Updated January 2025

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When it comes to hosting a successful open house, promoting your event is key to attracting the right buyers. To help you draw in potential clients and make the most of your open house, I’ve gathered a variety of creative open house promotion ideas. From leveraging social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to more traditional methods such as door knocking and placing signage, these strategies will ensure your event gets the visibility it deserves. Check out these tips to enhance your open house marketing efforts and boost attendance.

1. Put out plenty of signage

If you’re planning an open house, you already know you’ll need to place a sign in front of the property advertising the upcoming event. But have you considered other open house sign ideas that can more widely promote your event?

For one, you shouldn’t underestimate the potential of posting professional-looking flyers at community gathering places, like coffeehouses and gyms. (You can use Canva to create your own.) The amount of foot traffic at these spots means you’re more likely to connect with relevant leads.

Additionally, you’ll also want to set up directional signs on the day of the event. Whether these efforts get additional buyers to come to the open house, the extra signage will be helpful to your attendees who may be less familiar with the neighborhood.

2. Create open-house Facebook ads

When it comes to getting real estate listings in front of a very specific group of prospects, there are few options better than Facebook open-house ads. And though you do need to be prepared to pay for the privilege, Facebook gives such specific targeting options that you can’t afford not to take advantage.

One approach you might take is to target leads by traits such as income level and recent life events, such as an engagement, marriage, new baby, or retirement.  You can also narrow your search to include only people interested in certain pages—for example, real estate listing sites like Zillow. While there is no guarantee that these individual criteria will connect you with interested buyers, these characteristics could indicate that someone is looking to buy a home in the near future.

If you need a bit of help crafting a Facebook ad, you can watch our comprehensive training webinar, or leave your ads to the professionals and use our Facebook Ads service. (You can book a demo here.)

3. Geotag your listing on Instagram

Given the platform’s 2+ billion monthly users, competing for market share on Instagram can get a little tricky. One way to make your open house stand out is by creating a geotag for your post or Instagram Story about your listing. When you geotag your post or Story with the name of a specific neighborhood or nearby landmark (such as a school or park), you’re grabbing the attention of locals and increasing the likelihood your open house will appear on the radar of the right person.

To create a geotag

Instagram doesn’t offer a built-in feature for creating location tags, but you can use Facebook’s check-in option to generate a geotag that will also appear on Instagram. Simply have a Facebook account (business or personal) and the Facebook app on your smartphone. If you link your Facebook and Instagram accounts, you’ll be able to manage your geotags from the latter.

1. Open the Facebook app and create a new post.

2. Find the “Check In” option, which may be located below the text box or in a menu.

3. Search for the home’s location. Facebook will offer nearby locations based on your GPS. Type in the precise address of the listing in the search bar.

4. Verify the suggested locations for accuracy.

5. Post and wait. When everything looks good, tap “Share” to complete the check-in. It may take a few minutes for the location to show up on Instagram.

Of course, there are other things you can do to ensure that your post stands out. Instagram’s gallery feature allows you to show off multiple photos from your listing, while you can include detailed information about the open house in your caption.

4. Post a virtual open-house teaser

When advertising an open house, what better way to get people interested in seeing a property than by showing them just enough of it to pique their curiosity? You can create a short teaser video for Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube—or, if you’d prefer, all three places. You can also go live on the platform of your choice.

The key here is to show just a little bit of the house (inside and out) and talk about why people will want to see it in person. Emphasize that this is a desirable property and that it might not be on the market for long. Beyond that, make sure you’re crystal clear about where and when the open house will be taking place—include this information in the video, as well as the written description on whichever platform(s) you’re using.

5. Don’t forget about door knocking

Another popular strategy for getting the word out about open houses is door knocking—visiting dozens of houses in the area and handing out information about your upcoming event.

While it may seem counterintuitive to advertise an open house to homeowners who already live in the area, there are at least three reasons why doing so is actually a great use of your time:

• Local residents could have family or friends who are looking for a home, and they can help you spread the word.
• People will see how dedicated you are to selling homes and be more inclined to work with you if and when they move.
• Curiosity often drives local residents to stroll through their neighbors’ homes, and they can serve as volunteer marketers, talking up the neighborhood to prospective buyers.

To spread the word, use our free door hangers; we have a Resource Library full of them, along with pop-by tags, cards, and other nifty leave-behind items for all seasons and occasions that you can download at no cost.

CLICK HERE to download this free pop-by tag.

As you can see, you can use a variety of methods to promote your open house. And, as with any other marketing strategy, it’s usually a good idea to diversify your efforts. With persistence, you’ll draw a sizable crowd to your event and lay the groundwork for future sales around the neighborhood.