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Brendan Wong
While many agents are utilising social media to communicate with their marketplaces, some remain against social media tools according to a recent survey.
Managing director of Focal Real Estate Glen Spink said he did not use social media as he did not see the value of it in generating sales.
“Anyone who wants to buy real estate will go to the area where it’s sold, which is realestate.com.au. I don’t see that Facebook will help with making any sales at all," he said.
“It’s good for people sending text to one another rather than talking, but the only way you can sell something is to talk to somebody.
“All it does is fill in agents’ time. You have to go out and talk to people. You can’t get sales any other way."
The Real Estate Business 2013 Half-Yearly Sentiment Survey has revealed that 71.5 per cent of the 284 respondents use social media to communicate with their market. On the other hand, 22.9 per cent said they did not use social media, with the remaining 5.6 per cent only using social media to connect with their network or office.
The survey also found that Facebook was a popular tool amongst agents, with 61.2 per cent of 268 respondents saying this was the social media site they used most to communicate with their market.
Managing director of RE/MAX Western Australia Geoff Baldwin said social media was important to help people find agents.
“I don’t believe you can be successful in the work that we do either as a trainer, franchisor or any aspect of real estate without allowing people to check you out," he told Real Estate Business. "These days, we are an open book and I think social media falls right into that.
“Social media is a terrific way to communicate with as many people as you possibly can. The simple fact is that there are eight to nine million Australians on social media every day, so you really would have to be fairly naive to think you can be without it.
“I think it’s an important way to get out to your market and Facebook advertising allows you to target your different categories and demographics.”
However, Mr Baldwin said there had to be a balance and a disciplined approach to using social media to ensure time was not wasted, and that content posted online was of value to the public.
Kate Payne, director at REWIRE Group and social media specialist, said principals need to alter their thinking when they create Facebook strategies for their businesses.
“Social media was once seen as something that decreases productivity in the office, but I can assure you the shininess has worn off - we are now getting down to business,” she said. “Social media is modern-world PR.
“There have been studies that show 78 per cent of people trust peer reviews - like the ones on Facebook. Just 14 per cent said they trust advertising.
“You should be taking these figures and using them to gain customers and engage with them via your individual social media pages.”
- <p>"There's no future in online retailing"<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>-Gerry Harvey, 2008.</p>0
- <p>I specialise in real estate social marketing. Social media for real estate is not about sales - it's about keeping your brand in the consideration set. Of course Facebook is not going to work for you if you are just chest-beating about sales or your latest listing. Who wants that rubbish showing up in their news feeds. It's boring content. You need to have a nice balance of interesting created and curated content. There are very few in our industry who are doing it well and the reality is that you need to hire a resource to do it. Otherwise it's just a huge distraction for agents.</p>0
- <p>So lets talk actual numbers, not anecdotal guesses. Last month, from my Google analytics the following is the case. Of the 3965 people that went to our site from other sources, there were 13 that came from our Facebook page, one from Google+ and one from Wordpress. That means for every 1000 people that visit our Social Media pages only 4 then go on to our website. Not staggeringly high numbers I would venture to say. However, we keep on keeping the Social Media up to date.</p>0
- <p>Thank you to the 20pc of agents that don't understand the value of social media, diminished competition is good!<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>Like Geoff Baldwin, I believe its a great tool for people to use, in an effort to evaluate what agents are doing in the market place.<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>Agents need to be 'visible' and not just in the front office windows.</p>0
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