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30 years ago, real
estate was centered around the Broker, then the focus shifted to the agent, but
now it's all about the consumer.
 "The
consumer is king. Case closed. Period.
There is no going back." says
Sherry Chris, CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
"The consumer does not care how many awards you
have on your business card. They couldn't care less that you're No. 1 since
1987 in your service area. They care
about the service you're going to provide (to them)."
It used to be that agents would control which
properties a client looked at but now, according to Inman News columnist Andrea Bramblia, consumers come to agents with
a list of homes they want to see and a plethora of information they've gleaned
from the Internet. That puts consumers in the driver's seat.
"Our role
as a real estate agent has changed. We used to be the gatekeepers of information,
and now we're the collaborators," Chris said.
Social Media
becomes a very important aspect of keeping on top of consumer oriented
marketing. You need to be part of the
conversation in this new collaborative environment created by Social Media.
Video Marketing
is another important medium to utilize. The
vast majority of homeowners say they are more likely to list with an agent who
uses video to market properties, says Darin Persinger, founder of
ProductivityJunkies.com, a real estate training company. But, he says, less than 1 percent of agents
actually do so.
"YouTube
gets more than 2 billion page views a day" says Persinger," nearly double the
prime-time audience of all three major networks combined."
Agents say they are reluctant to jump into video
because they don't know how to do it well enough, and they don't want to look
foolish. But by focusing on good
content, the video will work
Persinger recommends keeping the video short (two
minutes or less) and focusing on subjects
consumers are interested in: property tours, tours of the local community,
local real estate market data, and client testimonials.
Optimize your
website. When consumers land on your
website, give them as much information as you can. Offer a free newsletter or something that
will allow you to contact them again.
Bramblia offers these widgets you can add to your website
to optimize consumer experience:
Top 5 content widgets:
1. Local news: twitter.com/about/resources/widgets
2. Photo and video collections: www.cooliris.com/yoursite/
3. Walkability scores: walkscore.com/services
4. Weather.com: weather.com/services/weather-gadgets
5. Translate into 50 languages: translate.google.com/translate_tools
Top 5 social widgets:
1. Share Facebook information: Facebook.com/Badges
2. Go viral: Sharethis.com
3. Combine multiple RSS feeds in a single stream. Include content from your
lender, title company, appraiser, stager, home warranty person, etc.: Rssmix.com
4. Share your Web activity: friendfeed.com
5. Allow people to come to your site and subscribe to your content: Feedburner.com
Top 5 contact widgets:
1. Online calling: Google
Voice
2. Text messaging: RETechBlog.com
3. Free calling: Jaxtr.com
4. Free contact form: Zillow.com/Webtools
5. Free chatting: Zopim.com
The most important thing to remember is to get comfortable with the
new technology. Start small. Don't try
everything at once. Keep it simple and
do it well.
Read the full story at Inman News.
 photo credit: jaycoxfilm
Posted on August 25, 2011 14:30:30 by  Scott.Shields
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