So, you aren’t sure yet about this whole facebook thing, and how that ties into your Apartment Marketing Plan. The numbers are staggering, Consider a recent post from Inside Facebook, What Does a World with One Billion Facebook Users Look Like
Facebook started the year with just under 150 million active users worldwide, crossed 300 million in September, and we estimate it’s on track to end the year with just over 375 million. It’s hard to comprehend that kind of growth, but to put it in perspective, there are only about 1.65 billion active internet users in the world. If you exclude the 350 million active internet users in China, where Facebook is blocked, that means that about 29% of the total worldwide internet population will be active Facebook users by the end of 2009.
With estimates calling for the global internet population to grow to 2.1 billion in 2012, potentially to 2.5 billion by 2015, could Facebook reach 1 billion active users in the next five years?
Or, a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, Social Networking, They are Taking It to The Tweets,
Human communication vehicles have evolved from smoke signals to the town crier to the Internet. So it’s no wonder homebuyers and sellers are using social networking sites to connect.
Facebook was the vehicle of choice for Mike Lorenz when he began home shopping with his wife last year. Lorenz read about the first-time homebuyer tax credit on the Facebook page of Tim Ireland, a Realtor with Re/Max All Properties in New Lenox. “That got our attention,” recalled Lorenz, who uses the site daily to keep in touch with friends and to secure gigs for his photography business.
After communicating through Facebook, e-mail and text messages, Ireland sold Lorenz a condominium in Tinley Park.
“For me, Facebook works,” Ireland said. “I don’t post listings [of homes] there, but I do talk to 60 to 70 percent of my clients there.”
You Can’t Ignore The Numbers
Our beloved multifamily industry is run mostly by Conservative Financial Folks and Fair Housing Folks, NOT Marketing Folks . Their standard answer is No, We have never done that here. Well, Perhaps the time has come to Break From The Pack of Apartment Commdity, and not leave thier office until you get a Yes.
Equal Housing Opportunity. Copyright (c) Network Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Eric, the numbers on Facebook are absolutely astounding. It continues to amaze me to hear from people who say they just don’t have time for it, and I’m also amazed by the number of companies that block it entirely. (Perhaps those numbers need to be included in with the 350M from China…)
Two comments here:
1) The realtor makes a point to say that he’s not using Facebook to post listings, but rather to build relationships with his clients. The multifamily industry talks a lot about building community, so sites like Facebook should be a natural extension of those community-building activities. Not sure we’re there yet, but it would seem that the two go together well.
2) I always hesitate to talk specifically about a “Facebook strategy” or a “Twitter strategy,” as these sites are fleeting and may not be the best places to be in 12-24 months. MySpace is an example referenced often. I know you’ve seen some of this in your own business. Instead, I’d rather see companies focus on a comprehensive, community-building (and brand-building) strategy that incorporates sites like Facebook, Twitter and local blogs, as well as their own blog(s) and website(s). It’s important to know what to do on Facebook once you’re there, but I don’t think that constitutes a business strategy in itself.
Hey Mike, Thanks for adding to the conversation here, Much Appreciated.
You bring up a couple of great points, one of which Mike Brewer brought up on his blog this week, in that How many property management companies are BLOCKING the use of sites such as facebook from employees because if the worry of lack of productivity.
I am on a panel next week at Brainstorming with you actually, and my question to the group is this;
Why are you allowing Chain and Control Corporate Policy and Procedure Handcuffs to Get in the Way of On Line Branding Opportunities?
This may well lead us to the whole lose of productivity yap and blocking of facebook and social media sites in the workplace, and I get the angle of alleged lost productivity yada yada, but suggest then, Focus on Productivity, not Chain and Control, that never works. Focus on Lowering the Cost per Lease, or what ever your productivity target is and really focus and drill down like a raving nut and the facebook and twitter noise dissipates, there is no time for it as your group begins to run circles around the competition while they are drafting Policy and Procedure Handcuffs.
There is also a great article in the New York Times titled, How to Market Your Business on facebook, Here is the link, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/business/smallbusiness/12guide.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em