The Similarities of Social Media and Real Estate

Social media is a great way for businesses to market to large audiences with low costs and limited time commitments. Is it always the best option? I have been studying social media since its inception several years ago. I would watch as my girlfriend (at the time) was chatting with students at Yale, Harvard and the other 30 colleges on “TheFacebook.” Little did I know this new technology would blossom into one of the most dominating companies of all time. Facebook is literally changing the game on a grand scale in terms of marketing.

Now let’s look at the real estate market. There are several markets we love to look at like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Why? Because we like to see the trends and the latest features in our industry of real estate. Do we focus on these areas? Not likely, unless of course you are in or around these global markets. We focus on our local markets. How does this translate for you? What you do locally may not be what agents do in Los Angeles or New York. Knowing the trends and latest features is part of our job and we need to review these macro-level concepts in order to develop professionally. The same goes for social media, knowing the trends and being able to see what is next is critical for anyone using social media as a marketing outlet.

Macro level views, but how does it help me locally?

The similarities of Social Media and Real estate do not stop at understanding on a macro level. They also include implementation on a local or micro level.  Basically what is done on the grand scale in dynamic locations may not necessarily translate to your local market. Here in Tucson we have two separate social media cities. One by the University of Arizona which adheres to the southern California style of Instagram and Twitter. And second among the Tucsonans who are primarily on Facebook. Even within our city we have two separate forms of localized social media markets.

A local view, now what does it mean to you??

I see several posts from large companies on all social media outlets expressing the latest and greatest technology for agents to use. Understanding what is out there is great, however implementing the latest trends in your local market may not be needed. I would caution agents in reading these posts because of the localization of the social media market. Where are you located; is your consumer on the social media described in the post? I can say with full confidence here in Tucson our market is not on snapchat. This allows me to manage my time more efficiently and focus on the places where my customers are on, like Facebook and Pinterest. I wrote a great article a few months ago on why it is okay to not like Facebook and I still believe this. If your market is about meeting with people on a personal level, then have coffee with them. There is no shame in not using the latest technology if it is not relevant to your local market.

Real Estate and social media are similar in that the dynamics must be just right for success. Be sure to keep a pulse on your market, both with real estate and with social media use.