Technology has drastically changed the real estate market. Home buyers and investors have more ways than ever to search for and sell real estate. Social media is having a huge impact on how we live. Facebook continues to lead the way for social media with over 1.6 billion monthly users. Put that further into perspective is that every 20 minutes 1 million links are shared, 2 million friend requests are made and 3 million messages are sent worldwide. The typical Facebook user has a minimum of 300 friends. The potential reach of social media is unequivocally exponential and a bit astonishing!
Social media has revolutionized the way we do business. It is no surprise that every facet of business is reaching out to Facebook and other social media outlets to help promote their products and companies. It is estimated that 80% of realtors use Facebook to promote their business. With that said, there are many advantages to using social media in a mobile home community.
PROMOTION AND CONNECTION
Social media is another marketing avenue to promote our homes that are for sale and rent in our communities. Beyond any doubt, pictures help sell homes. We live in a visual world and great pictures with detailed captions can be alluring for potential buyers. Virtual tours and slideshows are popular. The choices for marketing a home on Facebook are limitless. You can add just one photo, create an album, a carousel of photos, a video or a slideshow. You can target strangers with paid Facebook ads. These ads can be set up as a single picture, a series of pictures or as a video. These paid ads can be customized to reach a pin point target audience, or be shown to a broad spectrum of potential buyers and investors.
Since it is not limited by physical boundaries, social media is a great way to stay in touch with residents. Our Northern friends can still feel part of our communities despite being many miles away. Creating events can help unify your community. Well planned events are one of the areas we should put our focus, as these events lead to greater satisfaction when our residents evaluate our communities. Keeping active events also let outsiders know we are a fun and active place to live.
As humans, we are wired for connection. Even the most self-proclaimed loner needs some social interaction from time to time. Facebook can help us in our creative efforts to involve everyone in our communities. Encourage residents to connect with not only our community, but also their relatives near and far. Facebook can help those who do not get around as easy anymore to maintain relationships and contact with others who are able to provide companionship, household help and more. Encourage your residents to reach out and help others as much as they can. We all need help from time to time, and that really is what community is all about. Lifelong friendships can thrive in communities like ours, and we can cultivate and grow those seeds for a loving, fun, and sincere atmosphere. Serving others is how we share the love of Christ to those in our communities.
TRUST, ENGAGEMENT, AND REACH
Facebook and other social media can create a rapport with potential buyers, and in some circumstances can be the driving force behind a transaction. Realtors have long since known the value that social networking has on making sales. Technology brings traditional networking to a whole new level. Social media allows one more platform to serve our residents and share our values. We are able to get to know our residents and let them know more about us as a community.
The networking potential is why Facebook and other social media platforms have become so popular in the business world. When our residents share their love for our communities over social media, the reach of those posts are limitless. When we share pictures from our events, and celebrate with our residents we are sending a positive image out into the world about our communities.
When we do feature our homes on Facebook, and then our residents take the time to share these posts with friends and family, we get instantaneous affirmation that we are serving our communities well. After all, they wouldn’t share them if they were not enjoying where they live. When they share these posts we have an opportunity to attract and engage potential new residents. The promotion of a home by even just a handful of residents or a marketing savvy realty company such as ours 
, paired with the astronomical influence of social media can create a lot of promising traffic to help all of our communities reach their targeted goal of 100% occupancy.
The sum and substance here is that technology and social media are much too mammoth to be ignored. As we look towards the future, we know that social media will continue to shape the world we live in and the way we conduct business. We are in a unique position to serve our residents in every way possible, and in this modern age, that includes effectively utilizing social media. We need to enthusiastically embrace the opportunities that social media avails to us and respond with vigilance to keep our communities tech savvy and ready for the future.