Pinterest may seem like low-hanging fruit in your social media marketing plan. It’s photography-driven, text-minimal, evergreen, appealing to a major homebuying demographic, great for driving website traffic, easy to use and—best of all—free, except for the time you invest in it and any money you spend boosting pins.
Using Pinterest to its best advantage, however, means more than just posting your MLS listings. To gain followers and increase your reach on Pinterest, consider sharing a mix of useful content that interests potential home buyers, home sellers and the residents (and future residents) of your sales turf. Here are just a few ideas to get the creative ball rolling.
- Inspire them (to move) with home design photography.
Dream homes are a popular board topic on Pinterest. Why not fuel a few fantasies by sharing gorgeous house photos? If you don’t have the rights to share your MLS listing photos on Pinterest (check with your photographer, client or brokerage to be sure), you can always share great photos you find through Pinterest or on blogs that offer social sharing options. Followers might come for the pretty pictures you share, and then stay for the home listings you post.
- Be a helpful resource.
There’s a wealth of information out there for homebuyers: credit score tips, down payment savings strategies, real estate glossaries, closing cost overviews, moving checklists, homebuilding FAQs, homebuyer guides and more. If you take the time to curate the best and most helpful articles about these topics, you can help clients and potential clients navigate what might seem like an overwhelming amount of data.
- Showcase your area (and your area knowledge).
Buyers relocating from other parts of the state or country may not be familiar with the area you serve. Pinning local attractions and amenities, as well as neighborhood guides and articles of interest, may encourage them to consider your part of town. You’ll also enjoy the credibility boost as an area expert. Need an example? Check out this board by Realtor® and real estate blogger Kyle Hiscock.
- Pin your own original content.
If you maintain a real estate blog, Pinterest is a natural promotional channel. Some Realtors® save all their blog pins to a dedicated board, but you may achieve greater reach if you distribute your stories across topical boards like “Tips for first-time homebuyers” or “Reasons to live in [neighborhood].” Be sure to use each article’s focus keywords in your pin descriptions; Pinterest’s search feature relies on those to help generate its results.
Not sure where to start? Check out this video field guide to Pinterest for real estate agents, recently featured on the National Association of Realtors® website. Then, start following good sources of sharable content, such as tourism organizations, local real estate news sites, home design blogs, chambers of commerce, Realtor® networking groups, real estate Pinterest boards and, of course, homebuilders like us!