Social Media in 2022 for Estate Agents
What exactly will 2022 bring for us all? Lock downs always looming, new coronavirus (first human coronaviruses were identified in the 1960’s) variants launching and a new era of digital ID in order to attend a growing list of events and venues – What will the economy look like and how will the real estate sector be effected? Will the residential market and it’s value be effected, what about the commercial side?
Whatever side of the fence you may sit re view points of what 2022 may look like, the constant growth and importance of social media in business remains a growing / expanding trend. From Facebook (or should we call it mow Meta) to LinkedIn with many other giant and emerging platforms in between, we have a unique and mostly free opportunity to promote our businesses / services / products.
Many social media platforms have been in the spotlight recently for the likes of unlawful activities such as misinformation and harmful content along with interfering with political elections, silencing the truth and placing profit above the good for the public. Despite the negative stories they continue to grow in users, content and importance.
Social media platforms: Love them or loathe, you can rarely get away from them and I am quite sure that a high majority of consumers (the adult population) will be tied to one or more of them. What you can count on is that if you want to reach an unlimited audience then social media has to be one of, if not the, best ways to reach them.
2022 social media trends for estate agents:
It is expected that globally more people will be purchasing goods and services via social media. More and more brands are selling products via social media where consumers can engage via photos and videos and make immediate purchasing decisions. In a survey commissioned by Facebook, Inc., 83% of respondents surveyed said that Instagram, a visual-first platform, helps them discover new products and services (source business Instagram)
Can it be that someone will purchase a house via social media? Well we can say that many property purchases are initiated online thanks to the internet and the likes of Rightmove and Zoopla – What says that someone does not firstly engage with a property thanks to a post on Facebook or a video on Youtube? Facebook themselves have a dedicated marketplace where you can find not only household (mostly second hand) items for sale, you can also peruse cars for sale and property.
I doubt that as of yet, and anytime in the near future, we will see property for sale on and purchased via social media directly, surely no one will click the buy button on a Tweet for a three bedroom urban semi?
What will be the trending social media platforms for estate agents?
It is highly spoken of that TikTok (As of 27 September 2021, TitTok had 1 Billion Monthly Active users worldwide) is the place to be seen and the trendy place to market property on. We must consider that viewing property might not has be as easy as it once was not only locally, but also from afar. People do go by and are influenced by images and videos alone, to be honest I have viewed (cheaper) property for sale in France on eBay and have been very tempted to place a bid – Today as travel restrictions increase (vaccination passports / looming carbon footprint passes) for many it will be photos and videos that are how we initially engage with and be persuaded in to purchasing property. The better you showcase property and engage with your online community then the highly likelihood you can achieve a sale online.
Another important point is that TikTok (thought to be worth now $16.2billion) is full of younger generation users and that since its launch, back in 2016, many of the users are now later teens to early twenties and be a prime first time buyer market audience to tap in to. The 15 seconds to 3 minute videos that the platform contains has already seen great results for estate agents:
“Madison Sutton is a 25-year-old agent in New York City. She specializes in off-market deals and what she calls “hidden-treasure apartments.” But during the pandemic, she was scraping the barrel for leads because so many people were moving out of the city. Sutton created her TikTok account, @TheNYCAgent, in early 2020. She had “no expectations for it whatsoever,” citing the pandemic as the catalyst for starting her account. But as soon as she started posting apartment tours on the app, she said interest in her TikTok and her properties spiked. There were days I was getting two or four hundred inquiries for one apartment,” she recalled. “What TikTok did, I couldn’t have expected or planned or calculated in my entire lifetime. It’s completely changed my life.” source of news from MSN.com
An example of TikTok working in the UK is via Hortons Estate Agents with property videos, one example video here already has over 175,000 likes: What £750,000 buys in Leicestershire
YouTube is of course the number one video sharing platform and today contains countless property videos and to fight against the growth of TikTok released their very own mini video section with their YouTube Shorts. Facebook though remains the most widely use social media platform ( 2.9 billion active users).
Walk through videos are still highly popular amongst UK estate agents – YouTube.
Facebook continues it’s growth and also push towards it’s evolving metaverse concept / VR. In the face of ongoing investigations in to Facebook as mentioned above, it’s plans are very much about being here to stay and the future – It would be very worthy that we continue to study the platform and if / how we can bring property in to the equation. I do remember many years back getting highly excited over an online concept called Second Life which saw people buying up virtual real estate to include development plots and commercial property – at the time I was, along with another colleague, looking to buy a virtual retail shop!
Twitter, I fear, will continue to lose ground and remain very much a discussion and snippets of breaking news platform. LinkedIn should always be part of your plans, mostly to build profiles and status over any selling of property and services directly.
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