Social media expert Katie Lance says the key to promoting your listings on social media is to look beyond the nuts and bolts facts about the home and tell a story that will help connect buyers to the property emotionally.
Here, the chief executive officer of Katie Lance Consulting explains three dos, and three don’ts, to achieve exactly that.
Do – Be a storyteller
Katie urges agents to leave the basic property ‘facts’, such as how many bedrooms and bathrooms the home has, for the property listings on their website or portal.
Instead, what will garner buy-in on social media are stories about the home, such as what the owner loves about the property or why they bought it in the first place.
“Just asking those questions and getting those stories out, is such a powerful thing,” Katie explains.
“You might even ask for the story behind a remodel, or why they put a pool in the backyard.
“Using that information, when you’re posting on social media, instead of saying on Facebook, ‘New listing, four-bedroom, two-bathroom, open Sunday’, you might say something like, ‘You won’t believe the story of this pool remodel or this home remodel’.”
The key is to think about people’s stories to pull others in to engage with the content.
Do – Get creative
Social media are really visual platforms, so Katie suggests using software such as Canva to jazz up your standard just listed, just sold and open home posts.
It can be as simple as using an image of the property overlaid with text stating the basic details.
“If you’re creating a ‘just listed’ graphic, why not duplicate that graphic and create ‘just listed’, ‘open home’, ‘under contract’ and ‘just sold’ graphics.
“It’s really easy to batch create a number of pieces of content, especially around a listing.”
Katie says the one thing to remember is to “stay on brand” and use your brand colours, logo and fonts.
She also urges agents to follow the ‘less is more’ rule.
“When you’re posting a great graphic to Instagram or Facebook, remember, you don’t have to put all the details on the graphic,” Katie says.
“Let the house shine, and use the caption below to put all of the necessary information that you need to showcase your listing.”
Do – Use video
If Katie has one clear message for agents today it’s “video, video, video”. But that doesn’t only mean using professional videographers for doing house tours.
Katie says there’s a lot of great social media content you can create just using the camera on your phone.
“Short-form video content is one easy way to get your listing in front of more people, especially (Instagram) Reels, TikTok and YouTube shorts,” she explains.
Katie says next time you’re at a listing, take a five second pan of the kitchen or backyard, or even you walking down the hallway.
Back at the office you can turn these into short and sharp social media posts by adding some music or text.
“It’s amazing how a little bit of video content, the right music and a little bit of text can really make something fun and interesting,” she says.
Don’t – Copy your listing description
While you may have spent a lot of time writing your property description, Katie urges you to remember that your website, brochure or portal listing are very different to social media.
She says keep the property facts for the listing and keep social media for telling the story of the home.
“Remember, you don’t have to share every single piece of information on social media,” Katie says.
“The goal is to capture people’s attention. So you want to use a couple of the best photos and you want to pull people in with language like, ‘Can you believe this?’ or ‘Check this out!’
“You pull people in by tapping into the emotional value of a home.”
Don’t – Upload your brochure and post it to social media
Katie says even the greatest brochures aren’t meant for social media and could even frustrate your target audience.
The likelihood is they will have to pinch and zoom in on the brochure in order to see the details or the photos clearly.
Instead, Katie recommends taking a few of the best photos from the brochure and turning them into a carousel post on Instagram where people can flip through multiple photos.
Don’t – Use bad photos
Good photos, especially on social media, are critical.
Katie says use professional photographers if you can, but if you don’t have the budget for that, ensure the rooms are well lit and free of clutter.
“You might only have a couple of good photos, every listing is different, every listing is unique,” she says.
“So pick one or two (photos) and remember, it doesn’t always have to be the front of the house.”
