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Steven Cross
Social media is not generally considered a direct source of leads yet agents who choose to ignore social media altogether are missing out on business, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV).
REIV spokesperson Robert Larocca told Real Estate Business that social media can open new doors.
“Twitter and social media generally may not be seen as a direct source of leads but a failure to engage with or understand the medium means you could be missing out," he said.
“They are important tools to keep in touch with the market, to project the image you want and to open new doors.
“Given the ease of engaging with social media you have to ask, why not?”
According to the Exact Target Digital Down Under report, the last thing 47 per cent of Australian consumers do before going to bed is check email; while 27 per cent check Facebook.
“This has been the case with every technological innovation from the phone to the internet, they have an impact that is not immediately apparent but in retrospect is very significant," Mr Larocca said. "You can’t see it as a standalone tool, it’s got to be part of your marketing toolkit."
The REIV is hosting its own dedicated Real Estate Digital Marketing Conference on Tuesday 13 November.
The conference will bring together award-winning industry specialists to help real estate professionals to leverage, embrace and drive digital media, tools and technology.
“There is a long way however, until the use of social media matures in real estate. Some agents just post sales, whilst others use it to engage. I am not sure anyone has worked out the best way yet.”
Earlier this year industry trainer Josh Phegan sparked a flurry of comments when he said the best agents in the industry don't use social media.
“The days of social media and database have been around [for a while]; we’ve been through all that,” Josh Phegan told Real Estate Business on the sidelines of the Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC) in May.
“And we worked out the thing that does work is getting face-to-face in front of the customer, shaking hands."
“We are going back to that. The top performers [are] saying, ‘All I want to do is go back to that. Anything technology-related, let someone else handle that'.”
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