WARNING: THIS CAN BE ADDICTIVE!! Have you heard of the latest hot craze among social media users? It’s Pinterest. And oh my goodness, it’s FUN! (Yes, I am addicted, can you tell?) You know how dreamers like to make scrapbooks of what we would like to do to our homes or gardens? Well, Pinterest is like a virtual stack of cut-out magazine pictures, only it’s organized, easy to sort through, and sharable with the world.
Now I have not yet seen many Realtors using Pinterest specifically for real estate listings, but you know what? Why not? It’s perfect! Your beautiful listing images can be spread across many users’ “boards” very quickly. Other businesses are finding a way to use it, and you should too.
Here are my step-by-step directions on how to get involved with Pinterest and how to use it for your real estate business. Be careful though, it’s easy to while away the hours dreaming about everything you hadn’t thought of doing before you saw it on Pinterest.
- Get an invitation. If you ask around on Facebook or other social media, you will likely find someone who can invite you.
- Set up your profile with your usual information, website, etc.
- Create “boards” for your interests.
- Real Estate Listings. Call it something catchy like “Awesome MyTown Homes for Sale”.
- Staging Pictures. Again, think of something catchy to title your board. These will be pictures that you take of your own staging and also pictures that you find and pin from other sites.
- Interior décor. This is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest, as it always is used by homeowners and those who long to get out of a rental.
- Architecture. Breathtakingly modern or traditional, if it’s a beautiful picture of architecture, put it here.
- Landscaping. Another very popular category, feel free to include whatever you love here!
- Anything else that interests you. Recipes, crafts, cars, hairstyles, etc. If there are pictures online for it and it’s something you love or would like to collect pictures of, this is the place.
- Start pinning!Spend a few hours adding a couple of images to each of your boards.
- Drag a “Pin It” button to your browser’s toolbar and you then just start googling whatever interests you. When you find it, click the “Pin It” button, select the correct picture, add your description, and post it.
- Pin your own listings and staging photos, after posting the images on your blog. This is important–be sure to add your URL onto the images as a watermark so that even if it gets “lost” people will know where it came from. This just helps to drive traffic back to your website, which is the point of using Pinterest for your business.
- Find people to follow.
- You should start on Facebook, as many of your friends are likely already connected to Pinterest. If you have connected your Facebook account, you will just click “find friends” under your profile picture in the toolbar. A list of your Facebook friends opens, click the ones you want to follow or invite, or use the option of inviting people by email address.
- Search for topics you like on Pinterest, and then follow the pinners that have boards you really like. These people may follow you back.
Now the fun begins. Pinterest has become nearly an obsession among many. I find when I pin some neat pictures, especially of garden or craft items, that within minutes my pins have been “repinned” dozens of times. And I only have 23 followers! These things go viral very quickly. Just think of the coverage your blog would get at that rate!
Increase your click-through rates by posting some tutorials on things that homeowners would find useful. If you indicate on your original pin that it is a how-to, people will not only repin the awesome picture, but they will click through to your site to read the details.
Going forward, always remember to post your new images to Pinterest. Ask your listing manager to do this for you or do it yourself. And remember your other blog posts as well. Especially if you take your own pictures, these should all be pinned!
One of the downfalls of Pinterest I have noticed is that it’s difficult to find locals by searching. This is why I suggest you start with your current friends, family, and contacts. Chances are most of their friends that are following them on Pinterest are local as well.
Did you know that Best Agent Business has virtual assistants who can help you get started with Pinterest? Give us a list of your favorite topics, and we will get you set up and find boards for you to follow. We can also go back through your blog, brand your images, and pin them for you. If you have a vast collection of images on your blog, it could take you hours to wade through them all. Don’t worry though, we will leave the fun of Pinterest to you! Schedule a call with Steve Kantor to discover other ways our Best Agent Business virtual real estate assistants can help you in all aspects of your real estate business.
Post submitted by Kim, Virtual Real Estate Assistant and Pinterest Addict, Best Agent Business
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Thanks Steve... I've bookmarked. Haven't gone to the sight yet, but, why do you have to be invited?pit
Hi Peggy,
I believe it may still be in a BETA stage. It's so wildly popular though, I would imagine that the invitation requirement will be short lived. You can try the "request an invite" option on the home page, it actually worked for me within minutes, however most people say it doesn't work for them. I guess I did it on a good day!
--Kim, Virtual Real Estate Assistant, Best Agent Business
I joined Pinterest last week and am loving it. I am surprised how many people are interested in my love of lofts and have hit "like" or "repin" of things I have posted in just a week. It is a lot of fun and I especially like "pinning" simultaneously to Twitter and Facebook.
That's awesome Pat! Have you used it for any of your listings yet?
I checked out the site a few days ago and I love it! There were great decorating ideas, recipes, landscape etc. I submitted a request to be invited.
Thanks for the post on ways to incorporate this in to our business.
Sandra
I just joined last night, and had no idea what it was about. I knew I could find my answers on active rain. Thank you for posting this great breakdown.. one of my things to do today, start pining
Thank you for posting this...great hints. I wish I had read it before I joined Pinterest...would have saved myself some time! I put a link to this post in my blog post this morning.
It has so much value for creating traffic, the real question is will it be successful in producing new leads and encouraging people to buy? I plan on setting up an account and giving it a try. Check out this infographic on how wildley popular pinterest is: dld.bz/aJKyX
Congrats in the feature! Thanks for the tip on Pinterest. There is an app for it on the iphone and most of the other smart phones. We can pin on the go. Have a great week.
This seems to be the latest craze all around. Great ideas.
I don't use it for listings, but I love Pinterest. It is stunning - some of the most beautiful pix ever!
Have a lot of fun selecting my boards and adding cool photos in idle moments.
Funny that you post this as I was JUST thinking about using this for my listings. Woo hoo!
Steve- I've been on Pinterest for a few weeks and am just beginning to try to figure it out. Thanks for the information .
Pinterest is terribly addicting! I could play on it for hours which is good as long as it is somewhat used in a business fashion.
I've been using Pinterest for a while -- good idea on the real estate side. However I don't get it, yet the people Iv'e invited are addicted....
Congratulations on the Feature. I have been on Pinterest and have not gotten addicted. I love your business angle though, so it might get more interesting.
I love Pinterest. I have to get finished having fun on it first...then I will do some business...
oh great! Yet another social media platform being overrun ruined by real estate folks dumping their listings!...
Very interesting. I love hearing about new things. Thanks.
I got an invite a month ago and signed up, but haven't done anything with it yet. I look forward to getting more involved.
LOL @Rich #21. . I'm bookmarking this for this weekend. .thanks,
Steve, I have not heard of Pinterest. Thanks for the information. I will check it out.
I shouldn't be reading this because I am already fighting an addiction with Pinterest... I scrolled straight to the bottom to post this... ok I am strong I can go back up and read your post and then behave and complete my work for the day.... here goes...
OMG I SHOULD NOT HAVE READ THAT!!! Now I have something else to NOT get obsessed with... I better go sell a house today so I can call and let YOU pin my boards ;>>
Hi Steve, I had checked out the site and saw some interesting things, but have not joined yet. I don't need another addiction. With all that great stuff on there, why would someone want to have listings there?
I have heard so much about Pinterest lately -- so I will surely have to check it out! I do know that it is becoming wildly popular!
Yes, Pinterest seems to be all the rage now, but as I've said in other forums, I'm just not Pinterested at the moment. Our social media plate is full to almost overflowing now, and I just can't see adding a new place to have to keep up with. If we DID use it, we would probably not use it to splash listings all over the place; perhaps photos of local points of interest or events, or of some representative types of architecture, or historic homes, or any of the other things you mentioned, but not listings. But that's just us, other's mileage may vary.
I love Pinterest and never even considered it as a business generating site! Thanks for the great suggestions!
I, too, love pinterest. ANd I can see some of what you are recommending. But I'm afraid that if an agent started actually posting their listings people would UNsubscribe to their pins. I wouldn't be pushy. What is pinterest's policy on using it to advertise? Have you checked?
I would be curious to ask a photographer who does photos for real estate what their take is on it especially if they're not credited in the photos. Many photographers only provide our photos for use in marketing our listings/business and for their use. Don't forget that there are licensing rights to contend with in the photo world! Get permission from your professional photographer FIRST before you're served with either a bill or a lawsuit.
Is it going to give me and my company EBA Portland, LLC Google juice and/or ranking?!? Will it make my phone ring with eager buyers wanting to engage my exclusive buyer agent services?? If not . . .
I am currently working on a blog on this same topic and ran across yours. Well done! I teach interent presence classes to agents and I am constantly saying "go where the people are." Working on my blog now about 5 Pinterest Facts - 5 Do's & 5 Don'ts. I'll reference your blog on mine. :o)
I've been playing around with Pinterest and was trying to figure out business applications -- other than the obvious of continuing to connect with clients and prospects. Thanks for the suggestions!
Thanks Steve. I have booked mark this to refer back to. I have signed up for pinterest but have not really "gotten" it. Glad to see how to kuse it for business.
Thank you. needed this as pinterest is apparently becoming a big deal in real estate! Let's get ahead of the curve!
Wow! I'm glad everyone is enjoying (getting addicted to) Pinterest. If this is any indication, it looks like it may be as big as FaceBook before long. Thanks for taking time away from Pinterest to make these great comments, everyone! lol
I just signed up for Pinterest. Looking forward to using it for business and personal use. Thanks!
Love it! And love all these great comments!
Thanks Steve, I've been curious about Pinterest. I just sent out a request for an invite.
So happy everyone's loving this post AND loving Pinterest!