What Does Social Media Marketing Have to Do With Real Estate? Social Media has been in existence for most of us for less than a decade. Remember 2004? That was pre-Facebook. Pre-Twitter. Infancy of LinkedIn. In a few years, social media sites have attracted so many users that they rival large nations. It didn't take long for marketers to jump on board. Social Media Marketing is the buzzword for all types of businesses today, including real estate. Wherever you find a collection of human beings...marketers will be there too. social media marketing Social Media Marketing was a $6.1 billion business in 2013, according to UnifiedSocial.com. Naturally, real estate marketing is going social. But how does social media really fit into the real estate space? I'd like to explore some myths about real estate and social media marketing, as well as some of the truths as I see them. Myths About Real Estate and Social Media Marketing That Sellers Should Know Promises I've Heard from Real Estate Agents: "I'll share your listing on all my social media platforms...Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn..." While sharing your listing to their social media contacts sounds like a good way to broadcast your home, let's stop and examine that for a minute. Facebook: The average agent has 172 likes on their Facebook business page. Of those, only about 10% ever see the posts, due to Facebook's push toward monitization. With advertising and sponsored posts, your listing can be seen by specific demographics who might be actually interested in your home. But the jury is out on whether people come to Facebook to look for real estate. While 92% of homebuyers are looking online, most are looking on real estate specific websites, like Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia. Many agents are friends with other agents, those who already see your listing on the Multiple List Service. It's also safe to say, as with most people on Facebook, high school friends and friends of friends from other parts of the country probably aren't interested in your listing. By tweeting your listing on Twitter, again, the average agent will get your listing in front of 10% of their 200 contacts...for about 18 minutess. If they are savvy about using hashtags your listing will stand a better chance of being found by someone who is looking for #realestate in #yourcity, but that will most likely be another agent. 2. "I'll blog about your listing and get it in front of thousands."Blogging is an important part of the overall social media strategy of a real estate agent. Producing consistent, getting your home ready for the markethelpful content on a website will get that website found in local searches that homebuyers are conducting.