According to a video called “The Social Media Revolution” by Erik Qualman, 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14% trust advertisements. Think about that for a minute. What percentage of your current marketing is advertising? Considering 86% of people will not trust it anyways, maybe it is time to change the way you market yourself and your business.
The newest data on peer recommendations on Facebook has been released and the already staggering number of 78% has increased to 90% in just the last 2 years. If you do not believe that these social media “statements” drive business and commerce you are on the wrong side of the fence and better start climbing quickly.
It’s not just peer recommendations, but also online ratings that affect consumers’ decisions to purchase. Think about Ebay and Amazon for a moment. These are two of the largest e-commerce sites on the web and what is happening at the simplest level is that people are buying (or not buying) things based on the opinions/reviews of people they do not know.
Consumers are being conditioned to look for reviews in just about every industry. Think about the last time you decided to download an MP3 or movie from iTunes. Even though the cost could be as low as $0.99, I bet you still looked at the reviews before buying. Would you finish your purchase and download the song if it had a one or even two star ranking? Is anyone with any sanity buying a car without researching the reviews first? There is a fundamental shift in consumer behavior due to the emergence of the social web and how connected we all now are. I would agree with Qualman’s statement that it is indeed “The biggest shift since the industrial revolution.”
So why does this matter to Realtors? Because I think real estate agent review sites will change the entire industry and the way you market yourself online within the next 24 months. The Realtor-specific sites are already out there and getting massive traffic.
You are on them whether you like it or not. Google “Real Estate Agent Reviews” – Incredible Agents, Rate My Agent, Homethinking, Real Estate Ratingz and Agent Scoreboard to name a few will all appear on page one. Put in your market or name on a few of these sites and find yourself. Most likely there will be a shadow figure with a very low rating as well as an incomplete profile. Remember that when we browse the web for reviews of products and services we are not looking for a lack of negative reviews, we are looking for positive reviews.
Are these sites getting any traffic? I looked at their analytics by using Compete.com and their growth rate and number of unique visitors is stunning. The other thing that jumped off the screen at me was the direct correlation to the volume of their traffic and the first time home buyer credit ending. NAR announced that the average age of the first time buyer last year was 30. An astounding 50% of buyers were first time buyers. Think they may be a bit more web savvy than you? Think they would ever hire you without Googling your name with the word review at the end?
So what can you do about this? Give people a reason to sing your praises. Then ask them to sing where it matters.
Make getting testimonials on 3rd party sites part of your routine right now. Email past clients letting them know about these sites, encourage every happy client you have from today forward to contribute to them as well. Set up Google Alerts for your name so you can be notified immediately when your name shows up on the web.
This will raise the bar industry wide. Nothing will stop what is about to happen which is full transparency of every individual agent by the people that matter the most – the consumers.
My colleague reached out to an agent in New Jersey who had insanely good reviews (and lots of them) to see if this had actually impacted her bottom line. She confirmed that she has received 8 closings YTD from a review site where she is ranked highly.
You are the MP3 whether you like it or not. The question is – would I download you?
Chris Smith is a Co-Creator of popular real estate technology blog Tech Savvy Agent, which won the Inman 2010 Most Innovate Blog Award. Tech Savvy Agent has become the go-to technology resource for real estate professionals across the US.
