Have you noticed a lot of competitor real estate (and other) businesses have been posting a lot of visually pleasing images on their social media accounts lately? You may have thought they hired a professional graphic designer or marketing agency to create these graphics, and you don’t have the budget to do so. And you’re right, some of them may have. But most likely, they’ve discovered Canva. A free, online graphic designing tool that can be used by everyone, even the least creative under us.
If you’re not using Canva yet in your real estate business, now is the time to start.
What is Canva?
Canva is an online tool with a wide range of easy-to-use features and functionalities, where anyone can create a variety of engaging content. We’re not just talking about social media graphics – that’s only a small part of it. You can use Canva for logos, posters, flyers, brochures, presentations, videos, business cards, and pretty much anything you can think of! It has more than 250,000 free, ready-to-use templates that you can easily adapt to your own, or you can start from scratch.
The best part about Canva is that virtually anyone can use it. You absolutely do not need any graphic design skills or creativity to create some great content – especially due to that enormous range of ready-to-use templates we just mentioned. Whilst the platform is quite self-explanatory, they provide easy video instructions for those who just get started and require help. They even have their own, free Design School with plenty of courses and video tutorials.
You absolutely do not need any graphic design skills or creativity to create great content on Canva – especially due to the enormous range of ready-to-use templates.
There are a ton of fonts, images and elements available for you to use in your designs, so you’ll never run out of options.
How much does it cost?
Get ready for this – it’s free! You can use, create and download all your projects in various formats (PNG, JPEG, PDF) for no cost at all. There’s no catch.
If you want to access even more images, elements, fonts or features, you can opt to upgrade to Canva Pro. You can also choose to pay for the individual image or element you want to use in your design (usually around $1 per image). But don’t worry, it’s not like other ‘freemium’ where pretty much all the good stuff is locked up behind the pro-version. You can definitely use Canva in the free version only.
For an overview of what’s included in Canva Free versus Canva Pro:
Check out Canva Pricing for more information and to compare plans. You can customise the Pro version to your own situation and team.
So, why should I be using Canva in my real estate business?
As if the above isn’t enough to get you excited about using Canva, we’ll now dive deeper into why you should be using Canva for your real estate business specifically.
1. Save time and money by designing your own flyers & print materials
Canva provides great resources to create flyers for your business. You don’t even need to get creative yourself – Canva’s real estate library is filled with amazing templates, ranging from sleek and modern designs to bright and colourful ones. You can easily switch the colours in each template to your brand colours, insert your own details, logo and more. Once you’ve found a template that you like and modified it to suit your brand, you can use it over and over again for different listings!
Canva’s Real Estate Flyer Library – Simply search for ‘real estate flyers’ in the search bar
Using Canva as a design tool for your flyers and print materials can save you time and money. You won’t need to hire a graphic designer every time you want to create or update a flyer, and therefore you won’t have to go through the lengthy process of approvals, waiting for return emails and phone calls to clarify your wishes and so on. You’ll simply be able to do it yourself!
2. Boost your social media and other digital presence
For many real estate agencies these days, Canva is the go-to for social media graphics. Even if you wish to still use graphic designers and external agencies for your print material, you should definitely get onto Canva for your organic social media posts. The online graphic design platform is a must-use if you want to create consistent, quality content that is on-brand.
The online graphic design platform is a must-use if you want to create consistent, quality content that is on-brand.
Simply select the type of post you want to create and go from there. You can either choose one of the many available templates, or start from scratch. You could do something as simple as adding your contact details or logo to any listing photo. Canva is a great tool to make the most out of your standard posts such as the ‘just listed’ and ‘just sold’ posts, as well as provide content and inspiration for additional posts.
The majority of people scrolling through Facebook or Instagram only look at the images they see – only if that’s interesting enough, they’ll check the caption for more details. It is therefore so important to add a clear ‘Open Home’, ‘Just Listed’ or ‘Just Sold’ to the image of your listing – this is what will grab the attention of potential buyers and sellers. Canva also easily lets you add your logo and brand name, so you can optimise brand visibility and recognition. Make sure to check our free templates to get you started with these posts.
Tip: When creating social media graphics, always select a template based on size first. This way you’ll ensure you won’t run into any issues once you’ve finalised your design and are ready to post! You can easily do this via clicking on ‘Templates’ in the menu, then selecting your size from the drop-down menu. Alternatively you can search for your size in the search bar, e.g. ‘Facebook Post’.
3. Look more professional, strengthen your brand and generate more leads
Using Canva in your real estate business, whether it be for print material or social media graphics, will ultimately help you look more professional and strengthen your brand. By using the same colours, fonts and style in each design, you will have a consistent on-brand look both on- and offline. Additionally, doing something as simple as adding your logo to each image will help increase your brand’s visibility and awareness.
In the short-term, using Canva will therefore help you attract your targeted prospects by simply creating better-looking content. It can be as little as one great post that gets shared on social media!
In the long-term, using Canva to create a consistent flow of quality, on-brand content will help you create a strong real estate brand.
To help you get started
So, you’re sold – you want to use Canva. Great! We’ve created some additional free resources that will help you make the most out of it.
- Download our free Social Media Calendar (includes a sample month of content!)
- 5 Canva designs that will make your social media posts shine
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