Urban Land Magazine Using Social Media in Real Estate

							proactive
          in practice                                                                        Lorin K. Horosz




Using Social Media Tools in Real Estate
While many industries, includ-           principal of Future Works, a San          just new media for accomplishing
ing real estate, have been slow to       Francisco–based public relations          what you set out to do.”
                                                                                                                            As adoption of social
use social networking tools, this        and new media agency, author                 For example, Shutt recommends         networking continues
is changing, prompted largely by         of the blog PR 2.0, and coauthor          the use of Pitchengine.com, a public
their successful use to reach voters     of The Essential Guide to Social          relations resource that allows users     to accelerate, the real
during Barack Obama’s presidential       Media—A Free eBook; and Jesse             to build and share “social media
campaign last fall. Social media are     Thomas, chief executive/founder of        releases” that can include down-         estate industry needs
defined as Internet- and mobile-         JESS3, a McLean, Virginia–based           loadable photos, video, and other        to thoroughly review
based tools for sharing and discuss-     creative interactive agency that spe-     content. He also recommends incor-
ing information.                         cializes in Web design, branding,         porating a blog into Web sites with      the tools available.
    Their power was demonstrated         and social media public relations.        the objective of eliciting feedback,
by the Obama campaign, cam-                 This interactive map of social         and tying in a microblogging chan-
paign consultant Greg Pinelo, part-      media evolves as the services and         nel, such as Twitter, to feed outside
ner of global political advocacy and     conversation channels develop,            comments back to the blog.
consulting group GMMB, pointed           merge, and dissipate. At the center          Other social media sites gain-
out at the D.C. Ad Club in March.        of the Conversation Prism is the          ing the attention of the real estate
With the campaign Web site www.          essence of social media, which, the       industry include customer review
mybarackobama.com serving as             Solis Web site says, is “the conver-      sites such as Yelp, says Marie Nils-
the hub, the campaign generated          sation; the art of listening, learning,   son, principal of Norra Marketing
3 million text message sign-ups, 15      and sharing.” The map then feathers       in Sausalito, California. Although a
million E-mail newsletter requests,      out to show a color wheel of options      recent client’s condominium market-
3 million donors, and 5 million          divided into social media catego-         ing campaigns did not generate the
friends on 15 social networking          ries, including everything from blog      highest percentage of referral traffic
sites. The campaign used all forms       platforms and social networks to          from Yelp, Nilsson says the user
of media in an integrated manner,        video, livecasting, social bookmark-      quality was a lot higher than all the
even embedding ads in video              ing, and wiki sites. With 22 social       other referring sites, the number
games and offering free cell phone       media categories and more being           of page views was higher, and the
ringtones. Supporters were invited       added all the time, the Conversation      bounce rate of 6 percent was far
to provide feedback online and           Prism represents the big picture of       less than the 40 percent average
through text messaging, allowing         today’s social media landscape.           from the other referring sites.
them to feel more connected to              “The prism basically shows                Nilsson also recommends the use
the campaign and the candidate.          that if you are thinking of jumping       of Google Base, which is a free tool
    As adoption of social media tools    on the social media bandwagon:            designed for users to easily submit
continues to accelerate, now more        stop. Evaluate. The landscape is          online and off-line content that is
than ever the real estate industry       massive. Each company’s participa-        then searchable on Google.com.
needs to thoroughly review the           tion is going to be different,” Solis        Among real estate organizations,
tools available. Determining which       explained in an August, 7, 2008,          those furthest along in using social
social media categories and sites        online article in ZDNet.                  media are residential real estate
best fit industry needs will be just        “It’s important to get your content    firms, consultancies, and property
as important as understanding and        uploaded and sharable in any and          management firms. They are using
developing cohesive social media         every way you can,” said Eric Shutt,      social media to help market condo-
strategies with set objectives.          a Washington, D.C.–based social           miniums, apartments, and single-
    One of the best ways to begin        media strategist with eSocialMedi-        family homes; communicate with
formulating a social media strategy is   aShop. “There is a lot about social       tenants and condominium owners;
by viewing the Conversation Prism, a     media that’s just like print and tra-     advise residents of maintenance
visual representation of social media    ditional media. Instead of pitching       schedules and other issues; and
that helps chart online conversations    reporters, you’re pitching reporters      even allow residents to request and
between the people that populate         and bloggers. Instead of trying to        schedule repair services online.
communities and the networks that        get on all of the TV networks, you’re        One project to successfully lever-
make up the social web. (See next        trying to get on all of the video         age the strength of social media is
page). It was created by Brian Solis,    sites. Social media tools are really      the Donovan, a mid-rise condomin-


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  in practice

      ium tower in the Yaletown neighbor-       local online video content, matching     of retail properties in a broader          A few years ago, this level of video
      hood of Vancouver, British Columbia.      companies with their nationwide net-     neighborhood context, he notes, or     production and distribution was not
      “With the marketing of the Donovan,       work of more than 7,000 video pro-       even to visualize real estate assets   affordable for most businesses, Di
      it was definitely a time when we          fessionals. “Over the past few years,    to out-of-town investors. “Video is    Giulio continues. “It may have cost
      became very aware of YouTube,”            we’ve been partnering with larger        to a certain point about transpar-     several hundred thousand dollars
      says Hani Lammam, vice president          brokerages who are interested in         ency,” Di Giulio says. “It certainly   back then. But now you can have a
      of development and acquisitions for       controlling their video content,” says   brings you closer to people and        commercial video produced for well
      Cressey Development Group. The            Phil Thomas Di Giulio, cofounder of      it leaves a lasting impression.”       under $5,000 and have it available
      Donovan’s five-part Webisode mini-        WellcomeMat. “They’re looking to us          WellcomeMat recently partnered     for the entire world to see,” he says.
      series increased traffic on the project   to help them leverage and manage         with Halstead Property in New York         “At the end of the day, especially
      Web site from an average of 1,200         video content and then aggregate it      City to launch a mini–TV Web site      in real estate, what really matters is
      hits per day to more than 20,000 in       and put it on their Web sites. They      called Halstead ProperTV. The site     the quality of the video residing on
      just one month. Yet the cost to pro-      can also E-mail the video out to cli-    offers not only videos of property     your Web site. Yes, it’s great to have
      duce the multipart series was about       ents or prospects.”                      listings, but also allows visitors     it on YouTube for SEO [search-engine
      the same as four full-page color ads         Di Giulio mentions that Wellcome-     through virtual connections to meet    optimization] purposes, but people
      in a Vancouver newspaper. Judging         Mat was never specifically focused       brokers, tour local neighborhoods,     aren’t necessarily on YouTube for real
      from these results, Cressey is consid-    on residential properties; rather, it    and brush up on local market news.     estate. People go where the content
      ering using other social media outlets    was simply where the online video        “This has given Halstead the ability   is. We prefer the content to be placed
      in the future, including Facebook.        movement started. Online video           to reach new consumers,” Di Giulio     where people are actually looking. So,
         In New York City, WellcomeMat.         can be used to market an invest-         says. “Consumers are now looking       for real estate, it could be on Trulia,
      com is a company focused on hyper-        ment or to showcase a portfolio          to them as neighborhood experts.”      the major brokerage sites, etc.”
                                                                                                                                    As social media rapidly become
                                                                                                                                a part of real estate professionals’
                                                                                                                                daily lives, it is important to under-
                                                                                                                                stand that conversations are now
                                                                                                                                more widely spread out. People
                                                                                                                                and organizations are able to com-
                                                                                                                                municate much more quickly, and
                                                                                                                                at a fraction of traditional media
                                                                                                                                costs. The barriers to entry are few,
                                                                                                                                but as with any medium, the time
                                                                                                                                and resources invested should be
                                                                                                                                planned and rationalized.
                                                                                                                                    Whether the organization is dealing
                                                                                                                                with mainstream social networks like
                                                                                                                                Facebook or LinkedIn, photo-sharing
                                                                                                                                sites like Flickr, or microblogging sites
                                                                                                                                such as Twitter, creating a targeted
                                                                                                                                social media map for any organiza-
                                                                                                                                tion takes time. Both watching and
                                                                                                                                listening to social media sites is
                                                                                                                                vital to understanding the breadth
                                                                                                                                and depth of the conversations
                                                                                                                                taking place, and will ultimately pro-
                                                                                                                                vide real estate organizations with the
                                                                                                                                insight to engage the right sites at the
                                                                                                                                right time for the right reasons. UL

                                                                                                                                Lorin K. Horosz is director of marketing
                                                                                                                                communications for Grosvenor Americas, part
                                                                                                                                of Grosvenor, a group of international property
                                                                                                                                businesses with regional investment and
                                                                                                                                development businesses in Britain and Ireland,
                                                                                                                                the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Asia Pacific.




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