13
Dec
Social media hub-bub
It’s the talk of the digital tinsel town - Social
networking and social media marketing are buzz words for the online
industry. Most have heard of these phrases, but not all Estate
Agents have decided to embrace this frenzy.
Clearly it is up to them, as a business, Estate Agents should
evaluate whether their time is better spent in this new frontier or
to stick to more traditional marketing techniques such as newspaper
advertising.
If you are an Estate Agent thinking about moving into social
media jungle, take some time to mull over these points.
Social media is not only about generating leads. Estate Agents
that only promote via Facebook and Twitter quickly find themselves
with as much traffic as the steppes of Mongolia. They will then
deem their strategy a failure and never open Pandora’s Box
ever again.
Remember that a tool is only as powerful as the person who
wields it.
Estate Agents, what you must realise is that using social
networks for your business is not for the short term. It is not a
magic spell or potion that in a puff a smoke will instantly save
your Estate Agency from the depths of ruin.
It is however a means of generating exposure, creating a loyal
customer base, establishing yourself as a local expert, producing
regular traffic for your blog/news articles, networking with the
local population, providing an SEO boost and sharing ideas and
links with people in the industry.
There may even be smaller unmentioned benefits such as, simply
put, it’s free – something that will make some of your
ears prick.
With so many benefits for the social online Estate Agent, it is
widely accepted to treat social networks as spokes of a wheel which
funnel traffic from Facebook’s 24 million UK users and
Twitter’s 4 million UK users to your Estate Agent
website.
This allows Estate Agents then treat their website as a hub for
all their activity allowing a whole variety of information,
features and functionality that is not possible on one single
social network.
So what should Estate Agents expect from social networks?
As mentioned above, Estate Agents should take their social
strategy objectively and realise that all these benefits, as great
in number as they are, take time to mature.
Try this cheesy takeaway - Every single magnificent oak tree
germinated from a humble seed.
James Coyne – eMarketing and
Social Media Consultant
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