“You can’t judge a book by its cover” is not really a relevant statement in the real estate industry. Both buying and selling a home are processes that rely heavily on visuals. So, it makes sense that Pinterest — the social sharing site made up of virtual bulletin boards — is a useful visual marketing tool for real estate professionals. Indeed, this service can showcase amazing photos of properties, offer inspiration and lifestyle ideas to clients and make thousands aware of your brand simply because of your strategically curated boards.
That being said, having a great real estate Pinterest account requires more than just gathering a bunch of pretty images of houses and sticking them all in the same place. It’s important to make sure that your boards are relevant to your audience and engage them in some way. If you’re creating a Pinterest account for real estate and aren’t sure where to begin, check out our guide to getting started with Pinterest. Inman News also recently gave some great Pinterest board suggestions for realtors. One notable takeaway from this board brainstorm: A realtor’s Pinterest boards do not need to be (and should not be) centered solely around listings. (That’s what the MLS search on your website is for!)
It can be tough to decide how you want to approach making your Pinterest boards your own, so we’ve gathered five great examples of realtors who are doing it well in very different ways on Pinterest — whether it’s changing the game on photo pinning or amassing thousands of follower. Here’s why we love them:
1. Attracting Both Buyers and Sellers
Angela Batchelor
It’s clear from Angela’s boards that she cares about design. Her boards are eye-catching but also provide useful information. She has pinned a mix of infographics featuring advice for buyers and sellers, combined with tons of interior design, architecture and home makeover boards. She successfully expresses her personal taste with boards like “Interior Love” and “Rustic Chic,” while showing that she’s marketing to both buyers and sellers with her “Buying a Home” and “Homes Sold” boards.
Angela’s “Selling Your Home” Board:
Follow Angela the REALTOR®’s board Selling Your Home on Pinterest.
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
— JIMMY JOHNSON
2. Targeting Specific Areas
Debe Maxwell, Charlotte Real Estate Agent
Debe does an excellent job of making her boards specific to the area she works in. Rather than just featuring Charlotte homes, she has individual boards for restaurants, places, buyers’ tips and sellers’ tips, all specific to Charlotte. She even has a board of “Featured Charlotte Videos,” which is a newer feature that Pinterest supports. To top it off, she mixes in some personal interests with boards like “Vintage” and “Savvy Style.”
3. Giving Advice
Maggie Odle
Maggie’s boards are full of tips that go above and beyond what you might expect from your realtor: She features a wide variety of topics such as renting, moving, downsizing, and home-buying. She also has boards specific to areas of the house, ranging from fireplaces to bars to porches. Her Pinterest page shows that she cares about her clients and wants to provide them with as many resources as possible.
4. Thinking It Through
Melinda Gunther, Naples Realtor’s
What stands out in Melinda’s boards is the extreme organization and thought put into them. She organizes everything by area and then has subcategories such as “Communities,” “Restaurants,” “Outdoor Living Spaces,” “Architects” and “Drool-Worthy Dining.” If you’re looking for something specific in Melinda’s area, you shouldn’t have any trouble navigating her clearly labeled boards.
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
— BILL GATES
5. Making It Your Own
The Corcoran Group has a bunch of aesthetically pleasing “Places” boards. Each board features a main image with the title of feature place overlaid on it. This unique approach makes the viewer focus on the images without having to glance at the board titles (epitomizing the power of Pinterest visuals). Beyond their “Places” boards, they include other categories such as “Styles” and “Social.” We love how they took an idea and ran with it to make their Pinterest page their own.
Corcoran’s “Social (Instagram)” Board:
Follow The Corcoran Group’s board Social (Instagram) on Pinterest.
Quick Tips for Marketing Your Pinterest Profile
Now that we’ve given you some Pinspiration, you’re probably wondering how to drive traffic to your boards. Here are a few tips:
Make your pins count. Be sure to include as much detail as possible in each pin’s description (without overwhelming your fellow pinners with too much text). Pinterest is highly visual, but the searches still pull from keywords. Also, posting high-quality images increases your chances that other pinners will favorite or repin your post.
Follow, Like, Repin, and Hashtag. If you’re familiar with Twitter, you probably know that a great way to get followers is to follow other users, “favorite” or Retweet other users’ tweets, and use hashtags to your favor. The same goes for Pinterest!
- Follow: Be sure to follow other users that have similar interests or are in your area. You can do searches, browse by category or link to your Facebook contacts to find great users to follow.
- Like: Click the Like button on any pin that catches your eye. The pinner or other likers of the pin might become your new followers.
- Repin: Repinning shows your support for someone’s pin. This can also get you a new follower.
- Hashtags: Yes, Pinterest now supports hashtags! Use hashtags within your pin descriptions to show up in searches for specific topics, or on the results page when someone clicks that hashtag from another pin.
Connect to other social media accounts. Under Pinterest settings, there’s an entire tab dedicated to social networks. Pinterest makes it easy to connect to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Yahoo. This way, you can share your pins on all your social networks and attract more followers with just the click of a button.
We hope this inspiration helps jumpstart experimentation with your own real estate Pinterest boards. Happy pinning!
What other creative Pinterest ideas excite you? Let us know in the comments below!
