Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and YouTube allow you to engage directly with consumers and potential leads in a new way. By giving you the opportunity to openly engage with those who may have questions about your homes, you areincreasing the likelihood that they will choose you as their partner to build a new home. Here are some ways we can help you utilize social media to make your online marketing plans more effective.
Invest in High Quality Photography & Video
One of the best ways to engage with potential customers who may be looking for a new home is to share beautiful, high quality images and videos of your projects. It is important to showcase the best versions of your finished homes. It can also be nice to show behind the scenes & in progress construction photos which allows your audience to see what they can expect during the process of working with you.
Tailor Content for Each Social Platform
How you use these different social networks to share photos may depend on the network. Pinterest is ideal for collecting photos or videos of homes into multiple “boards” —for example, you could create a board for each home or community or have boards for design inspiration. On the other hand, Facebook may be best for one-off photos and videos, and Instagram may follow the same pattern. Experiment and see what your followers and fans respond best to, and what gets the most likes, shares, and engagement and adjust accordingly.
Ask Questions & Engage with Audience
One of your challenges, as a custom home builder, may be finding new customers. So one of the best ways that you can both attract new customers and find ways to identify why you aren’t acquiring as many customers as you could be is to use social media to ask questions.
Consider posting questions on Facebook and Twitter like:
What do you look for in a builder?
What questions do you have about the construction process?
What do you consider a must-have in a custom-built home?
Where did you hear about us?
What would your dream home look like?
The answers to these questions could create some amazing opportunities for discussions with potential leads. For example, someone who is casually researching custom builders might be on your Facebook page, see the last question on your list, and answer it without realizing that you have a home model exactly like what they are looking for! Social media is all about engagement. By asking questions, listening to the responses, and engaging with those who take the time to speak with you, you can learn a lot, improve your brand, and increase the likelihood that these fans will become a paying customer in the future.
Share Testimonials
Sharing real life testimonials from happy customers is great advertising. By creating graphics that share positive reviews of your product, this builds a trust in your brand and the quality of your workmanship.
Share Relevant Content
Finally, those who have joined you on your social media pages are likely interested not only in home ownership, but also in home maintenance, some degree of interior decorating, and other relevant home topics. By sharing relevant content with them, you can increase their appreciation of you, and show that you are interested in building a two-way relationship with them—not just getting them to buy something. Content curation involves sharing links to relevant articles, blog posts, videos, and infographics created by both you and other media outlets. For example, you might post an article about interior design trends, or perhaps share a link to a blog post about maintenance tips for driveways—anything your target audience of homeowners would find useful.
Use Paid Advertising to Target Your Audience
Most social platforms have paid advertising built in to their interface. This allows you to target an audience by age, location and interest so that the right people will be seeing your content.
If you are interested in learning more about how we partner with you to utilize social platforms to sell homes, get in contact! In the meantime, you can view our portfolio & see who we’ve worked with.