Social Networks on the Web in Real Estates in Portugal

Teresa Florentino Joaquim A. Casaca

Escola Superior de Actividades Imobiliárias, Lisboa, Portugal 20th Annual Conference 3rd-6th July 2013 Vienna, Austria – July 6 th

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Social Networks on the Web (SNW)

2.

SNW – some studies

3.

The impact of social networks on Portuguese Real Estate (RE)

4.

Conclusions

5.

Limitations and recommendations

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Social networks seem to offer:

A new source of contacts Promotion and business opportunities Facilities on using information and communication Low costs

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Real Estate sector: Is made up of thousands of small and medium with a small number of workers Has low technological structure or specialized resources to handle and manipulate these new technological tools Has no formal policies for social networks The use of these tools like Social Networks can: allow market expansion, improve customer relationships, promote costs reduction.

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In 2009 - a small number of well-known networks entered into the life of approximately 1.7 billion Internet users from 216 countries (CIA, 2009) (2.4 billion - 2012) In 2009, according to the CIA, 5.168 million people used the Internet in Portugal, more than half of the population (5.9 million - 2012) In 2010, in Portugal, about 56.4% of Internet users had accessed social networks (UMIC, 2010):   60.7% women 52.3% men In 2011, there were 59% of Internet users in Portugal (5%)  3 million people accessed SNW, ( Marktest Consulting, 2011) (4.66 million -> 55%, 2012) 5

Category

Directories Communication

Functionality

Listing classified resumes of colleagues and customers.

Disclosure of texts and information in real time.

Blogs,

Examples LinkedIn Twitter Utility Use

Advertising employment advertising and page creation for companies.

Describe new programs or political commentary (blogs), crisis communication (via Twitter).

Communities & Evaluation Websites High school or less formal interaction on websites closed.

Facebook

Yelp , Facebook Promote events, share Fan Page, Foursquare, photos and physical location.

Archive & File sharing Websites Store, share and redistribute video, slides

YouTube,

Slideshare, Docstoc, Scribd, and documents with an Flickr opportunity to comment.

Source: Elefant, C. (2011, p. 4-5) Video sharing educational presentations, photographs.

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In 2010 – survey of social networks use  50% respondents  only 25% know where their customers are talking about them  25% 29% of respondents follow and gather customer’s opinions online 50%   23% agree that social networking helps them to monitor their clients talk only 18% claim to be able to identify the positive and negative comments about themselves Some of the best practices include: listen and measure; conduct market research; involve management; enable the participation of all employees; monitor compliance processes. Fowler - Wall Street Journal (Online) (2011) 7 Source: SAS and the Harvard Business Review (Business Wire, 2010)

Financial performance  direct correlation  degree of involvement in social networks (Engagementdb.com (2009) Most respondents say that they feel a great connection with a brand if they can interact through a digital way ROI measurement  ROI  social media must have a plan with appropriate metrics for ROI  ROI  valuing investments in marketing and calculate the return in terms of customer response (considering the motivations of consumers on the use of social networks; considering reputation and success metrics) 8

In May 2011 - 3.231 Real Estate companies in business (APEMIP, 2011) The districts of Lisbon, Faro, Porto and Setubal, are the most representatives, contemplating 2.156 (66.7%) 80% of companies operating in more than one market segment Sector is declining around 10% or more (EUROSTAT 2012).

    namely the reduction of bank credit and rising interest rates the decrease in the purchasing power of households the instability of the job market the value of bank evaluations Source: APEMIP - Associação dos Profissionais e Empresas de Mediação Imobiliária de Portugal (2011). 9

Sample 1a – 49 Real Estate companies on the web – from Imobiliarias.net Portal      Total of companies owning a website: 30 (61%) Total of companies without website: 19 (39%) Advertising on Facebook: 3 (10%) Advertising on Twitter: 1 (3%) Advertising on LinkedIn: 1 (3%) Sample 1b – from 483 -> a sample of 53 Real Estate mediation companies in Lisbon – from Yellow Pages      Total of companies owning a website: 16 (30%) Total of companies without website: 37 (70%) Advertising on Facebook: 3 (6%) Advertising on Twitter: 2 (4%) Advertising on LinkedIn: 1 (2%) A very low rate 10

Sample 2 - Registered Mediation Companies - total of 3.231 – sample 500 Total analysed: 500 companies  Total of companies owning a website: 74 (15%)  Total of companies without a website: 426 (85%)  Advertising on Facebook: 9 (12%)  Advertising on Twitter: 3 (4%)  Advertising on LinkedIn: 1 (1 percent) Better rate but even a low rate 11

It appears that Facebook is one of the most important social networks in Portugal For communication and entertainment

 

As an important way to companies / brands

advertise their products / services interact with their customers / consumers.

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Facebook in Portugal (Socialbakers.com in 2011):  Total Facebook users: 3.914.500

  Penetration rate of population: 36.46% Penetration of online population: 75.73% The use of Facebook in Portugal - survey (Netsonda.com in 2010):  55% of respondents like companies websites, brands or products   78% of answers refer, Facebook users are always connected or linked at least once a day; Facebook offers a level of Top of Mind of 84% and 99% notoriety;     58.2% of respondents spend up to 1 hour per day on Facebook; Over a third (37%) of users already use Facebook for professional purposes; 91% of respondents who "like" the brand on Facebook pages consider them credible; Over two thirds (67%) of respondents claim they consult websites of the following brands on Facebook, but not on a regular basis.

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It is probably that for small and medium businesses, the use of social networks will:

Allow market expansion Improve customer relationships Reduce costs Create efficiencies in business processes It can becoming a tool for marketing and advertising at low cost and easy to measure Portugal Real Estate companies must be alerted to this reality 14

• In Portugal 75% of Internet users post messages on social networks (EUROSTAT, 2012) • Portuguese Real Estate companies are very little directed to the use of social networks • They get no benefits of these new platforms to promote their business among the millions of users of social networks 15

In a sample of 500 Real Estate Mediation Companies: Total of companies owning a website: 74 (15%) 12% use Facebook 4% use Twitter 1 percent go for LinkedIn less than 1 percent prefer Youtube It seems these Real Estate Companies do not have corporate websites and if they do, they do not make use of social networks, particularly those that are not franchised 16

The power of Social Networks on the Web Lack of knowledge in the Real Estate sector Marketing strategies Potential benefits Lack of awareness to this issue

In this perspective, it becomes urgent further studies that can lead us to a better understanding of the Real Estate sector and the potential of the Internet and particularly SNW, in order to get a possible boost to this sector.

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Major difficulty: few investigation, both international and national scientific studies are almost inexistent particularly scientific literature about the role of social networks in the Real Estate sector Recommendations: it will be necessary to analyze all Real State companies in Portugal for a better and significant approach Future developments should involve several surveys of mediators and their customers in order to try to measure the advantages and disadvantages of the use of social networks in this sector Other studies involving statistical comparisons and studies in other countries 18

• Use the power of the Internet • Use Social Networks QUESTIONS?

To improve Real Estate business Teresa Florentino is Auxiliary Professor in Lisboa.

PhD from the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca a Madrid, Spain. Areas of research: Information, Knowledge, Systems, Technologies and Data Management.

Contact: [email protected]

Joaquim A. Casaca is Auxiliary Professor at ISLA Campus Lisboa. PhD from the Universidade Lusíada. His research interests are information systems Contact: management, information security management, information systems audit and control.

systems management, risk management and information [email protected]

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