pin’) your content, you will miss referral traffic back to your Pinterest page, or your original website. For example, a property listing should link back to the original real estate listing, blog or classified advertisement.
Using keywords will ensure that your pins will show up not only in the Pinterest search itself, but will increase your Google search rank. Because the Pinterest search option is still quite simple, people may be looking for items which are very specific, and will therefore choose to use quotations to increase their search results; hence why using strategic keywords is paramount. For example, if you are selling a one bedroom apartment in St Kilda you would take advantage of informative key terms and anything else which makes the listing more unique and appealing:
Use descriptive, informative keywords
#realestate
#StKilda
#apartmentforsale
#onebedroom
#HockingStuart
#selling
Use additional keywords
#beach
#Melbourne
#lifestyle
#summer
#modern
Pinterest is an ideal platform for e-commerce, which is why all users listing pins with a sale value should take advantage of the monetary value classification, which can be automatically added as a price ribbon across the image thumbnail. For example, you may wish to add the market value of your property to your pin.
Using an application like PicMarkr will ensure that your property images are accredited with a custom watermark, especially if you wanted to reference the real estate agent or the website of the property listing.
If you are hosting content on a referring site, such as a blog, make sure that you are able to add a Pinterest button so that visitors can pin from your original content source. A Pinterest application such as WooBox will also expand your online presence by allowing a tab of your pinboards to be visible on your fan page – this is an advantage for social media fans that may only use Facebook.
Get adventurous with your wording
Pin descriptions allow up to 500 characters, which is incredibly generous from a search perspective. Many pinners do not take advantage of this character limit because they do not realise that they are allowed this amount in the first place. It’s an added advantage for a real estate listing because it allows descriptions to be comprehensive whilst creative at the same time. Go beyond describing the basics about the property and think in terms of selling a lifestyle.
Don’t do it alone
Despite its online success as a top referral traffic booster, Pinterest works best when used in unison with other marketing methods, such as other social media, online and print advertising. Enlisting the help of an agent will ensure that a property sale is still run through traditional and trusted avenues, and this will ensure potential buyers in the market – who don’t use social media – will still be in the running for a bid on your property.
