5 ways to give Gen X, Gen Y what they want
Sync your website, blog and social media strategies
By Bernice Ross, Thursday, April 29, 2010.
Flickr image by Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline.Today's buyers and sellers are stalking agents online for as much as 18 months before they will feel comfortable enough to do business with an agent.
The question is: Once potential clients find you, how can you keep them engaged long enough that they will do business with you, especially when you don't know who they are?
The challenge with relying on social media for your lead generation is how to shift from having social interactions with your friends and followers to having business interactions that result in closed business. When you befriend people on Facebook or link up with them on LinkedIn, you are relying on a connection with the individual or on a referral from someone you know. Furthermore, both parties must agree to the connection.
In contrast, Gen X and Gen Y clients want to remain anonymous until they decide the time is right to work with an agent. In fact, a recent study from Comscore revealed some very surprising statistics. Of the 6.3 million unique visitors to Trulia, 92 out of 100 do NOT visit Realtor.com.
A partial explanation for these results is that today's buyers and sellers don't want to have to register to receive property information. Nor do they want to reveal who they are to a Realtor who may "drip" them, call them, or pursue them about buying or selling before they are ready to proceed.
Blogging allows you to build your online presence. It also is an excellent way to attract potential clients who are wary about dealing with you directly until they have gotten to know you online. Blogging allows them to "stalk" you anonymously. The issue is how to keep them engaged, build their trust, and motivate them to work with you.
To attract Gen X and Gen Y clients, it's important to understand their mindset. Our younger buyers have no use for "expertise." Instead, they believe in their ability to "do it themselves." They are information-hungry and will research multiple Web resources prior to contacting an agent.
In 2010, your blog, your website, and your social media strategy must work together. In terms of your website, make it a source rich with local information including market conditions, information about the steps in buying or selling a home, as well as a wealth of information about the local lifestyles in the market areas you serve.
In order to push your search-engine rankings, fresh content is a necessity. This is where having a blog is such a powerful tool. If you rely exclusively on your website, your potential client will read it once and then go on to another site. Like the search engines that only catalogue your site when there is new content, our younger clients are in a constant search for information that interests them.
Given that they start their search months before they intend to buy or sell, it's important that you provide fresh content that will keep them coming back to your site repeatedly. Here are five ways to achieve this goal.
1. Market updates
Your web and blog visitors want to know what is happening in their area and price range. Regularly update market statistics including median sales prices, percentage that prices have increased or decreased since your last update, the number of months of inventory on the market, and the percentage of short sales and REOs (if you can locate the information.)
2. Questions posed by clients with your answers
Gen X in particular loves to ask questions primarily to understand the process. By sharing questions your clients ask along with your replies, you show potential clients that you are someone who will be comfortable with their questions. Boomers often assume that younger clients who ask "Why?" are being difficult. In most cases, their "why" questions are really about helping them understand the purchase or selling process.
3. Challenges the client may face in closing their transaction
Remember that Gen X in particular believes they know how to solve problems on their own. Gen Y believes that they can figure out problems with the help of their friends or "posse." A good way to engage their interest is to discuss actual issues that you faced in a transaction as well as how the issue was resolved. This shows your professional competence, educates the reader, and also opens their eyes to the fact that the real estate business is not quite as simple as they think it is.
4. Lifestyle posts
One of the best ways to get repeat visits to your blog is to do posts about the lifestyle in your area. This could include restaurant reviews, information about festivals or other local recreational events, best kept shopping secrets, etc. To make these really engaging, make a 60- to 90-second video. For many agents, shooting a quick video is much easier than writing. It also gets you better search engine ranking.
5. Just for fun
One of the best ways to engage people of all ages is to make them laugh. Nothing goes viral more quickly than a funny video or picture. When it comes to blogging, it's more a matter of shifting where you engage your clients as opposed to doing something entirely new. Also, shooting pictures and video is fun for most people.
Best of all, these activities require very little financial investment and can help propel your business to the top for many years to come.
Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, trainer and author of "Real Estate Dough: Your Recipe for Real Estate Success" and other books. You can reach her at Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com and find her on Twitter: @bross.
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Submitted by Lexie Longstreet on April 29, 2010 - 4:06am.
Hahaha.... 18 Months of stalking. Most Agents give up after 18 minutes.
It's a wide open playing field.
Submitted by Doug Francis on April 29, 2010 - 5:17am.
I enjoy telling stories about the crazy stuff that happened during a transaction. Having my blog has given me a way to document them for the long-term, and hopefully will give those 18 month stalkers enough to read this weekend to know I have the experience/sense of humor that they want to work with when buying or selling.
Last year I set a target of 100 new posts on my blog, and this year add 100 more. That way readers will have a reason to stick around my blog rather than skip off to someone else's blog. It is a long term strategy that requires commitment. blog, blog, blog...
Doug Francis
RE/MAX Presidential in Fairfax, Virginia
read my blog at www.DougFrancis.com
Submitted by Louis Cammarosano on April 29, 2010 - 6:30am.
Some good stuff here Bernice
Do you have statistics that show
"today's buyers and sellers don't want to have to register to receive property information."
At HomeGain our agent members have been consistently seeing 10-15% registration rates to view listings over the past few years.
Do you have statistics that support your thesis "Our younger buyers have no use for "expertise." Instead, they believe in their ability to "do it themselves."
Too often I think we generalize about how "gen x" and "Gen Y" behave or what they want.
Too often we base our marketing decisions on what we think people might do rather than what they actually do.
Too often we base our marketing decisions on what WE might do or what our circle of friends might do rather than what people actually do.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 29, 2010 - 7:01am.
Another classic example of how to make something that's relatively simple complicated! Forget the so-called generational mumbo-jumbo and apply common sense when dealing with people. Be honest, courteous and knowledgeable and don't act like a freaking stalker. Here's a novel concept for many Realtors, know what you don't know and stop trying to baffle and dazzle buyers and sellers with bullspit! It's a total turnoff!
Submitted by Stanley Nichols on April 29, 2010 - 7:21am.
Darn it Bernice.... and I wanted to start a new social media using my URL Utmosphere.com for the rich & well deserving.
Stanley Nichols
eMetaphors
Submitted by Bernice Ross on April 29, 2010 - 7:27am.
Bernice Ross, CEO of www.RealEstateCoach.com, home of this year's number #1 selling book at NAR--Real Estate Dough--Your Recipe for Real Estate Success
Agree with the comments that generalizing about any group can be an issue. The research explains how groups may act in general, but does not necessarily predict how individuals will act. In terms of Gen X, over half are not married and those who are, have been delaying having children. In contrast, the typical Gen Y mom has 2.3 children. You can also observe the differences when you work with these clients. Gen X often shows up alone while Gen Y usually likes to have a group of friends involved in the process.
Also agree monitoring results is absolutely critical. You can't tell what's working unless you are tracking it.
Doug, love what you're doing. Being fun and engaging builds your business.
Question for you Louis--on Homegain, don't users have to register to get referred to an agent first or are you requiring a double registration--once to get the referral and again to see listings on the agent's site?
Submitted by Louis Cammarosano on April 29, 2010 - 9:06am.
Hi Bernice
It depends on the product. HomeGain has a product to meet agent and consumer preferences
Agent Evaluator allows consumers to compare realtors anonymously.
Consumers register on HomeGain and we send the information to a group of agents but not the contact details of the consumer to agents.
The agents then propose to the consumer and the consumer evaluates the proposals and decides whether to contact them.
Agents pay a referral fee for any deal closed through the system.
For Buyerlink- Homegain sends visits to the agents'idx listings page (we do not pre register the consumer information).
Most of our members, however, require some sort of registration -either up front or delayed after viewing a view listings-to continue to view listings.
Agents pay on a cost per click model.
For Agent View- all the agents'information profile, videos, blog, homes for sale, local information and instant home valuation are posted on homegain.com in an exclusive and ad free environment.
All information is available to the consumer without registration.
The consumer can contact the agent via email, web site link, toll free number, blog comments or requesting a Comparative market analysis.
Agents pay a month to month subscription fee.
Here is the product page with summary information
http://www.homegain.com/agent/realestateagent
Submitted by Mark Jacobs on April 29, 2010 - 8:45pm.
Great Post, Loved the info. I have been using this type of Info to build my website and the traffic is going through the roof.
Http://www.markjacobsrealtor.com
Submitted by Bob Wilson on April 29, 2010 - 8:57pm.
Bernice,
Please STOP giving SEO advice as you are wrong way more often than you are right.
For instance, "In order to push your search-engine rankings, fresh content is a necessity." is not true. Not even close.
Please stop trying to teach agents what you dont know.
Submitted by Matt Fagioli on April 29, 2010 - 9:39pm.
Hey Thomas,
Love your comment...
Another classic example of how to make something that's relatively simple complicated! Forget the so-called generational mumbo-jumbo and apply common sense when dealing with people. Be honest, courteous and knowledgeable and don't act like a freaking stalker.
Dude, you nailed it.
Submitted by Fielding Lamason on May 7, 2010 - 1:11pm.
Hi Bernice,
Your column today really provoked my thinking about products that our company can offer to consumers during this 18 month "stalking" period. It would be really helpful to me to know where you found the data supporting your article . . . this type of information is GOLD for businesses trying to provide solutions to the emerging real estate industry. Best wishes,
Fielding E. Lamason, Jr., Founder and President
Synergy Real Estate Conultants, LLC
MatchMLS
www.synergyseattle.com