First, let’s get this out of the way…😉
If your community or dealership is not on social media, you need to get on there ASAP. As you’ll see from the charts below, nearly 90% of Americans are on one of the social platforms, and that number is only going to go up. Whether it’s TikTok, Facebook, BeReal, Pinterest, or some other platform, every demographic of American is spending time on social media.
If your business is not on social, you’re missing out on A LOT of sales.
Where to be, and what to do
In a perfect world, you’d have the time and money to have your manufactured housing business on every social platform to ensure that you were in front of every possible demographic online. Unfortunately, that’s not an option for most. To prioritize where your business needs to, you can use the data below from Pew Research.
As you can see below, there are large differences in popularity between the different platforms. Unsurprisingly, YouTube came out on top, followed by Facebook, then Instagram, then Pinterest, etc…, all the way down to BeReal at the bottom.
Fortunately for home marketers, this list makes it easy to prioritize which social platforms to be on. Just start at the top, and work your way down.
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably in the housing business. The good news about the housing business is that EVERYONE needs a place to live, which makes just about everyone a potential buyer. Whether they’re 18 years old or 65 years old, everyone has to have a place to call home. For that reason, the table below should not be used to determine where to promote your manufactured housing business (use the chart above for that). The table below should be used to determine the type and style of content you create for each platform.
Each platform has a different core demographic that spends time there, and you need to tailor your content for that particular demographic. For example, the largest group of Facebook users are 30-49, female, make $30k-70K per year, are in a rural community, and lean slightly to the right politically. Not coincidentally, that’s very similar to the core manufactured housing buyer demographic, which explains why Facebook is such a great place to market manufactured homes.
The demographic for TikTok, on the other hand, is younger, more urban, and leans a good bit to the left politically. The ideal content for that user would be different from the core Facebook user. They both have an interest in homes, but the way the content is presented would have to be different to get the most engagement with each group. Creating the best content for different demographics is beyond the scope of this email, but that is certainly something that I will address in the future.
Let’s Talk About YouTube and Manufactured Housing Retailers and Communities
YouTube is the most popular social platform in the world, AND the second most visited website in the world.. Since YouTube came in at the #1 social media spot for just about every demographic, I need to address how to promote your business there, as it differs from the other social platforms. Most people visit YouTube for 1 of 2 reasons: to be entertained or to be informed – they want to smile or they want to learn something. Therefore, if you want to do well organically (not paid ads) on YouTube, you need to either educate or entertain.
There is a third option, however, and that is advertising. Because YouTube is a Google property, you can advertise on YouTube through your Google Ads account. All it takes is creating a YouTube channel, uploading your commercial, and targeting your audience for your ads based on location, demographic, interest, etc. If you’re interested in help some there, just click here to schedule a call with me to learn more about how Bild Media can run Google and YouTube ads for you.
I’m going to conclude with some very important social media advice. In response to the surging popularity of TikTok, Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc) is very likely in the process of modifying its algorithm to show its users what they’re interested in, rather than the pages/profiles they follow. This is a dramatic shift in how Meta serves content to its users.
Historically, marketers have pressed to get as many followers on a page as possible. As Meta modifies their algorithm to focus on interest, it will become more important to focus on quality content that your target buyer would be interested in. Meta has done this in response to the popularity of TikTok, whose algorithm focuses primarily on content that it believes interests the user, as opposed to showing content from pages that the user follows.
As you move forward with content on Meta, try to think in terms of what your ideal buyers are interested in. How can you promote the homes that you’re selling in such a way that it piques your market’s interest?