Three seconds. Barely enough time to take a sip of your morning coffee, but enough time for you to view content and decide on whether something is worth your continued attention. At least this is what Meta has reported after a large scale analysis of how users absorb content on Facebook & Instagram, and I would estimate this will only reduce in the future.
For marketers, and especially when showcasing a property, that three second window is crucial. Before someone reads the description, studies the floorplan or books a viewing, we have to give them a reason to stop. Meta advises putting key messages and visuals within the first three seconds of a video. That is a useful principle for property marketing: make the opening count.
We are all familiar with ‘the scroll’. An endless stream of visuals: A house, a holiday, someone’s lunch, an influencer, an advert. Your property is competing with everything else on that screen, often while someone is waiting for the kettle to boil, walking the dog, sitting on the train or ‘doom scrolling’ for an hour before they go to sleep.
At Sanderson Young, we invest a large proportion of our time in deciding how a property should first be seen. Which photograph leads the listing? What opens the video? What will make someone curious enough to look further? Sometimes it is the architecture. Sometimes it is the view through the kitchen doors, the garden in autumn or a room that feels welcoming. Every home has something that deserves to be seen first. Our job is to recognise it.
For an Instagram Reel, this may mean opening with the strongest moment rather than saving it for halfway through. For a valuer speaking to camera, it means starting with something useful that a homeowner wants to hear. The same thinking applies to Rightmove. The opening photograph should earn the click, while the images that follow should help a buyer understand the home and imagine living there. Their order deserves as much consideration as the photography itself.
Of course, attracting attention is only the beginning. Once someone stops, the rest needs to deliver. Good photography, thoughtful editing, clear information and a sense of the home must carry that initial interest through.
A video means very little if nobody understands where the property is or how to arrange a viewing. That is what I want our marketing to achieve: give people a reason to pause, help them see what makes a home special, and make the next step feel natural. Those first three seconds might lead to another thirty, a closer look at the particulars or a conversation with our team. Each is a chance worth earning.
David Thirlwell
Head of Marketing
SANDERSON YOUNG