THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE MARKETING ON RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: These days, a significant portion of commercial business all around the world takes place on digital networks, which link individuals as well as businesses (Kotler & Amstrong, 2012). Users are able to communicate with one another and share information thanks to the internet, which is a network made up of computers located all over the world. Several different internet platforms are responsible for facilitating this link. The term "social media" refers to websites or platforms on the internet that enable individuals to communicate with one another freely, as well as to receive, sharing, and debate topics of interest, and to make use of personal texts, videos, images, and audio multimedia (Olukolajo, Ojo & Akinwamide 2015). Individuals are given the business to take part in a discourse aimed at fostering collaboration with the goal of producing value that is mutually beneficial within a reliable commercial setting (Rodriguez 2011).
Simply connecting one's computer to the internet is all that is required for a user to have access to the vast majority of the information that is stored on the internet. Going online is what's meant by the phrase "doing this activity." When a user logs on to the internet, his or her computer becomes linked to the actions taking place on other computers that are also connected to the internet. However, this is the foundation upon which online marketing is built.
"Marketing" is defined as "the actions a firm performs to promote the purchase or selling of a product or service," as stated in Investopedia. It include marketing, sales, and distribution of items to end users or other companies. As a result, the term "Online Marketing" refers to the process of talking with and sharing pertinent information among users of linked computers for the aim of promoting goods and/or services over the internet. To put it another way, online marketing is the promotion of promoting and selling activities using the internet.
The accessibility of readily available information for the consumption of the marketer is the primary advantage that online marketing, which is also known as Internet or Digital Marketing, has over traditional offline marketing. Traditional offline marketing includes advertising mediums such as print, billboard, television, and radio. Online marketing, on the other hand, is also known as Internet or Digital Marketing. The use of digitalized marketing, which is an extension of technology, has become the accepted manner of performing many parts of businesses. Some businesses are conducted entirely online. One of these aspects of businesses is real estate marketing, which is expected to achieve much better results on a variety of digitalized marketing platforms (Jejelola and Ogungbe 2020).
As the internet continues to exert its unique influence on online marketing by providing features that allow customers to access accessible real estate properties in a more convenient manner, the demand for real estate owners to create an online presence becomes greater. A few decades ago, even after the general public gained access to the World Wide Web, advertisements for real estate properties in newspapers were one of the primary sources of advertising revenue because they frequently covered the pages of these prints. Estate Surveyors and Valuers continued to advertise properties through such traditional means.
When some estate surveyors and valuers began automating their listing services, the real estate industry was visibly impacted by the internet for obvious reasons. The assumption was that the general public would subsequently be able to access online lists of properties, information about recent sales, tax information, and other property-related statistics. "Real estate listings moved from off-line listings available only to real estate professionals to online listings on major Internet portals such as AOL Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate, and MSN House and Home (now housed in its own section under MSN Money)," according to one explanation of this transition. (Joel, 2015). Real estate properties have, in today's day and age, flooded the online market, garnering the advantages of real estate online marketing as a result of the necessity for razor-sharp tactics for reaching out to customers and gaining exceptional prospects for transactions. The researcher's goal is to provide information on the influence that online marketing has had on real estate properties in Nigeria in the current study that they are providing.
Nigeria, which is one of the largest countries in Africa, is rapidly developing and is currently in an era in which the people, who are the potential consumers of real estate properties, have positioned themselves to be easily demographically targeted as a result of their ever-increasing online presence and activities, using several of the available technical and creative tools. This allows Nigeria to be in an era in which the people can be easily demographically targeted. Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa. Additionally, these customers want to be kept up to date with the latest trends and information relevant to the real estate market in Nigeria, with the goal of preserving the lowest possible risk while achieving the highest possible level of effectiveness. These chances are made available via the internet, which also contributes to a shorter and more convenient sales cycle. Real estate professionals now have the ability to market real estate items on a global scale thanks to online marketing (Nwogu and Ifekanandu, 2021).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
As people become more aware of the internet and respond to its call for engagements, the long line of intermediate real estate brokers is constantly being shortened. This is due to the fact that the information regarding real estate properties is easily accessible and constantly updated online by real estate companies. Real estate professionals in Nigeria have a rather low degree of knowledge about the potential of online marketing for the disposal of real estate (Kakulu, 2018, as cited in Nwogu and Ifekanandu, 2021). However, traditional methods of marketing have not been entirely abandoned since a balanced combination of the two is required for the purchase and sale of real estate holdings. After doing an exhaustive search online, customers are required to make contact with the relevant real estate agent in order to settle transactions prior to the start of the transaction processes.
The real estate industry, with all of its various activities, has been seen participating in this new trend; however, the responses that it has received from practitioners have been quite varied. In Nigeria, the adoption of information technology for real estate transactions started with the publication of property information on websites; however, difficulties such as the failure of the websites to effectively meet the customer's need, unfulfilled promises on services, and links to pages that are either inoperable or do not exist have discredited this medium in the eyes of their customers (Chukwuemeka, 2012). When people are looking to rent or purchase flats, they are exploring the vast number of social networks that are easily accessible online. (Sawyer, Croston, Wignand, and Allbritton 2003) had anticipated that the residential agents, whose job it is to serve as intermediaries connecting buyers and sellers, may have their jobs threatened with the advent of ICT, which has provided buyers and sellers with a new way of finding one another. This is because ICT has provided buyers and sellers with a new way to search for one another online.
Technology that deals with information and communication is heavily used in online marketing; in fact, this is the only way that the business can fulfill its primary objective and continue to be successful. Additionally, the transaction of real estate properties is information and communication focused; hence, the real estate industry would not be able to flourish in the absence of these two factors. Due to this, the business of real estate properties is an ideal context in which to evaluate strategies for online marketing. Traditional methods of marketing such as print, billboard, television, and radio advertisements are becoming increasingly difficult to implement in Awka city as a result of the city's rapidly expanding population and level of civilisation. This makes it more challenging for real estate properties to be adequately marketed to the potential consumers who make up the city's growing population.
This is mostly due to the fact that individuals today have increased their online presence and interactions, which in turn influences the amount of attention they pay to activities that take place offline to a decent level. The difficulty with this study is closely related to the issues that arise with traditional marketing tactics. These issues include high marketing costs, restricted accessibility, inadequate tracking of marketing outcomes, and the use of significant amounts of time. These are the issues that are hoped to be alleviated by using online real estate property marketing as a promotional tool for sellers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which online marketing has an influence on the residential real estate market.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this study is to assess the influence of online marketing on residential real estate market. Specifically, this study seeks to:
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Find out the extent online marketing is used on residential real estate business.
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Determine whether online marketing has an influence on residential real estate market.
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Examine the different online marketing channels that is used by the real estate market.
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Determine whether there have been any challenges encountered in the use of online marketing by the real estate market.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions will be answered in this study:
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To what extent is online marketing used on residential real estate market?
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Does online marketing have an influence on residential real estate market?
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What are the different online marketing channels that is used by the real estate market?
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Have there been challenges encountered in the use of online marketing by the real estate market?
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following research hypotheses will validate this study:
H01: Online marketing does not have an influence on residential real estate market.
H02: There have been no challenges encountered in the use of online marketing by the real estate market.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will have a significant impact on the real estate industry as a result of the results of this study, which will show the online marketing tools that should be used in the promotion of the industry as well as the impacts that these online tools have.
As a point of future reference and additional research, this study will also be useful to academics as well as students. This study will benefit all of these groups.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on assessing the influence of online marketing on residential real estate market. Specifically, this study focuses on finding out the extent online marketing is used on residential real estate market, determining whether online marketing has an influence on residential real estate market, examining the different online marketing tools that is used by the real estate market and determining whether there have been any challenges encountered in the use of online marketing by the real estate market. The study will be conducted in some selected Real estate companies in Abuja, Nigeria.
1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
In the course of carrying out this study, the researcher experienced some constraints, which included time constraints, financial constraints, language barriers, and the attitude of the respondents. However, the researcher were able to manage these just to ensure the success of this study.
Moreover, the case study method utilized in the study posed some challenges to the investigator including the possibility of biases and poor judgment of issues. However, the investigator relied on respect for the general principles of procedures, justice, fairness, objectivity in observation and recording, and weighing of evidence to overcome the challenges.
1.9 DEFINITONS OF THE TERMS
Online marketing: Online marketing is a set of tools and methodologies used for promoting products and services through the internet.
Real Estate: Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this an item of real property, buildings or housing in general.
1.10 Organization of the Study
The study is categorized into five chapters. The first chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, research questions and hypothesis, the significance of the study, scope/limitations of the study, and definition of terms. The chapter two covers the review of literature with emphasis on conceptual framework, theoretical framework, and empirical review. Likewise, the chapter three which is the research methodology, specifically covers the research design, population of the study, sample size determination, sample size, abnd selection technique and procedure, research instrument and administration, method of data collection, method of data analysis, validity and reliability of the study, and ethical consideration. The second to last chapter being the chapter four presents the data presentation and analysis, while the last chapter(chapter five) contains the summary, conclusion and recommendation.