Agents aren't normally this shy

OK - I've had a chance to sleep on it now.

Here's my "considered" opinion about winning the Primelocation property blog awards.

Where are all the agents - commercial or residential - why are they not embracing this opportunity?

Some people may think I write about pretty trivial issues, but I do so because my clients & friends are interested in the intimacies of my lifestyle out here. That shouldn't diminish the power of blogging in the property arena.

Want a great example of a serious topic (and a brilliant use of blogging) then click here. 

These "Notes from Davos" were written by Colin Dyer the CEO of Jones Lang Lasalle. In them he says:

This ‘blog’ was also an experiment in ‘Connections.’

I summarised what I saw, and made it clear when I was giving you my opinion. It gave me a small insight into the life of a journalist, including the feeling I have today, that yesterday’s news is quickly stale!

Want another great example of how a brand can be fortified and stand out from the crowd... then I'd point you towards Chesterton Humberts, read their success story here.

It's not just blogging. A couple of weeks ago I replied to a "tweet" from a journalist looking for comments on a property issue and a few days later found myself quoted in The Independent.

I'm just a one man band "buying agent" in one of the remotest parts of SW France.

OK - I have a lifetime of experience in property marketing but if I can get national press coverage and win a prestigious award like this then imagine what some of the big players in the property world could do!

Social media - it's here to stay and it can bring personality to your brand.

Used correctly it will become an integral part of your marketing strategy and spend (although use it poorly and you'll do untold damage to your business).

Don't be shy now folks.

www.cognacproperty.com

Social Media and the property industry

For those of you who use Twitter you'll know that RT stands for "re-tweet". It's a way of spreading interesting news across the internet in seconds.

Today saw a flurry of RT's over this article on a website called Techcrunch. In it the author senses that social media is beginning to alter the way that the property market operates.  It's well written, interesting and worth a read.

Last November I posted a link to a report on the use of social media within commercial property, published on behalf of the RICS.  This too is worth a read.

There's something immediate and tangible that hasn't really been discussed yet though.

It's the ability to use social media to set a corporate "tone of voice" and to allow big corporations to differentiate themselves.

What's the difference between JLL, CBRE and DTZ?  Don't know....nor do I. Because if you took their logos off their corporate ads, literature and websites you'd be hard pushed to know who's was who's.

The same goes for PWC, KPMG and E&Y (getting fed up of the initials yet?).

Now, I've been in the board meetings and I know why this is.

Fear.

Publishing a report & accounts.....for goodness sake don't inject any personality into it in case one of our institutional investors objects to it.

Publishing research....keep it dry or people won't take it seriously.

PR campaign....bugger the true state of the market, keep on message and always highlight these three points (copyright Alastair Campbell, 1997).

Get my point?  Well, social media and blogging in particular can change all this.

If any of the six sets of initials above published a blog then shareholders, clients, potential clients, competitors and staff would all have different expectations (and higher tolerance levels) than usual.

It's a chance to inject personality and charisma into your brand.

Humour, market comment, a softer tone of voice perhaps even some truth.

Of course there are plenty of potential pitfalls and it would be easy to destroy a brand. But it can't be beyond the wit of man to put procedures in place that ensure social media enhances and humanises your other marketing efforts.

Need a brilliant example of what I mean? Click here.

www.cognacproperty.com

The use of social media in the commercial property industry

Forgive me this indulgence.  My life post 2003 is purely geared towards the residential property market.

However, for 20 years before this it was a mixture of both commercial & residential property and I still like to keep in touch with what's going on.

The RICS have just issued this white paper on the use of social media and it makes fascinating reading.  I met one of the authors (Bob Thompson) a couple of times while I was at Chesterton and he's always worth listening to.  He also references a professional services marketeer called Kim Tasso who is also seen as one of the most passionate and brightest lights in the industry.

You can download the report here and it's a good read whether you're interested in offices, shops & sheds or not.

That's it....normal service will be resumed shortly and I'll be writing about the much smaller (but ultimately sunnier) world in and around Cognac again soon.

www.cognacproperty.com