Last week I presented some social media strategies in front of over 200 Massachusetts real estate agents (which got great reviews by the way!). I got a big laugh from the crowd when I pronounced:
“NO ONE READS YOUR MARKET REPORTS–TRASH THEM!”
“What?! I’ve been doing market reports for the last 20 years,” said one Realtor. “I spend hundreds of dollars a month on market report mailers,” said another. “That’s all I post on my blog,” said another.
Waste of time. Waste of stamps. Waste of money.
Here are some questions you need to ask yourself if you are relying on market reports. Are you tracking the response rate? How? What is the response rate, either by mail or online? If you are blogging, what are your statistics and traffic on the market report posts? Can you track any direct leads from them? Is your competition doing market reports? Is the consumer flooded with the same data?
Also, market data is readily available to consumer in a much better format on Zillow, Trulia, and other sites. Why compete with them?
That said, I’ll will guarantee that market reports are some of your most under-performing marketing materials, and if you’re spending a ton of money on them, well, you might as well just give me the money.
Ok, So What Works?
For real results, especially online, you need to focus on hyper-local posts, informative posts (how to guides, etc.) and content that lets your experience and personality shine through. Here are some suggestions:
- A review of the new Italian restaurant that opened in town
- Top 10 tips for buying a condo unit
- Open house etiquette
- A compilation post on the best places to shop in town
- Getting your home ready to list–your tips from 20 years of experience
Take a peruse of my company HubConnected's portfolio to see how our real estate bloggers do it right. And contact me if you need more advice.
About: Rich Vetstein is a nationally recognized real estate attorney and blogger. He was recently named one of Inman News Most Influential In Real Estate. Rich created the award winning Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog and started his own real estate social media company, HubConnected.
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