Iceni talks social media to…

Josh Cousens, Social Media Manager at abbotFox (Norwich)

What does your role within abbotFox as Social Media Manager involve? I am responsible for overseeing all of our social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google +,) in addition to writing regular blogs about the property market and specific, unique homes, meet the team profiles, local restaurant reviews, email marketing, newsletters and other general marketing duties.

Can you give us a brief run down on how you use social media to interact with potential home buyers? We use our social media channels to engage and inform our target audience about what is happening in the market, utilising informative articles from external sites. Working Monday-Friday allows me to immediately respond to any queries or qualms that clients may have. We are also able to readily deploy seasonal deals or offers that we may have, to a
mass audience.

How do you use social media as a tool for your existing clients? If a client is looking to sell their property through us, we can use the likes of Facebook and Twitter as another avenue to advertise their home for a potential buyer. Using our social media channels allows possible purchasers to look at the large following we have and the glowing reviews which are
easily accessible.

Which social media platforms do you use and and why? i.e Hootsuite, TweetDeck, etc? I use the Hootsuite dashboard to manage our multiple channels, mainly because of its simplicity to use. The ability to be able to successfully oversee our numerous channels from one location makes my job a lot easier.

There are quite a few networking hours on Twitter, which is your favourite and why? We try and drop into as many of the local networking hours as possible to broaden our reach and hopefully meet new individuals and businesses from the local region. The Norfolk and Norwich hours are probably our favourites, because of the guaranteed hub of activity and the familiar community who we enjoy to communicate with.

What is your favourite social media campaign you have managed? We introduced a campaign in which our Mini’s were re-designed by local schools to incorporate our new brand colours. The competition was to find the best design from the pupils, and the winning creation would be used on all three of our Mini’s. The designs were posted on our social media channels, and the public were able to cast their opinions and vote which was their favourite design.

What kinds of skills/qualities do you think you need to possess to be a Social Media Manager? I think you have to have an attentive and observant character, knowing what is trending and what your demographic are interested in engaging with, and the knowhow of when to change things when it is not going to plan. Being creative and possessing the ability to improvise are also key qualities.

What are your competitors doing on social media? We believe in the ethos of doing things deliberately different and pride ourselves on our dynamic and innovative approach to business. With regards to the Norwich area, the emphasis that we put on social media has led to us creating a lot more content and having a far greater following than any of our competitors. Zoopla recently noted us at number 3 on their list of the most influential UK estate agents on social media.

And finally, what one piece of advice can you give to someone starting out into the world of social media? Developing a successful social media presence will not happen overnight, as the old saying goes ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ and it can take a while to build up a rapport with your target audience. Perseverance, devotion and a constructively thought-out plan are key to fruitfully driving your social media existence forward.