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Two of Australia’s most successful agents have said the industry has been misled about the value of Facebook as a marketing tool.
Betty Ockerlander from McGrath Estate Agents Epping, who placed 25th in this year’s Top 100 Agents ranking, said she doesn't believe she’s received a proper return on the time and money she’s invested in Facebook marketing.
“We were led to believe by someone at some seminar that it was going to be much bigger, so you had to do it,” she told an REB Leadership Series event.
“We were waiting for something to happen. We were told it was going to be the only way people communicated, so we did it. My kids are 34 and 31 and even they've gone off Facebook.”
Ms Ockerlander said that while she is dubious about the value of Facebook, she feels obliged to continue using it to avoid the risk of handing an advantage to one of her rivals.
John Paranchi from McGrath Estate Agents Hunters Hill, who placed 56th on the Top 100 Agents ranking, said Facebook is “right down the bottom of the list” of prospecting options.
“Have I got a listing because of Facebook? The answer would probably be no. Has it got me into a door? Possibly,” he said.
“It’s there, it’s something you’ve got to be on, but you don’t want to spend too much time and attention on it,” he said.
“The typical person I deal with is aged 40 to 50 years. I just can’t see that the guy who works in senior management at Macquarie Bank, who I’m going to sell a house to, is going to be on Facebook trying to work out if they’re going to use me or another agent.”
Peter Gilchrist from Real Training International said agents are deluding themselves if they think they can achieve meaningful results from Facebook posts.
“It’s like pissing in a wetsuit – you get a lovely, warm feeling, but no one else really gets it,” he told REB.
“Facebook is not any sort of saviour for this industry. It’s just another form of letterbox and it’s a social media,” he said.
“Pick up the damn phone and have quality conversations with your database.”
[LinkedIn: Is social media a valuable sales tool or a distraction?]
- <p>Facebook has to be the most important platform Ive ever used for building brand awareness and trust with my audience, for my business.</p>0
- <p>We generate over 1,000 listing leads a month for our agents using Facebook and that number is steadily growing.</p><p>Like most things, you have to know HOW to do it in order to get results. Just posting an article won't get you a listing, even posting them regularly - especially if you're posting articles from REA or other sites where there is NO lead generation service for you connected to it.</p><p>Facebook marketing, paid marketing, works best with a DIRECT call to action. Facebook content works best as branding, keeping your face coming up in your market's feed, keeping your brand top of mind AND in the example of what we do, that content will be hosted somewhere, where there is lead generation attached to it and that lead generation drives back to you.</p><p>But even with all that, you have to know your market place, you have to know what they will respond to, what images they will connect with and where the emotions lie - so that way you can design the marketing and content to connect with your market place. (Sounds a bit like marketing 101 doesn't it).</p><p>I've seen real estate pages with 11,000 plus followers, where they have clearly spent A LOT of money to build up that following and ALL they post is listings. They get maybe 1 like or 1 comment every second post....and most the time it's their own staff or competitors liking/commenting.</p><p>11,000 people "connected" to the page and they get maybe 1 like......that is because they have no idea how to use the medium.</p><p>Facebook is also a constantly evolving medium, you have to keep your finger on the pulse and monitor what is and isn't getting responses....you also have to REPLY to comments and interaction from your market place.</p><p>It's well and truly worth it, you just have to do it right smile emoticon</p>0
- <p>A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Facebook is just one platform within our social media landscape that works for building businesses, that is, if you understand why it works and how to work it. I liken the perception of Social media as a prospecting tool to the perception of Auctions when an Auction doesn't sell a Vendors home - the blamers blame Auction marketing.."Auctions don't work in our market". Auctions do work. An Auction is a marketing strategy, its a process, the process works very well indeed. When an Auction fails to sell a property it is not the fault of the Auction as a strategy, rather, the fault of the salesperson controlling the strategy.</p><p>What most don't understand about social media is that it isn't a selling tool, its a conversation tool and the key is to get in on the conversation because that is what will build up your audience and turn that audience into customers and advocates. If you understand anything about relationship building then you will know that people don't like being sold too - they like to buy. So trying to sell on social media doesn't work...that's not why we use that space.</p><p>Facebook, and social media as a whole, is just part of what should make up a salesperson's Digital Media Marketing Strategy and that's a strategy to market themselves and their vendors homes'. Salespeople in Real Estate like to think of themselves as 'in business for themselves' but why is it that RE Salespeople don't have their own personal websites for example (well 99.5% of them don't) - its just a lack of knowledge and understanding. If you are in business today the having a website is considered essential to your business profile and its the critical central hub to all of your marketing activities. And salespeople need to market themselves...surely we are past that simple understanding.</p><p>Digital and social media is part of our universal communication and relationship landscape. These technologies have changed how we work, live and play. Don't fear it, understand it. It works for finding and winning business - when you know how.</p><p>I'll finally add a mention about perception. Facebook, or social media more widely, isn't just about finding a prospective buyers or sellers, it about WINNING LISTINGS. Put yourself at a prospective vendors home doing a listing presentation. It's fair to say that most salespeople offer the prospective vendor the same solution. You either selling the best team/biggest team/boutique team, the best marketing/most marketing/free marketing, the most sales/biggest sale/latest sale, the best service/personal service/guaranteed service, stats to prove this/stats to prove that...get the idea!...its all relatively undistinguishable". <br>So aside from the fact that the vendor will weight their decision heavily based on just 'YOU', how would their decision be affected if, in addition to your companies marketing, you could show them your personal website and your social and digital media channels and the audience you have created through them and therefore how much extra exposure their property will get because of your personal marketing in these platforms. Salespeople sell marketing to vendors, so show them how on top of your game you really are because very few other salespeople will be able to that. Distinguish yourself from the competition because sometimes its just about perception.</p><p>Could a wise investment in learning facebook, and social media more widely, be worth it now??</p>0
- <p>I've been running a CPD course on Social Media and Business Communication since January. The overall feedback I have received from agents about Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn has been extremely positive, but the feedback about the value of Facebook has been quite the opposite.</p>0
- <p>Still a very good layering tool for not much outlay.</p>0
- <p>Facebook can be whatever you want it to be ... it can be right at the top or right down the bottom. I know many people that are using it really well that understand the value of it and also know plenty of others that will never get it. It is all about choice. If you know your customers and what they do and how they find you then that is the most important thing.</p>0
- <p>No doubt Betty and John spend copious amounts of $'s on letterbox drops which has limited ROI. FB atleast provides measureable results (good & bad). Yes phone is still king but with Daniel Petre coming onboard for McGrath I expect the digital strategy to change for the better. -den</p>0
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