“Choose your social channels based on what your clients – and future clients – are using.”
Our VP of Marketing, Lisa Fettner, recently spoke at the California Realtor® Expo and explained the value in embracing the new social media channels that have burst onto the real estate marketing scene. Lisa shared how these social platforms are expanding to touch all generations, and how you can easily integrate Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Live, and Periscope into your everyday marketing.
Snapchat
Snapchat has 100 million users (60% of which are under 24) who spend an average of 19 minutes a day on the platform. While the current audience is young, the largest segment of Snapchat’s growth is with users over 25. Snapchat offers an easy way to tell a story and share quick tips, news, or a sneak peek into your business or personal life that you might not share on any other social channel. Lisa also shared the importance of your Snapcode, how to cross-promote on other channels, track and manage your snaps, identify top users through Ghostcodes, and how you can use custom geofilters to promote your brand. You can view our geofilter from the conference here. For more on Snapchat, check out our previous blog posts:
- 6 Reasons Agents Should Join the Snapchat Phenomenon
- Snapchat 101: Part 2 – Get Started in 3 Easy Steps
- Snapchat 101 – Part 3: Snapping Your Way to Success
Instagram boasts a roster of 500 million users — a little over half of which are between the ages of 18-29 — who spend an average of 20 minutes a day on the platform. Just like Snapchat, there are several ways you can engage your audience, such as sharing photos and videos of new listings, before and after home renovations, home tours and inspirational quotes.
Lisa also stressed the importance of your account settings — making sure your page is public and converted to a business profile so consumers can easily contact you. Sharing meaningful images paired with brief and compelling captions (e.g., questions, call-to-actions) and appropriate hashtags are equally important for success on the platform. In addition, Instagram just introduced Instagram Stories (check out the top of your newsfeed), very similar to Snapchat, however there are no filters and you can only respond via text. If you already have a bigger following on Instagram than you do on Snapchat, it might make more sense for you to embrace Instagram Stories vs. starting from scratch on Snapchat.
Facebook Live/Periscope
Remember the Chewbacca Mask Lady? That video went viral after it was shared via Facebook Live. Similar to Facebook Live, Periscope (10 million users) also allows users to share live videos which can then be posted to social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter for 24 hours. We’ve seen agents use both platforms to do live Q&As, “how to” videos, and share behind the scenes footage at open houses. So what’s the difference between Periscope and Facebook Live? Facebook Live (Lisa’s preferred platform), is already built into Facebook so you can easily broadcast and post videos from your account. It’s also easier to archive videos and target your audience. Periscope on the other hand can be synced with your Twitter account, allows you to sketch while streaming and makes it easier to add relevant hashtags.
In summary, using Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Live, and Periscope can help you provide a candid view into your business, reach new audiences, offer temporary engagement, communicate your company culture and value proposition, and support your visual and virtual business. Regardless of whether you use one or all of the social channels discussed, remember to always be consistent, always be relevant, and don’t be afraid to have fun!
Access the full presentation here, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat!
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