Property Network, the property app which is aiming to topple Rightmove and Zoopla via its use of Facebook and other social media, has launched a new function.
It claims that its Community Pages – 200 so far – are unique and will ‘revolutionise the property market’.
Community Pages are described by Property Network as hubs for a specific neighbourhood or region which users can utilise to understand an area’s personality and to seek advice from local residents.
Estate agents can sponsor their own pages, and provide written content for their local area. Early adopters include Andrews, Kings, Martin & Co, Belvoir and Hunters
Property Network founder Sohail Rashid said: “The lack of innovation from property websites in recent years has meant property professionals and consumers have been starved of critical information. We spotted that gap in the market and have created Community Pages which will change the way people look for a new home.”
Rashid said that the big portals had tried to serve community content before, but he claimed this was without success.
He said: “Portals have tried to offer a community element before; however, neither have really been successfully in their attempts because (except for property price indexes) they haven’t really provided consumers with anything unique, compelling or really that relevant.
“Property Network Community Pages uses real time social, demographic and lifestyle data from its community members which now number over a million and are growing at circa 100,000 a week.
“This data is used to provide social insights to help consumers explore the personality and social trends for niche communities. As this data is collected via our social media application, there isn’t a richer or more relevant data source for consumers to access.
“Other websites typically rely on generic third party data such as Acorn or census data which is several years old and doesn’t give a true account of an area.
“More importantly, the social element of our data includes top check-ins, places to eat, drink and the like, and interests of the individuals that live in those community areas. This is really important information for consumers researching their property move.
“Property Network community pages are the only online service to be able to answer questions such as What are the people like in this area? Will we meet families/ individuals with similar interests as ours? Where do our neighbours like to socialise? Will we fit in here?
“These community pages are integrated with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ which means that the insights will remain fresh and we can leverage these existing popular networks to help users find answers to questions.
“We’ve been working on this project for some time and agents love it as it provides them with a unique opportunity to become a property expert for a local area and connect with movers earlier in the search journey. It’s giving Property Network a real advantage in the marketplace.”
He added: “Property Network users can ask local people real questions and get real answers. It’s no longer just about finding a property you can afford, it’s about finding where you belong – and no traditional old-fashioned property portal can offer that.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktzoEShb4yQ
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Comments
WOWses.com is a new social property site i thinks going to be a winner!
Check the Bristol Community Page, looks like a new instruction for Andrews.
Quote: He added: “Property Network users can ask local people real questions and get real answers.
Or maybe get lies as answers? Who would say its a shitehole area if they are trying to move away??
@James M
Bored mate?
Funny how this company or indeed EAT refers to this company as Facebook's Property Network - implying that this is some official tool of Facebook's. Let's see what FB have to say about this as I plan to get this to their attention.
Damn.
Disregard everything I just said
Morning again,
I'm out of the office today and so I will try and answer questions as and when I'm at a computer (if there are any).
I have requested details from our tech team regarding some of the points yesterday evening and I hope to get back to you later on.
However, the best way to contact me is my email which I can access all day.
To billy B - We can start charging more money if that would make you feel more comfortable. Great picture though.
To MPD -multiple posting disorder - I find self-appreciating anonymous posts as pointless. Anonymous posts are causing a lot of problems on Twitter at the moment. What I'm happy about is that nobody has posted pretending to be me which would be equally as easy to do!
'billy B' - nail:head
As the song goes "...a picture paints a thousand words..." - and I certainly ain't going to argue with Telly Savalas on that point! ;o)
Why not try to be differently rubbish at typing when pretending to be different people?
David and PN thank you for your honesty and effort. I like the app very good and different.
LPlease provide the further detail request ed and I will join as it sounds good.
How does it work on face book and how man leads?
Joseph
Very very interesting discussion. Getting more and more intrigued by this 'different' offering in the marketplace.
Most on here will not understand the analogy but....
http://cdn.laughnfiddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/hilarious-tattoo-lion-resizecrop--.jpg
Ha! Just a scial media and property enthusiast, lettings more my game though. I think this is an intersting project.
The real question would be - Are there any agents on here, who pay for the service - or have their properties listed via GMG have sold a property via this Network. Aproximately one third of the UK stock has been on there in one way or another for 18 months (via GMG). If no one can put up their hand and say "yes this works" apart from obvious PN staff - David, Louise et al then it probably doesn't! Sohail is renowned for grandiose statements and backtracking from them "nobody likes agents etc". The fact of the matter is hardly any people are on the site was (its been at 2-3K users for months). I have heard they buy leads from content aggregators and give them to estate agents to prop up the figures. This model will surely fail unless there is genuine engagement with the house buying public and we are yet to see this. Call me a sceptic but once the VC has run out so will the portal
I'd be interested to see the same figures from Rightmove or Zoopla. Have they ever published conversion rates/figures?
What is your link to PN/PP? you only ever seem to post on these these stories.
you can quote me the total number of potential leads from all Facebook users, I am not impressed by big numbers.
It is however your job to provide some sort of substantiation for your service. I really can not understand why not one single person has ever thought to follow up a single enquiry passed to any agent. Surely marketing is all about KPI’s. I appreciate your honesty but if you really want to monetise all the effort and investment that has gone into this so far hadn’t someone better answer the questions; Does this work? How well does it work?
How about a more basic question, excluding the agents whose data is being fed from Vebra Core etc on whatever commercial arrangement exists (see initial press realeases), how many agents are now currently subscribing to the service? We were told that 10/ day were signing up. What is the total now?
Trust me David I am not trying to be mean but I am asking the questions I would ask any service supplier rep who is trying to flog me a service I am not convinced about and who is not giving particularly straight answers.
"You infer that we simply send names and numbers of random UK citizens, I know this was to prove a point but it is nowhere near the truth. These are people who have reacted to a targeted, personal advert on a social media site which relates precisely to them and their current situation (which could only be done through social media). They have then followed the link to our site and continued to fill out all of their details and request contact from estate agents in their locality with a view to receiving a valuation."
After reading tht I kind of imagined you dressed as Gladiator shouting, "Are you not entertained?!!" I've emailed you.
We truly do not get data back from agents regarding sales, just feedback about the quality of the leads. I could possibly find you the details about the number of houses we had on our system that we have been instructed to remove from the site. But aside from being sold there are endless reasons why they could have been removed from the site so the figures would be skewed and misleading.
You infer that we simply send names and numbers of random UK citizens, I know this was to prove a point but it is nowhere near the truth. These are people who have reacted to a targeted, personal advert on a social media site which relates precisely to them and their current situation (which could only be done through social media). They have then followed the link to our site and continued to fill out all of their details and request contact from estate agents in their locality with a view to receiving a valuation.
Please email me for real testimonials from both independent and group agencies.
I am surprised that the head of sales hasn't got a graph showing the rise in the number of sales month by month by month.
I am not interested in the number of leads passed to agents I am after establishing if any of the leads ever buy anything. There are 65 million 'leads' in the country but only about 1.1% move each year, I don't want to be sifting through 65,000,000 people to find the 0.0002% that will buy from me.
it has been up and running for 19 months? or so and is making no headway and no impression. There has been lots of PR but seemingly not a single sale that they can point to.
@Not good enough David
Clearly you haven't heard of Schrodingers Cat: while there is no evidence either way you're right that the counter is stuck at zero, but it is also at infinite and all the numbers in-between.
Kidding aside it is a good idea, and I will endeavour to find out such statistics. If it is simply agent testimonials you would like, I have plenty with regards to the leads, the service we provide and how we fit into an estate agent's marketing strategy. I left my email so by all means get in contact.
I really don't understand the pressure you guys put on a new player and then someone who is clearly putting himself out to help you find the answers you seek.
We are not PN users but will def be trying the service. Community Pages now make this interesting and different.
Happy to share feedback once we join.
Sure, its david.carlisle@propertynetwork.net
You can't pass the buck just like that David.
I am sure those agent's that have sold through a PN enquiry would only be too pleased to provide a testimonial for the success of the system. Why not send every subscribing Agent an email asking them to tot up just how effective PN has been for them.
Without being able to mention a single success the counter is stuck on zero.
Cn I just have your email, you may just have won me over, almost.
EK
Good afternoon all,
I’ve now spoken to Sohail about your question on lead conversion. The current marketplace has a number of challengers promising the earth and I personally understand the scepticism, after all, searching and marketing properties via social media channels is a new concept that we have pioneered. You are right to ask the question, does it work?
Obviously we can’t tell you how many of our leads converted into confirmed instructions for agents because we rely upon agents feeding this data back to us. We can confirm that we generate hundreds of thousands of leads every month and we do provide high quality business for a number of agents including the Community Partners mentioned in this article and our growing number of case studies which can be found at:
https://www.propertynetwork.net/blog/property-network-case-studies
If you want to see how it works, visit our FAQs:
https://www.propertynetwork.net/blog/faqs-about-property-network
Or just try out the service for as little as £50 a month. We would love to work with agents who are prepared to fully and honestly disclose the feedback from our lead generation publicly.
If you would like to talk personally with me, the discussion page is here:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=4881060&trk=anet_ug_hm
Knowing the first question, probably the only question will be How many properties has PN helped sell I really doubt David Carlisle will bother.
I've always seen Zoopla's job as providing me with leads, and alerting me of interest in my advertised properties. It's my job to sell them. I think you, the person below, are asking David Carlisle the wrong question.
By the by. I'm on LinkedIn and I can't see the discussion???
Come on David Carlisle, don't pretend you are not following in this. Just tell us all how many properties have sold to date as a result of your content.
Is it a secret? Don't you know? If your Baldrick cunning scheme was any good at all you would be shouting from the rooftops just how many properties have sold. With GMG spoon feeding you listings it isn't like you are struggling for content.
Is it against the law to reply to anonymous questions on EAT or does linkedin suddenly make the question easier to answer. Request to anyone with a linkedin account, please ask David Carlisle how many properties have resulted from PN introductions.
Don't ever comment here but felt obliged to say...
You don't seem to get it Joanne, look at it as lead gen through social media, not advertisements. If you'd read into at all you can see it a mile off. Don't see it as instead of Zoopla, see it as well as. Different marketing spheres within the same marketing strategy. Nevermind.
@Joanne - These new companies should be offering free full service for first 3 months to get on board. Buyers have never heard of property network.
Or permanently free don't you think?
By the way interesting conversation going on on Linkedin in the Estate Agents UK Networking Group at the moment, Rightmove vs Zoopla, which is best?
Rightmove tried this a couple of years ago and it didn't work and that is with their traffic, advertising and influence. Can't see this being any different.
Qudos for trying something new (almost) but I don't think it will matter in the long run
Social media like twitter and facebook are good to show you are a company that can be contacted by various medias.
I myself like to check if a company is on these medias to see if they are up to date and not lazy.
However I do not look to buy property on social media facebook/ twitter.
I also tried it with 54 sale properties, not 1 buyer.
These new companies should be offering free full service for first 3 months to get on board. Buyers have never heard of property network.
Il stick to zoopla for now thanks
should have ended my last comment with
"I my opinion".
Sorry
@quagmire - So I found that PN where getting a feed from my software company which I was none to happy about. I try and keep an eye on my data and where its going for obvious reasons. Despite this I noticed that it was out of date,
If they were getting a feed from your software company then it should have been updated daily which would have kept it up to date with your portfolio, this is a service that has to be paid for. If the listings were out of date and unchanged, then it is more likely they scrapped your properties.
Exactly how many properties have resulted from introductions made through Property Netwok/ Places/whatever?
1 property = 1 sale OR 1 let.
Redundant enquiries need properties too. Other agents who are not on the portals you're on will happily take those leads for a split of their fee. B2B saves high portal fees and makes associate agents and you money.
MLS. Agent networking works. Other agents have stock you haven't.
Leads from other agents to other agents with available stock is the future. Plus those leads come pre qualified by the sub agent.
Jim - Thanks for your message, unfortunately your ignorance is demonstrated not only by its content but also by your unnecessary use of capitals...
I have no problem at all with private sales websites; in fact, good luck to them, there will always be a segment of the market who feel that they can dispose of their property themselves and don't wish to incur agent's fees. However, I do have a problem with a platform masquerading as a portal on behave of agents (and charging advertisement fees!) but then facilitating private sales at the same time.
Whether this is the intended strategy of Property Network remains to be seen - I take note of Mr Carlisle's comments.
They did the same with me, my properties were up on the site for free. But I found out that it was legal and to be honest, no downside, free advertising! When I rang them they tried (and did) sell the idea to me. What you pay for is the valuation leads that you don't get if your properties are just up there for free. Not quite a conspiracy, but I guess misleading, or confusing if you don't ring up and ask what the bloody hell is going on!
Sorry punters dont buy property through facebook. You can spend a fortune on the next best thing.
Do a decent set of details. Good pics and youve more chance on the local post office noticeboard. Sold and let loads this way. Gave up on twitter and facebook last month.
So I found that PN where getting a feed from my software company which I was none to happy about. I try and keep an eye on my data and where its going for obvious reasons. Despite this I noticed that it was out of date, still showing SSTC as on market, no new instructions listed and old ones still on there.
I let it go for a few months and got a call from PN's rep wanting to sign us up for a fee. Guess what! Listings have vanished.
So to the company who used my data to get them off the ground and phoned and tried to charge me for the very same data.....thanks but no thanks.
Brian - how can it be a social media site without interaction? And yes, of course this opens up the opportunity for buyers and sellers to trade directly. But this is going to happen more and more over time anyway. You know it and everyone else knows it so why not embrace it and look at ways to make it work for you instead of pining for 'the good old days'?
If successful, why would they 'cut agents out of the loop' and presumably lose 90+% of their stock overnight and drive buyers back to Rightmove? On a social platform YOU would have the same opportunity to sell your properties as any private vendors and lets face it, your industry has consistently banged on about how much better you are at it than home owners when putting down private sale websites. Using this long running argument I can't see you having a problem selling your own stock over that of the private sellers - you'll wipe the floor with them.
I wonder what your vendors will make of your statement "I'm NOT ALLOWING any of OUR (theirs surely?) properties to be advertised on this site"??? Just the sort of old fashioned arrogance from a dinosaur agent that winds up the public and gets the trade a bad reputation.
Who made the video because it's very well made. I'm deffo behind the idea, I've got an e/l agency in E.Yorks and despite a bit of a struggle over the past few years there has been somewhat of a resurgence in business. Social media has helped us no end building up customers and keeping in contact. I'm glad Property Netwrk have decided to get with the times, I wondered when people would start to use the data for something useful. The boys in Hessle are behind ya!
the title of this article suggests Facebook, the company itself, has got something to do with this project- i'd imagine they might be upset with the way this has been worded!
i'm on google but i wouldn't claim or suggest to be a Google company....
A child could figure this out.
Promote Agents Mutual but slag off their name which everyone knows isn't going to be the actual portals name.
Paranoid about future plans of PN based on wording of a sentence yet self-claimed optimist on a 5 year commitment to a site with no consumer plan.
Go home DcB, you're drunk.
"We have no links with private sales, we don't have the desire to allow them and do not ever plan to allow them. Our investors have invested in an agency model and our entire business plan is based around helping agents to advertise their properties on social media. "
- I seem to recall Rightmove saying the same thing back in 2005. Business models change as staff involved come and go, new ideas get thrown in the mix and things end up changing.
Statements like "do not ever PLAN to..." suggests this is the plan now but may change down the road.
Dont get me wrong, I like your business idea and support it at the moment, but cautious as agents have been screwed by advertisers for decades! More recently with rightmove/Zoopla essentially allowing what was traditionally "our clients" to advertise on their website directly after we've "fed the beasts" many £££££ over the years.
I'm one of the hopeful that thinks concentrating efforts on projects such as "Agent Mutual" (crap name btw..) is the only way to cut RM & Z down to size.
Ta for responding Mr Carlisle, portals don't do that often. The youtube video looks wicked BTW. I kind of like the idea so keep coming up with new ideas.One of thm will stick!
Good morning all.
As some of you may know I'm content manager for Property Network and so I have overseen the development of these pages over the past few months.
I can't respond to anonymous, unsolicited comments however (pending submission) I have started a LinkedIn discussion on the Estate Agents UK Networking Group which I can answer any queries or concerns.
Regardless, what I would like to make very clear is that our model is an agency model, not private. We have no links with private sales, we don't have the desire to allow them and do not ever plan to allow them. Our investors have invested in an agency model and our entire business plan is based around helping agents to advertise their properties on social media.
Personally, I think these pages are the best tool consumers/agents have had since Up My Street, and developments over the coming months will only add more depth.
All the best.
Brian, my point exactly.
This site wants agents to feed it until it gets big enough to them to.
This site concerns me massively. These new community pages, as well as their plan to launch soon (as advertised on their new web page) a mechanism where private property owners can see who is searching for a accommodation matching theirs, suggest to me that they intend in the future to cut agents out and allow buyers and vendors to meet directly on the platform. If you look up some of Mr Rashid's early statements on launching the Property Network (then Property Place) he quotes the Carsberg Report, stating comments along the lines of estate agents' commissions need a shake up and consumers need to provided with a choice on price. He has since seemed to back track on these comments, but it does give an indication of what his motives are possibly...
I'm not allowing any of our properties to be advertised on this site and I would advise all other agents to do their research before allowing their stock to be advertised on it.
Just checked it out. Yes it appears to have a comments and questions section on each page.
Could be powerful stuff this as long as it stays as an agency service. @Paul if this was true then we wouldn't need val requests via portals would we?!
As if agents have time to contribute to this website, making it grow and then will be charged more, as if the local residents dont already know who their local agents are.
Im getting really peed off with the amount of publicity this website gets. Is EAT a shareholder or something?
Community pages within social media suggest to me that members of that community will be able to post on there. If they can't they won't "interact" and that means they will lose interest quickly.
If they can, won't they want to add their own property themselves ?
Very clever!! Love the concept and good to see things like this on the same day that right move announce more growth figures.