Buyers, renters, sellers or even people who just enjoy looking at dream home in their spare time in case they win the lottery (me), all go to the internet as their first stop when they want to look at property listings. And for the vast majority they do this on a phone first. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors (2019), two thirds of buyers reported finding their home on a mobile device. The world is now officially mobile-first, and this goes for real estate too. But isn’t it time to take real estate to the next level, and give the potential buyer a truly immersive experience with engaging and interactive content that showcases the property in an easily digestible, yet captivating way? We think so – so let’s dive into what content experiences are, and why they are crucial moving forward for the real estate market.
What are content experiences?
Content experiences are typically stand alone pieces of content that truly engage the reader, like the transformation of a PDF, magazine, online publication etc. into an engaging digital experience, like a microsite or landing page that is truly responsive and full of interactive and engaging features to immerse the reader. You can read more on content experiences at our blog post “What are content experiences and why you need them in your mix”.
Real estate agencies typically do a great job of showcasing their properties, but a content experience platform can offer so much more interactive and dynamic elements that we think are needed to keep up with the demand for interactive content.
So here are 7 reasons why a content experience platform is the way forward for real estate marketing:
More content, more often
A content experience platform allows you to create landing pages or microsites that are branded to your company with your logos, fonts, colors etc. already built in. Using a platform like Experios means you can create templates for all your real estate categories and needs, and just update the information for each listing easily, without having to start from scratch with each listing, simply update the content and publish easily. This means you can publish high quality content more efficiently than ever.
There is a need for interactive content
Want to add an interactive house tour or dynamic floor plans to truly sell your property? You can do this easily with a content experience platform. And getting your viewers to interact with the content gives them the opportunity to better understand your content, and stay longer on the page. You can easily add animations, pop-ups or forms to your microsite to get feedback from your visitors or allow them to request more information, or book a viewing, without ever having to leave the page they are viewing. This streamlines their journey, and gives them a better overview and understanding of the property itself.
Multimedia is a necessity
Yes, you can add images to almost anything today, even a PDF. But a content experience platform allows you to host image galleries that can autoplay or allow the viewer to swipe through easily, without needing to adjust to pan, pinch or zoom on the screen. A content experience platform offers a better user experience when viewing multimedia. You can add videos, house tours, interactive floor plans, audio clips and more that will auto respond to any device your visitor is viewing on, making your multimedia content more engaging and offering a better user experience.
Make crucial updates on the fly
Real estate listings often change, prices can go up or down, closing dates for offers might change, or you might want to add additional features to your listing. In traditional real estate marketing this can be a hassle, it involves going through your web developer to make updates to the website, or having to republish your PDF with the new pricing. With a content experience platform it is so easy to make updates on the fly; need a price change? No problem, you can quickly make the changes and it will auto-update without ever having to republish or ask for assistance. Because there is no code required, it allows you to edit your publication in a flash.
Lead generation is essential
You need leads to sell properties, and you should aim to make it easier for your potential buyers to let you know they’re interested in the property. You can do this by embedding a lead capture form. A content experience platform allows you to easily embed your own form, or choose an existing one that can send leads directly to your CRM. The lead form is responsive, will auto reshape to their device and allows them to remain on your listing page without losing their current step in their journey.
Easy collaboration between teams is a must
You have a photographer taking pictures, a videographer and graphic designer producing the interactive tour content, a content writer putting frills on your house description, and a web developer putting it all together on your web page, sound familiar? I bet you also have bottlenecks and delays? If so, that’s where a content experience platform like Experios can help, it allows all your team to work together in the same platform with different roles and user access to produce high quality content in record time, while ensuring your branding is always up to your standards.
Get insights with tracking and analytics
You are putting time and resources into producing listings to sell homes, you should want to understand how your viewers read and digest it. A content experience platform allows you to see data about how consumers digest your content, where they spend the most time, and how they interact with your content. This is crucial for anyone producing content, but for real estate agencies, it allows you to understand what components of the content and sales process are crucial to selling properties, and where to best invest your time and resources. Read more about the analytics package Experios offers.
Key Takeaways
Real estate marketing is moving forward, fast. Those in the market for a new home, whether it is rented or purchased, want to be able to see the available listings in a timely manner, in a way that is optimized for the device they are viewing it on, and they want to be able to see more of the home when not in it. A content experience platform can provide this to the real estate market. It can provide potential buyers with an interactive, dynamic microsite to view and engage with the listings. And it can also provide the real estate agency with a better product, data and analytics on what the customers are doing, and ways to optimize the content for them. It is a no brainer that a content experience platform is the next step for real estate.
About Experios
Experios is 3D Issue’s all new Content Experience platform that allows you to build both internal communications and external content easily, while implementing your company branding. You can create annual reports, newsletters and brochures for your employees as well as your customers.. You can get started with Experios for free today, schedule a demo or start your free trial.
