Social Media & Real Estate: Building Seller Communities

The Problem

• Housing market is down, hurting the economy, especially on a local level.

• Close community connections are dying out. Neighbors don’t know each other anymore.

• Selling houses and properties is becoming more and more difficult for realtors.

How Do We Fix It?

• Establish a way for current residents of a community to assist in the sale of local residences and promote their area

• Connect neighbors together to accomplish the goal of furthering and bettering the community through effective communication

What to Use?

• How to connect residents with one another and allow them to assist in house/property promotion?– Social media!

The Formula

Social Media (Web/Facebook)+ Real Estate Market Community Based Property Promotions

The Idea

• Identify users based on their geographical locations—based on this information, group them into communities, with smaller subgroups, neighborhoods, as well

• Create home pages for the communities and neighborhoods, on which houses and properties for sale have their profiles featured

The Idea (cont.)

• On these property profiles, residents will be able to comment and provide personal insight and information on local community features

• Users could also post various forms of media to help promote a property, as well as their community overall

The Idea (cont.)

• Potential buyers could then visit these pages, evaluate what resident said, and even post questions or polls on the property profiles

Introducing…

C-Square

C-Square (C2)• Stands for “Community Connection”• Platform– Website linked into Facebook– www.csquarecommunityconnection.weebly.com

• Tagline– “Find & Build Your Community Connection.”

How Does It Work: Technology

• Grouping into communities/neighborhoods based on geographical location derived from a user’s IP address on their computer

• Could potentially work with Google Maps for additional location programming

The Purpose Behind It

• To improve the real estate housing market (locally & state-wide)

• To develop and further community togetherness that has been lost

• To bring new people into communities, therefore bettering the area/group as a whole

Why’d I Choose It?

• My father is a Real Estate Appraiser & Realtor• Grew up seeing the strain of selling houses• Once the market went down, everything

became more difficult– Realtors need assistance in selling

Why’d I Choose It? (cont.)

• “What people hate more than bad neighbors are empty houses.”

• Empty houses & undeveloped properties decrease the property value of surrounding homes/properties

The Ideal Demographic

25+ year old adultsMiddle/Upper Class

Potential Buying PowerFamily-

oriented

Would People Use It?

• Yes—they could provide assistance in selling houses in their community, therefore halting the decrease of their own property’s value & bettering their community

• Easily accessible, user-friendly; linked into Facebook for easy accessibility

Application Pages

Main Application Home page> Community Home page– Community Forum

> Neighborhood Home page>House/Property Profile pages

• Interactive Appraisals (PDF)—summary; simple terms• Photo/Video Galleries (360° panoramic room photos)• Commentary Page

• Questions & Polls• Link to outside media

Application Pages (cont.)

• Simplistic• Easy to use• Point & Click• Navigation Bar at top of screen• Tutorials available for new users

Usability Statement

• Intended to be user-friendly– both technologically advanced users and novices

can have the same experience with it• Meant to be an interactive experience– users can both retrieve information and provide

feedback

Protections & Safety Measures

In order to promote a safe experience for all users:• Posts will first be filtered and approved by secure system

before being published– Filter will catch profanity and sexual messages; Approval by certified

application workers• Protection statement that protects users from:

– False or untruthful information given on the application– Abusive use by commenters, users, application administration

Protections & Safety Measures (cont)• Report Abuse/Remove Comment ability• No users beneath the age of 18+ in order to

promote a mature, adult-like air to the application• No direct messaging on the application between

users in order to keep users safe from potential predators/abusers

Source Support

1. Top 6 Tips for Marketing a Home Through Social Media2. Should You Post Your Listings on Facebook?3. Social Media and REALTORS™4. Hot new way to sell your home? Use social media5. How Real Estate Pros are Using Social Media for Real Results6. Real Estate Social Media Infographic