The real estate industry is an ever-evolving marketing landscape for real estate agents, and 2020 was no different. As the year dramatically changed for people worldwide, businesses had to adapt or get left behind, including those in the real estate market.
Real estate marketing continued to shift towards online-first marketing strategies. Social media grew as a way to connect with home sellers and buyers. The use of video increased substantially in both content creation and as a way to meet. Additionally, 3D tours of listings became more prevalent than ever.
With these new strategies in mind, we predict the following real estate marketing trends to be huge in 2021:
Social Media Marketing
Social media is arguably the number one way to connect with your target audience and generate valuable leads. In 2020, statistics show that 79% of Americans are on social media. That is a pretty large jump from 50% of Americans on social media in 2011. More importantly, millennials, who make up over one-third of home buyers, also account for most social media users.
There are several ways to use social media for your real estate business successfully. Social media isn’t just about having an active business profile. It’s about connecting, engaging, and informing your audience. As you grow your real estate business on social media, make sure to pay attention to your page analytics to see what is working or not working for you.
We have found that the most successful social media platforms for real estate are Facebook and Instagram. These networks make it easy to share listings and giveaways as posts, create events like open houses, go live for house tours, and so much more.
Instagram frequently adds new features to its app, like Instagram Reels and Instagram Guides. Facebook allows users to join group pages as a way to connect with like-minded individuals. Many groups are localized, and some are real estate-focused. Facebook and Instagram both make it easy to generate leads through advertisements and sponsored posts.
Other social media networks for real estate agents include LinkedIn, Twitter, and even TikTok.
To learn more about how to use social media to grow your brand, click here.
Content Marketing
Like social media marketing, content marketing is crucial for real estate agents to grow their businesses online. For a website to rank high on Google, it needs to offer valuable content to its readers. Good content drives website traffic, and the right traffic can convert into important real estate leads.
Content also helps fuel social media marketing. Without content, there isn’t much to share with your audience! Content can include different mediums, too, not just blog posts. We predict that video content will be significant in 2021, especially on social media platforms like Instagram.
By 2021, consider creating a calendar filled with blog topics, video ideas, and social media posts. The more engaging, value-based content you provide your audience, the more you can expect your business to grow online.
3D Virtual Tours
Virtual tours for real estate listings increased dramatically in 2020. Many people stayed home during the hottest season in real estate and relied on alternative ways to view listings. Because of this, virtual walkthroughs like Zillow 3D Home® not only became a convenience for real estate agents but a necessity.
When real estate agents use Zillow 3D Home® as their virtual tour vendor, their listings on Zillow receive two times more traffic than listings that do not use Zillow 3D Home®. Zillow also places an icon on a Zillow 3D Home® featured listing, which prompts buyers to view the home over other listings in the same area.
We predict virtual tours to see exponential growth in 2021 as a real estate marketing trend. Many people nationwide are currently interested in relocating to different cities and states without seeing properties in person. Virtual tour technology will help real estate agents sell listings to out-of-state buyers as the demand grows.
Professional Photography
As we mentioned above, home buyers heavily rely on the internet to find and view listings this year. While professional real estate photography is always an incredible value for agents, it’s more important now than ever before.
Professional real estate photography gives listings 60% more attention online than amateur real estate images. Not all professional real estate photography is created equal, though. For instance, Virtuance’s HDReal® images receive 2x more clicks than other professional listing images.
If you are searching for a real estate vendor to help you elevate your listings in 2021, take a look at this article.
Single Property Websites
A single property website is another effective way to market your listing online. Real estate agents can use a single property website as a way to help their clients sell a listing online while avoiding the competition of third party websites and their MLS. While agents should always post the listing on third-party listing sites, like Zillow, and their MLS, a single property website can have significant benefits to the agent and their client.
On top of providing more marketing content for your social media channels and website, a single property website is a powerful lead generation tool. In 2021, we predict that single property websites will help real estate agents in several ways. A single property website encourages buyers to only focus on a specific listing.
A single property website, like the Virtuance Marketing Suite, allows buyers to navigate to your other listings, keeping you top of mind. Lastly, a single property website helps you stand out from your competition at listing appointments. Sellers want to see what tools you offer to help them sell their home fast and for more money.
For these reasons alone, we predict that this marketing trend will carry over into 2021 and beyond.
Our predictions for the top real estate marketing trends for 2021: Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Virtual Tours, Professional Photography, Single Property Websites.
How does 2021 compare to this year? Take a look at our 2020 post: Hottest Real Estate Marketing Trends in 2020.
