The Value of Social Media in Commercial Real Estate By: Frederick Ward, Communications Specialist at Coldwell Banker Commercial Intermountain For many commercial real estate professionals, social media seems like an irrelevant activity geared to the time-eating tactics of a millennial generation. While utilizing resources like Twitter and LinkedIn, the growing digital generation has begun its ascension toward a global commercial real estate industry. With a large number of recent college graduates possessing a proficient command of social media, business growth directly links to how, when, where and why commercial real estate professionals use social media. Tweets, updates, connections, and “friends” With the seemingly overwhelming barrage of social media-linked jargon becoming more and more popular, learning at least some terminology gets you a lot farther than you would think. Believe it or not, the younger generation admires older professionals who converse with social media fluidity. Don't waste my time. Nothing bugs professionals more than wasted time. This trait grows more and more true as millennials grasp helms of workforce leadership, equipped with short attention spans and all. Time is money to young professionals and if you are not adding value, you're diminishing value. This is even more reason for every person in the workforce to have at least a conversational ability regarding social media. Also, who wouldn't want to be the cool older person that can keep up with the kids? Fifteen minutes a day... By simply creating a profile on one or two social media sites and then playing around with it over the course of a few weeks, those who are inexperienced in the mystic realm of social media can gain a decent bank of relevant knowledge. Besides, how do you think the younger generation becomes experts in new digital settings? Here's a hint: trial and error. “By simply playing around and exploring new territory within modern social technologies, commercial real estate agents, brokers and other staff have the potential to reap huge dividends, both monetarily and professionally,” Bryan Welch, public relations specialist at Coldwell Banker Commercial Intermountain, said. “Many people shy away from new ideas like social media because they feel incapable of learning something new in tech, but I have seen plenty of people in their later years harness this resource and become as good, if not better, than many of their younger counterparts.” A pattern of similarities Social media is carried out on a largely streamlined template. LinkedIn and Facebook have similar functioning platforms but are used for vastly different purposes. Facebook largely caters to the more intimate aspects of personal life, whereas LinkedIn almost exclusively provides solutions to the affairs in professional life. That's not say that there isn't a sizable grey area for leveraging business on Facebook. Almost every social media outlet has a status update capability. “Liking,” “following,” or otherwise showing affiliation with organizations adds another universal capability within social media.
Expressing what means something to you or your organization, and conveying that to those who matter most, is the entire point of social media. It's strategic fun, really. What does this mean to me? As stated earlier, being capable to communicate effectively with clients, coworkers and industry colleagues revolutionizes careers and opens doors that otherwise would hardly be possible. LinkedIn, for example, has been integral in connecting thousands of employees with employers and colleagues. It may seem like a minor thing when you are not taking advantage of such a capability, but think of the real estate professional who built and maintained connections, opening doors that would not have been possible without the use of social media, specifically LinkedIn. Having a consistent, detailed, editable rolodex at the fingertips of any professional is an asset that should scarcely be passed up. Simply put, social media can, and does, change lives: how so and to what extent is exclusively up to the user – you.