Property located badly on Social Media

09 Nov 2014| Posted by: Geoff Baldwin

Agents do neither themselves nor their clients any favours by posting property adverts on social media sites and in fact the practice is a sure way to become ignored according to Geoff Baldwin, Chairman of CPREA (Certified Practising Real Estate Agents). “It is not unusual for an agency's social media page to be totally dominated by properties for sale and, just as damaging, brag photos about recently sold listings, record prices, etc, etc”, he said. “People are attracted to social media for entertainment, human interest, information that adds value and curiosity and these should be kept top of mind by every administrator of real estate pages. “Unfortunately a lot of real estate agents are more focussed on bragging about how quickly and for how much they sold their last listing which unfortunately is often interpreted in a very negative light by the public. “Any post about a specific property should be by way of a story such as how a renovation gained extra thousands, how new owners have inherited Perth's best garden, Why Bob loves his new shed, etc, etc. “What people, don't want to see is “Sold by Joe Bloggs in 3 days” or “Another record price in Jonesville” etc, as all these ego type posts achive is to give people the impression we don't work hard enough for our commissions, how easy our job is and/or we will make them pay too much. “Agents should decide why they are establishing a social media business page and then never lose sight of that objective always keeping in mind that it's not about what they want to say but what the public will want see, read and discuss. “It is also important to remember that on the internet there are millions of valuable articles, videos and interesting stories that can be shared so the information that is posted doesn't all have to come from between the four walls of the agency. “For agents who are serious about building a great social media presence I would also highly recommend they work with a professional media company that specialises in this field. Investing a few hundred dollars a month to get it done right can make an enormous difference. “Across the board, our Industry's interaction with the public is not done well however this does create enormous opportunities for agents to stand out in their particulars areas by taking time to get it right and by treating their social media presence like a critical component of their business”, Mr Baldwin said.