Despite what some trendy news site headlines are saying, Millennial real estate is booming. According to the National Association of Realtors Research Group (in their 2019 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report) Millennials now make up the largest group of home buyers and owners. Here’s everything you need to know about reaching, engaging, and converting this lucrative audience online alongside real examples from leading brands.
Home-buying Millennials require strategic marketing
Now that Millennials are entering their 40’s, it’s safe to say that they’re all grown up and ready to (finally) leave the nest. Which means real estate professionals will need to seriously consider the digital habits and preferences of this target demographic in their own strategies.
If you want to make an impression on first time Millennial homebuyers, you need to reach them in spaces where they already spend a lot of their day. And while traditional marketing is still an important component to any lead generation plan, social media is still the number one place to reach Millennials. But how will your brand stand out amongst competitors vying for the same group’s attention?
Luckily for real estate professionals, there is a magic bullet when it comes to Millennial real estate marketing, one which many of their competitors haven’t caught on to yet. And that magic bullet is: video.
If you make video a major, driving force of your social media marketing strategy, Millennials will respond. According to the latest social media report on Millennials and Gen Z, Millennials spend more time watching videos than reading articles online every day.
Also, 32% of Millennials share more videos than articles on social media and 33% share just as many videos as articles on a regular basis. Meaning after a Millennial watches their 2 hours of daily video content (the documented average) on social media, they share their favorites to an audience of their peers. Which then reaches even more Millennials who are also looking out for great videos on social media as well as first time buying tips.
So for real estate professionals who invest in using video for their Millennial real estate marketing strategy, a single video can pay off dividends. This is especially true if you’re creating content that connects with them on a deeper level and provides actionable advice.
Not sure where to begin? Take a look at these great tips from leading brands who are already attracting the majority of the real estate market through social media video best practices.
How to market real estate to Millennials (with examples)
1. Create a How-To series
Millennials value informational content that breaks down larger, more complicated processes into digestible steps. Adair Homes does exactly that with their “Building a Custom Home” series. Although this campaign started out as a number of blog posts, Adair Homes turned it into an ultra shareable video series by using Wibbitz. FYI – How To videos are the most popular type of video content on Instagram specifically, so make sure you’re also creating them in square and vertical to share on your feed and Stories (respectively).
2. Feature relevant trends
BNP Paribas Real Estate knows that professional Millennials are increasingly interested in freelancing. Which means trends like re-imagined transportation structures that allow for de-urbanization make for a great piece of video marketing content. Not only is it informative, it also supports the average Millennial’s desire for geographical freedom from their jobs.
3. Add text styles
As we saw in the last example, BNP Paribas Real Estate does a great job with picking the right video content for Millennial audiences. But they also do well with choosing the right video format for this particular group.
Even though 31% of Millennials prefer to watch videos with sound on, 41% would watch a video without sound if it had text. Which is why the brand added informative text to the content in this example – it’s easy to understand with or without sound.
4. Prioritize landscape
According to our report, millennials prefer to watch landscape videos on their phone (which is where they primarily consume digital marketing content). Knowing this, Hawaii Life made this impressive video with awe-inspiring full screen views of beaches that work especially well for landscape mode.
5. Educate potential buyers
In this brilliant video home tour, Hawaii Life emphasizes the history of this incredible location as well as its incredible features. Even if the Millennial viewer isn’t interested in the featured property, they get the sense that this real estate brand is all about connecting with natural beauty and heritage.
Knowing this, they can further investigate other available homes offered by Hawaii Life now that they’ve been introduced to the brand’s unique values. This is especially important when you consider the fact that Millennials view branded social media video as a tool to better understand the company itself (even more so than their interest in, or connection to, the brand).
6. Give back
Millennials are most interested in brands that prioritize service and giving back to the community. And that includes real estate brands! Which is why this example of Eastbrook Homes – featuring one of their charitable programs – is so persuasive. Not only does it further explain their brand values, it also increases the opportunity for brand loyalty among Millennials.