How to use Pinterest to market real estate and help your SEO
I am by no means an authority on Pinterest and how to use it to market real estate, but I’m learning and sharing a few tips. The best article I’ve read thus far was written by Bill Gassett. It includes a 20-minute video that is well worth watching. In fact, read Bill’s post before you read further on this post. And then read it again afterwards.
The video linked in Bill’s post provides some exciting information about the popularity of Pinterest and reinforces why you need to be pinning. Pinterest is the 3rd most popular social network in the U.S. in terms of traffic. Reports show 25 million monthly unique visitors. A call-to-action pin description sees an 80% increase in engagement.
I can’t really remember when I started on Pinterest, but there’s a lot of things I’ve done right and many things I need to go back to edit.
What I did figure out early on was that I needed to pin from MY web site instead of uploading an image. If you upload a photo, it will say “Uploaded by Lori Cain.” If you PIN a photo from your web site, it will say “Pinned from tulsahomeforsale.net” and therefore provides a link back to your web site. As that pin gets re-pinned by others, it’s easy to see how this helps your SEO (search engine optimization).
I started a Board called “Tulsa Resources” which includes pins to my site for my real estate team, a real estate glossary, mortgage calculator, Tulsa parks, Tulsa public and private schools, testimonials and my Preferred Vendor list. What I DIDN’T do correctly is tag my pins so that they would be found in searches. So, for example, on Lori’s Real Estate Team, I might use hashtags #TulsaRealEstate #TulsaRealtor #TulsaHomesForSale #TipsForTulsaSellers #TipsForTulsaBuyer. I don’t believe hashtags are case sensitive. There’s also a pin on that board linking to a blog post I wrote explaining CMAs.
I haven’t been consistent about marketing my listings on Pinterest. Right now they are on my board “Tulsa Real Estate Rocks.” Some people create a board for each individual listing, and I think that’s a pretty good idea, as you’ll be able to pin photos of the dining room, kitchen, master bedroom – more opportunities to include descriptions and searchable hashtags.
How to use Pinterest to market real estate and help your SEO
My best advice is to find knowledgeable pinners and consider how their boards are titled, arranged – and see what they’re pinning. The two pinners I recommend you check out are Bill Gassett and Lynn Pineda. Please note their pin descriptions and use of hashtags.
Also I encourage you to join GROUP Boards and here are two to get you started:
Pinterest Real Estate Group Board: If you would like an invite to join the Pinterest Real Estate group send it to Bill@remaxexec.com #realestate #realty #staging #mortgage #finance #homeimprovement
Tips for Selling your home Group Board: To contribute, email Lynn Pineda at LynnP@ImagineYourHouse.com #sellingyourhome #homesellingtips #realestate
I also spend a fair amount of time on Google+ and encourage you to do the same. Something Bill Gassett is doing there fascinated me. When he posts a link to a blog post, he always prefaces by a description and appropriate hash tags, but he ALSO includes a link that says, “Pin it to read later: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/6966574397354470/.” Well, there are plenty of times that I see a post I want to read that I don’t have time to read, so I think this call to action really works. It gets the reader to pin Bill’s post to their Board which shows more engagement on Bill’s site and allows him to reach other pinners he would not otherwise be able to reach. Smart guy.
When I was working on our casa remodel, I created a board for that. As I found kitchen or bathroom ideas that I wanted to share with my contractor, I added them to my board. You can invite your contractor to share this board with you by editing the board and inviting her.
For grins, I searched “Tulsa homes for sale” on Pinterest. My web site is TulsaHomeForSale.net. I couldn’t believe how many pins had been re-pinned from my site. In fact, someone pinned a photo of a master bedroom closet in a home I had listed for sale in south Tulsa. I didn’t pin that photo on Pinterest, so they must have pinned directly from my site. Awesome!
Of course, Pinterest is fun too, so don’t make it all about work. Just as you don’t want to scam your Facebook news feed with all of your listings, you want to share some fun things on Pinterest as well. It lets people get to know you, and they will want to ENGAGE with you.
There is no right or wrong way to pin, so just get started. If you google “Pinterest best practices” you’ll find oodles of articles to read. Or you can pin them to your “Read Later” Board. [Smile.]
Please do follow my Pinterest boards, and I’ll follow you back!
Content written and published by Lori Cain.
Great Blog on how to use Pinterest to market properties and increase seo. We as real estate professionals are so lucky to have access to all the social media. Where else other than the MLS can you tell so many people about a home you are representing. With just little bit of knowledge about how to lay out the blog and where and when to post it you can send your message to thousands of people in just one click. According to Google Analytics, Pinterest is one of the largest sites that point people to my real estate web site. If you are not using Pinterest I would highly recommend to start using it.
Allen – social media has certainly changed the way we do business. I am also grateful for the many platforms we have to promote our listings. Thank you for stopping by!
Excellent post Lori that really drives home that agents should be using Pinterest in all of their marketing. Like you state, the key is to get started!
So true Anita. We’re not just “playing” on the computer!!