When an agent enters a new listing, what if he or she could instantly create ads to promote it on Facebook, Instagram, Google and even the mobile driving app Waze? If you are one of some 95,000 subscribers to Bright MLS you now can via its newly announced integration with Homesnap, the public-facing brand of the Broker Public Portal.
List. Promote. Done.
This clever integration into the listing process is a huge time saver for agents who know the big benefits of digital advertising. Agents can select just one social or media channel or all of them, giving agents complete control of the process. Meanwhile, the simplicity means a nice boost to agent productivity as it reduces one of a great time-sucks of managing a new listing: promoting it. Bright MLS subscribers can also track and monitor the performance of these digital ads.
Bright MLS along with a few others like NorthstarMLS, MLS Listings, and other custom MLS systems have the opportunity to modify endpoint features within the listing to add/edit part of their MLS system. Bright understands the workflow of agents when managing listings. The first thing that the majority of agents want to do with their new listing or updated listing is to promote it on marketing platforms like Google Adwords, Facebook, Instagram, and the increasingly popular Waze. With this new integration into Bright Listing Management, agents can perform those marketing activities within their workflow by integrating the Homesnap marketing engine directly into add/edit. They do not need to wait for changes to populate to other third party marketing systems anymore.
Direct Marketing: Get Your Hands on the Wheel
For agents, this marketing integration allows them to get listing content directly to the consumer for a significantly lower marketing cost than promotion through advertising portals like Zillow or Trulia. For Keyes, a brokerage in Southeast Florida, this style of direct marking by agents has reduced that firms cost per lead. Mike Pappas, president and CEO of The Keyes Company, shares, “what used to cost us about $100 to $150 per lead now costs us under $10.”
The benefits of agents doing direct advertising are nicely illustrated on this slide from Boomtown, a leading agent and team website, CRM, and digital marketing tool. It illustrates that portals have a higher cost per lead and lower lead volume; they sell the leads multiple times, and there is no protection from cost increases. CEO Grier Allen of Boomtown praises direct advertising strategies like this to lower cost per lead, generate more reach to consumers, fully control who sees your digital marketing, 
and because the leads generated by the listing agent go to the listing agent exactly like a call off of a yard sign.
As the news release states, this is the first integration of a market solution into listing management in America or Canada, but we suspect that it will not be the last.
Here’s the full news release:
Bright MLS & Homesnap Introduce First-Ever Integration For Digital Ad Campaigns
ROCKVILLE, MD, AUGUST 27, 2019 — Bright MLS, a leading multiple listing service (MLS) representing 95,000 real estate professionals in the Mid-Atlantic U.S., and Homesnap, the leading provider of technology solutions to the real estate industry, have partnered to introduce a novel integration feature that allows real estate agents the ability to create and run customized digital marketing campaigns on the web’s four premier advertising platforms right at the point of listing entry. With this digital ad integration feature, users can opt to run ads on Facebook, Google, Instagram, and Waze from within the listing itself.
Bright MLS Innovation
This innovative tool for Bright MLS subscribers allows agents to seamlessly create and monitor customized digital marketing campaigns from within Bright MLS’s Listing Management system the minute the listing is created. Now, when agents access Bright MLS’s Listing Management interface, they will be able to instantly preview professional, industry-compliant ads created specifically for their listings on the most powerful and highly trafficked sites online. This new offering represents the first time a vendor of digital marketing products has integrated with an MLS within their listing add/edit application.
“Bright MLS is completely focused on powering the individual success of our subscribers by providing them with the best tools, data and technology in the industry,” said Jon Coile, Chairman of Bright MLS. “This tool will enable our users to dramatically maximize the impact of their listing almost instantaneously as they make their entry into Listing Management. We’re offering our users the visibility, convenience and efficiency to move their business forward.”
“This integration is the first of its kind. By allowing agents the ease and timeliness of creating a listing and running ads for that listing in the same place, we’re arming Bright MLS users with an instant, powerful tool to generate leads and grow their business,” said John Mazur, CEO of Homesnap.
Once ads are live, agents will be able to see a high-level overview of campaign results within the Bright Listing Management tool. In one click, they can view a full performance report for each ad platform, complete with views, clicks, lead details and more on Homesnap. All ad graphics contain pertinent listing details, including the primary listing photo, the agent’s name, headshot and brokerage, and an eye-catching design to tie it all together. At no additional charge, each ad also includes a custom landing page optimized for lead capture. At any point while the ads are active, agents can generate real-time reports for their sellers, automatically delivered by email, providing a transparent look additional exposure garnered by the promotion.
The Bright MLS real estate service area spans 40,000 square miles throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. As a leading Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Bright serves approximately 95,000 real estate professionals who in turn serve over 20 million consumers. For more information, please visit brightmls.com.
About Homesnap
With easy-to-use mobile technology fueled by unmatched, real-time data intelligence, Homesnap is changing the way real estate agents connect with consumers and serve their clients. The industry-endorsed Homesnap platform leverages real-time data from over 200 MLSs to empower millions of consumers each month with a superior home search experience, while providing over a million agents — 87% of U.S. agents — with access to powerful mobile tools that automate their work and accelerate their success. With the Homesnap mobile app, the highest rated consumer home search application; Homesnap Pro, the industry-standard mobile business platform for agents; and the Homesnap national home search portal, a joint venture with the industry-backed Broker Public Portal, the integrated Homesnap platform is transforming the industry by bringing real-time to real estate. More information can be found at www.homesnap.com.
