Every single real estate agent should be obsessed with finding new ways to funnel traffic to their site. More traffic means more potential leads, which in the long term, means more clients.
The question is, “What is the best way for a real estate professional to drive traffic to their website?”
The Top Methods for Driving Real Estate Traffic
If you are striving to become one of the top agents in your area, you need to funnel a large amount of the search engine traffic to your brand. Some of the typical ways agents accomplish this are:
- Real estate blogging
- Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, etc)
- Video Marketing (Vimeo or YouTube)
- Paid Advertising (i.e. Google Adwords and Facebook Ads)
- Email marketing
These are all extremely effective ways to increase the amount of traffic you are receiving. So what else can you do?
The Forgotten Platform that Homebuyers are Using
We know from our lessons in SEO that the forgotten areas of content are often the places where it is easiest to quickly stand out. There is a social media tool that most real estate agents have forgotten. Bypassing this platform is a big mistake if you are looking for new website traffic sources.
The forgotten social media tool we are referring to is… Pinterest.
When most people think of Pinterest they conjure mental images of DIY crafts and delicious cupcake recipes. Pinterest is a great place for finding new craft ideas but it can also be a powerful tool for real estate agents.
Why Real Estate Agents Should Consider Pinterest
If your go-to social media platform is Twitter, you may be surprised to learn that a “pin” is 100 times more spreadable than a tweet.
What about Facebook? A pin has a half-life or is active 1,600X longer than your average Facebook post. What does this mean for you as an agent? A well-crafted piece of content on Pinterest may be highly visible online for a week whereas a Facebook post has about 90 minutes to gain traction.
Pinterest Statistic For Agents To Consider
- Pinterest has about 175 million active users that use the social media platform at least once a month.
- 81% of all Pinterest users are females, with the median age of 40.
We know what you are thinking, “But how much do they make?”
30% of Pinterest users earn over $50,000 per year, while 10% of users have a household income of $125,000 or greater. That sounds like a large group of social media users who could easily qualify for a mortgage to us.
First Things First: Sign up for a Business Account.
If you are not active on Pinterest right now, simply by signing up for a business account and regularly submitting content on the platform should give your traffic a massive bump.
However, if you already have a personal account that you wish to use for your real estate business, be sure to switch to a business account. This will give you access to Pinterest analytics so you can see which pins are the most popular and who is viewing those pieces of content.
Make Your Real Estate Pictures Pinterest Perfect
There is an art to creating pictures and other forms of media for Pinterest. First of all, your image has to be the correct size. Pinterest is all about vertical imagery due to the fact that over 80% of Pinterest users browse their feed on their smartphone.
Aim for an aspect ratio of 4:5 or 2:3.
Example of Pinterest Image
What does this mean in terms of height and width? Let’s say you took a picture of a “dream home” to share with your followers. If the width of this picture is 500, the length should be 750 to achieve the 2:3 ratio.
As a general rule of thumb on Pinterest, longer is better. Why? When a user is scrolling through their feed, a longer image will be on the screen longer, increasing the chances that they notice it.
Pinterest Picture Tips for Agents
If you are new to the platform, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:
- Use the highest quality images you can find. If possible, work with a professional photographer or invest in a full-frame DSLR camera.
- Utilize text on your images. This attracts the user and helps them instantly understand what your pin is about. Not comfortable with Photoshop? Find a designer in your hometown!
- Don’t show your face. Images without visible human faces tend to receive about 20% more repins.
- Make the background exciting. A pin of an object floating on a plain white background will receive less attention than the same object on an aged wood table.
- Regardless of your political opinions, red is better than blue. On average, images that utilize red tones get twice as many repins than those that use blue on Pinterest
Use Pinterest as a Funnel for Prospects
As a real estate agent on Pinterest, you have two main objectives. First, you want to attract the attention of Pinterest users who are interested in buying or selling their homes. Your second objective is to take this attention and funnel it back to your website. There are many ways to achieve this but the most common method is linking to your site in your pin descriptions.
If you have created a valuable piece of content such as an infographic, offer further related content if a user decides to visit your site.
For example, your infographic might be about the top 5 mistakes first time homebuyers make when selecting a home. At the bottom of your infographic, link to a blog post where you explain 10 further mistakes that a new homebuyer should avoid.
Attention is the Currency of Real Estate
Pinterest is a valuable tool but it is just as complex as the other social media platforms. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have success immediately. Just like anything else, it will take time to learn the ins and outs of the platform but if you stick with it, you will have a new source of valuable website traffic to enjoy.