Online Real Estate Technology

Facebook and Twitter clearly surpassed all other major social networks in US year-over-year growth during March 2010, according to data from The Nielsen Company.

In March 2010, Facebook reported 117.1 million unique US users at home and work. This represented 69% year-over-year growth from 69.1 million unique US users in March 2009.

While Twitter only reported 20.1 million unique US users in March 2010, this still represented strong 45% year-over-year growth from 13.8 million unique users in March 2009. It is also worth noting that Twitter had a negligible 520,000 unique users in March 2008.

Myspace.com had the second-highest total unique US audience in March 2010 with 42.1 million users. However, this represented a roughly 25% drop from 55.9 million unique users in March 2009. As recently as March 2008, Myspace.com was the undisputed leader among major US social networks, with 61.3 million unique users.

LinkedIn and Classmates Online reported US unique audience declines of 12% and 30%, respectively, between March 2009 and March 2010. LinkedIn’s March 2010 unique audience total of 13.9 million is still almost double its March 2008 total of 7.9 million, while Classmates Online has lost about 15% of its unique audience in that time (13.6 million to 11.5 million, with a bump to 16.4 million in March 2009).

Global SocNet Traffic Dramatically Rises
Globally, more unique users spent far more time on social networks in March 2010 than in March 2009. Unique audience grew about 20% globally, from 261.7 million to 313.7 million. Total global minutes spent on social networks more than doubled, from 55.7 billion to 113.1 billion. Average time spent per user grew about 45%, from three hours, 32 minutes and 49 seconds to six hours and 25 seconds.

SocNet Usage Rises in Feb.
On average, global web users across 10 countries spent roughly five and a half hours on social networks in February 2010, up more than two hours from February 2009, according to previous data from Nielsen. Overall, the active unique audience to social networks grew nearly 30%, from 244.2 million in February 2009 to 314.5 million in February 2010.

Facebook was clearly the most popular social network globally in February 2010. Facebook’s reach extended to 52% of active social network users, and the site averaged 19.16 sessions per person and time spent of five hours and 52 minutes per person.

I don’t know about you, but that old saying about if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it must be a duck, certainly rings true to me and everyone else it seems with the exception of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy on the proposed Internet filter for all Australians being planned by the Rudd government.

Conroy, speaking at The Sydney Institute on Monday has described the planned mandatory internet filter as a modest regulatory measure,whilst critics believe it is mandatory censorship, being imposed on all Australians by the federal government.

The Obama administration in the US has already raised concerns about the proposed filter, saying it flies in the face of their policy of a free and open internet, here’s the link to that story if you’d like to read what the US government thinks of Rudd’s plans.

Here’s more of the story on Conroy’s speech:

“The internet is an incredible piece of technology and in our lifetime it’s unlikely we’ll see anything like it again,” he said.

“But for all its technical brilliance, the internet is a distribution and communications platform.

“Having no regulation to combat illegal activity actually weakens all that is good about the internet.”

The federal government’s $128.8 million Cyber Safety policy includes legislation to block access to certain websites and blacklist offensive material.

The policy has been widely criticised by internet and software companies and free speech supporters.

But Senator Conroy said it can’t remain largely unregulated.

“With great opportunity, comes even greater responsibility, and having sensible, appropriate protections in place is also the role of government,” he said.

“There are some who want to argue that on the internet, people should be able to publish anything they like – regardless of whether it contravenes laws in the off-line world.”

Senator Conroy said ISP level filtering alone was not enough to help fight child pornography or keep children safe online, which was why the government supported the block of content such as child sexual abuse imagery and material advocating terrorism.

“This is a modest measure, which reflects long held community standards about the type of content that is unacceptable in a civilised society,” he said.

“Those who claim the government’s approach is akin to the sort of political censorship practiced by authoritarian regimes are simply misleading the Australian public.”

Original Story appeared on Ninemsn

The date for this event designed to assist small business in marketing on the web is 29th April 2010 from 8:00am to 10:30am. The location is Currumbin RSL Function room, 165 Duringan Street Currumbin.

What you will learn…

Advertising and Customer Service:

•Determining your business’s image & targeting for results.
•Effective media mix
•How to expand your Advertising Budget
•How to plan advertising & generate free media publicity
•How to determine who your customers are
•Setting up Customer Databases

Social Media Marketing:

•What is Social Media?
•Learn how to promote your business using social media.
•The Impact of SEO on Google search engine results
•Managing On Line reputation
•Google Real Time Search explained

“With so many speakers today on the Chamber circuit, we often find it difficult to sort and decipher what our members may be interested in, and what real
benefit they may receive from guest speakers. We were recently excited to have two quality speakers in Ian Grace and Mike Andrew. Their topics were
both relevant and professionally presented. I would recommend any business owner to attend a session to see them.”

Darren Mackintosh, President, Creek to Creek
Chamber of Commerce

Your Speakers:

Mike Andrew has been advising businesses on Internet marketing and technology for over a decade, including establishing realestate.com.au in the Queensland market. Mike then became a senior executive with Fairfax Digital until May 2009 when he formed his own technology consulting company. Mike is a recognised expert on social networking and the use of new technology in today’s changing online business market.

Mike regularly presents seminars on social media marketing in Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai and is a recognised expert in blogging for business.

Ian Grace is an international Advertising and Customer Service expert who worked and researched throughout the UK, South Africa and the USA for 16 years. Since 1994 Ian has conducted Advertising and Customer Service training worldwide, and is known as “Mr Real Estate Advertising” in the real estate industry. Ian has also been involved with the Federal Government funded New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS),and currently aids around 50 local small businesses,assisting them with business and financial plans then mentoring them through their first year of trading.

Seats are limited so bookings are essential.

Tickets for the event, normally $125 are Free to the first 50 attendees. If you like to attend please email your name and number to ryangrace@mcgrath.com.au

The event is proudly sponsored by McGrath Real Estate, Southern Gold Coast Tourism,Creek to Creek Chamber of Commerce and RedHeeler Business Essentials.

During the past week I’ve met with a number of small business operators and we’ve talked about social media and how they can integrate it into their on line marketing strategy. Using social media networking channels to not only promote your business but to help market products and services is a very cost effective way of driving new business.

Surprisingly, I’ve met some resistance to the concept, coming from an electronic advertising media background, I’m always on the lookout for ways to drive my business, and developing on online presence that I use as a online CV has been very successful for me in generating leads and driving new clients for my consulting business, and I’ve done all of this with very little financial output, as the social media networks I’ve set up have created a distribution network which allows me to get my message out very fast and very efficiently.

Some of these businesses I’ve talked with are now pulling back on their social marketing efforts and several of them are stopping their marketing all together, right at the very time that the number of consumers using social media in this country is growing at such a rapid rate that it is almost impossible to keep up with it.

Now why would you do that?

Lets look at the research first before I answer that question, The Nielsen report,released in mid March shows just how aggressive the growth is amongst Australian Internet users, close to four in five Australians or 78% of the population shared information,photos and links. Twitters audience grew by more than 400% in 2009 and more than one quarter of online users read “tweets” in the last 12 months. 14% of Twitter users followed companies or organisations via Twitter.

Nearly 2 in 5 Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites, which reinforces the point that we are very open to engaging with brands and companies online. Nielsen themselves make the statement, “The opportunities for brands and companies to tap in to the social media phenomenon are really just beginning to emerge and to date we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg”.

The facts are this, nearly 9 out of 10 Australian internet users (86%) are looking to fellow internet users for opinions and information about products,services and brands, and Australians engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making.   

In some cases, businesses have banned Facebook altogether in the office environment, and I know of one big media company, that actively monitors their staffs internet browsing and terminates their internet access if they use the site during working hours.

Given that the average Facebook user spends 8:19 hours per month on the site, and that’s the average, I know some people who spend considerably more per month than that on Facebook, small business needs to find a better way to harness this giant, banning it from their business is not the way to control it.

Now to get to my question above, why would you as a business pull back on your social media strategy at the very time that it’s gaining so much popularity?

The answers are simple:

1. Lack of Resources

2. Fear of negative comments and inappropriate content appearing on company sites

3. No clear rules,policies or procedures being set up within the strategy framework

4. Lack of knowledge of social media within the business  

5. No strategy in place, just add hock usage of sites because everyone else is using it

6. Lack of a risk management assessment

7. No reputation management strategy in place

8. Fear of the Unknown

9. Older Business owners with a traditional view of marketing

10. Marketing managers with little or no experience in social media marketing

11. Fear of competitors gaining business secrets

These are a few objections that I’ve personally encountered and in every case, none of these businesses has a marketing strategy in place that covers online.

Don’t stop your social marketing efforts, but do put in place a strategy that covers the essential areas that you need to have locked in place before you begin your social media activities, these are:

1. Risk Assessment – Make sure those in your business understand the risks involved and put in place polices and procedures before you start

2. Define very clearly your reasons for using the sites, what strategy will you employ and how will you manage the engagement from online users. Each site you use needs a very clearly defined set of rules and game plan. Set these for each site you use and monitor the performance of your plan, build engagement and community around your business.

3. Clearly identify the rules, what can be published and what type of information do you want out in the public arena, what is acceptable and what isn’t. Get your staff to sign a disclaimer and make it clear to them what the rules of engagement are. Very important to do this before you start.

3. Resources – Select a social champion within your business and use them to build your profiles and encourage them to help build your community online. Don’t ban it, play it smart.  

4. Online reputation management – Now essential for every business working on the web. Set up your management, monitoring and repair rules no matter how big or small your business is. Make sure you know what online consumers are saying about your business and you know how to manage and control those comments if found.

Having a strong online presence will be, no is essential, for your business if you want to compete. No point banning it, you’ll just end up doing your business damage and giving your competitors an advantage, and I really can’t see the sense in that, can you?.      

This past week I’ve spent time in Victoria and NSW visiting real estate offices and I must make a very special mention of Bianca and Neil Brown from Century21 Wentworth Falls, I was in their office yesterday and spent what to me, was a very inspiring morning. Their desire, commitment and dedication to evolve their business on the net actually inspired me. During the morning the subject of video came up, including the use of video for an office profile, on their properties and vlogging, that’s the video version of a blog. My attempt at this just recently astounded me with the results that my little piece got from Viddler.com, Over 200 embeds and 50 views, not bad for a 4 minute piece recorded in a hotel room and then placed only on my blog.

So I thought I would go one step further with this and evolve the process and look at what a real estate agent could achieve with a weekly or daily video update. Technology has made this process so simple now that anyone can record a video and then load it to the web, and you don’t need any real skills to do this, just a camera or webcam and a computer. The idea of communicating in real time by blogging, podcasting and Vlogging is just starting to be utilised by real estate marketers here in Australia, although it is very popular with US based agents. I was chatting to Neil and Bianca about using video on a weekly basis to provide market updates and create a communication tool that could be syndicated via their own C21 web site and also tap into social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube and Itunes.

So lets look further into this and see where it could go, real estate agents could use it to provide information instantly to clients and buyers alike, provide market updates,even market their clients houses via these updates. Record your video after your weekend open homes and provide that information to your vendors or just report on the results of auctions on that weekend. You could even create your own real estate show using this method, interview local people and share information to your audience. Promote your show via your marketing on listings and traditional marketing, add it to your letter box drops etc, this all helps to create an audience for your show.

I know some of you reading this may think you have enough to do now without adding more work to your day and I agree this will not be for everybody, but just think of the niche you could create for yourself with this, being able to provide your clients with real time market information or use it to create a wider market for your business.  I’m going to put my own thoughts on this into action and start to introduce more video into my blog, I’ll add it to Itunes and Youtube as well and see how popular it becomes.

So after having this flash of creativity, I did some research on the power of video and during this research it led me to a Canadian Realtor by the name of Tom Everitt who is based in Vancouver Canada. Tom is a realtor who has created his own TV show and along with his wife Kerrie records and uploads videos to his web site daily. I’ve included one of those videos for you to see his profile after being interveiwed for the local TV news channel.

If after watching this video you would like to visit his web site and look at his videos, here’s the link for you. http://www.thinktom.com/

The concepts and ideas are limitless for this, so get your Video camera ready and start recording!!!!

It’s funny sometimes how you get motivation to write a blog post, and this morning sitting outside reading my morning paper with my first cup of coffee, I looked at the local newspapers real estate section, I personally don’t do this very often, but today it got me to thinking. How well do real estate marketers combine both their on line and press adds, well after researching this morning, my impression is not very well. There appears to be little or no cross promotion, no push to get readers to go to your internet site to get additional information or view more photos, virtual tours,video etc. At least not from what I read today.

Your listings are very one dimensional in press, with limitations on how much space you have to work with, so why haven’t most agents yet to understand how to integrate the two? Yes I know some agents do this very well, but others, not so good. A recently Google commissioned study indicated a brand or product showing up both online and in the newspaper increased buyer credibility and trial by up to 50%. An integrated, multi-channel approach amplifies your credibility factor significantly in your marketplace.

It’s critical to your marketing’s success that it needs to play to the strengths of the medium, using on line to show additional information that meets the needs of the buyer plus supplying a wealth of information that supports the property, whilst using your press advertising to promote and keep your brand prominent and featuring a strong call to action to encourage readers to visit your own branded web site.   

I noticed this morning, 90% of the property advertising in the local real estate section, did not have a call to action nor did the agents refer prospective buyers to their web site to obtain additional information.

We all know that the dominance of press and online advertising for real estate has changed, but the need to integrate all your advertising and link them all has not. Employing a marketing strategy that plays to the strength of all mediums, will enable you and your office to maximise your presence as well as your marketing dollar.  

Press advertising is expensive, so why waste the opportunity to integrate all your marketing, because that’s where the real power is to you and your brand.

This post now available as a podcast, download this here: http://www.mikeandrew.podomatic.com/

The content that consumers look for in your property listings is constantly changing and more often today is being driven by what market forces are at play. For instance in the new NAR 2008 Home Buyers survey, a very important consideration is the suburb and the properties location to the buyers workplace. This is being driven by the higher price of fuel, yet how many real estate agents reflect these social changes when writing copy for the net? 

Do you change your copy content to match the market? Well, after conducting some real estate office audits this week on the Sunshine Coast, the response to that question from me would be no! So lets look at what should be included as part of your on line copy to maximise the response from buyers to your listing. 

Suburb choice is now very important in the selection of a home, what schools are in the area, how far is the local shopping centre or local transport, what is the street appeal of the suburb and the list goes on.

I’ve just recieved the October 2008 PRD Nationwide consumer research on this and have included the results for you below:  

What are the features you would find most important when deciding to purchase a unit or apartment?

Whilst this is aimed at the unit/apartment buyer, location of schools, cafes and shops is very high on the priority list and I don’t believe this is very different from those priorities of the home buyer.  

57% of people who will click on your listing during the search process will be female, so write your listing with the demographic and gender in mind. These people are in research mode and will be researching properties and suburbs to see what information they can find about lifestyle conditions in the area, as well as practical considerations such as travel time etc. Use www.walkscore.com to help generate local area information, walkscore will tell you the distance to local amenities such as parks, shopping centres, local transport etc.  Cut and paste the images of the maps in your photo selection to indicate the local area and provide this under “your local expert” tag.

The best layout of your listing, should be as follows:

Headline – Sells the lifestyle and gets attention so make it strong

Property Information – This is the nuts & bolts of the property.

Suburb and lifestyle Expectation – This is the what’s in it for “me” section and why i should buy here, more importantly, this is the part that provides the emotion and expectation of what the area provides, so use this section wisely.      

Call To Action - This is where you market yourself, don’t leave this out, this is where you ask for the order or the lead, and way too many times agents leave this off. In the recent CAR home buyers survey, 45% of consumers said that agent contact information was a very important part of the information provided to them on Internet listings.

Real Estate agents should market themselves as the local experts in the area, but make sure you are what you say you are. 

Now one word of warning with all of this, don’t go and write War & Peace, make sure you provide succinct information that is relevant to the search and selection process. If you add too much waffle, the consumer will close you down, make it relevant information that will assist them in making the decision to go to the next step and that is to contact you. 

I’ll cover the new NAR 2008 Home Buyers Survey in more detail for you in the next few days.

Last Monday I flew Jetstar to Newcastle and I was motivated to write this post after seeing an add on TV for Jetstar last night, the TV commercial portrays them as the fun airline with smiling staff and offering great service etc, I’m sure you’ve all seen commercials like this one, with companies all pretending to be something in reality, they are not. On the way back from Newcastle, I flew VirginBlue and in the inflight magazine, there is a article from Brett Godfrey their CEO talking about their new service to LA being delayed by a strike at Boeing in Seattle, and then he goes on to to mention how we will soon be able to experience their great service on long haul flights, well, as a very frequent flyer with both VirginBlue and Jetstar, I’d have to say, “What Service”, at best most of their staff are pleasant, there is the odd one who really doesn’t want to be there, the cabin service is adequate at best, and with my company having just paid over $300 for the return fare, I still had to buy my coffee and wait an eternity for my baggage. I’veencountered Jetstar refusing to take a passenger who turned up 5 minutes late for her flight from Tasmania, because she was late checking in, and then the flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so who then compensates us for their non on time performance? Now if you flew each airline once or twice a year you probably wouldn’t notice these little niggles, but as a frequent flyer I notice, and really the fares aren’t that cheap and the service, is almost non existent, especially for what I pay for that service.

So what’s the point to this post?     

Over the years I’ve encountered real estate agents who have advertised how they use the latest technology to market properties, and work with buyers and sellers. There is in fact, one agent in the South of Brisbane, who advertises himself as Mr Technology and his marketing is all based on how he uses the latest technology to market on behalf of his vendors and respond to buyers enquires. well, I have to tell you that over the past 3 years I’ve sent him numerous emails about his properties advertised on the net, and I’ve never had a response yet from him, in fact it has become my lifes mission to get him to respond. Sadly I have to report, I’ve still been unable to get him to do so, and if you look at the number of email enquiries that still go unanswered today, about 30% of emails sent to agents go unanswered, we still have some way to go in eductating agents on how to deal with the internet consumer and their changing communication needs.

So again, “What’s the Point of this post?” It’s to raise with you the point, that if you advertise you, your agency or your service, then be true to that advertising. If you are marketing yourself as an agent who uses technology then make sure you use that technology correctly.

Have a best practice policy in place that ensures response times to emails is immediate, make sure your listings are complete and contain all the information that today’s internet consumer is looking for, and make sure your agency is what you say you are.  

This is most important when marketing on the net, because the internet consumers first experience with you will be what they see on the net. Are you using technology in your agency to it’s best potential?  Are you offering your vendors/clients all the newest technology to market properties?, are you using social media networks effectively?

If not, then rethink your strategy, be what you say you are, because when times are really tough, the consumer will look more closely at you and your service.

Don’t let them down!!!

There has been lots of discussion from real estate agents on what model they prefer when it comes to real estate portals, you’ve got pay per listing, subscription based charges, free listing models and aggregator sites. Well now in the US a new site called locallylocated.com has applied a pay per click model, where your initial listing is free and the advertiser only gets charged when a potential on line buyer clicks on your listing ton it and examine it in detail. The end result? The advertiser only has to pay for serious customers interested in looking over a specific property listing. 

Their media release states: “Locally Located.com will give the advertiser complete control over the number of clicks they want to pay for, the length of time they want the listing posted for, and the budget they want to spend. All of these parameters, of course, can be adjusted as need be, after the listing is posted. Advertisers will also be able to control how often they would like to receive account updates, which will allow the user to thoroughly test their marketing efforts.

Unlike most traditional PPC systems, however, Locally Located.com does NOT force the real estate advertiser to bid against other advertisers worldwide for the best placements. The playing field is level – and the PPC charge is equal for everyone, not driven up by big business wanting to squeeze the most money out of the small advertiser.

Another overwhelming advantage to LocallyLocated.com is that the site will post any type of real estate listing – making it a hub or “one-stop shop” for any potential property prospects, and anyone seeking information on a specific geographic area of interest to them .

LocallyLocated.com is also committed to being more than a traditional real estate search site. To attract a steady stream of traffic consisting of potential property buyers, the site will be filled with enhanced targeted real estate content – including news article’s, blogs and forums. This content will utilize the latest Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, ensuring the site high search engine result rankings, which will bring about exposure to the greatest amount of online users interested in real estate and all the supplemental information they would need to make an informed decision .

Local Search will also be an important and integral part of Locally Located.com. Local search is now a close second to email as the most utilized function of the internet. By enabling specific geographic guidelines, Locally Located.com will be able to further target buyers on the lookout for property in specific areas with the assistance of satellite and map views, and many more free tools to assist its users in making the most informed decisions.

Local Searches are growing three times as fast as other kinds of online searches, as more and more people use the internet instead of print and other traditional media to find and research information on nearby neighborhoods. Obviously, this category includes real estate – a category that Locally Located.com is strategically positioned to heavily influence with its innovative new approach to real estate marketing.
Internet marketing has come of age – and Locally Located.com is determined to bring online real estate advertising up to speed in the most cutting-edge and cost-effective way possible”.

Here’s a link to the web site for you to look at and research, I’ll monitor this site to see how successful it is with this pricing model. Wonder if any of the Australian portals would go down this line?

http://www.locallylocated.com/