Facebook Marketing: Using Video to Sell a Home

2018/04/20

Using video to sell a home seems like a great idea to most real estate agents, but maybe it sounds complicated or you’re not sure how to get started. Fear not: If you know how to post a listing photo to Facebook, you’re already halfway to posting videos there, too. As one of the most established, most used social media sites available, Facebook is a powerful tool for sending your message quickly and easily to an audience who wants to see it.

Here’s how to leverage Facebook marketing and use video to sell a home.

Why use video on Facebook?



With more than 1 billion daily active users in the U.S., Facebook is the most active social media site out there.Video marketing in real estate is on the rise, and Facebook has seen significant jumps in video posts as the site continues to makes it easier for users to add and share video content. In less than eight months, the average number of videos viewed daily on Facebook has doubled, from 4 billion to 8 billion, and the organic reach of video posts is 135 percent greater than photo posts. That means your content is being promoted more than photos and is even more discoverable.

Videos allow you to engage with your audience more personally by giving them a peek “behind the scenes” of your business and showcasing the people who make it run. When you use video to build a rapport with your audience,you’re also building trust, credibility and loyalty. Chances are you’re already speaking to your followers and contacts with photos; it’s simple to add video and make a bigger impression on them.

When creating videos for Facebook, less is more. Videos between 45¬ and 90 seconds long are viewed in their entirety more often than longer videos. The time limitation forces you to focus on a single topic — such as a home’s recently redone kitchen or a neighborhood’s favorite dog park — but it also means you can create and share more videos that tell the stories that sell homes. Facebook daily users spend an average of 20 minutes on the site each day and are definitely spending part of that time clicking on videos.

Facebook makes it easy

One of the fastest growing trends right now is live streaming video, which is exactly what it sounds like — streaming a live video to your news feed — and it’s easy to do using Facebook Live on your mobile device. Simply create a new status update on your personal or business page, tap the “Go Live” icon, enter a description of your video and then select who can see your stream. When you’re ready to stream, click Go Live and start shooting. You can broadcast for up to 90 minutes, so it’s ideal for showcasing your listings, sharing client testimonials, touring neighborhoods and local amenities — and communicating any other messages you use to build your online brand. When you’re done streaming, the clip posts to your timeline so you can share it later with followers and friends who couldn’t join you during the live stream.



Add your Zillow profile video

If you have a Zillow profile video, you can share it through Facebook. You can also upload a video from your camera or cellphone. Either way, the process is simple: Click Add Photos/Video, select the video you want to share, then click Post.

When you upload a video to your Facebook business page, a menu appears underneath the thumbnail of your video where you can select a call to action that prompts viewers to learn or watch more. For each video, you can add a URL and description that leads them to more video content.

You can easily embed the post of your video onto your website to get even greater coverage of your content. In Facebook, click the down arrow icon in the upper right corner of the post, then select Embed Post or Embed Video. A dialog box pops up with the code you can copy and paste to your website.

Create featured videos or playlists

 You can have a featured video appear on the left side of your timeline and also at the top of your page’s Video section. This could be your house of the week, your newest listing or a tour of the next “hot” neighborhood. On your Facebook page, click Videos to navigate to your Video section. Once there, click Add Featured Video and select the one you want to feature.

You can also create video playlists and curate your content into logical groups — home tours, community insiders, client testimonials, industry info, etc. — so that followers can watch what most interests them and easily find similar content. Navigate to the Video section, click Create Playlist, add a title and an optional description, then add the videos you want to include in that playlist.

Videos auto-play on Facebook; visitors to your news feed don’t have to click anything to watch your content. As they scroll through, your videos begin to play without sound. To hear the audio, they just click or tap the video. If they don’t want to watch, they simply scroll past the video.

Measure your performance

As with your other marketing efforts, you should measure the performance of your video posts. In addition to the number of people who liked or shared each video, Facebook’s Video Insights show you how many people watched your videos, how long they watched and how many watched the video from start to finish. Use the metrics to find out which types of videos resonate most with your followers so you can precisely target your video marketing efforts.

Video is an inexpensive way to reach your audience, and Facebook makes it easy with simple processes and intuitive tools for you, and a pleasant viewing experience for your page visitors. With so many talking points about a home for sale, including features, neighborhood amenities and comparable properties, you can populate your video section on Facebook in no time flat — and perhaps sell the home just as quickly.