These days, the demand for real estate has been steadily increasing and the competition from real estate agents and professionals including photographers are becoming fiercer. Buyers are increasingly doing their research online, and as a real estate photographer, you need to come up with online marketing skills to make sure you stand out from the crowd and separate yourself from the pack.
If you want to be ahead of the game, here are some online marketing tips for real estate photographers.
1. Use social media.
Posting your photos on social media is one of the best ways to get attention from potential clients. Nowadays, everyone has an account in social media. Set up an account in the major networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram). You can interact with users, share your photos and promote your brand for free.
In a study conducted by Social Media Examiner, photos generate more engagement. In Facebook alone, posts with images get an 87% interaction rate. Don’t forget to include relevant links to send all the traffic back to your website, create relevant captions, and engage with clients by replying to their comments.
2. Post videos on Youtube.
Youtube is the world’s second largest social media network with more than 1 billion unique user visit per month. Hence, any business should involve Youtube as a part of their online marketing plan. It is a good platform to showcase your skills as a photographer to millions of users. Create a Youtube channel and make a video highlighting your work to reach a wider audience. It is a good way to boost your online presence and generate clients.
3. Create a website.
One of the best ways to show off your portfolio is through creating a website. Make sure the website is easy to navigate and provides all the necessary information that the clients might need. Learn about SEO and find the best keywords to increase traffic to your website. Make it also mobile friendly as consumers nowadays spend most of their time on their mobile devices.
4. Register on Stilio.com.
Stilio’s goal is to connect real estate professionals with photographers. It’s a nationwide network that helps photographers get exposure from real estate agents in need of listing photography. Being a member is free so it’s a great way to get started in marketing your works online in a risk-free way. Stilio also does the job of giving assistance to photographers so they can focus on getting their business up and running. These include calendar management, invoicing, payment processing, managing, editing, and reporting. Here’s how the site works:
• Sign up. It’s free to be part of Stilio network, and the site only charges a small photo per fee when you complete an order.
• Complete your profile.
- Set your own pricing and availability.
- Select the products you want to offer.
- Choose areas of service and travel fees.
- Add profile image and cover pictures.
- Set your own terms and conditions.
• Get approved. The website reviews the profile and portfolio of the real estate photographer. Once approved, you can update your profile to help you stand out and begin to generate business. Highlight your strengths and show real estate agents what they will benefit from hiring you to shoot their listings.
5. Use a real estate photo editing service.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and in today’s real estate business, an appealing and attractive photograph definitely gives you a higher chance of selling fast. As a photographer, post-processing photos is a daunting task. In fact, recent studies have shown that photographers spend almost thirty percent of their time editing photos, almost thrice as much as actually shooting pictures. Through the use of a real estate editing service, you save time, money and effort by passing the task to an outsource company.
Basically, a photo editing service edits the photos for you. Examples of these services are usually retouching the background, adding a dusk sky, item removal, High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing, HDR image composites, CGI renders, virtual staging, and 2D or 3D floor plan redraws. These kinds of services are well suited for real estate photographers looking to save time in their online marketing activities. The company does the job for you, which allows more time to run your business and deal with existing and potential clients.
The real estate photo editing service is one of the most in demand industries and there are many outsource companies claiming to be the best one. But what makes a good photo editing service company? Make sure that the company matches your budget without sacrificing the quality, has positive customer reviews, uses the latest software in photo editing, and has a team of professionals that are well-trained and highly-skilled.
Featured photo via myventurepad.