Social Media and Commercial Real Estate

Social Media and Commercial Real Estate: Strategies to Grow Your Business and Build Your Brand
Social media has created a momentous shift in how we communicate with one another. It has become the great digital equalizer; small and large companies alike can build their brands, expand their businesses and connect with their clients online via social media outlets.
To understand social media, one must understand how communication has changed. Traditional marketing involved identifying a target market, crafting a compelling message and “pushing” it out via channels that would reach a specific audience. Typical strategies included advertising, commercials, brochures, direct mail, billboards, flyers and even websites. Social media has changed this dynamic. Now consumes have a public voice. Did you have a bad experience at a restaurant? Complain about it on Yelp. Do you love a certain athletic brand? Share your passion on Facebook or Instagram. Clients, colleagues and employees can become your biggest advocates or your greatest critics.
Another dynamic occurring today the overload of marketing messaging online and the need for compelling, relevant content. Consumers are inundated with an excess of unsolicited marketing messages, and commercial real estate professionals are no exception. When asked if they get too many emails, most say “yes”. Consumers now have the power to say “no” through action: they can unsubscribe from e-blasts, skip TV commercials using TiVo or a DVR, or avoid radio commercials by subscribing to satellite radio.
More Pulling, Less Pushing
Brands now must figure out how to “pull” clients and consumers to relevant content. Users who are interested in a company or a brand can subscribe to its e-blasts, read its blog, “friend” it on Facebook, follow it on Twitter and so forth. The brand’s content thus is “pulling” fans toward it rather than “pushing” marketing messages to them. The challenge for companies is to produce relevant, interesting content that their clients find useful, not more marketing messages.
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By: Ruth Brajevich (Commercial Real Estate Development Magazine)