Yesterday morning, I met with the management team of a respected commercial real estate firm. We engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on the opportunities that social media provides their company. While I believe that companies in almost all industries can benefit from engaging with consumers through social media platforms, it’s apparent that the commercial real estate industry can benefit significantly as networking has long been an integral part of the real estate business.
The November 2009 RICS whitepaper by Andrew Waller and Bob Thompson: “The Role of Social Media in Commercial Property” (read in its entirety here) does a deep dive on the subject. Waller and Thompson argue that commercial real estate’s history of networking means that the “sector is probably better placed than many others when it comes to dealing with social media and Web 2.0.” Therefore, it’s important that companies in the real estate industry recognize why social media can provide them with an advantage, and then work to understand how it can help them achieve their ultimate goal of closing deals. As to the “why,” here are a few reasons from Waller and Thompson:
- Social media is unlikely to go away – the sheer volume of users across unique, major networking sites (40 million users on LinkedIn alone) suggests that, people will continue to use social media in whatever form it may take
- Some employers already use searches on Facebook to carry out background checks on future employees—perhaps your clients are checking out the team you propose to manage their portfolio.
- You can search for anything on Facebook or Twitter—if it’s being talked about you can see what people are saying, good or bad.
- People with a grudge have a platform. Knowing how social media works gives companies what they need to be able to manage reputation risks.
- The speed with which news travels across social media is staggering. To ignore these networks is to ignore the pace of information.
Speaking to #5, Waller and Thompson claim that “one of the key things which define social media is its ability to access a large number of people quickly.” For commercial real estate companies, social media connect them with thousands of people in the same amount of time it takes their agents to attend a community meeting or real estate trade show. Obviously, firms should be careful before canceling in-person meetings and events, as making face-to-face connections is vital to the success of any business. But in the Web 2.0 world, it’s crucial that commercial real estate companies—all companies for that matter—develop a strong social presence in both the real and virtual world.
In their final answer to the question—“Why must real estate engage with social media?”—Waller and Thompson claim: “Above all, at present it is possible to experiment with this media cheaply and in many cases for free. All that it costs is resources and much of the ‘work’ is an extension of the marketing and networking that you would expect your team to be doing in the normal course of their work.” Although any new marketing campaign will undoubtedly have risks associated with it, the rewards of social media engagement far outweigh the costs and potential risks. Commercial real estate companies are increasingly bullish on social media, and for good reason.
