Social Media Is Cashing In On Real Estate

With so many real estate agents and loan officers questioning the ROI of social media and the amount of time they set aside to post, tweet, pin and like, many have found it to be a valuable tool that has allowed them to further promote their listings to a much larger audience. For a long time that tool was very low-cost, but alas things are changing as Twitter and Facebook are now publicly traded companies, they no longer care about having the best product that connects the most users, now its all about making the most profit for shareholders.

Recently we surveyed a small sample of Qazzoo Users to measure their social media usage, we interviewed the most active users. We discovered that over time the cost of advertising for Facebook has increased significantly. Many began spending small amounts  to promote their listings, but after Facebook went public they reported that Facebook began up-selling them to spend more.

Many reported using Facebook advertising for years, but recently have noticed a significant change in cost and results, what $10 got you just 3 months ago was a lot more than it does today. I can hear my grandparents’ voices in my head talking about going to the store for milk, bread and eggs and it costing less than $0.50 right now…Now the users are getting notices throughout the day stating your ad is not reaching enough people, and the reach is not big enough for the current budget. To increase the reach of your ads you need to increase your budget.

A major concern had by all was establishing the value of the ROI for this type of advertising campaign is nearly impossible. And while those we talked to reported they have yet to sell a home to someone who originally saw their listings on Facebook, however they did report having many come to the open houses.

In closing its worth mentioning that Twitter is stepping up its real estate presence following its IPO in November.