Open home events are a great way to promote a real estate listing and attract potential buyers. But it also takes time and effort to set up. As such, you must have a solid promotion strategy to attract as many prospects as possible to maximize your ROI.
“Yes, I’m already on MSL,” you may say.
Although listing on MLS is a must, it’s no longer a be-all-end-all. If you haven’t already, it’s time to go beyond MLS. Here are our top ideas for promoting an open house event:
Local Publications
They can help you effectively reach a targeted audience living in a specific area and are therefore most likely to search for homes there. For example, our Open Home Combo Package promotes your listing on both print and digital publications in the Bay Area to help you maximize exposure to local communities that already trust our partner publishers.
Facebook Ads
Leverage the vast amounts of data and advanced targeting options on the platform to deliver your ads to audience segments by geographic location, household income, age, interests, and more. Use LeadHax to automate the process and ensure that your ads reach the right people at the right time to optimize your budget.
Facebook Events
Create a Facebook event and invite your followers to join. You can post additional information about the property and the neighborhood during the days leading up to the open house to build buzz and anticipation while staying top of mind. Also, incorporate relevant hashtags into your posts to help increase exposure.
Real Estate Websites
More consumers are using websites such as Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor to look for listings and open house events. These sites are highly competitive, so make sure to put your best foot forward by writing a compelling description of the property and using professional photography to create a positive first impression.
Nextdoor
This social platform connects people living in specific neighborhoods and amplifies the power of word-of-mouth marketing. You can post the open house event on the Nextdoor events calendar to reach more people already living in the area and, therefore, more likely to search for homes there.
Your Website
Don’t forget to add the event to your website. Besides the “listing” section, you can create an “events” tab to highlight open house events. To give your visitors additional details and drive more traffic, write a blog post to tell a story about the property and talk about the neighborhood (which can also earn you some local SEO brownie points!)
Email Marketing
Promote the open house event to your email subscribers who already know and trust you. Besides announcing the event to the entire list, you can create segments based on attributes such as income, location preferences, etc., and send a series of communications to prospects who are most likely to be interested in the listing.
Your Client’s Network
After creating all the content, social media posts, and listings, ask your clients (i.e., the sellers) to share them with their personal networks. Make it easy for them by writing up descriptions, sharing photos and videos, and recommending hashtags they can use to support the promotional effort.
The Money is in the Follow Up
After you have put in the work to attract homebuyers to the open house event, make sure to capture their information (e.g., using a tablet on which they can sign up to your email list) so you can follow up with an email campaign to keep the momentum and build relationships.
Remember, these attendees are interested in properties in the area. Even if this specific open house isn’t a good fit, you can keep in touch, stay top of mind, and promote other open house events to them in the future.
