McGrath plots market recovery with social media

McGrath head of marketing Olivia Wokes said that, strategically, this is an important development for the company.

“As technology continues to revolutionise the real estate industry, we are committed to being at the forefront,” she said.

“For the past 12 months, we have been actively working with our network to maximise their social advertising results through various partners. We are now in a position to take our brand and property social advertising to the next level, through the implementation of our own in-house digital marketing platform.”

Ms Wokes also said that there is an extra dimension to the strategy.

“Further, we are thrilled to announce that McGrath will become a managed client of Facebook and will be implementing a scaled Facebook advertising strategy across the network.”

She said that the company will now be able to harness the power of Facebook and Instagram data to create hyper-local marketing campaigns for agents, offices and vendors.

Ms Wokes said that this will drive efficiency in media spend and maximise return on investment for agents and their customers.

“Over the past 12 months, many of our agents have rolled out brand and property campaigns across a variety of social media platforms to great success,” the head of marketing said.

She highlighted three examples of how the new program has benefitted agents so far.

First, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, an agent advertised an off-market listing on Instagram and the buyer came directly from the platform. Then, in the Sutherland shire, an agent exchanged on a $6 million listing in just nine days through a targeted and optimised social advertising campaign. And on Sydney’s north shore, an agent generated hundreds of leads and $250,000 in commission over a seven-month period after a highly strategic Facebook campaign.

Ms Wokes said that the new in-house platform and Facebook direct relationship is the result of learning, developing and testing.

“[We wanted to produce] the most effective social advertising campaigns to ultimately deliver the very best results for our network and valued clients.”
Facebook Australia director Paul McCrory said that he is delighted to welcome McGrath as a managed client.

“Through the power of Facebook, McGrath will be able to drive business outcomes in an automated approach via mobile,” Mr McCrory said.

“This will allow their agents and agencies to create local, tailored campaigns that reach the right audience, through the Facebook and Instagram platforms.”

He added that digital is now a “vital part” of an agent's marketing strategy, not only from a branding perspective but also in lead generation.

[Related: McGrath says Sydney won't be subject to 40% correction]