Are social networks useful for the real estate market? A case study of an Italian real estate agency

Abstract

This article aims to understand if and how social networks’ marketing strategy could help real estate agencies to attract both homebuyers and home sellers. In particular, this paper investigates the reasons why real estate firms decide to use social networks and how these new media can be integrated in a synergistic way with other media and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. A case study was carried out to analyze a real estate agency located in the Milanese area that represents a best practice since it was a pioneer of Facebook and Instagram in the real estate market. In line with previous research, this paper demonstrates that social networks are powerful tools to get in contact with potential customers, increase customers’ loyalty, enhance brand reputation and boost electronic word-of-mouth. However, findings highlight the new tendency of real estate agencies to adopt social networks in order to keep up with the times and reveal that they do not integrate social networks with other media and CRM systems to improve awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty and advocacy. In this scenario, the paper provides some recommendations for marketers that may help them to build an effective marketing funnel in the real estate context.