When marketing whizzes Amber Watson-Tardiff and her husband, Joe, started flipping homes in 2005, it only made sense for them to use social media to get the word out about their listings. “I have an online legal marketing company, Legal Marketing Maven, and I run Facebook ads for my attorney clients, so I thought, why not try it with the house?” says Watson-Tardiff. “I ran a $5-per-day ad and targeted to people within 20 miles of the house, located in Bordentown, NJ, that were currently renters and between the ages of 25 to 65. That ad blew up!”
Within five days of being on the market, the Tardiffs had not only received multiple offers on the home, but for just $35 worth of Facebook ads, they also got a full-price offer and closed in 30 days. “And being able to do it by owner [FSBO], we saved $6,500 in Realtor fees. This was our first time using Facebook to market a property, and I’m looking forward to doing it again when we finish the house we just bought because we had such success with the last!” says Watson-Tardiff.
Using social media, like Facebook, is a powerful tactic to help sell a home fast. Most buyers use online tools in their home searches, which is exactly why you should heed the following tips when posting your home for sale in Alexandria, VA, or anywhere else in the U.S., on Facebook.
1. Find a Facebook-savvy real estate agent
If you want to take advantage of social media to sell your home — and you want your real estate agent to do the same — you’d better make sure he or she uses it frequently; otherwise, you may not get much impact. “Facebook is constantly changing its algorithm as to why something shows up in someone’s feeds,” explains Pat Eberle of RASO Realty in Cape Coral, FL. “The last two years our team has spent utilizing Facebook to sell homes has been trial and error, so we now know what works and what doesn’t. Which is exactly why you want to do your homework and hire a professional who knows the ins and outs of using Facebook to sell a home.”
2. Freshen up on Facebook’s recent algorithm changes
To echo Eberle, Facebook — and pretty much every social media platform, including Instagram and Snapchat — is constantly tweaking its algorithms that make the decision for users about what they should or would want to see pop up in their newsfeeds. (Google is much the same — what pops up on the first search page of Google changes constantly.) “Right now, Facebook is giving quite a bit [of] weight to live Facebook videos versus still images,” reveals Eberle. So if you’re going FSBO, consider doing a live Facebook video to give people an exclusive tour of your home or, better yet, one that showcases the major selling points, such as a breathtaking ocean view.
3. Make it visual
People are inherently visual beings, which partly explains why Facebook deems posts featuring images so much more important to its users than, say, a basic text post. “People that contacted us from the ad told us that the pictures really drew them to the property and they wanted to make an appointment to come see it,” says Watson-Tardiff. “Take the time to take quality shots, because Facebook is a very visual platform and that’s what garners attention.” Focus on the nearby amenities (the amenities tab on Trulia maps can help!), and use free photo-editing apps like Photify and Aviary to beef up the color and attractiveness of your images. Or, better yet, hire a real estate agent, who knows just how to tackle the marketing of the home (and will have it professionally photographed for beautiful listing photos).
4. Don’t post a link
Or at least not on your main post. Facebook wants its users to stay on its page rather than navigate away to other sites. So if you straight-up post a link to your MLS listing, Facebook will weight it much lower and you’ll get less online traffic. Instead, consider first posting an image to pique potential buyers’ interest and then, in the comments, post the link to the MLS listing or real estate agent’s website.
5. Don’t be afraid to play with Facebook ads
There’s no right (or terribly wrong) way to post a Facebook ad. So don’t hesitate to try anything and everything. “The budget I stuck to was only $5 a day,” says Watson-Tardiff. “That was plenty to get in front of hundreds of people in the community with our property. People think you have to spend a fortune on Facebook advertising and that’s not the case.” If you aren’t sure what to do, Facebook has really great free tutorials to help you learn the ropes.
6. Go high
As in, take to the sky. Drone photographs and video have become a huge tool for real estate. So take advantage of it. “We try to highlight our oceanfront and beachfront properties as much as possible using video and aerial footage,” says Eberle. “In the past, the drone footage [has] been the homes that get the most traffic for us on Facebook and generate the most interest.” Use the drone to highlight the expansive acreage of a property, its magnificent views, or its proximity to a major national park.
