Open houses are an essential part of buying a home. For realtors who have had to cancel all of their open houses due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this may impact your ability to sell properties. Fortunately, Facebook LIVE offers agents the ability to walk customers through a listing during a real-time, interactive broadcast — a virtual open house. The best part is that you don’t need any fancy gear or a huge crew, just your smartphone and a Facebook page. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about using Facebook Live to guide your customers through an ad. Don’t let this COVID-19 pandemic stop you from hosting an open house.
What is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live lets you start a conversation, a Performance, Questions and Answers or Virtually Broadcast event. You can go live on a Page, in a group, or at an event, and your live videos will also appear in people’s new feed. You can find more information about Facebook Live at: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/solutions/facebook-live
Reading: How to create an open house event on facebook
How to set up your Facebook Live Open House now
Now that we’ve talked about what Facebook Live is, it’s time to talk about how to set it up. Below are some handy steps/guides to make getting started LIVE easier.
To create an event from your side:
- Go to your company profile page (or your personal page – but remember the FB rules – if you advertise you should do it on your FB business page). >Add an event photo, maybe the front of the house, then enter the title, location, date and time of your event.
- Save the event, then post a link to your listing and submit Send it to your customers!
To go LIVE from your page:
- Go to your business (or personal) profile page.
- Tap on “Create a post” and select “LIVE” from the list.
- Make sure the app has access to your camera and microphone.
- Set permissions to “Public”.
- Add a description to the video – highlight the house information.
- Tap “Start Live Video” to start your Open House Live to become!
Useful links:
Below are some useful links explaining how to go live on Facebook
- Live.fb.com
- Facebook.com/facebookmedia/best-practices/live
How to Properly Promote Your Facebook Live Open House
To make sure people show up, think about the strategies you use to get your to create actual open house. People need to know when and where. That’s why it’s so important to properly promote your open house. If you don’t promote it properly, people won’t know about it and therefore won’t show up. Below are some things you should do to promote your live open house on Facebook.
Use Facebook Events
You can use Facebook Events to to add your open house to their calendar, send updates and reminders. You can create an event on Facebook by navigating to your newsfeed, clicking Events, then Create Event.
Send Email Blasts
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Send an email blast to your network to let them know when to turn on your Facebook page for the LIVE; Add a link to your Facebook page. Post the same details on your website and in your listings. There are many email marketing programs online that you can use, including Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, and iContact.
Use Direct Outreach
Contact potential buyers of directly your canceled open house and invite them – it makes them feel like a VIP. You may have already promoted this open house before the shutdown or promoted it via social media. Reach out to these leads and invite them to your virtual open house. You could also personally invite all the neighbors within 10-20 houses.
How to host an open house with Facebook Live
The first time you broadcast live, can be a little intimidating, but if you put in some groundwork, things can go pretty smoothly. Your audience expects information and authenticity over production quality. Below are some tips on how to host a live open house via Facebook.
Prepare ahead
Plan your tour the same way you would with a live client. Where do you go first, what do you highlight in each room? It never hurts to rehearse. It is important to make a good first impression. Tidy up the house, make sure it’s clean, remove as many personal items as possible, etc.
Be sure to imagine
You should open your Facebook Live House always start with an introduction to yourself, share your references and emphasize what is great about your home. Building trust with your audience is the key to success. Introduce yourself with confidence and build your personal brand. Potential buyers, on the other hand, get to know you before they even meet. Agents are encouraged to show their personality in front of the camera, to be memorable and most importantly – to be honest and add value to the audience.
Remind people who you are and what property you are visiting
Introducing yourself once at the start of your Facebook Live Tour is not enough. That’s because people can walk in and out while you’re LIVE. It is therefore important that you regularly remind them who you are and what property you are viewing.
Interact with your audience
Interact with your audience; Build in time for each room to pause and answer questions from the comments. If you know your audience well enough, you can target them by spending extra time on the most important areas of the property. If they have pets, show them the large yard and fence. If they’re interested in the devices, check out the high-end devices up close, etc. Personalization is essential to success.
What to do after you go live on Facebook
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After the LIVE stream ends, the video becomes on-demand content that can then be shared, downloaded, edited and reused. There’s a good chance more people will see your LIVE tour AFTER you’re done. Here are some things you can do after going live on Facebook.
Send the live stream link to your customers
You can send links to the “Live After ‘ video in your listings and send to clients who missed the tour. To increase your viewership among people who weren’t at the live show, try sharing a short post thanking you for watching.
You can also post new questions and comments to generate additional engagement. The people watching your videos want to feel valued, so show them some love wherever you can.
Save and edit your video
Save your live video, to edit it. You can use a shorter clip to post on your page. Think of these as house highlights. The agent now has video content that can be shared on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or even via email.
Read comments from your audience
Use comments from the audience to assess what type of information they are looking for about the property and tailor your future ad to those comments.
Follow prospects
Follow your prospects on Messenger, they might be interested in making an offer after all. The fact is, if your prospects comment on your video while it’s live, they’re already on Facebook. After guests leave your virtual open house, use Messenger to interact, engage, and ask questions. Nurture those leads now, even if they decide not to buy.
PRO Tips:
You don’t need an entire crew to have a decent production. Here are some tips to make you feel like a pro:
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- Test your connection around the house so you’ll know if there will be connection problems.
- Turn on Notifications before you start your broadcast!
- If you’re in a room, consider placing the phone on a tripod while you’re talking.
- If you’re walking across a room If you are walking or waving, go SLOWLY – slower than you find necessary, as fast, jerky movements can be confusing. Consider using a stabilizer.
- Have the listing info handy in case you have a question.
- Check out some other home videos – note what you like and what yours not working in my opinion .
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