This guest post was written by Bill Gassett, a Realtor with Re/Max Executive Realty who has been helping people move in and out of the MetroWest Massachusetts area for the past 26 years. Connect with him on Google Plus.
If you are just getting your feet wet with Pinterest for your real estate business, you may not know just how good the site can be as a marketing tool! You might also not realize that you need to have a variety of boards posted that are about a lot more than just the homes you have for sale. Using Pinterest for real estate well entails having a variety of useful boards.
A common mistake that is prevalent among many real estate agents is the natural instinct just to share real estate listings, which to most people is really boring. Have no fear — here are 25 ideas for real estate boards that you can create to bring your Pinterest strategy to the next level and drive tons of traffic in the process back to your blog or website.
Before getting into the creative ideas, here’s a quick recap on ways to make your Pinterest pins reach their full potential:
- Only pin interesting and high-quality images or videos. Blurry or boring pictures/videos have about a zero percent chance of getting repinned. Some of the best photos for pinning are of the long and skinny variety. They just stand out better in a sea full of pictures. There are times you will see a photo that has been pinned that is too small. You want to avoid this at all costs, as it will generate little activity.
- Apply for rich pins. Rich pins look much better than a standard pin. When you are on Pinterest the difference between a rich pin and non-rich pin is night and day. The rich pin will have a bold title and an enhanced Web link. You can get rich pins by following a few steps. First you need to mark up your site with Web coding known as schema. There are numerous plug-ins you can add to your site that will do this for you. Once you have done that, you apply for rich pins at Pinterest. Once approved, your pins will look beautiful.
- Keep descriptions short and sweet. People are on Pinterest to look at pictures, not read a novel. Make your descriptions keyword-rich but still short. You can even ask a question to get emotions involved and encourage comments (example: Can you picture yourself in this home?).
- Add your website to the description. Adding your website to the description will provide a link to your website on every person’s board who repins your article. While the link is “no followed,” it is still a link and makes it easier for the reader to have something easy to click to get to your site.
- Make hashtags your friend. They aren’t just for Twitter anymore. Pick two or three keywords or phrases that people would search to find your pins, add a hashtag to the front of them, and add them to your pin (example: #realestate #Boston homes, #dream home, #home inspiration, #home improvement, etc.).
OK, now that that’s covered, let’s get onto the Pinterest real estate board ideas:
Boards to attract buyers
- Home Decorating and Inspiration. Put together a board with a collection of rooms designed by famous designers.
- My Dream Home. Almost everyone on Pinterest has a “Dream Home” board, and your job is to find pictures that your followers will want to add to theirs. Think massive walk-in closets, stunning built-in pools, and homes with curb appeal to leave anyone drooling.
- Best Kid Room Ideas. A simple concept to find and an even easier one to gain you some repins.
- Outdoor Living. Photos of lush waterfalls, stellar decks, and anything that would make a potential buyer jealous.
- Style-themed boards. Make one with contemporary decor, another with traditional, and another with country living.
Boards to attract sellers
- Capitalizing on Small Spaces. Ideas for people to make the most of their space, like multipurpose furniture ideas, and tips and tricks to using color.
- DIY Weekend or Home Improvement Projects. Like adding a built-in bookshelf to the office or tips for repainting a bedroom.
- Organizing Inspiration. Pinterest fans love creative organization ideas, so why not make a board about it?
- Repurposing Ideas. Another popular theme on Pinterest: People love to make new things from old things and then brag about it.
- Tips for Staging. Pin images that show the ideal way to stage a home for sale.
- Community Boards. Most real estate agents have a territory they cover that includes at least a few cities or towns. Promote everything about the real estate communities you cover. Start first by having city or town pages on your website that have interesting and unique photos that people will want to pin. One of the many areas I cover is Milford, Mass. Take a look at my Milford Realtors guide as an example of what I am referring to. As you can see on this community page, there is a ton of useful content along with photos that can be pinned. Now take this concept and create a board for each of the towns you provide real estate services for and highlight all the best landmarks including schools, parks, restaurants, lakes and others that would be interesting to visitors. Remember, you want to get the point across that you are the local real estate market expert!
Boards to target certain areas
- Things to Do in ____. Pin pictures with links to all of the fun community events going on in the areas you have homes for sale. Make seasonal boards so your followers can find the perfect thing to do year-round.
- The Best Places to Eat in _____. Another Pinterest fave: food. Just because you are in the housing industry doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of it. Post mouth-watering images of some delectable treats from around the town.
- Popular Neighborhoods. Show overview photos, as well as specific homes, of the most desired neighborhoods in the city.
- Outdoor Fun. Focus on parks, lakes and other places locals can go to enjoy nature in their own backyard.
- The Best Places for a Wedding in _____. What would Pinterest be without wedding planning? Many people turn to Pinterest to choose every detail of their wedding, including the location, so you may as well get a piece of this very expensive pie.
Boards about you
- What Makes Me Laugh. This is where you can post anything you think is funny, like those memes going around or just a funny picture you found on the Internet. Something hilarious has a high repin percentage.
- My Favorite Recipes. Another chance to get on the food bandwagon that is Pinterest.
- Get to Know Me. Pin anything that you like or enjoy, like your hobbies, your style and anything else that will help your followers relate to you on a personal level. This is also a great place to link back to your blog or website’s About Me section.
- My Dream Vacations. Where do you want to go on vacation? Chances are someone else wants to go there, too. Find a stunning picture of this destination and it will probably have a high repin count.
- My Inspiration. You surely have a favorite quote or something that motivates you. There are a lot of inspirational images out there about getting in shape, beating the odds, never giving up, etc.
Business boards
- Homes for Sale. Of course, you need to have a few boards dedicated strictly to your business. You can either have one board with all of the homes you have for sale, or you can make several boards and sort the homes by price point, neighborhood or anything else you see fit. Remember, it’s all about the images, so invest some time in getting some professional photographer-worthy photos of the homes.
- Homes Sold. Use this as your online resume to show off the homes that are no longer on the market, thanks to you.
- Happy Clients. Have your past clients write a testimonial and post it on your website along with a picture. Pin this picture to Pinterest and you have a new board full of direct links to your website.
- Top Real Estate Articles — this is one of my favorites! Have a board that is dedicated to all of your best blog content along with other fantastic real estate-related articles you come across both on Pinterest along with other places online. This should be a showcase of the best of the best. You want to make sure this board has both excellent content and really great graphics!
- **Bonus Pinterest real estate board suggestion — Use group real estate boards to drive exponential traffic back to your sites. If there is one thing that group Pinterest boards can do, it’s dramatically increase your visibility and reach. Most group boards have a fairly decent amount of members and an even greater number of followers. A group board can really ratchet up your social media presence!
Market your boards socially
Once you have all of your boards in working order, you can’t forget about marketing well. Part of the reason you want to have all these great boards is to drive some business your way. The Pinterest boards you create and the content you share on them should ultimately lead back to visitors on your website.
Obviously, people can do that while on Pinterest, but you also can take advantage of using other sites to promote your Pinterest profile. One really good way to do that is by using Pinterest and Google Plus together as a marketing dynamo!
A good way to use Pinterest and Google Plus in unison is to drive people who visit your Google Plus page over to Pinterest. How do you manage that? Actually, it is very easy! When creating a post at Google Plus you can add text that says something like “Pin this to read later.” You will include a link to the pin on your board. When someone clicks this link on Google Plus they will be taken to Pinterest where they will be able to pin the article to an appropriate board!
You can also do something similar to this over on Facebook. Using one social media platform to drive traffic to another is a brilliant content marketing maneuver.
I hope you can put these 25 Pinterest real estate board suggestions to good use!
