Run a Facebook Live Stream
Imagine a buyer across town sees your listing, loves the layout, the price and the location but can’t make it to your open house. She may flag it for later review or even email you, but, soon, she’s off to the next page view and your listing blurs in with the rest.
Now imagine that same buyer sees the same house on your Facebook Live video. She wants to know how big the master closets are, so you walk her through the master suite in real time on a virtual tour. She books an appointment to see the house in person. After the open house, you post your video on your site for additional engagement, and you get two more offers.
A virtual open house is a game-changer, especially when you factor in weather, compressed sale durations and picky sellers who may be averse to hosting a flood of strangers into their home.
Tease with Video Email
If you’re not comfortable with a live stream or you don’t have a big social following, you can still capture buyers’ attention with a video that you pre-record and directly embed into emails sent out prior to the open house. A video featuring a short tour of the house creates an inviting way to pre-sell your prospects on the best attributes of the house.
Capture Leads with a Digital Sign-In
Have you ever received a hot lead only to find out you missed the phone number or email due to a prospect’s sloppy handwriting on the open house sign-in sheet? Create a great first impression by using a digital sign-in sheet on a tablet or laptop. Inform your guests that they’ll receive email updates on the property when they sign into your event. Or team up with a local coffee shop and offer free coupons for those who sign-in.
Time It to Drive Traffic
Veteran agents and brokers know that a crowded open house only stirs a sense of urgency among buyers. One great way to drive traffic is to make the listing active on a Thursday, block all showings Thursday and Friday, then host your open house on Saturday.
Virtually Stage Every Room
Several apps allow virtual staging of the home’s interior in a variety of décor styles. If a home buyer can visualize the space in a décor style more in line with their wants and needs, they’re more inclined to engage.
After the guests leave, email the images that resonated most. Even if you offer digital staging options, you might also print out old-school floor plans of each room with measurements to help buyers envision their furniture placement.
Get an Exclusive as a Premier Agent
By claiming a property listing on Zillow, you can include details about your real estate open house for free and engage with millions of home shoppers on the largest real estate network on the Internet. Zillow Premier Agents appear as the exclusive agent for the listing.
Create a Single Property Website
Remember, most open house attendees are visiting several houses, making the recall of each property’s features and location a bit of a memory game. To help your listing stand out from the crowd, create a single property website with multiple photos of the house. Then, hand each guest a flier with a short URL link or QR code linking to the site once they leave the house.
Open houses can be a great way to market yourself and the home you are showing so make sure to reach as many consumers as possible using these digital marketing tips!
