Social media has been the next big thing for several years.
Letting (and estate) agents are increasingly throwing lots and lots of money at
it. CEO’s and MD’s have said to their marketers, go buy me some of that social
media stuff.
Regrettably though, most of their investment is going down
the drain. Why? Because many letting agents treat social media like a shiny new
toy on the run up to Christmas: everyone has one so they need one, it’s different and it’s a bit of fun. However, the problem is that social media
rarely has any strategy or business purpose behind it. What is it with you
agents (both estate and lettings .. you are both as guilty) about your constant
drive to get as many likes on Facebook. Likes don’t get landlords to swap letting
agents and like’s don’t get Mrs Miggins on Acacia Avenue to use you to sell her
house (or even ring you for a free val).
If you think getting as many Facebook likes as humanly
possible is good social media strategy, you are sooooooo wrong .. it’s nothing
more than vanity. In many ways, social media has become the latest status
symbol for agents. Letting and estate agents seem obsessed with their mission
to achieve social media success, continually trying to outdo their letting and
estate agents competitors and maintain their social media No.1 position.
You agents .. you spend money on this social media thing and
you need to measure yourself with numbers. All you are doing is creating false
pressures on your letting agency (or estate agency) business on the quest to
achieve social media fame. All social media is what you and I would say face to
face, but over a computer screen ... (that’s all it is). You don’t measure your
business and friends relationships by numbers, so why measure social media? If
you as a letting agent and estate agent tend to focus on certain success
metrics, such as Facebook likes or Twitter followers, then my friends these
things will not get you more landlords or vendors. (And you are wasting effort,
time and money!)
So why is this happening? It might simply be ignorance but I
think many letting (estate) agents do not really understand social media. Whilst
they try to achieve social media stardom and get their Facebook likes up, they
really don’t have time to step back and learn about its true power. Their lack
of understanding often produces an underlying fear that all they know is that
all the other agents are doing it (it being social media), so they damn well
better do it as well. More often than not, their pursuit is fuelled by some big
boss rant: “London Lettings has one thousand Twitter followers and we only have
300! This is poor we musy do more!!!” This mentality forces letting
agents to throw the kitchen sink at social media while completely bypassing
strategy.
But before I talk about how I think you, as a letting (or
estate) agent should use social media specifically for lettings and estate agency
(and remember, I don’t sell social media), rule one of lettings is Facebook
should come nowhere near your business. Twitter in moderation and Linkedin yes,
but not Facebook.
As a letting agent, what is more important.. more landlords
to give them property to let out or more tenants? Answers on a postcard to “Stupid Question Landlords of Course
Competition”, PO Box 1234 .......
Landlords tend to be middle aged, even mature (so say around
45 to 70 years of age) .. I am talking about the majority here of your landlords.
They are middle class and probably have important high powered jobs or run
their own companies ... how many middle aged, middle class 45 to 75 year men
have a Facebook account and use it? Square root of zero divided by zero.
True 15 to 24 years olds are on Facebook every hour .. but
these aren’t our potential landlord clients .. yes they are potential tenants,
but does someone go onto Facebook to search for a property to let or Rightmove
.. Rightmove of course ( and yes I have heard of the one story of someone
letting a house through Facebook because the agent listed on Facebook) .. but
it is the exception to the rule believe me.
So if you are a letting agent and you use Facebook, if all
you are doing is chucking out listings and writing the odd article about top 10
tips for landlords, you are wasting your time, because your audience (potential
landlords) won’t read it – they don’t even know it exists. It’s like writing
articles for Beef Wellington or meaty sausage casseroles (I love sausage
casserole) recipes for only Vegetarians to read it.
If you want your social media efforts to pay off, you need
to realise that it is a marketing channel, not a shiny new toy. Mr(s)
letting agent (and whilst we are at the same for you Mr(s) estate agent), you
need to take a step back and ask yourself why you want these likes or followers
in the first place. Besides having more than your competitors, what is your
objective? More likes doesn’t equal more business. If you don’t know what your
strategy is, that’s not a good sign. You should have a clear answer, just as
you would for any other media you use.
For example, as a letting agent or estate agent, you
wouldn’t advertise during Britain’s Got Talent just because the number of viewers
is huge. If you were spending £100,000
on a 30 second slot, you would be looking to get a return on your £100,000
advertising spend, wouldn’t you? Whatever advertising you do, you still need to
have a message and a clear objective. That’s where real strategy comes into
play, and where many so called social media experts don’t have a clue.
The clear objective is to make landlords walk through your
door or make contact with you (because once they come through your door, every
letting agent say they will convert that landlord) . You need to grab their
attention and give a message that is interesting to LANDLORDS ... and they have
two huge big buttons
- How much is my current house/portfolio worth (including the rent and the yield)
- Where is the next rental property that I want to buy (only applicable to portfolio landlords)
They don’t care about s8 vs s21, they don’t care
about deposit schemes, they don’t care how cheap your fees are or are not, they
don’t care what ARLA exam you have passed or what award you have won and they
don’t care how much more “professional” you are than the next agent (because as
you and they know professionalism should be paramount) they know they are
wanted as landlords and they certainly couldn’t give two hoots about.
PS Facebook is amazing for estate agents if you can find a suburban area i your town that has a facebook page/site .. then if you write articles about the area's housing market .. then it will take off like a rocket
PPS Linkedin is awesome for lettings .. proved soooo many times.