Coldwell Banker Previews International has revamped its website and social media platforms to
Craig Hogan, vice president of luxury at Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
reflect the company’s increased focus on luxury buyers. The improvements include an updated social media strategy on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, and a reboot of Previews Inside Out, the brokerage’s blog.
“The evolution of our Coldwell Banker Previews International digital platform allows affluent consumers to experience luxury homes like never before,” said Craig Hogan, vice president of luxury at Coldwell Banker Real Estate, in a press release.
“We know that consumers in the luxury market want authentic, meaningful connections, and our content allows them to truly experience the luxury lifestyle.”
Instagram: ‘all luxury, all the time’
Hogan says the updates spurred from the need to evolve, stay ahead of the competition and maintain the high level of quality that consumers and followers expect from Coldwell Banker.
The process began in August 2015, when Hogan and his social media team sat down and evaluated their expansive social media and digital footprint. He said they looked at their “hits and misses” and examined analytics to understand how they were doing.
The company was already on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, but they quickly realized there was room to step their game up on the latter platforms.
“Instagram is a little bit like catnip, right? It’s full of the most beautiful images, and for real estate — luxury real estate — the use of Instagram is at an all-time high,” Hogan said.
The social media team decided it was best to make Instagram and Pinterest “all luxury, all the time,” with a focus on video and beautiful, stately images.
Blog: a focus on storytelling
In addition to upgrading its social media strategy, the company overhauled its blog, Previews Inside Out.
Before August, Hogan says the content flow of the blog peaked at 12 to 15 unique pieces of content per year. Now, the blog boasts 20 to 25 unique pieces of content per month.
The blog’s crown jewel is the “Home of the Week” series, which garners between 100,000 and 200,000 views per home, per week.
Hogan said the key to success has been a focus on storytelling rather than trying to gain new buyers and sellers.
“We engage people with the idea of living in luxury real estate,” he said. “There’s no need to try to sell homes. People already know we do that.”
What’s up next?
Going forward, Hogan says the company will focus on producing videos, rich imagery and engaging storytelling.
“It’s about storytelling at a level that no one else is able to do. When all these things are pulled together, the story that we tell of homes and the story we tell of the luxury real estate space is interesting to everybody,” he says.
“Even if you can’t afford it, you want to know about it.”
