How To Use Snapchat Geofilters To Market Your Real Estate Business

The newest marketing tool for Snapchat users is the introduction of geofilters, which are highly underutilized for how incredibly versatile and useful they could be for businesses.
Geofilters can be used to market your real estate business. If you’re not familiar with the term, let’s break it down into its parts for an easy explanation, before we examine how you can use geofilters for your real estate business.

What is a Snapchat Geofilter?

A Snapchat filter is a skin that can be placed over any Snapchat photograph. Users can add backgrounds to their photos, add funny hats to their selfies, or, in a popular new filter recently, give themselves a feminine makeover with a flower wreath for their hair.
Snapchat Geofilters are filters that are only available when a Snapchat user is in a specified location. For example, if a local pub wants to advertise their game day sale, they can upload a custom geofilter to Snapchat. Then, any time a group of patrons Snaps a photo while at the pub and adds the filter, all of their viewers get a small nudge to come join the fun.

Who Uses Geofilters?

Snapchat geofilters are a very simple way to use social media for advertising, relying on the farther, more diverse, and wider reach of clients rather than your own.
Snapchat’s archives of geofilters show that the feature has been used by sports teams on game day; by airports; by universities during rush week; and by scores of towns and cities all across the world. It’s an easy way to simply let the world know that your location, or event, exists, all through a personal tour guided by their friends and favorite Snapchat users.

How can Geofilters be Used in Real Estate?

There are many ways that Snapchat’s geofilters could be used for your real estate business. Here are two ideas:
During an Open House
One of the most obvious and advantageous is during an open house event. As guests and potential buyers show up for a tour and snap photos of the view or a unique house feature, encourage them to add your Snapchat geofilter to their pictures.
Their viewers may see the dream house they’ve been looking for, and know exactly where to come to make an offer.
To Farm a Neighborhood
But there are other ways a Snapchat geofilter can be used when it comes to home listings. For example, if your real estate business has a high volume of listings in a particular area, why not upload a geofilter for the area?
If a potential buyer takes a photo of a house they, or someone they know, might be interested in, and shares it via Snapchat, they’ll be presented with an option to add your geofilter, which gives them yet another way to find your company and get in touch.
And what about house hunters who are scoping out a potential neighborhood? Your geofilter could give them some ideas about the area and who to contact to live there, making them feel right at home.
Use your geofilter to show local team pride to advertise a tight-knit community or brand the neighborhood as the home of the best apple pie at the local diner.
All of these are ways to show a potential homebuyer the kind of community they want to see.
Real estate advertising is often expensive, sometimes prohibitively so. Geofilters are inexpensive compared to the total number of views they receive, and reach out to millennial home buyers, who you may have previously had trouble targeting.

How do I Upload a Geofilter?

Uploading a custom Snapchat geofilter is easy, but it does take a little foresight. Here’s a checklist that you can use to get your geofilter ready for clients.

1. Go to https://www.snapchat.com/on-demand to create your on-demand geofilter. Sign in with your account to get started.
2. Upload your geofilter art assets. Use Snapchat’s uploader to submit your geofilter. If the geofilter is rejected, Snapchat will let you know why so that you can fix it and try again.
   • Follow Snapchat’s guidelines. Geofilters can’t include phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, or any kind of social media handle. Instead, add a physical address for your open house or home listing. Even just your real estate business name would work, as its easy for users to Google.
   • Filters also need to be under 300KB in size, saved as a .PNG file, and have a transparent background. They should be 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels. Try to ensure that you won’t cover more than 33% or so of a user’s photo; fewer users will want to apply your geofilter if it covers up their image.
   • Important: Be sure to check your geofilter design for errors. Once your geofilter is uploaded and approved, you can’t make any changes. You’ll have to delete the geofilter, and start all over with the approval process.
3. Choose the dates your geofilter will be available. The maximum is 30 days, and once again: the shorter the clock, the less you’ll pay.
4. Determine where you want your geofilter to apply. Snapchat calls this “drawing a fence”. User the Snapchat map powered by Google Maps to draw a fence around the area you want your geofilter to be available. Remember, Snapchat does not allow filters to exceed five million square feet, and the smaller your range, the more affordable the price will be.
5. Check out and pay for your geofilter. Plan for at least two days, but possibly a few extra, for your geofilter to be approved. Snapchat requires at least 24 to 48 hours to accept geofilters, but you may want to give yourself some wiggle room.

Now You’re Ready

You can change the length and reach of the approved geofilter up to one full day before it goes live. Watch the metrics tab of your business account to see how often the geofilter is used, and how many views it generated.

Snapchat geofilters allow you to reach out directly to the consumers where they already are, enabling you to open your real estate business up to an entirely new crowd of potential customers.

How To Effectively Work With A Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants provide a wealth of benefits to you and your real estate company if the collaboration is executed properly. If you are trying to decide if a VA is right for you, you need to keep the following tips in mind to make sure you make the most out of your newest addition to the team.

Communicate the Duties and Responsibilities

A virtual assistant typically doesn’t require extensive training, but you will need to spend some time with them just as you would an in-house team member. Don’t expect them to come fully equipped with your systems and desires understood, you will need to communicate your needs and expectations. Creating daily lists and goals, with deadlines, will ensure the most important tasks are completed in a timely manner.

Determine the Highest Priorities

n real estate, priorities often change quickly, and this can be problematic if you don’t communicate how you want them to be handled. Provide a list of priorities over a monthly or quarterly period then have follow-up meetings to see if anything has changed and whether the goals are being met.

Let It Go – Just like the movie Frozen

It’s daunting to give up control in your business, but if you want your virtual assistant to do what you hired them for, you have to explain your needs, and back off so he or she can do it. You can always check in on certain projects, but constantly interrupting them means the work won’t get done and means that you are taking yourself away from your priorities. Once you’ve explained what you expect, let the VA come to you if there are any questions – that’s what you’re paying for.

Develop Specific Scripts

Real estate can be repetitive, but this can be a good thing. Creating scripts for certain responses will make sure your virtual assistant responds in the same manner that you would, so every client receives the same information. This is also a helpful way to make sure that someone in another state or country who may not be familiar with all the laws in your state always provides correct information.

Use Your Virtual Assistant

Handing over the reins on anything you’ve been doing yourself is difficult, but you should always consider your VA’s abilities. If they have the experience and knowledge, you should always delegate more responsibilities. This will free up your time, and make better use of your virtual assistant.

Feedback Is Important

The virtual assistant/broker relationship is unique when compared to traditional employees, but some things are the same. Feedback is the only way that your virtual assistant will know if there are things he or she can improve on, or if there are things that are done beyond your expectations. Successful collaboration has to be built on mutual respect, and providing feedback is a great way to make that happen. Make sure to ask the VA for feedback as well – there could be slight changes that would be beneficial for both of you.


Working with a real estate virtual assistant allows you to grow your business. Follow these tips, and your assistant will be a valuable asset to your team.
Give us a call today 405-928-8467 to get started!