Archive for September, 2010
The Blog Has Come A Long Way
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on September 28th, 2010
The blog has come a long way in the last few years. It started as a place for individuals to express their feelings for the world to read and has now evolved into something much more respected.
According to a recent E-Marketer blog, those looking to update the Internet on their life, location, or feelings no longer turn to the blog to do so. Facebook and Twitter have rightfully taken that duty. So where does that leave the blog?
The blog is on a continuing climb in mainstream media. This can be greatly attributed to journalists adopting the use of blogs. They are no longer a rough work of personal emotion that they once were but now a place for serious, concise, newsworthy writing. In other words, there is some credibility where there once was none. As a whole, America is increasingly reading blogs while actual blog writing is still low among US Internet users. Only 12% of US Internet users write blogs and this stat is not expected to increase in the coming year.
As we continue to move forward with social media and its adaptation in advertising we can benefit from understanding this shift in blog use. It can help you craft your message accordingly. The blog has become an efficient way for businesses to communicate with their consumers and the public. Not only is it efficient but it’s also considered a reliable source so that means blog use should not be taken lightly. If your company writes a blog, it is important that it acts as an extension of your overall marketing goal. It should not be taken lightly.
Small Smyrna Office May Represent The Future
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Green, Real Estate Trends on September 23rd, 2010
A recent article on Builderonline.com talks about a small office building that was recently completed right here in Atlanta. The theme of the article is humbling as the completion of this 6,000 square foot space somehow represents Atlanta’s newest construction.
I understand the analogy here. Over the last decade Atlanta has seen the birth of an entire skyline. According to the article, in 1999 Atlanta completed construction of 11.2 million square feet in 258 buildings.
This 6,000 square foot office building is a definitive sign of our current construction industry. It is small, about half the size of a drugstore. While the size could be viewed as a representation of our struggling construction industry, some may view it as a precursor to the future. Smaller office spaces could easily be a trend of the future as massive building has gotten us where we are today. Also, this new office building is LEED certified.
So even though this article was meant to paint a picture of our struggling and halted industry and how much it has slowed, maybe this is a representation of what the future of office construction looks like. Maybe it will be smaller and I hope it will be LEED certified. Let’s try and take a positive note for the construction we do have.
Real Estate Agents Quickly Adapting To Social Media
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Social Media on September 21st, 2010
The world of real estate has changed in so many ways over the last couple of years for several reasons. The crash of the economy and the housing market were a major factor but the emergence of new buyer technology has played a huge part in the way we are altering our strategies when it come to home sales.
Social networking has changed the way consumers are looking for homes and the result is that agents have changed the way they sell to accommodate these new habits.
I recently read an article about the Cape Coral Association of Realtors and how it has embraced this change in consumer behavior. Mel King, the president of the Cape Coral Association of Realtors sums up what is happening in the industry well.
“We’ve had to evolve into a different kind of service because the customer has evolved into a different kind of customer,” said King.
An interesting part of the article is that it warns that the use of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can be harmful if used carelessly. I totally agree with this. I truly believe that if you are an agent you need to separate business and your personal life. An example cited is posting what you ate for breakfast to a business profile. There are some exceptions to this sometimes. What isn’t a good idea is to create a profile with your company logo and name and then post personal messages like location check-ins and what you had to eat.
I think it comes down to common sense. Does a potential buyers care about your lunch? They probably don’t. What they do care about are the upgrades being installed at your property or what restaurants around it are serving.
What Is Twitter?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on September 16th, 2010
The new Twitter.com was unveiled earlier this week with its sleek new design that makes things much easier to navigate in my opinion.
With that release comes the comment from Twitter VP Kevin Thau stating that Twitter is not simply a social network. This of course got numerous tech writers up in arms about what Twitter really is.
The problem with this argument is that everyone’s standards for what makes a social network a social network is different and odds are that each person has their own definition based on how they use it. That’s what makes Twitter so great. Different people get different things out of it based on what they want. The argument that it is not a social network but an information aggregator can be understood because someone could join Twitter, follow several news affiliates, and never send a single Tweet. It can still benefit them from a news aggregation perspective and this is very common.
Then there is the argument that the interactions on Twitter make it a social network. This is true but there is no guarantee that there will be an interaction.
I think it comes down to the fundamentals of the network. What drives Twitter? Its users drive it. Who is to say this can’t be based on individual terms? Sharing, consumption, and interaction are all a part of Twitter. I really think it all depends on how we personally define and use social networks.
I am not sure how much we should worry about this argument. As predicted by numerous experts, Twitter’s use will continue to change and as advertisers we will find new ways to use it. I am not going to get caught up in what it is or isn’t. I am more worried about how to use it successfully in advertising and marketing.
How Will Social Networks Change The Way We Search?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on September 15th, 2010
In the month of August, the time spent on Facebook surpassed all of Google’s sites combined. This includes YouTube, Gmail, and the rest of their network.
This is big news because it’s the first time in history that Facebook has surpassed Google in time spent. Back in March, Facebook surpassed Google as the most visited site in the U.S. So what does this mean?
Experts believe that it’s a direct nod to the inevitable take over of social and in particular social search. I don’t think we can make this call yet but the theory is gaining momentum as more and more people turn to social networks as a reference for information.
Regardless of how we will search in the future, these milestones achieved by Facebook confirm the importance of establishing a strong social presence. As our search and learning behaviors continue to shift it’s important that our businesses are well represented on the right networks. There is a plethora of ways companies can use Facebook to promote their business but it’s becoming more important to participate because of the search aspect that everyone is discussing. Google is continuing to incorporate social networks into their results.
What this means is that both theories on search require companies to establish a strong presence on Facebook. If we turn away from Google and begin to rely more on social networks for search then we must be present in the social space. If we continue to rely on social networks as our main source for search then we still need to have a strong presence in the social space because Google and other search engines are constantly improving the integration of these social networks into their search results.
How we will search in future is still not evident. What is evident is that establishing a strong presence in the social realm is a must for the present and future.
The House Becomes A Home Again
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Real Estate Economics, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on September 14th, 2010
The way we view home ownership in America has no doubt changed over the last two years. I don’t think anyone will argue that. What experts are debating now is whether or not the housing market will ever look the same. That is, will home ownership ever be the American dream again? I have talked about this before but as more articles are emerging in relation to the topic, I think it’s a good idea to keep the discussion going. I recommend you read this article from Builderonline.com. It has a lot of interesting points and spurred the idea for this blog.
A big problem with the housing market, and a major contributor to its collapse, is that most buyers enter a new home with the idea that it’s an easy investment. Up until now a new home was looked at as a nest egg for later. To be true, this would mean that every house purchased would appreciate in value which was a common opinion before 2007. So when a market crash comes along there are a lot of people upside down on a home that they once thought would be their key to retirement.
Experts believe that this will lead to two things. The rise of rental properties will no doubt be a direct result from the recession and housing market crash. Whether its plain fear of owning a home and taking on a mortgage or it’s the realization that owning isn’t always the right thing to do, the attitude has changed. This is hard for people to swallow because it is contradictory to what has been preached from our society including the government. Regardless of the reason, rental properties are about to take off.
Outside of rental properties, the way Americans view home ownership will change. Actually, it has to or we will never get out of this mess. The house will no doubt become a home again. It won’t get the penny stock treatment like it has in the past decade. Sure a home is still an investment but it should be more than that. Not for any other reason than it makes sense financially.
A New Tool That Can Help Sell Real Estate
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on September 9th, 2010
Builderonline.com recently reported on a new tool that could help real estate agents sell more properties.
From the same web tool developers that brought us Walk Score, the extremely popular web tool that rates an address based on how walker friendly it is, has developed a new tool that could be just as important and popular.
Transit Score will behave a lot like its predecessor but the difference is that it ranks how accessible an area is to public transportation. Access to public transportation is a rapidly increasing demand from consumers just as the ease of walking to shopping and dinning is. It makes sense that such a tool would come from the developers of Walk Score. When real estate listings incorporate these scores with their listings they are appealing to the same consumer. A scoring tool for public transportation was the next logical step and I am surprised that Walk Score came before Transit Score.
Experts say that public transportation is becoming more important than ever. With a growing commitment to sustainability and increasing transportation costs, Realtors need to pay attention to these new tools. It is believed that families in the suburbs now spend almost 32% of their income on transportation where those who have easy access to public transportation spend around 12% of their income. The Natural Resources Defense Council has linked easily walked communities and easy access to public transportation to lower foreclosure rates compared to those without.
I am willing to bet that if you sell or rent real estate in an urban setting that you will be asked questions about public transportation and ease of walking. I think it’s a good idea to incorporate these scores with your listings like a lot of real estate companies are already doing.
The Future Of Targeted Social Media Messages
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Social Media on September 8th, 2010
I recently read an article on Social Media Today talking about the future of social media. It is a actually a commentary on a recent interview with Brian Solis, renowned social media expert and his theories on what the future of social media looks like. It’s a great read and you should check it out here.
The argument is that Solis thinks that in the future networks we will need to tailor content to context based on privacy and subject matter. The author of the Social Media Today article argues that users will only listen to those that they like. He thinks that we can rely on users filtering out the unwanted noise themselves. To an extent, this is probably true but I think that there is a major place for specialized networks and messages. I think if we are able to at least tailor the content of our messages for specific users, we will see a better return on our efforts.
I have always been a believer in targeting messages on social media and I think as it continues to grow, its importance is only increasing. I mentioned this in a previous post but users will eventually start experiencing social media fatigue where they will stop following or “liking” things and people blindly. They will only follow, listen, and interact with the messages and users that they like, for whatever reason.
I think the answer is a combination of the two ideas. I think we need to tailor our messages based on context so the users we are targeting don’t naturally filter them. I think doing this will only increase the return of our efforts. It all comes back to finding your audience and tailoring your messages to them. I don’t think a broad shot depending on self-filtering is the answer.
How Companies Will Fail In Social Media In The Future
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on September 7th, 2010
Just as easily as your Facebook followers can opt-in and become a fan they can also opt-out. They can either do so by choosing or going through profile settings or they can completely checkout mentally when they see something on their news feed.
Since social media success is such a lofty metric, marketers are constantly turning to follower and fan numbers as a way to gauge success. While numbers are important initially, once you have all those fans you need to do something with them.
I think this is the point where are a lot of companies are right now. They drank the juice and started using social media. The problem is they are sending messages that are entirely focused on themselves and it’s hard to blame them. It’s natural to want to do this.
I recently read an article titled “Why Most Brands Will Fail at Social Media” and even though it’s a little sarcastic, it makes some great points. The truth is that your competitors are using social media to reach shared consumers, not just yours. The numbers are increasing monthly as more and more companies are turning to corporate blogs and other social media platforms. Simply being on these platforms is not enough anymore. The article makes an interesting prediction that in the next 3 years, consumers will become overwhelmed with social media consumption and the process of gaining a new fan will become a lot harder than it currently is.
The question now becomes one of diversity. How will you be different than your competitors? I don’t think simply putting a static message on an interactive channel will do it. There has to be some kind of interaction to create any sort of lasting power. Trust me, your competitors are going to figure out ways to create this interaction and if you fall behind, you may lose opportunities that will never come back.
Real Estate Technology Advancements Of 2010
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General on September 2nd, 2010
Back in December of 2009, Inman.com published an article predicting technology advancements in the real estate industry. This included Internet, social media, search engines, and mobile technologies. The author recently revisited his predictions to see how things went. He wasn’t wrong about anything I don’t think, he just thought it would happen this year and it didn’t. I still think most of his predictions will come true.
His mobile predictions had a lot to do with location-based applications suited for certain demographics. He predicted that applications would be developed and accepted by users based on their settings. Think rural versus urban settings. This didn’t come to light this year. By and large smart phone applications still cater to more urban settings but I think that we will see this eventually happen.
The blending of off line and online experiences are happening all around us but there aren’t many dealing specifically with real estate. There are several options like augmented reality that can do this. Also, location-based services such has Foursquare and now Facebook really took of this year as predicted by many experts. As the article points out, there were none that were developed specifically for real estate.
As far as Internet search goes, there were some steps towards real estate specific searches. Yahool joined up with Zillow but Google stayed out of the real estate realm. According to the article, Google will probably stay on course with its current local search which blends real estate with other local aspects such as cafes and stores.
So what advancements were made this past year? A lot actually but not a lot specifically for real estate. Maybe 2011 will be the year when the real estate industry really takes emerging technologies and runs with them.
