20th Annual Conference 3rd-6th July 2013 Vienna, Austria – July 6 th Teresa Florentino Joaquim A. Casaca Escola Superior de Actividades Imobiliárias, Lisboa,

European Real Estate Society

20th Annual Conference 3rd-6th July 2013

Vienna, Austria – July 6th

Teresa FlorentinoJoaquim A. Casaca

Escola Superior de Actividades Imobiliárias, Lisboa, Portugal

Social Networks on the Web in Real Estates

in Portugal

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Agenda

1. 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 opportunity

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 – SME characteristics and the

Social Networks characteristics 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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Social Network usersIn 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)

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Social Networks functionality and utility use

Category Functionality Examples Utility Use

Directories

Listing classified

resumes of colleagues

and customers.

LinkedIn

Advertising employment

advertising and page

creation for companies.

CommunicationDisclosure of texts and

information in real time.Blogs, Twitter

Describe new programs or

political commentary

(blogs), crisis

communication (via

Twitter).

Communities &

Evaluation Websites

High school or less

formal interaction on

websites closed.

Facebook, Facebook

Fan Page, Foursquare,

Yelp

Promote events, share

photos and physical

location.

Archive & File sharing

Websites

Store, share and

redistribute video, slides

and documents with an

opportunity to comment.

YouTube, Slideshare,

Docstoc, Scribd,

Flickr

Video sharing educational

presentations,

photographs.

Source: Elefant, C. (2011, p. 4-5)

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50%

25%

Social networks – some studies

29% of respondents follow and gather customer’s opinions online

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

In 2010 – survey of social networks use 50% respondents only 25% know where their customers are

talking about them

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)Source: SAS and the Harvard Business Review (Business Wire, 2010)

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Return of Investment on Social Networks

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)

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The Real Estate in Portugal

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).

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The impact of social networks on Portuguese Real Estate – sample 1

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

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The impact of social networks on Portuguese Real Estate – sample 2

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

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Facebook in Portugal

It appears that Facebook is one of the most important social networks in

Portugal

For communication and entertainmentAs an important way to companies / brands

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

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Facebook in PortugalFacebook 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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ConclusionsIt is probably that for small and medium businesses, the use of social networks will:

Allow market expansionImprove customer relationshipsReduce costsCreate 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

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Conclusions

•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

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Conclusions

In a sample of 500 Real Estate Mediation Companies:

Total of companies owning a website: 74 (15%)

12% use Facebook4% use Twitter1 percent go for LinkedInless 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

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Conclusions – justification for low use

Lack of knowledgein the Real

Estate sector

Marketing strategies Potential benefits

Lack of awareness

to this issue

The power of Social Networks on the Web

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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Limitations and recommendationsMajor 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

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Thank you

QUESTIONS?

To improve Real Estate business

• Use the power of the Internet

• Use Social Networks

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

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]