Business Week recently posted an article and slide show “Health 2.0: Patients on Social Networks” concerning the topic: Will Social Media Transform Medicine? I think it is appropriate to ask the same question of Real Estate Brokerages/Agents and their online presence:

Will Social Media Transform Real Estate?

Business Week claims that today “the web is becoming one giant consulting room.” I certainly agree. For any given topic or industry there are countless web forums, blogs and discussions of individual opinions for every product or service available. Similar to medicine, Real Estate Brokerages and their Agents previously held onto all the information and gave it out at their discretion. With the growth of the web, this system is transforming into a more transparent relationship between buyers/sellers and their agents.

Buyers/sellers and their online acquaintances can now compare notes about houses, neighborhoods, real estate agents, brokerages, financial institutions and much more. Plus, they now have access to more for sale data listings in any given state. These discussions are allowing consumers to get a bigger and perhaps clearer picture of exactly what they are getting into when moving to a new location to live, play and work.

The effect of Social Media is two fold for Real Estate. First, agents are joining the buyer’s conversations. Agents can greatly benefit from joining social networks. We have discussed the importance and impact of social networking in several previous posts and are implementing our social networking plan with all Enterprise Network Members. Read about our take on social networking here. There are many benefits to agents in joining social networking sites because they:

1. Provide visibility for the agent and their brokerage

2. Allow the agent to position themselves as a real estate expert and join in the conversation

3. Uncover possible leads through positive word of mouth

4. Create cross-linking opportunities which direct Search Engine results to their website and their brokerage website

The second effect on real estate is the increase of conversation within the industry. Not only do online social networks connect agents with buyers/sellers but it also connects agents with agents and agents with industry experts. Take Inman News for example: they post about 8 new blogs a day answering questions, giving advice and relaying industry news. Viewed as a highly reliable and respectable news source for the real estate industry they attract tons of followers.

What is being realized by the medical community as a move to the virtual world is something that the real estate community has been working on for a while now. To learn more about what we at the Enterprise Network and Active Website are doing to create a strong online presence for our Member, please contact us.

Click here to read the full Business Week article. To view the slide show with examples of Health Care social sites click here.