A post on Inman yesterday by Teresa Boardman sparked a spirited discussion about the use of social media in selling real estate.
Boardman’s basic premise was: You can’t sell a house using social media.
People need to know that social media sites don’t sell real estate before they get overly excited and start setting up profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn, and open accounts on Flickr, join Twitter and start a blog.
None of those services sell real estate. It is really too bad because so many good agents are spending their time on the Internet these da
ys. I can give examples of how all of these nifty Web 2.0 sites have failed me.
She ended by asking people to weigh in.
I would be most interested in talking to and learning from anyone who has a blog, Web site, Twitter account or any other kind of social media site that sells real estate. My activities on the Internet have been more like prospecting and maybe marketing, but not selling.
And weigh in they did. But before we look at what other realtors had to say, let’s answer the first question: Who is Teresa Boardman?
She’s a gifted and active writer who has been blogging for the past 4 years and has made a big splash in Social Media.
She’s got big-time WebCred. More than 1800 Twitter followers, more than 10,000 Twitted updates, 332 Facebook friends and an enviable authority rating from Technorati.
She’s been a real estate agent for 7 years and is based out of Keller Williams Integrity in St. Paul, MN. Currently, she has 3 listings.
If you go on Google and search for “real estate” in St. Paul, her blog is the number two link. Search for “homes for sale” in St. Paul and she’s link #8.
That’s great web presence and has got to be driving good traffic.
So, she’s got the kind of footprint on the web — where consumers are looking for real estate all over — that not only other agents would envy, but other media companies would envy as well. She’s been consistent, authoritative and accessible online: that’s what it takes.
But, she says, you can’t sell houses with Social Media. Her commentators agree. But, they say, you can get leads. And she agrees, she’s getting leads. She just want to turn them to be the kind of leads that turn into sales.
A couple of excerpts from the very good comments she sparked with her post.
Lead generation is the key. The more leads the better. Like all sales activities, it is a numbers game. Personally, I love Internet exposure and marketing. Early in my career I had a good agent website. I built a team and then opened my own brokerage firm. It has given me much freedom. My website, www.Eldorrado.com , has generated a database of over 7,000 subscribers.
And…
The Internet has been phenomenal for promoting my listings as well as generating buyers. Keep on working the Internet and be mindful that it was not the reason for the transactions not closing successfully. It is a lead generation source. We have the same experiences that you have had, but for the ones that buy almost instantly, or sell almost instantly, there is a balancing of time and energy that make it all worthwhile.
And…
I guess I don’t fully understand this idea of social media “selling Real Estate.” I was under the impression that Realtors still sold Real Estate. Over the past 10 years the one major complaint of Realtors I have heard, is that the internet has diminished their sphere of influence, since the consumer needs them less during early stage research.
Now you have all these terrific internet based networking sites to “re-build” an online sphere of influence….AND IT’S FREE!! I don’t understand this article. Did these sites advertise their ability to drive lots of new leads with unprecedented close ratios?? Did they claim that a Realtor could use this and no longer need to work the deal??
It’s just creative networking & communicating online. I’ll bet for every hard luck experience, there’s also a positive experience too (which the author even referenced). I think what this author was looking for was an “Easy Button” >> Try staples.com
For a very good look at how to think about using Social Media to build referrals and generate a broad footprint, without committing too much time, check out this post. Very sensible.
A good sales person makes the best that they can with a volume of leads. Sales is a numbers game. Finding a way to drive lots of leads, at very little cost, is the holy grail of a good sales team. A lot of real estate agents are using tools like social media to do just that.
