When Snapchat signed multiple office leases in Venice Beach, its new urban campus made headlines. Today, real estate agents are in the news for using Snapchat to sell and rent properties.
According to Inman’s special report about the industry’s use of social media, Facebook is still seen as the most important platform among real estate professionals, but Snapchat is quickly becoming an important addition to brokers’ strategies. The app is giving us a glimpse into the future of digital marketing.
For any newcomers to the game, Snapchat is a messaging app with content that disappears after 10 seconds or less. Since launching in 2011, Snapchat has grown to serve advertising campaigns with major brands including CNN, McDonalds and more to its 100 million daily active users.
Here are seven reasons you should use Snapchat to sell real estate.
1. Showcase a realistic perspective of your listing
Without the ability to edit text and visuals, people can see the unfiltered view of your listing.
Using the photo and video camera on your smartphone, you can share content, or “snaps,” of a property walkthrough from your perspective. Agents can share a series of first-person views to create the sense that a client would experience living there.
It’s a great solution for interested buyers and renters who are unable to travel to the listing.
2. Grab customers’ full attention
When Snapchat first debuted, opinions were split about why people would join a platform where the content disappeared.
Because viewers have only a short time to see your message, their attention to your story is stronger as they consume the short video or photo before it vanishes.
On other social media platforms, people scroll past your posts in their newsfeed, but not on Snapchat.
3. Share information faster
There’s no need to take precious time crafting a clever image. With Snapchat, you can quickly capture a photo or video and share it without worrying about “likes” or image quality. Real estate agents can move swiftly and share information at a faster rate.
Steve Halpern, an agent at Compass, has been on Snapchat for about three months now, and he’s been surprised by its impact.
Halpern writes, “Since real estate is such a personality- and relationship-based business, being able to express yourself on the go without overthinking allows your buyer and potential clients to get a glimpse into your lifestyle.”
4. Build trust and your personal brand
On other social media platforms, you can edit your posts and presence endlessly until you look perfect.
With Snapchat, the content is more raw, authentic and relatable.
A great example of someone showcasing his unfiltered personality is Gary Vaynerchuk, who headlined Inman Connect San Francisco 2016.
As an agent or public figure, people can feel like they know the real you. The trust between you and your audience will grow — they know you can’t fake it on Snapchat.
5. Earn referrals from your network
When agent Dustin Brohm joined Snapchat, he didn’t expect to find referral business from his network. But building relationships is faster on this platform because it has a “face-to-face” style of interaction.
Still, in a blog Brohm notes that agents shouldn’t expect overnight success. He recommends committing to six months of consistent posting on the platform to grow a following.
Snapchat custom geofilter example.
6. Make your open house more interactive
Snapchat offers a feature called On-Demand Geofilters, which are sticker-like custom graphics that overlay users’ photos for a certain location and timeframe.
Next time you have an open house, you can make the event more interactive for guests who can select a custom filter for their posts. Once attendees share it in a photo, their friends will see the image and be aware of your listing and company.
7. Convert nearby people into clients
Need more people to know about your listing?
You can set up a Snapchat Geofilter for your listing and activate the geofence, or coverage of the image location, to include nearby businesses.
When someone is on Snapchat at the coffee shop a block away, he or she can learn about your offer through a Snapchat Geofilter.
It’s like having multiple billboards at a very low price over dozens of streets.
On the flip side, advertisements on Facebook can only target down to a 1.5 mile radius, while Snapchat Geofilters can be as small as 20,000 square feet.
Now you have seven reasons to use Snapchat in your real estate marketing campaigns. Go forth, and be authentic.
Mayra Alejandra is the CEO and co-founder of Makeshake in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow her on Twitter or Makeshake on Twitter.
