By Sheila Manchester.
Zoopla claims its research shows the social media platform is fast becoming an essential tool for both house hunters and estate agents.
A report into the UK housing market has revealed that two thirds of estate agents plan to use social media this year to promote their listings, and that the percentage of house hunters using Facebook to find their next home has doubled to 12% compared to the same time last year.
The data is contained within Zoopla’s annual data-fest which interviews 6,000 house hunters and 650 agents to feel the pulse of the housing market and reveal its emerging trends.
It also reveals that just over 53% of agents intend to spend more on marketing their listings through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Zoopla is keen to point out that property portals remain the key marketing tool for 59% of agents, a surprisingly low figure given that 77% of house hunters use portals to conduct their property search. Zoopla also says that agents told it that 65% of their leads come from their portal listings.
A fifth of consumers have a property app installed on their smartphones, whether active in the market or not. Consumers are using apps on average 4.8 times per week.
“The industry is adapting to changes in consumer behaviour and looking to capitalise on the amount of time that prospective buyers and vendors spend in the digital environment,” says Andy Marshall, Chief Commercial Officer at Zoopla (left).
“This is nowhere more apparent than in the research stages of buying, selling or renting a new home; agents know this, which is why more of them are embracing digital marketing than ever before.”
Read more about social media and estate agency marketing.
Read the State of the Nation report for 2020.
By Sheila Manchester
Sourced from The Negotiator
