Social Media Marketing: Is it Right for Real Estate?

There’s no denying it.

Social media marketing can no longer be dismissed as a simple fad. Retailers all over the world are using it for everything from advertising and real time promotions to brand monitoring and order placement.

Simply put, the popularity of social media is growing exponentially. And now, big companies like Disney, Levi Strauss and Starbucks are embracing that fact instead of fighting against it.

That’s all well and good for retail-based businesses, but what about real estate? Can social media marketing be effective when it comes to promoting and selling houses or commercial properties?

The short answer is yes, especially in a market where creativity is essential to success.

Here are a few examples of how real estate professionals are tapping into social media
marketing:

Multimedia Presentations: By offering photo and video sharing of available properties on social media sites like Facebook and MySpace, agents are able to display features and benefits to prospective buyers easily and affordably. Better yet, such videos and photos can be shared across very large cross-sections of people, and they can be targeted by community or demographic factors as well.

Brand Building: Any listing agent is only as good as the brand he or she is promoting, and that brand is themselves. This is accomplished by using sites like Twitter, combined with an online blog that is regularly updated with content relevant to targeted communities. Over time, the listing agent who builds a brand through social media becomes widely recognized as an authority in his or her region.

Attracting Prospective Clients: The most successful agents get that way by drawing in as many potential buyers and sellers as they can. Today, social media marketing provides new opportunities to do so, most notably by creating targeted social groups on the likes of Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Forward-thinking firms that are truly focused on maximizing social media have gone so far as to develop iPhone apps, the best of which are designed to provide real time updates about available properties.

Bonding: In a tough housing market, the concept of “strength in numbers” can be leveraged when real estate professionals establish connections via social media. This is most notably achieved through industry-specific social media sites like ActiveRain and The Flipping Pad. These sites serve as trade associations online, and they are dedicated to furthering the profession, sharpening skills, and optimizing networking among agents.

At the current pace, it may not be much longer before everyone will be accessing their favorite products and services exclusively through Facebook or MySpace. And the real estate industry may not be far behind, from networking with peers to promotion and virtual open houses, all through the magic of social media marketing.
Do you have examples of how you use social media marketing in your real estate endeavors?

By: David DiCola

David DiCola is a 20-year management veteran and the author of Customer Golf – The Short Game, a novel about overcoming obstacles in business and in golf.