In the past few years, we have seen an increasing rise in the use of social media by businesses across different industries. Real Estate is one industry, which in my opinion, has not used social media to the extent it should have. There are varying opinions about how profitable using social media is in the real estate industry, specifically by agents and developers.

In the blogpost Real Estate and Social Media: A Perfect Match, the following arguments are made in favour of using social media in the Real Estate industry:

• It is still relatively new to the real estate industry, but now it is becoming “standardpractice” to see real estate agents and developers having social media accounts.
• They are essentially the same as they both emphasize the importance of connecting with people, family, community, etc.
• Social media allows for real estate developers and agents to tell a story of a community and neighborhood in which a property is listed which is done through sharing the history of the community and building relationships with businesses in that community.

The blog post also argues that social media should be used to have a two-way conversation with the client, similar to what was discussed in Class 2 of COMM 464.

Arguments made by the blog post “Why Social Media Doesn’t Work for Canadian Real Estate Companies” are the following:

• Real Estate don’t get the returns from social media sites, as much of the sales are done in person and require human interaction
• People can get annoyed with constant messages or updates about new listings
• There needs to be a two-way communication between the company and clients and it is only useful if a company has more than 500 to 1000 followers, according to the blog post
• A realistic expectation of an ROI is needed from social media and time must be spent according to the expected ROI

After looking through both blog posts, my opinion of real estate and social media is the following. While social media is an essential part in the industry, it should always be  a two-way conversation occurring between the business and client, rather than just as another marketing channel. It can be extremely useful in keeping in touch with loyal clients and investors and keeping them updated on the market trends. It can even be useful to update new clients in new areas about the market trends of the neighborhood.

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!