What happens in America can take time to cross the Atlantic but often gets here eventually.
So we were interested to see how Facebook is being used by US estate agents for property marketing purposes.
A business called homeasap says its technology enables agents and brokers “to provide a branded home search experience on a par with the national portals like Zillow and Realtor.com”.
It believes: “Traditional websites and web marketing services are becoming less important in the modern market.
“These tools are being displaced by more cost-effective Facebook business pages and real estate applications that give agents the ability to promote their services and listings, collaborate with customers, and connect with new prospects directly on social media.”
The business also produces the Real Estate Agent Directory, which has almost 450,000 members listed – a growth of nearly 50,000 in less than a year.
Founder and CEO Mark Bloomfield said this week: “The national portals had set a high bar for what consumers demand in an online home search experience, making it difficult for local agents to compete.
“Homeasap technology has raised the bar by powering agent websites to the next level in consumer home search.
“When compared to a leading national portal, consumers favoured the Homeasap search experience over 80% of the time.
“This is what agents have been asking for, and now they have it.”
The use of Facebook to help agents – chiefly to win new instructions – has been tried in the UK but we have heard little of it lately, while Google’s attempt to enter the property listings arena did not work out and was canned.
Comments (4)
I have a Canadian friend who is constantly updating his Realty business (and the properties they are offering) via facebook.
Maybe I should ask him how it works for him?
We have used FB to advertise / promote our brand but with limited success. To be honest as a team we understand the basics but cannot say we are experts.
I do however feel if somebody knew what they were doing it can be a wonderful tool. As Chris says above most people stay local.
Do Homeasap offer this service in the UK?
We had a similar sounding Facebook powered search app for a number of years via our software supplier which provided zero leads or interest.
However, an engaging Facebook policy and standard Facebook ads and posts used by our firm have produced excellent results. In my experience, the majority of people still move within a 10 to 15 mile radius of their existing home and it makes sense to put a significant advertising effort and spend within social media within an agents local area. It is not THE answer but, being recognised as a local property expert on social media and using that medium to promote customers properties is a key tool for growth and profitability for agents in the information age.
One of the best responses I’ve heard for a while!