I left Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference this past July utterly convinced that blogging was the means through which real estate professionals would forge a new relationship with consumers. Today, I still believe blogging can be an important, even central, piece of a broker or agent’s marketing mix. I tell nearly every practitioner I meet to join Active Rain to start learning and writing. But a number of things prevent me from enthusing too promiscuously about consumer focused real estate blogging.
Here are just a few:
The number of serious blog readers is still relatively small. Technology blogger Robert Scoble recently noted that the most popular RSS feed for Google Reader users, the BBC’s front page headlines, counts just 1.3 million subscribers. His back-of-the-envelope calculation for total worldwide RSS usage is 10 million. With 75 million homeowners in the U.S. alone, this number seems small – and certainly nothing that dictates a drop everything rush to blogging for all agents and brokers.
Email marketing is still highly effective. According to a recent report from OgilvyOne, email remains the most effective and cheapest means of electronic marketing, beating out banners, pay-per-click and affiliate networks by a wide margin. While most people in an agent’s farm may not even know what RSS is, you can bet the large majority have an email account. If a broker or agent can send consumers something useful (e.g., hard market numbers, recent solds) email is still quite viable.
Salesperson reviews won’t work for a toaster; why will they work for a neighborhood? Wal-Mart recently pushed its million-plus employees to review the company’s products online. Great idea, right? Not so much it turns out. Most consumers feel the reviews are of little value, likening them to pitches from an in-store sales person. The same effect may be at play when a consumer reads a local agent or broker’s blog.
Where in America is someone sitting in their living room thinking "I really wish I could read a blog from my local Realtor"? Real estate blog content is not a well established consumer need. Like consumers’ desire to see home listings online, for example. Or proven, like the power of sold data to garner buyer, seller and owner attention both online and offline. That’s not to say you cannot build an audience. But you have to be good. And unless you’ve nailed online home search and basic decision support, you’re probably better off focusing on those things first.
There are too few in the business that can pull it off. I’ve spent too many years in real estate offices talking to agents who fall over each other to get a supermarket donut from the local title rep but have no interest in, or capacity for, learning about online marketing. My heady Blogger’s Connect experience made that seem so distant. But that reality persists. For every Ardell DellaLoggia or Teresa Boardman, there are 10,000 underskilled, undertrained folks who’ll never get it.
In the past few months I’ve gained some perspective. Blogging is a powerful tool as part of a marketing plan. But it’s not a cure-all. It’s not easy and it’s not the place to start with online marketing if you’ve been remiss in keeping up with much of what preceeded it.
– Brian Boero
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Well said, Brian. These things definitely take time to develop. The payoff potential for full-throttle development and integration of blogs as part of a marketing plan can be huge, though; we especially understand this at Zolve as we work through the kinks and opening stages of development. Another thing for all of us to keep in mind is that blogging will become a greater part of our culture as time goes on. While nearly everyone does seem to have an e-mail account (or two, or three) these days, that was obviously not always the case. So, too, with blog readership. As the blogosphere attracts new readers daily, with new niches developed daily, I believe we will soon be in the middle of a great media transition. Thanks for your always-insightful articles!
Brian Wilson, Zolve.com
Writing a blog is not for everyone. i am learning this as I teach others. Writing is the biggest obstacle and content is the only thing that matters. My blog gets more hits that mot any local blog and it isn't because people read blogs. Most of my clients don't even know they read a blog. What they do know is that they searched google for some information and they found it on my blog. They don't care where the info comes from, blog or web site they just want it now. I won't drip or spam or send junk mail and I stopped doing open houses too. All of those things work but none are right for me just like writing a blog is not right for many.
Great comments Brian. I think that REALTORS are missing the real message of Blogging much of the time.
There is a transition happening from monologue websites that spit listing information to websites where REALTORS invite consumers into a dialogue and conversation.
Think in terms of Word of Mouth marketing online. Word of Mouth marketing has always been the most effective form of marketing, and new technologies like blogging are taking WOM online in new ways everyday.
What seems to be missing in many REALTOR blogs is market differentiation and topic relevance (I think that it has been argued by Mark on this blog that this is symptomatic in all REALTOR marketing)
Agents should blog about listings in ways that extend the 'data' of listing information into real world emotional touch points for consumers. Once a potential customer gets through learning about price, bedroom, bathroom, location…..what comes next? A conversation, a discussion. Most studies done (some by WAV Group) document that when a consumer attempts to engage in the conversation (by e-mail mostly), they don't get a response – ever!
Consumers are finding responsive agents online in hopes that they can start that conversation and hear back from the REALTOR.
If executed properly, a good conversation conversation on a blog can build a customer relationship. Others reading the blog will see that real communication and envy it (both competitors and consumers).
I don't think that many REALTORs are thinking in terms of how to make their blog get spread around and referred, but the key is real communication. That is the real goal.
"Whether or not we choose to be part of the conversation, the conversation is going to happen,"…"I believe that the challenge is to make it happen with us." Tim Kopp, Coca-Cola
Great comment, Victor. You are right — a blog is basically an instrument of conversation. Ironically, conversation is something Realtors have always relied upon to connect with consumers. Yet, for some reason it seems many have difficulty making this happen online.
Good stuff….
I saw Scoble's math. I could argue that many real estate consumers find real estate blogs through search engines. The vast majority of clients that found me through my blog were not regular readers of any blog before they searched for something specific, came across a blog post and reached out to contact me for whatever reason.
I think if you provide information potential buyers and sellers need, don't self-promote and try to "sell" them, then a blog can be a wonderful tool for getting that info out. The clients will follow.
Blogging should be viewed as a different form of publishing. If you blog, you are drip marketing, you are simply dripping more often at a much lower cost.
Where real estate blogging has failed, in my opinion, is realtors blogging for realtors or realtors blogging as if all the public cared about was real estate.
How about your SOI activities or local events or even reviews of local restaurants? The people who live and breathe real estate are already in the business. Blog for your clients rather than your peers.
I suggest treating each blog post like a newsletter article, but unfortunately too many agents don't write their own newsletters, instead relying on canned content that doesn't differentiate.
Start your blog publishing plan by writing down the things that make you unique and the ways you interact with clients and prospects. That should be at least 50% of your "real estate" blog unless, like me, you are actually targeting realtors.
Blogging is marketing and, like Teresa points out, is not for everyone.
That said, if people in your farm area check their mail everyday for local home information, you should be sending them information by mail.
If those same people are looking online for information, you should be online, too.
Wherever your clients are buying, you need to be selling.
I still get the impression that people believe blogs are a magical way to catch people who are on the verge of buying or selling, the new age equivalent of cold calling.
I think blogs are the new age equivalent of monthly letters and newsletters. I think blogs are more effective at strengthening SOI retention than they are at generating Glengarry leads.
So I'd say "whatever you're prospects are interested in, your should be using your blog to inform them about." Real estate, buying and selling info, should only be part of the mix unless your blog is a cynical Web 2.0 cold call.
I disagree with just about everyone. What else is new
1) Every agent should be encouraged to blog so that the truth will out. Sure, some will show their truer colors and get no business. But is blogging about getting business OR is it about the public being able to see in better and broader detail exactly who that REALTOR is and isn't? If a bad agent blogs badly…Hooray! Consumer served well…right?
2) Blogging is NOT about getting more factual detail into the hands of consumers. Web 1.0 was better for that part. Web 2.0 is about getting a better feel for how an agent thinks and works and makes decisions on a daily basis. It is not about telling them how much they need to put down or which houses are best vs. worst. It's about what your post says about you, the agent, while writing on these topics. Otherwise all they need is a Glossary of Terms. and that's been done and done and done again. We don't need blogs for more info, we need blogs for more relationship and so people can get more than a one hour schpiel when trying to decide which agent to hire. It's an agent selection tool, not an information source. Though a good blog serves both purposes.
3) Blogging IS for everyone, because its purpose is to serve the consumer…not the agent who is doing the blogging.
Great post. You are right on the money on Agents and blogging. But in my opinion Active Rain misses the boat. Of the active agents that are creating blogs, I would bet that less than 50% are producing quality content. Mine would be in the upper half of the equation. I am so tired about reading posts from other AR members about how to max out on their points by posting crap.
Case in point. Check out AR Tampa members. Take a look at the top (2) agents. Not the featured ones the ones at the top of the page. The first is a couple that has been out of business for a few months. No recent postings, dead links and yet they are still held in position by past points count to a top post. The next one down is a woman who posts junk. Almost every post is a daily list of how many listings were added, deleted sold or whatever. Their is no content of any value there at all …wheres the beef ?. Until Blogs like AR get their act together, consumers won't go there in the numbers that AR hopes they will. Either AR needs to set some new rules and allow current users to police it or AR will slowly fade away.
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Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty intelligent stuff to say.
I’ll be watching you .
Great comments Brian. I think that REALTORS are missing the real message of Blogging much of the time.
There is a transition happening from monologue websites that spit listing information to websites where REALTORS invite consumers into a dialogue and conversation.
Think in terms of Word of Mouth marketing online. Word of Mouth marketing has always been the most effective form of marketing, and new technologies like blogging are taking WOM online in new ways everyday.
What seems to be missing in many REALTOR blogs is market differentiation and topic relevance (I think that it has been argued by Mark on this blog that this is symptomatic in all REALTOR marketing)
Agents should blog about listings in ways that extend the 'data' of listing information into real world emotional touch points for consumers. Once a potential customer gets through learning about price, bedroom, bathroom, location…..what comes next? A conversation, a discussion. Most studies done (some by WAV Group) document that when a consumer attempts to engage in the conversation (by e-mail mostly), they don't get a response – ever!
Consumers are finding responsive agents online in hopes that they can start that conversation and hear back from the REALTOR.
If executed properly, a good conversation conversation on a blog can build a customer relationship. Others reading the blog will see that real communication and envy it (both competitors and consumers).
I don't think that many REALTORs are thinking in terms of how to make their blog get spread around and referred, but the key is real communication. That is the real goal.
"Whether or not we choose to be part of the conversation, the conversation is going to happen,"…"I believe that the challenge is to make it happen with us." Tim Kopp, Coca-Cola