The impact of social media on the real estate industry cannot be overstated. It is a potent marketing tool that has grown and changed over the years due to novel and emerging trends. As a result, real estate businesses are progressively espousing social media as its popularity grows. Social media helps generate leads, inform prospective clients, and raise awareness. It broadens the real estate business’s influence circle and referral base, making it possible to interact with infinite people, including existing customers, prospective new clients, and industry peers. However, the competition in the real estate industry is growing intense as more and more real estate companies are using social media as a coherent tool for promoting business and building a reputation. Thus, keeping up with the changing social media trends is essential to stand out in the market. Social media feedback, branding, and marketing strategies can affect consumers’ purchasing decisions and can drive the global expansion of real estate companies if used wisely.
What are the Social Media Trends?
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence and its marketing tools such as chatGPT are gaining momentum and recognition worldwide. For instance, chatGPT attracted 100 million users just two months after its launch (Hu, 2023). Owning to its mass popularity, real estate businesses are utilising AI tools in the future to spawn ideas for social media content while maintaining the human essence to preserve originality and creativity. However, over usage of such tools can lead to poor performance of a business.
Authenticity
People are looking for trustworthy businesses more than ever, especially when making significant and emotional decisions. Leaning into the human side of the real business allows for showcasing the authenticity of the real estate business and establishing stronger relationships with the prospective audience because people respond to people. For instance, including employee biographies that involve information about what they do for work and their hobbies or a fun tidbit about themselves provides a little more insight into who they are. Also, putting faces to the business on real estate social media channels by uploading behind-the-scenes images or highlighting exclusive staging offerings by sharing before and after pictures and uploading some action pictures of the crew preparing the house will demonstrate how diligently the company works to serve its sellers.
Leverage TikTok
TikTok has taken one of the top spots in social media trends and has evolved beyond its original purpose of being a platform for people to showcase their artistic talents. This social media app can play a significant role in the real estate market with features like advertisements and company profiles. Real estate businesses may use TikTok to include quick and inventive videos to captivate their target audience, raise brand awareness, and promote their products and services.
Optimising Social Media Posts
Online searches via social media platforms are quite popular among the tech-savvy generation. For instance, 40% of generation-Z prefer social media over other search engines (Rosenblatt, 2022). Also, the millennial generation does 75% of online property hunting in Pakistan on social media and other websites, making them the largest group of online property hunters (Infozonepk, 2015). Moreover, by 2025, 75 % of the workforce will consist of the millennial generation (Timmes, 2022). Therefore, real estate companies should optimise their content with the correct keywords if they want to establish a prominent social media presence among this generation. Search engine optimisation (SEO) on posts will allow the company to appear on relevant searches.
Incorporate Videos
These days, social media and video go hand in hand. Before Covid-19, videos were common. Their demand increased as more people turned to online channels to view property tours and get to know the location before investing the time and money to travel there personally. Hence, real estate businesses should use live streaming to host conferences, webinars, and Q&A sessions. That is because the video is not going anywhere anytime soon because it is integrated into so many channels, like Instagram reels and YouTube clips, and consumer demand is as high as ever.
Gated Content
Users are now more drawn to content directly related to their interests than social media postings arbitrarily offered to them. As a result, gated content is becoming a popular marketing approach. Gated content is only accessible to subscribers, loyal or exclusive customers. Companies are expected to provide gated content using tools like Instagram Subscribers and Facebook Top Fans to deepen their relationship with devoted fans. Such content can help project real estate products and services that cater to the interests of specific customers and build closer connections with real estate business prospects.
User-Generated Content for Branding
Any type of content created by users on social media is known as user-generated content (UGC). Many brands are now using UGC as social proof of the excellence of their goods and services. Real estate companies should actively promote user-generated content. They gain two advantages by doing this: first, it allows businesses to reduce the marketing expenditure for branded material; second, it enables them to prioritise customers and make them feel important. UGC is legitimate, as marketers do not influence what consumers may say or share. It is the most reliable informational resource somebody might find about a product or company, reflecting its authenticity and transparency. It can also increase the company’s engagement rate.
Influencer Marketing
Multiple companies and influencers are now working together on several social media promotion posts rather than just one. Influencers no longer get away with uploading photos of themselves using the product or service when recommending branded goods or services. They work just as hard to create content for brands, paying particular attention to long-form content, how-to videos, demos, and photo stories. Real estate companies should also work with niche bloggers and micro-influencers to make their marketing more inclusive and transparent. It can help promote the company to a larger pool of clients and attract prospective buyers.
Being Inclusive
More than ever, audiences worldwide are responding to social issues. Considering the situation, people relate more to brands with a shared voice. Inclusion is anticipated to become deeply ingrained in the social media ecosystem. Thus, real estate companies can strengthen customer relationships and increase the credibility of their brands by taking steps to incorporate this trend into their marketing campaigns and keeping the commitments they make to their clients.
Showcase Sustainability
Environmental catchphrases like “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” are still popular. Consumers of today want to see it happen. For instance, if a real estate company advertises “green practices,” clients want proof that it uses green practices in its developmental projects. Owning to the radical shifts in climate change, real estate companies are expected to utilise their social media accounts to demonstrate their environmental concern and provide people with information about their products or services.
Conclusion
Social media has become a prominent medium of communication and advertising in the real estate industry. It helps create brand identity, reach a larger pool of clients, and generate revenue. However, the online presence of multiple real estate companies is growing, and so is the competition. Therefore, adopting emerging social media trends is essential to attain success and stay relevant in the competitive real estate landscape. Real estate companies can track their performance and make changes accordingly by tracking social media postings using either built-in analytics or a third-party social media service. This will successfully increase the company’s online following and revenue generation.
This article is written by Haneen Gul. Haneen is a Research Analyst at the Iqbal Institute of Policy Studies (IIPS).
References
Hu, K. (2023, February 2). ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base – analyst note. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-sets-record-fastest-growing-user-base-analyst-note-2023-02-01/
Infozonepk. (2015, November 9). Retrieved from infozonepk.com: https://www.infozonepk.com/2015/11/09/millennials-largest-group-of-online-property-hunters-in-pakistan/
Rosenblatt, K. (2022, July 19). Many Gen Zers don’t use Google. Here’s why they prefer to search on TikTok and Instagram. Retrieved from NEWS: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/many-gen-zers-dont-use-google-s-prefer-search-tiktok-instagram-rcna38221
Timmes, M. (2022, june 27). Forbes. Retrieved from forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/06/27/millennials-and-gen-z-now-is-the-time-to-reshape-businesses-to-harness-their-power/?sh=2f23a46a5c98
Leave a Reply