Should I follow my real estate agent on Facebook?
"Social media spells OPPORTUNITY" is the opinion of Cobus du Preez, Social media fanatic and real estate agent at CHAMPION Real Estate. Social media should be an integral part of any real estate agent's written marketing plan. It's highly undervalued and under-utilised by agents because most don't believe there is a real return on investment (ROI).
Facebook is the prominent social tool used in South Africa. Honestly, it is congested and crowded by individuals who buy and sell, because it works. Thousands of consumers in numerous buy and sell groups trade every minute. Facebook launched a very successful Marketplace function that is the "Gumtree" for Facebook. Conveniently situated as one of the top line options in the Facebook Application you can buy and sell your new and second hand good to you community.
Real Estate sales however work significantly different. It's not just simply a once-off quick in and out sale. The success in real estate, as we believe in it, is in the essence of the relationship and trust built between a group of individuals. We believe in a community that respects and trust each other, but of course such a relationship develops with time. Let's show you the benefit to both agent and client, all thanks to social media.
Agents have the opportunity to build a community within their social profile which tells all about who they are, who they spend their time with, what they spend their time on, and then last but not least, get an opportunity to showcase their ability to transact in real estate successfully through means of posting success stories, posting new listing photographs and on-show properties. "My Facebook community gets the first scoop on which properties are coming into the market, photographs of new homes and how much properties sold for" says Cobus du Preez, real estate agent at CHAMPION Real Estate. "I have built my Facebook community to 2500 friends over the past 19 months and they get a real inside scoop into my life, my passion and my values. I believe that when people know exactly who they are dealing with, the relationship starts off with utmost certainty and trust" says Cobus.
There is a great benefit for clients to connect with the area specialist on a social platform. On Facebook, your real estate area specialist will showcase important information about new developments in the area, homes that are for sale in your area and it will give you an indication of what the value of your home is without getting the agent involved (if you are just curious of course, and not serious, yet, about selling). Agents are walking, talking newspapers, they know what's what and who's new in the zoo and you will most likely find some interesting facts about the real estate market on their Facebook profile.
"I love using Facebook to build a community, to interact with my community, answer their questions and always being consistent with my marketing efforts. This has proven to be of value to my Facebook community because 20% of my listings sell to someone that I have previously connected with on Facebook. I nurture this as a database and inevitably my clients who choose me to sell their properties benefit from it."
At CHAMPION Real Estate we are committed to be consistent, to be effective and intentional in our actions to ensure that you, our community, have an extraordinary experience when you connect with us.