The best ways to sell your home through social media

As social media has become more and more popular, especially as a means of E-Commerce, the emergence of self-selling has become normalized.  Where one used to turn to an expert or service provider, many things can now be done on one’s own through social media.  A concept that has grown in popularity is the use of social media as a tool for digital marketing in the real estate industry. 

When using a realtor, homeowners must compensate a realtor with a percentage of the price of the home when sold.  This can be a large sum of money (often around 6-12% of selling price) that is forfeited to realtors that could instead be pocketed by homeowners, if they were to turn to other methods to selling their home.  Though there are added benefits of using a realtor, who is to say an individual cannot turn to social media to sell their own home? When attempting to sell your house through social media, a question that must be answered is: how does one successfully communicate a story of their home through the internet?

If one is trying to stray away from brokerages, my suggestion would be to create an Instagram page for your home, in it of itself.  Make the home address the Instagram handle (without giving too much personal information).  For example, if the home you are trying to sell is at 10 Cherry Street, New Orleans, LA, make the Instagram handle @10cherrystreet.  This way potential buyers will be able to visually the location of the home while perusing.  the posted pictures.  Then, comes the digital marketing.  This step is essential.

Step One: Highlight your home’s unique aspects and differentiate the home from anything else on the market. 

For example, in a city like New Orleans, the history and context of the home within the city, is extremely important to home buyers.  Below, you will find a screenshot of one of the more prominent real estate agent’s Instagram posts.  Here, she highlights the location of one of her newer listings by mentioning its proximity to the prominent street of St. Charles and its view of the streetcar.

By mentioning the unique details of a home, it not only allows for potential buyers to admire certain aspects of the house, but also gives onlookers something to remember the property by.  And, when using social media as a tool for selling, emphasizing these details are essential.  One can do this like the broker above, by including the uniqueness in the caption, or one can do this by posting several pictures emphasizing this craftsmanship.

Step Two: provide clear and distinct pictures throughout the Instagram page.  Shown below is the same New Orleans realtor.

Clear, high resolution photos of homes on social media (Photo: @neworleansluxuryrealestate_e)

She only includes high resolution, colorful pictures of the homes she is displaying.  If you do not take high quality or professional photos of your home, it is simply not doing the home justice.  By emphasizing the natural and bright colors of the home, it makes it seem to potential buyers that the home in it of itself is cheerful and happy.  If you were to include darker, grainy pictures, you would be setting yourself at a disadvantage.  Remember: because you are relying on social media as a means to sell your home, you must convey that people will enjoy living in your home the best you can.

Step Three: provide the basic details and comparables of your home somewhere on the page or within the captions of the pictures. 

Things like address, price, amount of bedrooms and bathrooms, square feet, and lot size are essential details to share with onlookers to allow for them to see if the home fits their criteria.  Below, the same New Orleans real estate agent includes immense amount of detail for this new listing on the market.  She even shares who the listing agent is so potential buyers know who to contact if they are seriously interested.

New Orleans home with highlighted home details (Photo by: @neworleansluxuryrealestate_e)

By following these steps, sellers can target audiences that they may not usually have access to.  Using social media as a means of selling a home is a great alternative to depending on large scale brokerages.  Though selling a home can appear daunting, using the readily available tools around you can save some of the labor and cost that realtors usually bring to the table.