Facebook is still #1…
It may be facing some stiff competition in the social media space, but Facebook is still the king of the social media networks. There are over 235 million Facebook users in the US, and that number is growing daily. Some use it a lot, some just a little, but the bottom line is that most American are regularly on Facebook, and your manufactured home dealership should be too.
Look at Facebook’s user forecast from Statista below.
See a trend? Yep, the number of users is growing. And the number of brands on Facebook is growing too, which means you need to stand out in the crowd. Read on for 5 steps to help your Facebook posts stand out to new home buyers.
1. Choose the right house
You know the house…it looks good, everyone wants to see it when they come on the lot, and it’s the house you’ve got all your best furniture in. That’s the house you want to start with on social media. It’s probably not your best seller, but neither is the Corvette sitting front and center at Chevrolet dealer down the street. That Corvette is sitting out front because it gets attention – that’s what you want for this Facebook post – something that gets attention.
2. Pictures – Quality over Quantity
When it comes to pictures, more is not always better. 1 photo on a post certainly is not enough, but 30 is way too many. At Bild Media, we like to stick somewhere between 10 and 12 when we post homes for retailers. It’s enough for the user to get a feel for the house, but not enough to overwhelm them and keep them from looking at all of them. 2 pictures of a nice kitchen is perfect, but 7 angles of the same kitchen island is overwhelming.
I need to stress this next part…use the pictures provided by your manufacturer. They may not match the home you have exactly, but that’s ok. You want to get the user’s attention, not sell your exact lot model on Facebook. Your advertising on social media, not selling on social media. Manufacturers photos have decor, good lighting, finished homes, and they look great. Unless you’re doing all that with your own professional photographer, I recommend sticking with the photos from the manufacturer.
And finally, start with an exterior shot. We’re all conditioned to look at the exterior of a home first, then the interior (just look at any Zillow listing…) If you don’t include an exterior shot, users will think something is off and move on without engaging with the post.
3. Call them out and say something
Start off your post with something that will get someone’s attention. “Are you looking for a new home?”, “Check out this beautiful new home for sale!”, “You won’t believe this deal!”, and “Are you looking for a new Texas dream home?” are some good examples of something that will catch the users attention. Say something that will slow the user down from their scrolling.
4. Emojis
Here we all are, trying to sell homes and be professional, and I’m telling you to put little yellow smiley faces on your social media posts. 😎😎😎 But trust me, emojis on a post make it perform better. Every time. We’ve tested two identical posts against each other, with the only difference being emojis on one and not on the other, and the post with emojis outperforms EVERY time. They might seem silly (I thought they were at first), but they help posts perform. They catch the users eye and make them look at what you have to say.
5. Tell them what to do next – Call To Action (CTA)
Likes, comments, shares, and engagement are great, but I’m guessing most of you aren’t hanging out on Facebook for the social media clout. ; ) You’re there to market and advertise your homes, right? If so, you need to tell your fans what to do. Don’t just let them look at a couple pictures and scroll on. Whether you want users to call a number, send a message, click a link, or do something else entirely, you have to tell them what to do. If you don’t tell them, they’ll move on to another post, and you’ll lose the opportunity to sell a home.