Commercial Investment Real Estate is the magazine of the CCIM Institute, the leading provider of commercial real estate education. CIRE covers market trends, current developments, and business strategies within the commercial real estate field.
Issue link: http://cire.epubxp.com/i/504576
34 May | June | 2015 Commercial Investment Real Estate BUT DOES IT REALLY WORK? Does all that social media relationship building ever pay off with a deal? Here's what CCIM members have to say about their own experiences using social media. "We seem to get the most response from Facebook. We have sold two properties from it as well as completed one lease." — Lee Wheeler, CCIM, NAI Wheeler "We often get private feedback from interested parties, and recently sold a large historic building by posting a picture of it on Instagram." — Gant B. Hill, CCIM, Gant Hill & Associates "I reach out to vendors to build relationships with them so we can refer business to each other. This strategy landed me an assignment to fi nd a property for a local fi nancial institution and generated $535,000 sales transaction." — David Monroe, Bellator Apartment Group "My greatest social media triumph came about last year. I had been interacting with another Twitter account that was focused on commercial real estate in my market. We regularly commented on and retweeted each other's content. I knew him only by his name but not company or title. One day I came across his full credentials and immediately made a cold call. When I said my name on the phone, he knew right away who I was. He was happy to set up a meeting and invited the CFO from his company. Three months later I closed a $7.5 million deal with his company, one of the largest developers in Canada. — Adam Powadiuk, CCIM, First National Financial LP to sell but might not know how to price it," he says. "T ey can look at my Twitter feed and pick out [similar sales] from dif erent parts of the country and use that as a tool to set a price for their asset." T e account currently has 2,000 followers; Zavakos says he limits the followers to commercial real estate professionals who buy, sell, or develop properties, so, "my Twitter feed is a great source of CRE information — not just cap rates," he says. Facebook: Getting Personal Opinions are split on the use of Facebook as a professional social media tool. Many see it solely as the most personal, used to share family pictures or updates with friends. But that may be an outdated perception. More than 400 of Fortune 500 companies have corpo- rate Facebook pages, including top companies such as Walmart, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, Phillips 66, General Motors, Ford Motors, General Electric, and Valero Energy, according to a University of Massachusetts 2014 study. But the personal aspect of Facebook is exactly what appeals to Hill. "I like to know more about the people I'm communicating with," he says. Hill does post personal photos and news on his Facebook page, as a way of showing people who he is. "I'm a relationship broker," he says. "When I work with a client, I work with them from start to f n- ish, and I work on a personal level. When someone hires a real estate person, they get to know them pretty well, and it helps to like them and to feel a connection to them." Because Facebook posts can be longer, it's also become an ef ective storytelling platform, Ortado says. Compass Commercial's Facebook page is aimed at local clients, whereas Ortado targets a broader audi- ence with Twitter. "On Facebook, we share community events, com- pany culture, and city information as well as our news releases and listing info," she says. "But we try to be careful with the frequency of such posts as we want to be a resource and not use social platforms as a sales tool." Blogging: The Longer Story T ere are no word count limits for blogs (although you're wise to be concise), and you can def nitely develop a personal style, which in turn, can appeal to clients, current or future. "At times, commercial real estate can be perceived as a little unapproachable," says Kadie Pangburn, marketing coordinator at Crunkleton & Associates in Huntsville, Ala. "Blogging has created an avenue for us to make our company more accessible to the public. It gives us a platform to break down some of these concepts and some of the complicated jargon that we use." Besides educational articles, Crunkleton's blog, which Pangburn manages, also features client spotlights. "We'll talk to the owners and let them tell their story," she says, "whether it's a new business or just a new space." T e blog posts also include pictures from the business, which makes an attractive package to share with local media as well as with friends and family of the business owners. "It does great things for them, but it also does great things for us," Pangburn says. "It gets our name into the community. It really helps strengthen our relationships with our clients and shows that we're here for them, even af er the deal is signed." T e company also uses the blog as a conversation platform. "We've created posts announcing new retail developments and then we ask the public what retailers they would like to see there, she says. "It helps us direct our pursuit of retailers for that space." It also gives the company leverage with retailers by illustrating existing demand, she adds. T e blog also streamlines Crunkleton's PR ef orts, as several local reporters follow the blog. "It's been a good way to communicate with them instead of having to run af er them to get their attention." Podcasting: Hear Here Justin Lamontagne admits that making podcasts may not be for every real estate professional — but listening to them should be. "You can't believe the amount of information and resources available on pod-