Top 8 Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Professionals (Infographic)

TOP 8 BENEFITS of SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING for REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS MAXIMUM WEBSITES Real Etate e In a continuously difficult real estate market, agents and realtors who gain better traction in generating high-quality sales leads that convert are those who know and are able to cope with a rapidly evolving digital environment dominated by social media. Current market studies do confirm such trends as true, This trend has slowly permeated across the entire real estate industry, with major players allocating up to 90% 56% of licensed real estate professionals using at least one social network or another for their of their advertising budget to online marketing. marketing efforts. These trends signal others who have not done so to get a closer look at these channels and initiate their own social media marketing campaigns. Just like person-to-person marketing, the key to success in social media is to focus on the "social" aspects, referring to interaction and engagement with targeted customers, and "media" which denotes the various types of content they need for their campaigns. Successfully harnessing these two aspects can deliver the results real estate professionals want – while reaping all the other top benefits described below from social media marketing. 1) Social Media is Where Your Real Estate Prospects Are This year, more than 1.8 billion G online users made use of social media at one time or another, Social networks have evolved far more from being a mere fad where people catch up with old friends or post photos of what they had for breakfast. It has evolved into a very powerful digital mar- keting tool that transcend industries - including real estate. 1.35 billion AAAA These figures are clear indications that social media is most probably where your real estate prospects are, and studies do shed light on the truth behind this statement. of which are active at Facebook on a monthly basis, not to mention Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and the rest of the social media gang. Consumer Engagement Index Industries with most inbound engagement in social channes relative lo lence s 1 UTILITIES This information is quite remarkable and may lead you think real estate professionals using social media marketing rake in ridiculously huge revenues – but the chart below will say otherwise. 200 2 REAL ESTATE 1.52 3 CONSUMER GOODS 141 4 BANKINGINANCE 1.39 S EDUCATION 127 6 TECHNOLOGY 1.26 7 RETAL 1.22 Brand Engagement Index * TRAVELHOSPITALITY Industries that were most responsive to inbound messages from their audience in social channels. 122 > ENTERTAINMENT 114 1 UTILITIES 2.77 10 BUSINESS SsERVICES 1.11 1 BANKINGJFINANCE 2.77 1 GOVERNMENT 1.09 12 MARKETING 1.08 2 AUTOMOTIVE 2.18 13 AUTOMOTVE 1.03 3 RETAIL 2.12 13 NON-PROFIT 1.03 4 TECHNOLOGY 1.94 14 HEALTHCARE 100 5 BUSINESS SERVVICES 1.82 6 TRAVEL/HOSPITALITY 1,61 7 CONSUMER GOODS 1.59 S EDUCATION 1.47 9 MARKETING 1.42 The Brand Engagement Index above generated from the same study listed real estate near the bottom of the pile of brands across industries that responded well to incoming customer engagement - clear indications of the enormous room for improvement real estate professionals have with respect to social media marketing 10 HEALTHCARE 1.41 11 NON-PROFIT 1.24 12 GOVERNMENT 1.19 13 REAL ESTATE 1.16 14 ENTERTAINMENT 1,13 Social Media Marketing Lets You Leverage on Increasing Consumer Use of Online Search The journey that landed up to At its peak, up to 69% 92% of consumers who converted as a lead or a sale on a particular real estate website began with a basic search engine query. of activities related to the search for a new home was conducted through online channels 59 % coursed through mobile internet on their smartphones or tablets. AN With residential sales figures last year reaching levels of more than 5 mil- lion units, online channels definitely proved to be a strong force in this industry. Where Buyers Come From Where Buyer Found the Home they Purchased The charts show online channels as the main Agent source for home sales traffic - particularly on where buyers came from and how home buyers look for new property - also indicate agent engagement as the next top reason. Yard Sign 33% Friend Builden Seller Newspoper 43% Other How Buyers Search for Property Information Sources used in Home Seardh Internat Agent 31% Yord Sign Open House 2013 12012 Mabile App 42% Mabile Seerdh 2010 27% Online Video Sihe As mentioned earlier, person-to-person marketing is still vital in real estate marketing, and leveraging this in combination with powerful aspects of social media marketing will open new and exciting new doors of opportunity for the real estate professional. Newspoper 12007 10% 20% 30% 40% S0% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 3) Social Media Marketing Saves You Time and Money Real estate professionals know for a fact that closing that sweet deal on a new home sales is not instantaneous, and will require additional talk and convincing before the deal is done. $$ The whole process – from generating leads to closing the sale - will take its toll on resources that if prolonged, will cost the real estate professional considerable time and money. Actions Taken as a Result of an Internet Home Search Using social media on online channels for lead generation is more cost-effective and if done right will result in a faster process that delivers more favorable results. 100% 80% 60% 40% 45% 20% 29% 21% Located an agent via Internet home search Walked through a Drove by/viewed the home home viewed online The chart above show better results in generating favorable action from targeted audiences - much more than running ads through more expensive traditional marketing and advertising channels. Social Media Marketing Lets You Take Advantage of Short Videos and Photo Slideshow One of the stronger points in social media marketing is the greater focus and preference for visual elements that include high quality images, photos and videos. Social media also made it possible for digital marketers, particularly real estate professionals who are always on the go, to leverage on-line tools for creating and quickly sharing photos, short videos and slideshows of the property they are selling - and send them directly to prospective buyers to see. Up to 83% of property buyers find photos as very useful in their quest for new homes or properties to buy and using social med on the power of visual elements such as these. enables you to leverage What Buyers Like What buyers deem "Very Usefulr Detoliled Property hfo Toun Agent Contor lele Niabohood to Both buyers and homeowners listing their homes for sale will respond well and take favorable action to real estate professionals making use of social media video tools for marketing. Videos 30% 60% 90% Video (and YouTube) are More Important Than Ever 73% of homeowners say they're more likely to list witha realtor offering to do video, yet only 12% of the real estate industry currently have YouTube accounts. Real Estate professionals may not see the immediate benefit to offering video just yet. but it's there! 73% 12% Social Media Marketing Lets You Take Advantage of the Power of Mobile Technologies Another key aspect of social media marketing that real estate professionals can take advantage of is mobile device usage. Mobile search using only their web-enabled smartphones and tablets grew by an astonishing 500% rate as both marketers and consumers find themselves always on the move that makes constant connection through the mobile internet channel quite a necessity. On top of that, mobile social media marketing also takes into consideration local as well as geographical aspects which are all quite important from a real estate professional's perspective. Social Media Marketing Keeps You Readily Available to Prospects As mentioned earlier, the whole process of selling properties involves several intricate and resource-consuming aspects that will require multiple contact points with a prospective buyer. Oftentimes, the final decision is influenced by how well real estate professionals respond to queries, clarifications and other requests that require them to be readily available when the client calls. 8+ t Using social media, real estate professionals can maintain that person-to-person connection with targeted audiences - and generate the kind of favorable actions they are gunning for. 7) Social Media Marketing Expands Your Real Estate Network There's a third very important aspect in social media marketing right after "social" and "media" – and this is "network". How well a real estate professional can leverage social media marketing channels to expand their real estate network will define the future success and even survival of his business. In social media, engagement with targeted customers goes beyond per- son-to-person contact, as various social signals such as "liking"or "sharing" can open your real estate network to expansion – opening new doors for the influx of referrals and new prospects from within your prospects' own social network. Social Media Marketing Diversifies Your Real Estate Marketing Efforts Unlike traditional marketing and advertising channels, the potential for expansion and diversification of your real estate marketing efforts is greater through social media marketing. A diverse and expanded campaign – from interesting stories uploaded to a blog post, to comprehensive YouTube videos that show prospects what they wanted to see - opens new doors of opportunities, allowing your listings to reach out to a wider audiences, drawing in highly targeted prospects that have greater probabilities for conversion. You Tube maximumresites.com [email protected] POWERED BY : CREATED BY : MAXIMUM WEBSITES Real Estate JG DIGITAL MARKETING Turnkey, Powerful Real Estate Marketing Websites and Services Sources: http://www.realtor.org/field-guides/field-guide-to-quick-real-estate-statistics https://www.borrellassociates.com/industry-papers/pa- pers/2013-real-estate-advertising-outlook-advertising-finally-rebounds-detail http://www.statista.com/statistics/219903/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ http://downloads.sproutsocial.com/ http://www.realtor.org/sites/default/files/Study-Digital-House-Hunt-2013-01 1.pdf http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/09/12/mobile-real-estate-searches-exploding http://propertiesonline.com/Reports/annual-real-estate-trends-report.pdf http://realestateagentu.com/9-fantastic-real-estate-social-media-marketing-statistics/ http://www.34sp.com/blog/chit-chat/will-the-mobile-internet-overtake-the-desktop/ http://maximumresites.com/blog /The-Sprout-Social-Index_December-2013.pdf !!