Are you tech-savvy? If you answered no, you’re most likely hurting your business’ bottom line. Due to technology, it’s no longer enough to be a subject-matter expert in your field. You have to adapt to the times and become educated on gender-based marketing strategies.
Your Demographic
Knowing your audience is the basis of any marketing plan. According to 2015 Pew Research Center data, 44 percent of women use Pinterest vs. 16 percent of men. If your target audience is women, this is just one example showing that certain social media sites hold more value than others when it comes to gender.
Women continually dominate the “visual web,” making up the majority of users on other image-based platforms like Instagram, which is used by 31 percent of women and 24 percent of men. Men prefer online forums and text-centric sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Reddit. Familiarizing yourself with the online usage of your market will help you customize your marketing campaigns.
As a real estate professional trying to sell homes, you may think social media is for younger generations. However, the Pew Research Center reports that 56 percent of online users 65 and older utilize Facebook. In fact, the data reveals that in the 65-and-older age group, usage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn rose dramatically between 2013 and 2014, in some cases experiencing increases of over 100 percent.
Power of Visual Content
Written content is necessary, as prospective customers need to get to know you and your services; however, an image or graphic can lead customers to your words. Furthermore, the option to see important real estate information like interest rates or deadlines in writing is valuable.
- According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video equals 1.8 million words.
- Hyperfine Media reveals that including a video in an email creates a 200 – 300 percent increase in click-through rates, and real estate listings that include a video experience 403 percent more inquiries than those without.
Marketing to women is all about creating engaging visual content on women’s preferred platforms. Use popular hashtags that will help female customers find your content, and consider the fact that tweets with hashtags get double the engagement than those without. This will take you minutes to learn, and pay off handsomely.
Last but not least, be sure the women portrayed in your marketing content represent today’s women. Don’t resort to passive stereotypes or portray only mothers or wives. Women are changing. They’re getting married later, having children at older ages and heading families in historic numbers. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that more than one in four families with children under the age of 18 are headed by a single parent, and more than three out of four single parent families are headed by a female. This makes it increasingly important to diversify your representation of women.
Creating a balanced marketing plan will help illuminate the best strategies for your business. The world we live in is constantly changing, and it’s important to prepare for the new tide, rather than ignore its presence. Not leveraging tools like social media and visual marketing can prove costly to your business.
Desirée Patno is president and CEO of the National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses (NAWRB).
For more information, visit www.nawrb.com.
