The rise of social media has ushered in one of the biggest shake-ups to marketing methods for half a century. The real estate industry is one of those that have embraced this exciting development and the best marketing plans now include social media in the mix. If your real estate agent is not advertising your property in Narellan through social media, you risk being bypassed by genuine buyers.
Some real estate companies are still relying solely on their websites and shop window advertising to attract clients. Our approach on the Prudential Real Estate website is to include some social media options in order to reach a wider audience than traditional advertising on its own. On each property profile we offer a link to Twitter and an option to share the details on Facebook.
Gen Y Heavy Users of Social Media
There are some very concrete benefits to using this approach to market your property in Narellan. One of these is the ability to reach a precise target market using the information that Facebook has on its users. Another is the familiarity with the use of social media exhibited by Gen Y, who now make up a large part of the buying market.
Place an Ad Once on Multiple Platforms and the Vendors do the Rest
There is no doubt that Facebook and Twitter are the major social media outlets but Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram are all starting to play a part in the marketing of real estate properties. Using multiple social media platforms benefits both agents and sellers. The agents need only to advertise once across a number of platforms, and the vendors then share the listings through their various social media accounts.
A Social Media Strategy Must Be Subtle
This approach has been gaining momentum in Australian real estate circles over the past couple of years, but care must be taken in the way it is implemented. Avid social media users will follow a trend but they do not like being blatantly used to sell a product. Agencies must be subtle and work at building a relationship with their followers by first offering them something useful.
Links on Property Pages Quickly Multiply
By placing links to Facebook and Twitter on each property page as we have done, we are leaving the decision to share the property details with the users. With many Facebook and Twitter users having hundreds of friends and followers, this information spreads quickly. The interest in our properties generated by these links not only showcases the homes in question, but also the attractions of the south-west Sydney area where we operate, and of course, our business.
As a company we want Prudential Real Estate to be the first agency in Narellan and other suburbs people think of when they are looking to buy in the south-west. We will still use traditional methods while they produce results, but we intend to keep investing in our social media presence to provide quality service to our clients.
