Reinson Creative Consulting

Reports are that the buzz at the Las Vegas homebuilders show was all about Web 2.0, and it surely makes sense. Builders need to understand, however, that social media is just that: social. It is not a hard sales pitch. It’s a conversation. It’s also a lot less expensive than throwing good marketing money away on print ads and TV spots that simply cannot match the frequency and The Long Tail of the Web.

A modest investment in Web 2.0 research and development for how a builder markets its communities now should pay off later this year (or even 2010) if and when the market rebounds. I’ve thought for quite some time that this new technology will be the conduit bringing the market back.

Bad housing market news from the large media has been accurate, but nationalized. All markets are local. A great real estate buying opportunity in, say, Utah for a family getting their first home is a different situation than foreclosures in Miami.

Social media has the power to subvert the national reports with information that might lead to more optimism in certain pockets of the country where buyers have been distracted by bad news that does not apply to their situation. Builders should cast aside some of their traditional marketing budgets for more experimental methods this year. They also should be careful not to pay big retainers to agencies who might dismiss social media as unproven. Times like these result in big changes and call for new approaches.