Here is the state of social media for real estate agencies in the Marbella area as I see it…
is Facebook for oldies? Is TikTok for kids? Is Instagram where it’s at? Should we be tweeting our listings? aaargh…
What networks are our buyers using? How best to reach them? Everyone has a different opinion…
Firstly, let’s get one thing straight. Whether your bag is Instagram, Linkedin or Twitter, actual users of a network can spot a non-user a mile away. You know the ones, those estate agencies that chuck a property listing post on 18 social networks and they’re done. They are talking at you, not to you, and certainly not engaging with you. In fact, they have zero interest in anything you have to say or share, they just want you to see their post. Nothing social about that.
OK so let’s get to it…
👉 Here in Marbella it seems estate agents are mostly split between Instagram and Linkedin lovers, and therefore fans.
👉 I’m yet to find an estate agency (anywhere in the world) crushing it on Twitter
👉 and always surprised by how much traffic you can generate from Pinterest, but yet to hear any evidence that it’s worthwhile
👉 Facebook is the 3rdmost visited website in the world after Google and YouTube, but it is super hard to get anywhere with property posts organically (without paying). Mass market agencies do get some traction via groups, but generally not the high-end ones. The old saying “you’ve got to pay to play” really applies here. And its privacy changes are making it harder and harder to accurately target people, even if you do pay.
👉 Posh agencies loooooove Instagram. Rightly or wrongly, many agencies spend 99% of their marketing resources and attention on this network… Instagram is fast changing from a platform of photos toward vertical short-form video format, like TikTok via reels, with recent changes making a mess of many agencies’ very carefully curated profile grids.
👉 Meanwhile YouTube is also trying to get on the TikTok short-form vertical video bandwagon with “shorts” …and generally it’s very hard to build a decent audience if all you post are standard property videos, especially if not your own (ie you won’t build your audience via chucking all of Solvilla’s videos on your channel, trust me). Estate agencies who crush it on YT devote a ton of effort, time and money.
👉 what about TikTok, most agencies are dancing around it unsure what to do. Is it just teenagers doing the shuffle dance or is there more to it? Seems these are our future buyers, but how future?
👉 and last but not least, Linkedin is mostly B2B. Let’s face it, company pages suck, it’s all about the person-to-person connection. So unless your agents connect with your potential buyers via Linkedin, you’re talking to other agents and collaborators.
