When Faith Brenneisen goes to places where she has an opportunity to meet potential real estate clients, she’s now more likely to share her Facebook address and app, rather than a business card.
When Faith Brenneisen goes to places where she has an opportunity to meet potential real estate clients, she’s now more likely to share her Facebook address and app, rather than a business card.
“It’s a great way to expose your business,” said Brenneisen, an agent with Keller Williams Real Estate in Allentown.
Like others in the real estate industry, Brenneisen is increasingly harnessing social media sites such as Facebook to market her properties and brand.
Businesses account for more than 40 million active pages on Facebook, the most popular social media site, of which 4 million pay for advertising.
Advertising revenue on social media is expected to grow to $41 billion in 2017, up 124 percent from $17.85 billion in 2014, according to statistica.com, an analytics firm.
“We were always 100 percent in newsprint with all the publications; in 2017, our advertising budget is 98 percent online,” said Thomas R. Wilkins, CEO with Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate/Wilkins& Associates in Stroudsburg.
“That’s where the action,” Wilkins said.
While Wilkins still advertises in print publications, his 2016 print budget dropped about 35 percent.
“The metrics and the data that you can get from online beats newspapers hands-down,” he said. “When I advertise online, I can go and see who opened up the email, who shared it. We are able to see the level of interest, which we typically can’t do on print advertising or via the telephone.”
Accessing those statistics allows real estate professionals to market toward a desired demographic.
