The world of advertising has changed tremendously over the last decade. Gone are the Mad Men days, when businesses relied on print, television, and word-of-mouth to sell their products and services. While these avenues are still relevant and important to advertising in real estate, we cannot ignore the fact that we are living in a digital age, where people get their news from websites and interact with friends and family through social media platforms. Realtors® know this and have been turning to the Web for easy marketing channels. You might be wondering how this applies to you as a seller. Shouldn’t your real estate agent be worrying about the marketing of your home?

Well, let’s think about the sheer number of people you know who use social media, and then add that to your real estate agent’s sphere of influence. Then think about how many people your peers know, how many followers those peers have… We could go on for days. Remember Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It’s sort of like that. Even though your Realtor® will go above and beyond to sell your real estate in Charleston, it’s imperative that you do your part to take the reach of information to a higher level. So what exactly can you do as a seller to help market your home? Chances are you are among the roughly 1.11 billion Facebook users, 500 million Twitter users, and 350 million Google+ users, for example. Using your personal social media accounts to help market your home will get the information out more prospects than if your Realtor® does it all on his or her own. Here are a few tips to use to sell your home with social media.

Facebook: This is where you get personal. Post pictures of your home. Give reasons why you love this house or advice for people who are looking to buy in your neighborhood. Typically, your followers on Facebook are people you know in everyday life, so it’s safe to say that they’ll appreciate the personal touch you can give to marketing your home. It’s a more interactive alternative to having them click on a link to view your real estate listing.

Twitter: With Twitter, you can expand your circle even further. You should use a less personal approach here, but you will be able to reach more people by using things like hashtags and trending topics. Adding a hashtag (#) to your tweet automatically puts it in a certain category. Anyone who searches that topic can now see your tweet. Examples of hashtag topics could be #realestate, #Charleston (or any other city or neighborhood), #CharlestonLiving, #CHS, #CHSrealestate, and so forth and so on. You might even choose to search topics on Twitter related to the area where you live. For example, you might find a tweet like this:

House-hunting in Summerville. It’s so stressful! #realestate

That’s a prime opportunity to put your property in front of a new prospect. You might reply with a sympathetic tweet and add a link to your home’s listing or your agent’s Twitter handle.

Google+: While Google+ isn’t quite as popular as Facebook, it isn’t a ghost town either. More people are using this platform than you realize. If you don’t have an account, think about signing up. Since Google+ is similar to Facebook in nature, you can use it similarly. However, make sure you don’t post the same content over every social media platform. People will be bored and start ignoring it. Think about posting daily pictures of different areas of your home and telling followers what you love about the living room, the kitchen, the garden, etc. Don’t forget to add links to the listing.

 

Pinterest: People tend to forget about Pinterest when they think of social media marketing. “Isn’t it just a place for me to post and find do-it-yourself projects and recipes?” you might ask. Some people think of it that way, but do a quick experiment. Go to Pinterest and search home décor. You’ll find a plethora of beautiful rooms, DIY décor ideas, holiday decorations… The list goes on and on. You might take some pictures of particularly attractive areas in your home and post them on appropriate boards with relevant hashtags. You never know—someone who’s looking for a home in your area might be drooling over your gorgeous home office or luscious garden.

 

These are just a few examples of how to use social media to market your home. While your agent will no doubt be using these platforms to get the word out about your home being on the market, your additional posts will help get your Charleston real estate listing in front of more potential buyers.