My goal with this article is to change the way you think about lead generation. Back in the "old days," purchasing real estate leads was a popular strategy. And while a lot of agents still use this approach to real estate lead generation, it is by far NOT the most effective way to go about it.
Think about it for a moment. When you purchase real estate leads, you are basically buying the names and phone numbers of people who (A) don't know you, (B) haven't asked to be contacted by you, and (C) could very well have an agent by the time you contact them.
In other words, you will be cold-calling strangers, in an age when cold calls are dying out. This is not the best way to approach real estate lead generation. When I listed a home on the MLS a few years back, I was annoyed at the number of real estate folks who contacted me each day. "Do you have an agent? Need help selling your home? Can I come over and give you a CMA?" It struck me as both desperate and annoying. There is a better approach to real estate lead generation!
According to a new analysis of BIGresearch's Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM 14-Jun 09) of over 22,000 consumers, social media impacts consumers, which in turn directly impacts marketers, but not all options are the same. Social media users are likely to use more than one platform, some at a higher rate than others. For example, 60.2% of MySpace Users (those who regularly use the application) regularly use Facebook. On the other hand only 24% of Facebook Users utilize MySpace.
Regularly use the following social media:
USER Use Use Use Use Text Read Post to
GROUPS Facebook LinkedIn MySpace Twitter Msg. Blogs Blogs
Adults 18+ 27.9% 3.3% 11.6% 4.1% 27.3% 10.9% 4.3%
Facebook Users*---- 7.7% 24.0% 10.5% 47.5% 20.2% 8.8%
LinkedIn Users 63.4% ---- 24.3% 22.1% 43.3% 29.1% 16.8%
MySpace Users 60.2% 7.6% ---- 14.6% 53.7% 20.5% 11.1%
Twitter Users 72.7% 18.8% 39.4% ---- 56.9% 49.3% 31.0%
Texters 48.5% 5.2% 21.5% 8.3% ---- 17.7% 7.8%
Blog Readers 51.0% 8.6% 20.5% 17.7% 44.0% ---- 34.0%
Blog Posters** 59.0% 13.1% 28.6% 27.9% 50.8% 83.3% ----
Source: BIGresearch, SIMM 14
*To be read as: 7.7% of Facebook Users regularly use LinkedIn, 24% use MySpace.
**Blog Posters include those who post to blogs and maintain a blog
Social Adults
Media Users* 18+
Male 42.5% 48.7%
Female 57.5% 51.3%
Average Age 38.2 45.1
Average Income $68,311 $66,942
In the next 6 months, plan to buy:
Social Adults
Media Users* 18+
Vacation 30.2% 26.3%
Furniture 17.8% 12.8%
Computer 17.3% 13.2%
TV 15.9% 12.4%
Car/truck 12.7% 10.8%
Source: BIGresearch, SIMM 14
*Social Media includes: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Texting and Blog Users
When looking specifically at the user of each platform, Facebook users average 37 years old and MySpace users are the youngest at an average age of 33 of those profiled. LinkedIn users have the highest incomes. Social media usage for ethnic groups indexes high across most social medias.
Facebook LinkedIn MySpace Twitter Texters Blog Blog
Users Users Users Users Readers Posters*
Male 40.2% 62.0% 48.4% 50.8% 38.3% 43.8% 47.5%
Female 59.8% 38.0% 51.6% 49.2% 61.7% 56.2% 52.5%
Avg. Age 37.1 40.6 33.0 35.5 36.2 38.3 36.0
Avg. Income $68,523 $96,937 $51,489 $68,740 $69,595 $67,941 $63,131
Hispanic 15.8% 14.9% 26.9% 19.1% 18.0% 17.7% 21.6%
Black 12.1% 11.7% 13.6% 17.0% 15.7% 13.0% 12.9%
Asian 2.9% 4.8% 1.7% 5.4% 2.2% 3.5% 4.4%
White 75.7% 75.3% 64.9% 64.4% 70.2% 71.5% 69.0%
For all the criticism of Americans and their profligate spending in recent years, it's clear that their appetite kept a lot of people in business. BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Steve Adler moderated a panel at Davos today on the subject of how the world will cope with a new frugality among U.S. consumers.
The impact of the sharp drop in spending has proven devastating to manufacturers. Adler noted that Americans have accounted for nearly a quarter of global consumption in recent years, about three times the level of spending by consumers in China and India combined. Now, the U.S. consumer engine is slowing at a record pace.
The most dire assessment came from Ian Davis, Worldwide Managing Director of McKinsey & Company (U.K.). He noted that "Americans have no option but to be more frugal over the next 10 to 20 years." Along with being cut off from credit, the population is aging and "older consumers don't buy as much." His advice: Look to the East. Big consumer companies in the coming years will be Asia-focused.
But Zhu Min, Group Executive Vice-President of the Bank of China, predicted that it will take many years for Chinese consumers to make up for the gap created by falling U.S. spending. The Chinese currently spend about $1.5 trillion, vs. the $10 trillion normally spent by Americans. Even with 21% annual growth in spending in China, that won't be enough to make up for what Zhu projects to be "a sharp drop in American consumption for three years."
The question is how long Americans will stick to their tighter ways. Will frugality become the "new normal" among Americans, as some people fear?
Richard Haythornthwaite, Chairman of Mastercard Worldwide (U.K.) didn't appear convinced. While the dollar value of sales has dropped sharply, the actual number of transactions has held up surprisingly well. He concluded that "Americans are shopping smarter."
Ken Rosen, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, insisted that the spirit of frugality will last. "We spent money we didn't have on goods we didn't need," he said. Now, American consumers can't refinance their homes or get access to credit-and the situation will only get worse as layoffs escalate. "I'm still worried that the housing market has not stabilized," he added. "The team we had in place over the last eight years dropped the ball ... The free-market fundamentalism we had was a mistake."
The solution? Government spending, according to Yasser El Mallawany, CEO of Egypt's EFG-Hermes Holding. Ideally, he said, infrastructure spending will help to spur growth. The big issue is whether governments will fall back into a pattern of protectionism. That, he asserted, "could bring the world 40 to 50 years backwards."
Some commentators and trade experts have expressed concern that the "Buy American" provisions in the stimulus are not only wasteful, but potentially harmful in that they could be a prelude to greater protectionism, both here and abroad.
Steel industry lobbyists seem to have persuaded the House to insert a "Buy American" provision in the stimulus bill it passed last week. This provision requires that preference be given to domestic steel producers in building contracts and other spending. The House bill also requires that the uniforms and other textiles used by the Transportation Security Administration be produced in the United States, and the Senate may broaden such provisions to include many other products.
That might sound reasonable, but history has shown that Buy American provisions can raise the cost and diminish the effect of a spending package. . . . While this is a windfall for a lucky steel company, steel production is capital intensive, and the rule makes less money available for other construction projects that can employ many more workers.
American manufacturers have ample capacity to fill the new orders that will come as a result of the fiscal stimulus. In addition, other countries are watching closely to see if the crisis becomes a general excuse for the United States to block imports and favor domestic firms. General Electric and Caterpillar have opposed the Buy American provision because they fear it will hurt their ability to win contracts abroad.
They're right to be concerned. Once we get through the current economic mess, China, India and other countries are likely to continue their large investments in building projects. If such countries also adopt our preferences for domestic producers, then America will be at a competitive disadvantage in bidding for those contracts.
The Senate's "Buy American" provisions are even worse, and could have significant trade implications while providing minimal offsetting employment benefits, noted trade economists warn. Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organization, has also expressed concern.
Buy local" measures by governments will jeopardise export sector jobs and risk setting the world on a damaging downward spiral of beggar-thy-neighbour protectionism, the head of the World Trade Organisation has warned.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Pascal Lamy, WTO director-general, said pressures for economic nationalism were an inevitable response to the global crisis, but in an integrated world economy such measures were much more dangerous than in the past.
"If you start killing imports, you will kill exports," Mr Lamy said. And since a high proportion of global output depended on international supply chains, shrinking trade flows would have a huge multiplier impact on world production and jobs.
Mr Lamy would not comment directly on the Buy American provisions in the US economic stimulus bill, which potentially could be the subject of WTO litigation, but said that Washington, like other governments, had to abide by its international commitments.
Using video in today's web 2.0 world to market realtor services and property listings
I wanted to touch upon an area of the web and of search engine functionality that is experiencing rapid growth right now, and that area is in the integration of video. As bandwidth and compression and editing tools become more commonplace and refined, video is now the biggest growth sectors in content online. Have you heard of a little website named YouTube? As the YouTube revolution continues to take over, other mediums suck as Pay-Per-Click could face serious pressure in delivering solid impressions and results, especially. Let's take a look at where video online is at right now in the real estate industry, and hopefully spark a conversation on what is coming around the corner.
Posting Video to the Internet
This is where the YouTube revolution is currently taking hold. Whether posted to a Web 2.0 community like YouTube, or placed elsewhere on the web or on your website, putting video online has many applications. Obviously, you can describe your company or property listings in a more visual and 3-dimentional way than static, or even flash animation way. You can also describe in a personalized way, what that community is like, from one-on-one interviews with residents, to local video footage of town attractions, video again allows for more targeted, promotional, and persuasive content.
Video Podcasting
Video podcasting differs from YouTube and the like in that the content can be delivered and received on a regular basis. The beauty of syndicating the video is in the automation and wide net you can cast out there with your video content. Podcast video feed could be customized from the agent or office feeds to match a subscriber's property search needs. Just as in audio podcasting, individuals can create monthly, or otherwise market trend reports. RSS and syndication programming is also part of the coming revolution of the world wide web and portable, hand-held devices. Sunday Open House listings sent directly to subscriber's cell phones?
Whatever the ultimate direction, you can bet that video is going to be a huge component of whatever web 3.0 entails, and the real estate industry should be especially aware of this emerging medium!
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