[Question] Social Media and Commercial RE

[essentiallyvirtual]

Hi,

I have a commercial RE client who has some interest in putting together a social media campaign if I can give them a compelling reason to do so. I know for residential real estate, social media works great, but I am having a hard time coming up with quality reasons a CRE company should invest in a social media presence.

But, I am convinced there are more experienced VAs out there that can shed some light on this for me.

Looking forward to your replies,
Christine Bearse
Essentially Virtual

[JKVirtualOffice]

Social media is all about creating community, engagement and connections. In my opinion, this is something any business can do. However, the social networking platforms you choose to use may vary for each different type of business.

Some businesses are better suited to Facebook than others and some are more suited for LinkedIn than Twitter.

I would say for a CRE, I would recommend a starting place of a blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This way they can write and highlight their expertise along with any listings, they can post about community related events as well to show they care about being a part of their community and they can connect with interested potential buyers and sellers and not just locally but globally.

They can join groups on LinkedIn and network that way as well.

I'd also check out industry related social networking sites such as active rain and any others. Do a search for related CRE bloggers and read their posts and comment on them. This helps increase visibility as well.

Use the blog to build their email database that they can use to send out updates about new listings or other related information.

[Strategic Growth & Development]

I agree, LinkedIn and Blogs are the way to go for CRE. I have a client that works with Facility Management Firms and I don't find them being involved in social media YET. I think it is soon to come though!

[essentiallyvirtual]

Thank you, this is excellent advise and confirms the direction I had identified for this client. It is so good to run these types of questions by the experts!!

I am sure that as time goes by all these types of businesses will become more connected via social media, my thinking is why not be one of the innovators in the industry.

[DoverOBM]

I have a client who is a commercial real estate broker coach and she conducts classes on social media all the time. As stated above, the best action is to start with LinkedIn and a blog. They need to be willing to update their blog (or have you do it) on a regular basis and join groups on LinkedIn and participate. We tell our clients that they need to post recent transactions (listings, completed leases and sales), local events that are going are, any thoughts they may have regarding the industry as a whole and the local market. In addition, we always mention Twitter, although they are usually resistant until we tell them that posts can be automated. Other suggestions of course are adding their newsletter to the blog and then connecting with others on ActiveRain.com.

[VAkim]

Commercial is a whole other type of business than residential. I agree with getting on LinkedIn. Blogging would be essential in my opinion. Another thought might be to have a flickr account and post properties for sale/lease. - You can then post on blog, tweet, and add to linkedin.

Social Media campaigns are great and getting a Facebook and LinkedIn is great! Also try out twitter!

[vamatt]

I have also had RE clients utilize YouTube as well. They can create personal messages, show home tours, etc. and then shoot clients their channel link. Seems to be working pretty well so far.