March 2, 2010

Facebook, Older Canadians, and Real Estate Campaigns

We’ve all heard the statistics on social media. But they have a way of mounting. And mounting. So we thought a check in was in order.

As of December 2009, there are over 14,000,000 Facebook user profiles in Canada. This is almost half of Canada’s entire population. To put these numbers in perspective, the national monthly circulation of the Financial Post Magazine is 201,603.

The accelerated growth of Facebook and its significance to the business sector are often overstated. But there is no doubt that social media is growing exponentially – or that it’s creating entirely new approaches to business.

Until now, social media has been largely a youth movement.  But, hugely, the largest growth segment in the Canadian market for Facebook in 2009 was the over-55 crowd.  Last year, the baby boomer’s Facebook population grew by an astonishing 70%.

What does this mean to us? Boomers still drive the real estate industry, to a large degree. And they are headed to social networks, en masse. So it means a whole lot.

ROI in emerging markets is difficult to define, and there is no single metric that can clearly demonstrate value at this point. (The truth is, this ambiguity has been there all along, in every medium.)

But we all sense that, with these kinds of numbers online – and the kinds of corporate presence that’s building there, in all industries – the good money is headed to social networks.

Everyone thinks this platform is a low-cost broadcasting tool. And it is, at least in a media-buy sense. Compare: A full-page 4 Colour national 1x ad insertion rate in the FP is $21,125 gross*. (*2009 rate card).

True, at the moment, most of your prospects will still learn about your offering for sale through traditional methods like our full-page ad in the Financial Post.

But in the next stage in the buying process, when the prospect chooses to explore the offering further online, having a strategic digital presence is crucial. As a developer, it is in your best interest to provide as much information as possible to your online audience. By giving them the tools to make an informed purchase decision you are building trust.

And in this business, in this market, trust is everything.
NB – The Financial Post now has a Facebook Fan Page.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 11:15 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Facebook, Older Canadians, and Real Estate Campaigns”

1. Suzanne says:

   April 6, 2010 at 10:56 am

   Right now in certain demo profiles like 55+ using the tools such as Facebook to keep the clients once they see your ad in more traditional media is a fantastic way to get started. The traditional media works to bring new eyes to your business and the social media keeps they with you and induces action to buy if they decide you are trustworthy and that others have had great experiences with you.

   As time goes by you will build another audience within the social media channels avaialble to you. These people can be your voice, telling those that see your traditional ads to trust you, like you, buy from you.

   Reality is that people need to hear your name/see your offer so advertising is important. Most of them will research further before they buy. Where do they research? Online. Who are they more likely to trust when deciding if you are a good company to deal with? Not you! but those who have had experiences with you in the past.