Similar to the way Netflix contributed to the decline of movie theaters and sales, tech companies are driving the demise of the real estate agent.

Back in 2013, a study conducted by Oxford University revealed that "artificial intelligence has a 98% chance of replacing real estate agents in the future."

Let that sink in.

Now, consider the industry’s landscape today:

RedFin. Open Door. Purple Bricks. Even Amazon – These are just some of the new, powerful, tech companies on the front lines of the tech revolution in the real estate sphere. Each year, wealthy investors siphon billions of dollars into technology companies who want a cut of the real estate business – one of the most profitable industries on the planet! According to Crunchbase, in 2016, "venture capitalists invested $3.9 Billion in 26 deals.”

Another recent study by Falkon shows that "from 2012 to 2015, 282 real estate tech startups, on average, were launched each year." Many of these fledgling companies offer platforms, products, and services that drastically reduce the flesh and blood agent’s role in the home sale/purchase process.

Traditional real estate brokerages and agents are struggling to find innovative ways to stay relevant.

This week’s 'blogspiration' stems from Tom Ferry, who was named the #1 Real Estate Educator by Swanepoel Power 200 and is the best-selling author of Life! By Design. In Tom Ferry’s latest post and 130th episode of The Tom Ferry Show, Tom quotes the famous evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin: “Those willing to adapt to change are the ones who survive."

An army of ambitious innovators and angel investors set on creating the ‘Netflix of Real Estate’ is an unprecedented threat to the industry. 

If an internet giant can do our job better and for less money, we are valueless.

• How can we offer our clients more than our competitors? 

• How can we stay ahead of technology? 

• How can we find tools that are exclusive to just us?

• How can we thrive in this insane #RealEstateEvolution?

#1 - Create and utilize a blog.
Publishing articles that are relevant to your industry and helpful to your readership is a great way to build your audience. Monotonous sales mumbo jumbo is a real turn-off. Avoid being dismissed as junk mail and noise by making sure any content you deliver is educational, helpful, and worthwhile.

#2 - Don’t rely on tools to post to multiple social media accounts at once. 
Tools like Hootsuite, SproutSocial, and Buffer enable users to write a single social media post and publish it to multiple social media platforms with the click of a button. That sounds pretty dreamy -- almost too good to be true, right? Well, it is. 

•  Most social media platforms restrict word counts. Audiences’ expect to read brief blurbs on some platforms -- Twitter, for example, only allows 140 characters per post -- while readers expect (and enjoy) lengthier, meatier posts on Facebook and LinkedIn.

• Not all social media platforms allow third party posting. Instagram doesn’t even allow tools like Hootsuite the ability to publish posts on the user’s behalf. When someone’s using Hootsuite to publish content across all their social media platforms, they’ll merely get a reminder notification that basically says: “Hey, don’t forget to post this to Instagram!”

• The best days and times to post content depends on several factors. Often, these tools claim they automatically select the best time of day to post your content -- a shady claim. What social media platform are you posting to? What kind of content are you posting? Who is your intended audience? What’s your industry? These are all factors that help determine exactly what time you should publish.

Tools that enable you to post to multiple social media accounts aren’t all bad. For fluff content and curated posts to reflect activity on your social media accounts, these tools are fine to use!

#3 - Research your hashtags.
If you want to make sure you’re using the most popular hashtags in your Twitter and Instagram posts, check out tools like Hashtagify.me. On this website, you can search an unlimited number of hashtags for free and even see a visual map of other widely-used hashtags related to your search term.

#4 - Advertise your listings on several, local Facebook groups.
If you’re only posting on your Facebook profile and to agent groups, you’re just touching 10-15 miles worth of your sphere paired with agents in and around your city. Not the mass quantity of unrepresented buyers. Maximize your search criteria to a 50+ mile radius by posting to buyer-centric groups like Buy, Sell, Trade groups. Also, think about your demographic and find Facebook groups where that demographic will be active.

For instance, if you have a listing that would be perfect for first home buyers, you may want to join and post the listing in a Facebook group for local new moms or local college graduates to extend your reach.

#5 - Make sure you’re properly tracking website activity with analytics tools.
Google Analytics is a free tool that provides data about people who visit your website(s). Make sure you’re interpreting this data to learn about your audience -- how they’re accessing your website, where they’re physically located when they’re accessing your website, how old they are, what their other interests are, which languages they speak, which of your landing pages are getting the most traffic, and so much more.

For example, we drilled down into our own Google Analytics to determine the top 5 states that have the most relocations coming into our area -- Raleigh, North Carolina. Because we learned where our key audience was located, we were able to create stronger, more effective marketing campaigns targeting those 5 states. We know who and where to market our listings.

That’s powerful marketing ammunition. 

#6 - Create your free account at ComingSoonHomes.com.
Coming Soon Homes features homes that are not on the market yet, but soon will be. Want the inside scoop delivered to your inbox every Thursday?

It’s time you become the super agent hero to your buyer by signing them up for a free account to begin browsing homes they cannot find anywhere else!

#7 - Join Coming Soon Homes.
51% of home buyers found the property they ended up buying online. So that’s where your inventory should be! Showcase your properties even before the home's grand debut to the market.

A smart way to do that is by using the only platform carefully designed to empower real estate agents, Coming Soon Homes. Designed by an agent, for an agent. The Coming Soon Homes solution gives you the keys to an exclusive industry-disrupting technology that puts you back in the driver seat.

Think of Coming Soon Homes as an easy button to fast-track the sale of your properties. This helps property sell for more money while staying under your average DOM. Our exclusive process amplifies the number of buyers attracted to each home, even before the doors open while energizing agents to promote their listings ahead of their other competition.

Let’s say I put my home on the market right this moment the way many agents do – I drop my home into MLS, put a sign in the yard, and post to Facebook. From that point, cross my fingers, and wait for my home to catch someone’s eye. It could take months – even years!

Now, let’s take the same scenario but say I began the Coming Soon Homes 360-degree marketing program last month (before my home was officially on the market) to capture every buyer – relocations, investors, unrepresented buyers, other agents, and more. When my home finally debuted, it would sell faster and for more money. In fact, “properties that are promoted on ComingSoonHomes.com sell 58% faster than the market average!”

With Coming Soon Homes, you will always have a better end result!

Want to get your properties on ComingSoonHomes.com?

Space is limited! Click here to learn more.