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In the old days (5-10 years ago), some REALTORS® would advertise their listings in a plethora of glossy Real Estate magazines.  You can still find some of these magazines around if you look hard enough, but it’s sort of like watching Blockbuster dying a slow death.

Even when they were relatively popular, I always thought these magazines were ridiculous.  I mean honestly, what purpose did they serve?  After all, it’s not like we didn’t have the Internet.  Even ten years ago, it was easy to find every Real Estate listing matching your exact search criteria, on your computer, in a few minutes.

And yet, many REALTORS® would promote the fact that they were spending thousands every month “marketing your listing” in these glossy magazines.

Question: Is there a single instance ever of a serious buyer uttering these words? “Hey honey, let’s go down to the coffee shop and get one of those glossy Real Estate magazines.  We can search through it and hope to randomly run across our dream home!”

I doubt it.  Even ten years ago, serious, qualified buyers had far more efficient ways to find their new home, whether by being fed listings on an automatic notification system from their REALTOR® or searching on their own on the Internet.  These systems have been in place for as long as I’ve been a REALTOR®.

Searching through a magazine has always been like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

WHAT then, is the real reason that some REALTORS® spent thousands of dollars every month advertising in glossy magazines – especially today?  Most of my regular readers will already know the answer to this question.  There was, and is, one and only one purpose for this type of advertising.

It’s not to sell the listings being advertised.  On the contrary, it’s for self-promotion, and ultimately, to get MORE listings.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Hey, I promote myself, too, in many different ways and for the same reason.  But I tell it like it is.

Trying to convince your clients that this advertising is for THEIR benefit is disingenuous, at best.

I feel the same way about social media advertising today – the ‘new” glossy magazine.  Do we do it?  You bet!  In fact, we’ve gotten really good at it, easily getting over 10,000 views on any one of our new listings.

But, for a user that is actively engaged in searching for a specific property type, in a specific area, and within a specific price range, it’s simply not reasonable to expect that a random social media post is going to be more effective than the MLS system itself.  Those 10,000+ viewers are mostly just scanning through posts, and having a quick look out of curiosity.

So, WHY do we do it then?

Same reason as the glossy magazines!  It keeps our name out there and draws potential clients to check out our website, so they might consider us if they are planning to sell. Our team has been advertising on social media for a while now (with outstanding results in terms of viewing numbers), but we have yet to record a single instance of someone buying one of our properties as a direct result of finding it on that medium.  Not saying it is impossible, but the truth is there are FAR more effective mechanisms to actively promote your listing to people who actually want to buy.

So, let’s call a spade a spade.  Social media advertising in Real Estate is about self-promotion, nothing more and nothing less.  Self-promotion is about US – not the listings being advertised.

What does work?

If you want to know what REALLY works to your home sold for the highest possible price in a reasonable time-frame, give us a call.  We’ll be happy to show you EXACTLY what works, and why our team is so effective. Here’s a hint:

There’s no hype and no nonsense.  It boils down to an intelligent game plan, followed by good old-fashioned hard work. Any REALTOR® can advertise a listing on social media, but not everyone has the skill, experience, and deep understanding of the market, in order to get your home sold quickly and effectively, for the highest price.

Until next month…

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