Nick Zouroudis is a South Florida market lead for VHT Studios.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Nick Zouroudis, South Florida market lead for VHT Studios, who revealed eight ways top agents market the “it factor.” 

In social Internet era of Houzz and Instagram, Web appeal is the new curb appeal, and high-quality real estate photography makes a listing stand out, whether viewed on mobile devices, computer monitors or printed materials. Beautiful striking photographs give listed homes their “it factor.” Here are eight ways top Miami Realtors leverage the power of professional photography to promote a property’s “it factor.”

1. Identify the Big Draw – What makes this listing stand out? When you are building your marketing strategy, discover the property’s most unique feature or biggest positive. Take into account the type of home, the surrounding area and neighborhood, and the buyer demographic most likely interested in the house. Ask the seller what convinced them to buy their house. Compare your listing attributes to other comparables, and hone in on that something special. Is it a huge backyard, a dynamite walk-in closet, a stunning chef’s kitchen, a wraparound porch? Remember to include several photos that highlight your listing’s “it factor,” so you can inject the brand personality into your marketing, using copy and visual cues.

2. Create a Memorable Visual Hook – Selling a beach cottage? A serene photograph of a hammock hanging from a welcoming, wraparound porch only steps from the ocean can hook prospective buyers to your listing. The visual hook inspires engagement and strengthens your property’s marketing message. The hammock serves as your visual clue to trigger an emotional response from buyers and stand out in their minds.

3. Tell a Story – Visually and Contextually – Write a concise, coherent narrative that prospective buyers can relate to. Explain how your listing enables potential buyers to fulfill their needs and support their particular lifestyle. You’re helping them visualize their life in that home, and making your listing relevant to them. Describe the value your listing’s it factor delivers, for example: “Nothing is as relaxing as a little wine and cheese on your wraparound porch, after a great day at the beach.”

4. Capture that Eye-Popping Exterior – Once you’ve identified your listing’s it factor and nailed your visual hook, focus on that primary photograph that represents your listing. You know – that exterior photograph that turns buyers’ heads and gets attention. Choose it carefully, since it is the one overriding image of the outside of your property that potential buyers see that must entice them to investigate the listing further. If your property is photographed on a cloudy or wintry day, consider image enhancements that turn grey skies to blue and brown grass to green.

5. Maximize Your Listing’s Greatness – Make sure full-size versions of your beautiful real estate photographs are uploaded to your Multiple Listing Service (MLS). If your MLS uploads your photos to the real estate websites on your syndication list, those photos may have a degraded appearance, and will pale in comparison to other properties listed. If your full-size original photographs are not uploaded to the websites on your list, go to them and upload your full-size original photos directly to their listings. Or partner with a photography studio that will ensure your photographs are beautiful wherever and whenever they appear.

6. Build Your Business Through Mobile-Friendliness – Many home buyers these days are tech savvy, with smartphones, tablets and apps that are part of their shopping experience. By getting a mobile-ready website built specifically for the listing, you can invite buyers to engage with the property, even as they are in their car, headed to your open house. Marketing with mobile also allows you to employ lead capture and lead nurturing.

7. Tweet Your Listing Photographs – Use photos in your tweets for a business boost! Twitter is perfect for promoting snapshot views of specific listings that will help drive traffic to web landing pages. A tweet with a lovely photo of that wraparound porch linked to your website is a great example of how to integrate social networks into your marketing strategy. Go a step further and use hashtags naming features or neighborhood such as #CoconutGrove #Surfside #BeachFront.

8. Generate Interest with Pinterest – By uploading a custom Pinterest image for every landing page in your website, you can drive more traffic to it. Every pin should include key words in your description of the room or highlighted feature, along with the home address and landing page link, much like Twitter.

From visual hooks highlighting the it factor to effectively using social media tools such as Pinterest and Twitter, top agents know what to do to really move a property. These tips can be the keys to getting a property from listed to “sold.”

Nick Zouroudis is VHT Studios’ market lead photographer in South Florida (Miami and Ft. Lauderdale), working with agents and brokerages to deliver the best in real estate photography, as well as innovative and reliable solutions for sharing and distributing multi-media content. Learn more at VHTStudios.com.