Real Estate brokers and agents are now eyeing the great potential of mobile-based social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to reach out to more than a million prospective clients.
Following the addition of application programming interface (API) on Instagram, Seattle-based brokerage Redfin, which has over 1,000 agents in 34 states, began testing a nationwide ad campaign on the app two weeks ago.
An Instagram Representative said to the Business Insider, "The Instagram Ads API will help us make ads more relevant to the community, serve more diverse business objectives, and make buying on the platform easier for advertisers. We started working with a group of Facebook Marketing Partners a few weeks ago and they've brought great experience and technological savvy onto the platform. We'll continue to build upon the Instagram Ads API in the coming weeks and months."
Ads on Instagram will show up among the photos and videos of users' followers as they scroll through the app
In the initial phase of its Instagram test, Redfin is targeting homebuyers with photos of the brokerage's listings, said Angie Newman, spokesperson for Redfin. Then they may expand the experiment to engage new homeowners with content around do-it-yourself (DIY) projects and ideas.
In a report published by eMarketer, Instagram will bring in $595 million in mobile ad revenues worldwide this year. By 2017, Instagram's global mobile ad revenues is projected to reach $2.81 billion, accounting for over 10% of parent company Facebook's global ad revenues.
Real estate brokers and agent are also interested in the fast growing mobile app Snapchat. Snapchat has also began integrating ads into its platform.
Snapchat claims that more than 60 percent of US mobile users are using their app and they are the best way to reach 13-34 years-old
The most targeted market of real estate agents and brokers are the millennials-born between 1980 and 1995.
These millennials are also the highest population indulge in social media. It is not uncommon now that the listings and home offers can pop up to your mobile when you are browsing some videos or photos.
