Another top-of-the-line marketing analytics tool from Google, news on the latest video ad type from Twitter, Realtor retirement insights, and sustainable home buying data: Just some of the latest updates and trends from the worlds of real estate and marketing every agent and broker ought to know about to enhance their own digital strategies for the months ahead — and all of which you can learn more about below.
As we continue our Monthly Real Estate Marketing Review series (with this iteration serving for May 2017), we delve into the most recent and most interesting news industry professionals such as yourself should take to heart and use to transform your brand promotion efforts for the better — and for the long haul.
So, take a 10-minute break before your latest showing or after your next brokerage meeting to discover all of the intriguing and eye-opening real estate industry news and marketing tidbits from the likes of Inman News, Google, National Association of REALTORS®, and other well-known entities — and make some plans to perfect your online approach using these stats and stories in the days ahead.
Before you check out the info below, watch this 1-minute video to learn all about a very important aspect of your real estate marketing:
Inman survey: Two-thirds of agents plan to never retire.
The fine folks over at Inman News do a wonderful job collecting data from real estate pros nationwide regarding a variety of topics: from their viewpoints on online lead generation to, in this latest report, how they plan to retire from the field (if ever).
As it turns out, the overwhelming majority of agents claim they don’t intend to cease their real estate careers at any point, according to the poll of around 450 industry pros. Of those who indicated they planned to retire or leave the sector one day, just a shade under 50% of agents noted they have a plan in place to sell their agency or database.
Even if you aim to work as a real estate professional forever, chances are you still need to build your nest egg gradually over the years to come to ensure you can live comfortably in your golden years (that is, unless you’re a million-dollar agent already and have plenty in your savings account and/or investment funds — in which case, bravo).
It’s one thing to try to become a successful real estate agent who closes seven figures (or more) worth of deals annually, but it’s a whole other ballgame when it comes to saving your hard-earned income over the long term, so be sure you have a plan in place to make the potential transition out of real estate and into the snug retirement life just in case you change your mind about working through the rest of your days.
Check out also: Witness Real Estate’s Future: A Recap of Inman Connect 2018
Facebook unveils new features for its advertising platform.
In addition to touting its latest Instagram data for this year — 200 million users taking advantage of Stories and 700 million monthly active users — Facebook also shared some updates on its own platform, including the release of improved advertising insights for those who leverage its business offerings.
Per the social media conglomerate, Delivery Insights and Estimated Daily Results were developed for businesses of all kinds in April to help them maximize their ads’ performance and gain better ideas as to how their ads will perform over time.
Two-thirds of real estate agents said they don’t plan to retire, per an Inman News survey.
The former tool makes it simpler for the average small business owner to see how their ads have performed in recent days and weeks, thanks to new data visuals that show ad trends, spend, results, and cost per result, all of which is meant to make life (and work) far easier for these SMBs and their marketing crews.
The latter feature is intended to make ad buys less of a risk and more of a sure thing for professionals to use Facebook for Business. The social network noted the tool comes with a budget curve and slider bar, both of which are seemingly beneficial in that they can help brands (like yours) determine how much money and/or ad alterations it will take to help you get the results desired from your ads.
The bottom line here is plain to see: Facebook has made yet another upgrade to its already-amazing advertising service, so it’s more than worth your time, energy, and — that’s right — money to make the most of this platform. If you’ve yet to delve into the Facebook ad universe to boost your lead generation, now’s the time, as the types of targeting you can implement with your ads (and retargeting with the Facebook Pixel) can be incredibly useful for your real estate business.
Google releases new Optimize analytics tool for brands.
Did you really think we’d get through a marketing review post and not mention Google in some way, shape, or form?
To further aid brands’ efforts to better understand their online marketing metrics and even administer multivariate tests on their websites, Google has announced that its recently beta-tested Optimize solution is now available for all businesses and organizations, meaning you have the opportunity to take a test drive of the search engine’s platform and see if it has any use for your Realtor business.
With Optimize, professionals such as yourself can more accurately gauge the effectiveness of their digital activities and conduct A/B tests (something we cover in our Real Estate Marketing Defined series) to better the performance of their websites in terms of traffic and conversion.
You might be saying to yourself, “B-b-but I just figured out Google Analytics for real estate — now I have another system to learn?!” Not to fret: Analytics comes first and foremost when it comes to measuring your marketing success. Think of Optimize as a bonus tool that can assist your real estate marketing strategy down the line, once you have a better handle on how to use Google Analytics to track visitors’ and leads’ activity.
Google: More than 1,600 search algorithm changes in 2016.
Just when you thought we were done talking about Google, the company had to go and announce some of its latest search engine research data for consumers. The good news is this is this data can greatly aid your online marketing endeavors — particularly, your real estate SEO and lead generation strategies — in 2017 and beyond.
If there’s one thing Google is known for, its the brand’s thoroughness in trying to better its products — well, most of its products. There are definitely some failures [*cough* Glass *cough*] in its past it would probably like to forget about. When it comes to the business its most known for — search — the brand goes all out to refine its algorithms.
The latest tidbit from Google shows it orchestrated upwards of 130,000 overall search engine quality tests during the course of 2016. Based on these experiments, the company indicated it ultimately made 1,600+ alterations to its highly complicated search algorithms, which, in turn, help the digiverse better find what they’re looking for online.
On top of these tests, Google also made updates to its How Search Works website which it launched in 2013 to better reflect just how brands can get found via search by their niche audiences and the role content, crawling/indexing, and user feedback play in its algorithmic adjustments.
So, to sum up, you’d be wise to check out the aforementioned SEO explainer website and keep up on everything search-related so you can ensure your IDX website is ready to go for organic marketing success now and for years to come.
REALTORS study: Sustainability important to buyers.
Buying a green home has become an increasingly important factor for prospective buyers, according to a report from the National Association of REALTORS — and with this rise in sustainable homes’ popularity has come a change in listing information from Multiple Listing Services.
The trade organization’s research, based on REALTOR input, shows more than half of its members have noted that green home features have become more of a sticking point for potential buyers. Some of the most highly cited green home elements desired from future homeowners include energy-efficient lighting (50%), smart-home units (40%), and renewable energy systems (23%) like solar panels.
To account for this rising interest in sustainable properties, many MLSs across the country have begun implementing these eco-friendly features in homes for sale they list as available in their markets, per the report’s findings.
This information can be perceived in a number of ways when it comes to both buyer’s and seller’s agents:
- The former group may find it best to become more aware of green trends, if they aren’t already, so they can attract a vastly growing market of potential clients.
- The latter segment, meanwhile, ought to do the same, but when it comes to marketing the listings they represent, playing up the energy- and water-saving traits of the properties in question can only do their businesses well over time.
So, think about how you can incorporate eco-friendliness into your real estate marketing plan and … you know … become greener in your own day-to-day. It’s this kind of outside-the-box thinking that can distinguish your agency from competitors in your community.
In-stream video ads new marketing avenue on Twitter.
Video marketing for real estate isn’t a fad that’s going away anytime soon, agents. In fact, if you don’t already have a strong presence on YouTube and create lots of interesting Facebook Live videos, you’re already behind (that was meant to motivate you, not scare you, by the way — we hope it worked 🙂 ).
Twitter, in efforts to keep up with other long-revered social networks (and even burgeoning ones — we see you Snapchat), continues to make live-streaming video a priority for its channel. One way it’s trying to separate itself from the social media pack is through in-stream ads.
While not every social media user (a.k.a. prospective lead) wants their videos interrupted with ads, this promotional tactic could prove fruitful for real estate pros once the ad medium is fine-tuned in the months and years ahead. Facebook has already put this ad type into action on its platform, but it will be interesting to see how Twitter differentiates its version tailored for its audience, which doesn’t entirely overlap with that of its chief competitor.
No, we don’t foresee in-stream ads becoming the premier (or even one of the A-tier) advertising options for your real estate brand in the near future, but as we always say, it’s paramount to keep tabs on emerging trends like this so you know the tactics and techniques that could prove fruitful for your business.
And who knows? Maybe a marketing opportunity like this is the one that gets your agency in front of a brand new audience.
Develop a real estate website optimization plan for your agency in 2017 and beyond by watching our special webinar.
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