Social media: Why positive property promotion works

By Clare Fletcher-Yates

The property industry is constantly fighting the negative image portrayed in the media and there are very few positive images shown on TV or in the press.

But as an industry we have great internal networks and many of us are embracing social media as a way of successfully promoting ourselves. We follow colleagues, competitors and other industry figures, but how many members of the public are following our tweets and watch our Facebook pages with real interest?

What about the content we distribute? Some estate agents constantly promote new listings, some talk about industry news and some engage in conversations about their hobbies, interests and sport. While the power of social media is evident, in some cases careful consideration of how a business is represented is needed.

The one thing I am sure about is that potential customers do not see Twitter and Facebook as places to search for property. Estate agents have mobile apps, websites, use the major property portals and have the software available to text, email and post information to interested parties so surely anyone genuinely interested in moving will be trawling the web and looking for estate agents via search engines?

Social media can be an invaluable tool to portray you and your company as people who are great to do business with. And what’s more, property professionals have fantastic stories to tell.

The wonderful agents I meet everyday know how important moving home is to every single customer they deal with. I rarely see these stories related on Twitter or the delivery of customer service being discussed in any meaningful way. Instead some agents prefer to publicise the fact that competitors are over-valuing, talking about difficulties in getting paid and the troubles of demanding clients.  If we aren’t discussing the industry, there is usually some football banter and a lot of back-slapping on winning awards. We have to consider if this is right type of positive promotion we need to win business. In fact, some tweets may confirm the suspicions of the general public that we are self-seeking, arrogant and unscrupulous individuals.

Why not try to engage real customers in conversation on Twitter and Facebook? It is great to talk about our business between ourselves but how much more powerful would live chat with actual clients be?

We collect email addresses from our clients which enables us to invite them to our Facebook pages. How many of you use this as a way of connecting with your database? By turning your page into a forum where you can interact with customers you have is an excellent way of positively promoting you and your company.

Above all, our image should be one of inspiring, trustworthy, transparent, caring people with a sense of humour but also a sense of responsibility. Pictures of your team, the history of your business, where you are and your services are all helpful but a relationship will only begin when they get to know you as people. I cannot think of a better way to get to know someone than by talking to them. But using social media you have a voice and a means of talking even when your office is closed.

 

Clare is a training consultant specialising in offering fun programmes to the residential property industry. You can tweet her @TrainerClare.