Topic: Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behaviour in Real Estate

Introduction:
At least 3.5 billion of the 7.7 billion people on the planet are connected to internet
through different social media sites. This shows that approximately one in three people use
social media sites and two-third have the facility of internet.
Social media is a relatively recent phenomenon. Over the last decade, the World Wide Web
has seen a proliferation of user-driven web technologies such as blogs, social networks and
media sharing platforms(Voramontri and Klieb 2019).
The phrase "social media" became well-known after social networking websites like
MySpace and Facebook were established in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Arguably, this
marks the start of social media as we currently know it. Although this is not the very
beginning of social media but this is the consider as the break-through in field of social
media.
It is important to consider the future of social media in the context of consumer behavior
and marketing, since social media has become a vital marketing and communications
channel for businesses, organizations and institutions. People can freely interact with one
another on social media, which also gives marketers many other methods to connect and
engage with consumers. The use of such tools as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn cannot be ignored
(Rodriguez 2011).

While all kinds of businesses are making profit from a proactive social media presence, the
value of social media for the real estate industry cannot be understated. Recent studies
showed that in every business, using social media to attract customers and close deals has
become essential. Here is a quick summary of the report's conclusions;

 77% of real estate agents actively use social media in some capacity
 47% of real estate companies claim that social media produces the greatest quality
leads in comparison to other sources
 99% of youngsters start their home search online

Literature Review
Theory:
Model:

Social Media Sites

Social Media
Target Audience Marketing Consumer Behavior

Type of property
(e.g residential,
commercial)

Hypothesis:
 H1: Social media marketing has a positive impact on buying decisions in the real estate
industry
 H2: Social media sites have positive impact on consumer behavior in real estate industry
 H3: Younger generations are more likely to be influenced by social media marketing in their
buying decisions in the real estate industry compared to older generations.
 H4: Luxury properties are more likely to attract potential buyers through social media
marketing compared to affordable properties in the real estate industry.
 H5: The use of social media platform, targeting younger generations, for luxury properties,
using influencer marketing strategies, is positively associated with buying decisions in the
real estate industry

References:

Rodriguez, M. (2011). "Making social media effective in real estate." Keller Center.

Voramontri, D. and L. Klieb (2019). "Impact of social media on consumer behaviour." International
Journal of Information and Decision Sciences 11(3): 209-233.