Why CRE firms don't use social media and digital marketing?

There is a stunning misunderstanding, misconception and lack of education regarding the construction, distribution and leveraging of social media content by CRE professionals and their marketers.?While many CRE executives, brokers and firms believe there is some inherent value to do "social posting", most are unfamiliar with how to gauge social media’s significance. Typically entrusted to staff members with little to no experience (in business social media), or outsourced to some come-by-lately person (who claims they know how it all works), there is unfortunately little to no strategy driving content creation, posting or engagement initiatives implemented by the majority of firms.

Albeit late to the social media and digital marketing party, however, I believe there is still a huge amount of upside potential for CRE professionals to utilize these platforms to attract owners, tenants, buyers and investors .??

According to the numbers, only:

64% of CRE firms have claimed their GMB page

61% are using Facebook

59% are using Instagram

And a mere 6% are on Twitter

I cannot find any specific data on how many CRE professionals are using LinkedIn. But, my guess is that it is significantly higher than the others given its nature as a business platform.

And, so we sit here today in 2021 with most people in our industry confused if social media is important or not; whether it can do anything for their business or not; can it be successful in CRE or not.?

On the other hand, next generation CRE professionals like Carrie Bobb (Carrie Bobb & Co & hellojenny), Coy Davidson (Colliers Int'l, Houston) and Rod Santomossimo (Massimo Group) have learned how to leverage communication via the Internet, and it is transforming their businesses.??They have learned the upside of how buy the attention of decision makers at a much better price using social media and digital marketing.?Once educated about the value of brand and sales in this new social environment, you quickly find that the ROI mapping is very clear. Simply stated, no one is going to go out of business is they don’t properly learn how to use these platforms.?However, it’s very clear in the data, that they will lose market share if they don’t.?

The key to good content is building value, intrigue and relevance which in turn creates consideration to do business with you.?If done correctly and strategically the greatest benefit of social media and digital marketing is that CRE firms will no longer have to waste money or time and effort to distribute content and information that doesn't necessarily hit the mark for their intended audience.? Nor will they be at the mercy of external platforms that were intended to be pipelines to their website, not a replacement of it.

In our industry, there is nothing more valuable than knowing how to garner the consideration of prospects we’d like to do business with (and ultimately the trust of the person who signs the contract).?For this reason, CRE executives should take a serious look at the social media content & digital marketing ecosystem for their firm and the potential impact it can have on their revenue (see infographic HERE).?We are seeing this play out every day of the week with the CRE clients we work with.