Believe it or not…..yes.
According to a recent study from Neilsen Online, in 2008, network sites and blogs saw more time spent by users than email.
Many young people feel that email is a formal way of communicating; not a casual means of holding a conversation. Email is for fully spelled words and grammatically correct sentences. Social networking allows a more personal interaction among peers.
This can somewhat explain the explosive growth Facebook has seen. However, the greatest growth in Facebook has been in the 35-49 year old range. The “older” visitors to Facebook are increasing much more rapidly than the younger users.
The 18-34 year old range came in second in highest growth on Facebook for 2008; however, I would like to see this group divided in half. My guess would be that the 26-34 age group grew in much greater numbers than the 18-25 year old group.
Now, what does all of this mean for the real estate community? First of all, if you are not on Facebook, you are behind the crowd and possibly alienating yourself from your online community. Secondly, if you think you are technologically savvy because you check your email occasionally, think again……
Many thanks to Bob Carney of Long and Foster Real Estate in Frederick, Maryland for posting this study on Facebook today and bringing it to my attention!
It’s true, social media is growing much more rapidly and people are using it more than their email; but don’t you think that – from a marketing point of view – email is still the smart choice?
I understand that Real Estate agents need to be ‘where the people are’, but there is still very little conversions on social media sites; whereas conversions through email are much more substantial.
My suggestion would not be to drop emails all together; especially when moving forward with a business relationship: use them to your advantage. Place a “social” widget on your site that allows people to control, comment and own their activity on your site with real time feedback from brokers – then, follow up through email with a soft sell approach. Also, try to get people to subscribe to your monthly newsletter that highlights the market in your ares (median house value, local foreclosure market, etc.).
A balance of both email and Social Media is what I see as the best way to sell.