What Social Commerce's Numbers Mean for Real Estate Marketing

The power of social media made business news headlines again last week following the release of Business Insider’s Social Commerce Report. According to the report, social media networks have again emerged as winners in terms of usage growth and magnitude of influence on consumer purchases among other marketing campaigns.

According to the report, social commerce has grown at a tremendous pace, with 500 of the top retailers cornering revenues of $2.69 billion last year based on Internet Retailer’s Social Media 500. This represents a 60 percent hike from 2012’s figures, even if the e-commerce market in general advanced by only 17 percent.

Often times, the “last click” a consumer does before hitting the “buy” button happens on a social media site, the report continued. This shows how much a post on social media gives buyers that “finishing nudge” to ultimately decide on buying a product or service.

Facebook was found to lead social media networks in terms of the most number of referrals and sales due to the size of its user base (71 percent of American adults use Facebook). Utilizing data from AddShoppers, the report also noted that a Facebook share of an e-commerce post is equivalent to $3.58 in revenues, compared with only 85 cents on Twitter.

In terms of average order value (AOV), Pinterest, another popular social media network, sees $65 AOV. Facebook’s AOV is $55. In terms of social sharing of retail content, Pinterest also dominates social networking sites, even Facebook.

In the context of property marketing, Sprout’s Social Index: Engagement and Customer Care report states that the real estate sector ranks second in terms of “inbound engagement relative to audience size.” It follows utility and precedes the consumer goods industry in rankings.

Unfortunately, there has been a mismatch when it comes to inbound engagement and realtors’ usage of social media. According to the same report, realtors are not taking advantage of the technology. The industry, it said, ranks thirteenth “for responding to those [inbound] messages.”

Indeed, there is plenty of missed opportunity in the real estate sector, especially when it comes to using social media to expand one’s customer base. Thanks to a few companies in the sector, real estate agents and brokers won’t be able to neglect using social networks to their advantage.

Realbiz Media Group, Inc. RBIZ, for example, is a Florida-based digital media company that develops proprietary video marketing software that agents and their brokers can use to promote their virtual tour listings online. What makes it one of the most innovative and marketing savvy company in the real estate niche is that it develops technologies that feature social media integration. The company is known for its Virtual Tour Program and consumer site Nestbuilder.com.

The Virtual Tour Program allows real estate sellers to create virtual tours and presentations that are optimized for mobile viewing and could be syndicated through social media for only $29.95 a month.

The program is equipped with a video search engine optimization (VSEO) tool that automatically generate meta tags and descriptions for virtual tours and listings agents have uploaded to the platform so that they would be found easily by consumers online. It also has tools for creating QR codes, e-flyers, and seller reports as bonus features.

Nestbuilder.com is a consumer property listing site centered on virtual tours. The website makes a great platform for marketing agents’ listings and for creating personalized agent profiles that help agents widen their reach and build their reputation. The web site utilizes Nestbuilder Agent, a disruptive marketing technology developed by Realbiz Media. Digital content published on Nestbuilder.com can be cross-published in real-time to social media as well.

To learn more about Realbiz Media and its products, contact sales@realbizmediagroup.com or call 1.888.REAL.BIZ (888.732.5249).