How do we fulfill the promise of Web 2.0 in real estate?
Content.
Yes, content. It’s been lost amid the Web 2.0 rave pulsing in our business for the past three years, a party threatened by a harsh dawn of hungover reality.
Let’s be frank:
- Most agent blogs are really bad
- Most brokerage attempts to participate in social media deliver little more than PR value
- Most Web 2.0 plays in the online real estate space have failed to ignite large scale consumer use
Social media is not a cosmetic for fundamental business blemishes. In fact, it may actually aggravate them. A bad blog is worse than no blog. Display of previously unaccessible real estate or community data without intense regard for quality and context does little more than pique curiosity, or, worse, create confusion.
New applications are great, but that’s the easy part. Content creation is the hard part. It’s less sexy, but it is what will win in the long run. This applies both to online real estate companies and brokerages.
A friend of my mine made the statement back in the Web 1.0 boom days that "The truth is, most of the applications out there don’t really work." Today, we have tons of apps that do work, but too many are empty vessels, beautiful ships light in the cargo hold.
Hello in there …
Let me give you some examples:
Agent reviews
Consumers reviewing Realtors. A great idea! Several companies continue to chase it. But has one broken out into widespread consumer use? When you go to these sites, do you, like me, catch a wave of loneliness? The number of real consumer reviews is terribly low. I make decisions based on review sites in other categories like TripAdvisor and Yelp. The Realtor review sites aren’t even close.
Why?
Well, Yelp invested in paying people to generate reviews to prime the user generated content pump; they continue to invest heavily in editorial moderation and quality. TripAdvisor spent tons of money on the marketing and distribution needed to reach consumer contributors. Code and content go hand-in-hand.
That’s not happening enough in online real estate.
Local
Intimate knowledge of the community has always been a key element of a brokerage company’s value. Applications for leveraging that value online abound. Yet to this day, there are very few brokerage Web 2.0 success stories.
You can guess why. Blogs thrown up without a commitment to making them useful; shoddy writing; poorly conceived video. A lack of resources for creating the sort of content that creates the magic of "engagement" we all hear so much about.
Most brokers should remove or re-purpose their PR department. Make it an editorial department. "Managing Editor" not a typical brokerage title? Exactly. I am serious. Do it today!
Until this happens, you can expect few meaningful innovations here.
Listings
I won’t subject you to another rant about listings coverage on online real estate sites (though that is definitely relevant to my post here), so let’s just look at the larger quality issue. Listings are the most valuable piece of real estate content a broker or media property can display. We have apps for creating listing shows, video listing presentations, mobile listing delivery and more, yet too many listings still evidence few photos, crappy photos, all caps agent comments and just generally bad merchandising.
You can telepathically transport listing alerts direct to my cerebral cortex based on my mood and geocoordinates, but if the content is sloppy, you’re not really nailing it.
What do we do? Brokers, get tough with agents. No more typo-ridden comments and poorly composed photos. You can’t merchandise a listing online? Take your license somewhere else. NAR: Include minimum standards for online listings display in your Code of Ethics. I’m not joking. Getting online marketing right is no longer a benefit or differentiator, it’s a solemn obligation to sellers.
Street of dreams
Online real estate has been like a ride down the Las Vegas Strip for the past three years, an Electric Circus of Ajax, Ruby and Mirrors. It’s delivered some great things, but I am becoming more convinced that it is time to pull off to the side, grab a cup of coffee, and work on fundamentals.
Like content.
– Brian Boero
Local, Mobile, Social and the future of real estate
20 Tools to Bring your Real Estate Business to the Cloud
15 Ways to Make Your Marketing Mobile
You've done a great job of defining the problem. I'm just not convinced that your prescription for the cure is based in the realities of our industry.
First, you recommend, "Brokers, get tough with agents." You go on to recommend, "You can't merchandise a listing online? Take your license somewhere else." Well, who will "get tough" with the brokers? Have the majority of our offices across the country even moved beyond the "fog a mirror/grab a desk" rule for hiring an agent? Enlightened Inman readers aside, that hasn't been my observation or experience.
The second part of your prescription is, "NAR: Include minimum standards for online listings display in your Code of Ethics." When has the NAR ever instituted minimum standards? (for example, see the agent hiring rule above).
Having said that, you're exactly right. Once brokers implement standards of performance within their own offices and the NAR drafts standards of professional practice within the industry, a myriad of problems plaguing our industry will get solved. I'm just not sure how we bring that day about more quickly.
Tomorrow's real estate broker will embrace and exploit the idea that he/she is in the new media business as well as the real estate business. In fact, I believe new media skills will be considered a core competency going forward for any brokerage seeking success in the business within the next 3-5 years. Those who make the effort will soon realize that value of producing and publishing quality multi-media content (e.g. video) and how it will act as a competitive differentiator, a game-changing listing and selling tool as well as a potentially powerful recruiting tool. They will learn, by neccessity, to be creators– producers and publishers of highly relevant local information–they will, in short, become the broadcasters of there own content. Winner take all.
Alright, enough bloviation about things I have no control over–that is how other brokers and agents will answer the consumer-centric call to action.
Here's the real skinny…For the past 8 months I've been learning everything I can about setting up an in-house video production studio. In others, I've invested in the hardware, the software and all the accessories to create my own media studio. Also, I've taken the time to learn how to shoot, edit and publish above average (youtube) video productions on all things real estate (listings, zoning, parks, schools, transportation, local home improvement, etc.
Futhermore, I am learning how to be my own publisher. Specifically, woking with open source content management systems (Drupal), I will be able to take full control about every aspect of publishing and distributing the content I create, which will strengthen my value offering over time exponentially.
In sum, I am doing everything I can to stay relevant in the eyes of the consumer as well as reaching for that elusive gold ball of true success in this profit-margin challenged business. It's hard work, but I'm doing it–one video at a time, one story at a time, one sleepless night at a time.
I see my future in this business quite clearly now…how about you?
Brian, one big consideration in review sites for real estate is frequency: people eat out 2 times a week at a restaurant but sell their home once every six years. There simply are a lot less 'reviewable experiences'. I haven't found that the conversion percentage is any less, just that the top line number is so much smaller.
That's one reason we base the rankings more on transaction history rather than reviews at homethinking.com.
Best.
Niki Scevak
CEO, Homethinking.com
Hi Brian, I can understand where you are coming from. Technology is far from perfect. So are agents. And it all boils down to the humans behind the screen!
I personally believe it should be more difficult to get a real estate license. Then we would have higher quality and content in every aspect.
Given our current rules and regulations, however, I think it is better that agents at least TRY to start generating content, than to do nothing at all.
Recently I have been teaching a lot of top producing agents (who have been in the business a lot longer than I have) how to blog. The concept is so foreign to them and they truly have the desire to learn. We can't blame all of them that the computer was not available to them when they were starting out. And I also try to tell them to push beyond their fears of "doing something wrong" in the hopes that practice will make perfect.
Have some patience! Let's nurture and educate those who don't get it instead of criticizing!
Brian, you hit the nail on the head. Content is king and will always beat glitz in real estate – although both is best. Your story reminded me of a photographer I know who had a "Snow Globe of the Week" feature on his website (he has a very large collection of snow globes). It was a neat little kitsch thing on his site, but unfortunately it became the Snow Globe of the Month, then quarter – and you get the idea – he ran out of interest in it.
Too often we have seen the same with an online newsletter or blog. They begin all gung-ho and then sort of drop off, along with the eyes that used to follow them. If you aren't going to commit to creating content there is little reason to begin and it's best to be very honest with yourself at the start. We have created a lot of custom apps for clients to use and many of them follow the same downward spiral as the snow globe of the week. The ones who continue to use the tools, and create interesting content, do very well with them.
Glad you also brought up the property photos as well. It pains me sometimes to see such poor listing photos, very few or even none for a listing. The listings which have well-composed, well-lit photos stand out like a beacon on IDX sites and the ones with poor photos like a sore thumb. Ansel Adams once said "You don’t take a photograph, you make it." Agents need to create photos that *sell* the listing, not just document it. Staging is best, but if you can't make the time, at least remove the clutter as you shoot each room, turn the lights on and open the blinds. Digital cameras provide instant feedback for each photo so shoot a lot and use the best ones.
Chris Freeman
CTO, WolfNet
Just because some people want the real estate industry and participants to behave like other industries (travel, restaurants), you can't will it to happen.
Check out http://www.visualtour.com if you want to see 500,000 listings with a rich media experience. Not just a shameless plug.
It's the culmination of more than a decade in this industry of providing education, encouragement and leadership in helping tens of thousands of Realtors and brokers to evolve to provide very sticky content as part of the process of what they do in their everyday business.
It's not about video, blogging, social media or IDX. This business is about paving the way for a large portion of actively working agents to quickly, easily and inexpensively provide a general type of content (visuals, map searching, property and neighborhood details, contact info) on all their listings. This in turn attracts consumers and compels them to work with those Realtors as their needs are met more often in this very important, very expensive life changing moment called buying and selling a home.
Awesome post Brian! I'm pretty good with my listings coverage, as I have 36 high res, wide angle lens photographs, video tour, listing brochures, etc… My area of weakness is the "Local" part. I need to be more disciplined and blog more often and more local. I also need to get better at taking photographs and video of local "goings on" that affect our local real estate market.
>>"This business is about paving the way for a large portion of actively working agents to quickly, easily and inexpensively provide a general type of content (visuals, map searching, property and neighborhood details, contact info) on all their listings."<<
Sounds like you think its best for agents to act like dumb-driven cattle. Where's the differentiation? This is a big part of the problem the industry faces–that is every agent doing the same thing. This is the principal reasons consumers cannot clearly distinguish between brands, brokers or agents. Web 2.0 tools, especially video broadcasting, allows for the potential for each broker/agent to be unique. The agents brokers/agents that work the hardest at crafting their message and who deliver it in a demonstrably compelling format will win. We are no longer slaves to vendors, MLS's, technology companies who think they know the business better than any agent–this is our time to shine. Step up or step out…
Sorry, but virtual tours can't hold a candle to full-motion graphics with real people interacting with each other and talking directly about real estate. But maybe I you're right. Perhaps it's better if my competition continues using antiquated web 1.0 tools…
@ Nikki … you make good points and are right to point out the data that complement the reviews on your site.
@ JL I disagree with you about video, blogging and IDX, but admire the work you've done to get so many agents using your virtual tour solution.
Hi Brian– are you seeing success or a perceived benefit from any of the Agent Review sites [like HomeThinking, AgentScoreboard, AgentMatch etc]? Do you think it's worth agent participation? just curious, thanks.
Brian, I think you nailed it with that idea of a managing editor as a new necessity for the brokerage of the future.
And Tim, you are absolutely right that to succeed going forward, brokers need to understand that they are, indeed, in the new media business.
What better way to attract clients online than to provide relevant, fresh, high-quality, local, microcosmic community information? I run a very successful local blog that provides just that. But more importantly it creates conversation with consumers in the marketplace, bringing business to myself and my colleagues who contribute.
I'm just an agent blogging in my local little city, and the blog brings me all the business I need. But it could be so much more.
If I were a broker with financial resources, I would revamp the blog to include more video, community tours and neighborhood stats. And I would start producing a weekly video report that included on-the-street interviews with my expert agents.
I would also recruit a handful of agents with writing talent and have them cover their areas of expertise on the blog: foreclosures, luxury properties, starter homes, neighborhoods, and whatever else the consumer shows interest in. These agents would be would be accountable for minimum quality/quantity content standards, but they would also be rewarded with business. And when my agents became too busy to handle everything on their own, I'd help them hire assistants and build teams.
I would also hire a talented people-person to immediately answer inquiries for my blogger/agents while they're out in the field with clients… by responding to email, returning phone calls and providing helpful information. This person would need to be licensed and true team player.
In a perfect world, my broker-blog team would be accountable. We would measure the number of inquiries received via phone, email and web. We would measure traffic to the blog and correlate unique visitors to initiated contacts to appointments to closed transactions and level of resulting revenue. My blogger/agents would be a highly collaborative and cohesive team. And we'd have some sort of on-call arrangement like doctors do so that we could truly have two uninterrupted days off per week to get away from this 24/7 nonsense!
I would develop my broker-blog into more of a social media community where consumers gather to talk about local real estate. I would lead the efforts of my agent/bloggers to ensure that we cover whatever our consumer audience cares about in the local real estate space.
In time, we'd be the number one search result in Google due to the sheer volume of quality local real estate content. Now we'd have a major local online asset with organic SEO, page rank, link love, industry recognition, and most importantly, a community of highly engaged consumers talking about real estate… My brokerage would own a huge percentage of online viewer market share, so the internet consumers would come to us. In fact, they'd be tripping all over us thanks to an omniscient internet presence!
If we structure our brokerage well, provide quality content, respond quickly, give consumers what they want, including possible alternate payment options in addition to standard commission arrangements… then we'd lead our local market, have all the business we ever wanted, and attract only the best, top-quality, most talented agents.
So that's my perfect world. Maybe it's a bit much, but brokers need to understand…. they truly need to be in the new media business, or they will be left behind.
And I should add that my agent/bloggers would cover the market with absolute brutal honesty… no spin allowed! It's the only way to build credibility online.
@Diane
Thank you for sharing that vision. You are closer than most to making it a reality.
It is so tough when you are working closing to closing, payroll to payroll, to step back and think about better ways. But it must be done.
So thanks again for sharing this.
Brian
Agreed! With web 2.0 there have been a lot of great apps but not enough content which then says there may be a web 2.0 bubble.
Jippidy.com – Video Yellow Pages
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Jobs , companies , real estate , engineers , petroleum company
Easier said than done. The bad, outdated marketing habits of RE folk are so deeply ingrained that it is extremely difficult for them to 'unlearn' such practices. They approach blogging just like any form of 'static' or printed content, and plaster every available space with blatant self-promotion adnauseum. They're trying to shove a web 1.0 peg in a Web 2.0 hole!
So what is the solution? Don't look to NAR for zip. Ain't gonna happen. Some Brokers might have some small measure of influence, but how many are leading the Blogging charge? It's a rarity.
Personally, I think that perhaps the best tool we currently have going is the RE-BarCamp experiences. If more of us would get behind these kind of events, the message of effective blogging would reach a much greater audience.
Additionally, more us who actually 'get it' need to reach out more and mentor others. This is happening now, organically/virally, but it needs to occur more. Start coffee groups and meet weekly. The mantra of the Web 2.0 Open Source philosophy compels us to freely share that which we have learned with others. Go and do likewise!
Gary Vaynerchuk is quoted for saying: "If you're pumping out good sh*t, people will follow." And you know what, he's right! So a focus on content should be supreme. Of course writing good content is easier said than done, right?
Here's what I say:
- Solve. Don't sell. | Write your content in a way that addresses your target audiences' questions/concerns. It's ok to invoke a "Call to Action" at the end of your posts, but seriously, remember: "Solve. Don't sell."
Brian, one big consideration in review sites for real estate is frequency: people eat out 2 times a week at a restaurant but sell their home once every six years. There simply are a lot less 'reviewable experiences'. I haven't found that the conversion percentage is any less, just that the top line number is so much smaller.
That's one reason we base the rankings more on transaction history rather than reviews at homethinking.com.
Best.
Niki Scevak
CEO, Homethinking.com