What Do Real Estate Agents Really Think About Social Media?

The web abounds with many statistics concerning online behaviours, but few of these are generated by good old-fashioned telephone interviews. This sort of quantitative research in the attitudes of real estate agents towards social media marketing has recently been completed and includes the responses of real estate agency executives and independent agents.

While many of the results will surprise no-one (like 85% of realtors use social platforms like Facebook in their marketing mix), a close look at results yields findings that reflect a range of conflicting - and often contradictory - attitudes towards social media in the real estate industry.

Data looking at specific attitudes offered interesting revelations and probably reveal the rapid nature of change being driven by social sites. While only 57.5% of those surveyed thought that social media "is currently a vital part [their] real estate activities", a whopping 82.5% thought it would "become vital to realtors" within three years. Maybe that is what has motivated 87.5% of to say they "intend to be more active in social media in the coming 12-18 month's." Interestingly the high number of those wanting to be "more active" would also include some realtors who already see social networking as a "vital part" of what they do.

Another interesting contrast of responses comes when we note that only 31.25% of people either agreed or strongly agreed that social networking activities have "helped secure listings". Next to this we can show that 61.25% thought that "a successfully implemented social media strategy could potentially deliver" more property listings. A further 36.25% thought this "might" be a possibility. Clearly there is a large gulf between the promise of social media marketing and the reality at this stage. Perhaps people a waiting or working towards could be regarded as a "successfully implemented social media strategy."

Certainly this drive is resulting in a gradual change in behaviour. Already, 63.6% of real estate executives surveyed have stated they have either stopped or reduced their print media advertising - and this at a time when (in the last three years) 50% have increased and 36% have maintained their marketing budget. This begs the question: where is the extra money (that is not being spent on print advertising) being directed?

It does seem that social networking is tailor-made for the real estate industry and most realtors can recognise this. As is the case for so many small business the rules of engagement are not always clear and, in some respects, are still being written. All credit to those dipping their toe in the water and getting comfortable with this new paradigm of commercial engagement.

A more detailed view of attitudes of realtors to social media, as revealed through the survey, can be seen on this writer's realtor marketing blog.