Capitalize on Real Estate Photography
You paid to license the photos, so here's how to get the most out of them.
Hello, I'm Chris with 1846 Media, and this is a walkthrough for how to capitalize on the media we create for Realtors.
What Do You Want People To Do?
There are two crucial parts to any promotional effort: the first is the hook, and the second is the call-to-action. These answer two very fundamental questions:
How are you going to get people's attention?
What do you want people to do once you have their attention?
Let's start with the second part. Do you want them to email you? Do you want them to call you? Text? Carrier pigeon or smoke signal? Or do you want them to give you information that you can follow up on?
Many Realtors have their own websites for this reason. They want to house the place where people are looking at listings, so they can lead capture. This is great and probably the best option for most Realtors. Our platform offers something similar but instead focuses on the one listing. With a listing website, you can drive all attention for a particular listing into one place, get contact information, and start building a database of potential buyers. I've heard it said that each listing should get you 3-5 buyers, and this is how you start to do that.
Regardless of which media you use for a listing, make sure you're controlling where that traffic goes and being clear about what people should do in response.
How To Get Attention on Social
Invite with photos. Don't put the whole set of listing photos into the post. You want to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to draw them toward whatever your lead capture is. Think about using 2-4 photos in your post. Hero shots of the exterior, kitchen, living room, or master are typically the best to use, as they give a taste of the overall home.
Capitalize with Video. Research statistics can be nebulous, but they give an indicator of what the market looks like. Here are two quick stats about video: (1) Video is clicked on 59.3% more often than photos alone. (2) The cost of a Facebook video ad can be as little as half the cost of a photo or carousel ad. The best place to put your money on Facebook is in vertical video. If their algorithm is favoring video, particularly vertical video, and it makes sense for the property to have a video, do it, and you'll get more bang for your buck when advertising on Facebook.
Upload high resolution photos. If you paid for the whole speedometer, use the whole speedometer. Same goes for photography. Don't upload MLS quality photos or screenshots in areas where you can upload full resolution media. Higher quality media gets more attention and you'll stay off Zillow Gone Wild.
Upload Natively. The very first rule of social is to keep people on platform. If I'm on Facebook, I don't want a link that tries to open Instagram. If I'm on Instagram, I really don't want to be taken to Youtube. Let people be where they are. That means downloading photo and video to your computer, then uploading straight to each social media platform. This will make it a native video to Facebook. If you want it on Youtube, upload straight to Youtube. Doing this will put you in the best position to get traction and make it easier to boost or turn into an ad.
Boost. Instagram is easier to get a broad audience on, but Facebook has more people and a broader range of people. The problem is that Facebook is a siloed platform. It is very difficult to build an audience on Facebook, but this is where pay-to-play comes in. You can either boost an existing post or create a formal ad on Facebook. This will get the property in front of thousands more people than an unpaid post would. The more you do this, the more it invites people to like your page and to build your own personal audience.
Be a Professional Person. We're all digitally native enough by now to know when a post has been typed out and curated and examined and is just meant to get conversions. Those have their place but being overly curated can push an audience away. The best content is that which connects. Post like you're having a conversation, not making a sales pitch. Whoever you are, be that 110%.
If you found this video helpful, like and share it with your friends. I'll see you next time, and don't forget to make media that gets attention.