There's more than one way to reach out to the next generation of buyers
REALTORS® have a variety of methods for communicating with clients, but e-mail is by far one of the most popular. 96% of REALTORS® report using e-mail for client communications at least some of the time, according to NAR's 2005 Member Profile. Instant messaging, however, isn't used nearly as much. Only 27% of REALTORS® said they IM'd clients in the 2005 survey.
That number might be about to change, especially among real estate professionals who cater to younger homebuyers. "E-mail is for old people," declares a report in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education. Colleges across the country are having trouble getting important messages to their students, the article says. The reason? The preferred method of communication for the colleges is e-mail, while the students tend to go for instant messaging and other technologies. These students might be in college now, but in a few short years they'll be looking for homes of their own.
The colleges are trying to narrow the gap by adapting to other forms of communication to get their messages out -- MySpace, text messaging, RSS feeds, podcasts, etc. "It's not that they don't read e-mail," said Brian Niles, chief executive of a student recruiting firm for colleges. "It's that they have their own world, and you need to know how to reach them in that world."
