The Future of Commercial Real Estate and Social Media

Many real estate people talk about social media today, and many agents use it as part of their overall marketing strategy. Some facts about social media should be respected regarding commercial and retail property.

Let’s do some comparisons to explain the strategy. In residential real estate, social media channels work well; that is not the case with commercial property.

As our typical clients, commercial property investors and business owners don’t spend too much time on social media platforms. Yes, there are exceptions, but the averages are very real and cannot be ignored.

Our investors and business owners are too busy to spend much time on social media. Don’t rely solely on social media as your primary media channel in commercial real estate sales or leasing.

If you work as an agent with clients and properties at the ‘top end’ of the market, then social media is only a ‘C’ class marketing approach. Top agents focus on the ‘A’ and ‘B’ class marketing strategies. Let’s explain that here.

Engagement and Followup

What’s the rule, then? First, don’t expect much from social media in commercial real estate sales or leasing. This may change, but today, it is better to directly engage with people directly through telephone prospecting, email marketing, meetings and conversations. Direct contact is the only way to grow market share in commercial real estate.

Why not expect more from social media use on commercial property? Most commercial real estate investors and business owners do not interact regularly with social media; they have better things to do. So, social media will thereby only ever be a ‘C Class’ promotional channel in commercial real estate sales or leasing.

What then works better in commercial real estate marketing? First, be personal and traditional in your marketing efforts; talk to the people. Try internet listings on the portals, posted blog articles, online editorials, door-knocking, local area direct marketing, and direct cold calling.

1. Make Your Marketing Simple

Don’t overthink using social media in commercial real estate, as there are plenty of other prospecting efforts to strategise and deploy. You do not need to use many. Just use a couple and do that comprehensively.

Personal contact processes will always be the best ‘A Class’ promotion channel to get the message into the local property market.

Creating conversations with people will help you spread the word about any property listing or property opportunity. Conversations with questions also will give you feedback that can lead to results, transactions, and changes.

Feedback is valuable in prospecting for real estate leads or finding people needing property solutions.

In every conversation, know what was said, what a property need may be, and how often you have connected with someone. Refer to earlier discussions and try to move any cold call forward with a meeting.

2. Making Connections Personal

Connect with people directly. You can track the progress of any conversation, property need, or opportunity over time. Put yourself in front of the investors, clients, and business owners in your location.

So, if you still want to use social media in real estate today, go beyond your standard ‘listing marketing’ approach. Adopt a different approach to online marketing in commercial real estate.

Some marketing channels online are very effective if you consider how the search engines work and use that to your advantage. Get your ideas and property strategies into the search engines. Here is how.

3. Online Marketing for Agents

Instead, think about these extra strategies for your property types and locations. Build your persona real estate ‘brand’ this way:

Create Blog Articles

You can put these blogs into your brokerage websites regularly. That will help you grow your business with a bias towards your specialisation.

You can also start a real estate blog for the location and make that a personal branding activity. Writing and posting blogs weekly or more frequently are recommended.

YouTube Videos

Given the link to Google, YouTube is an incredibly effective agent profile-building tool. You can create short videos about your local property market, particular properties, or industry updates.

Regular video posts are essential. They do not need to be long or complex. You can even start making videos with your mobile phone, and then as things progress, you can get some more complex video equipment.

Real Estate Podcasts

With all mobile phones today, the podcast process is a media channel that is very adaptive and easy to use or create.

People like listening to property podcasts to understand market segments or emerging trends. Make your podcast relevant to a property type and location.

You and Social Media

If social media will be part of your real estate business, try some of these unique strategies as a point of difference in your real estate agent marketing.

What’s the message? Be better than the other agents in your location regarding online and social media marketing. Be strategic and consistent in certain channels of connection.