Up to 35% engagement increase for property sector online during lockdown

Stefan Botha, director of Rainmaker Marketing

Traditional, face-to-face means of communication have been strained from the lead up to and even during the national lockdown, resulting in consumers and property heavyweights having to put their trust into the digital sphere. Through technological advances made in South Africa, coupled with the affordable data solutions that are easier to obtain and the ever-growing popularity of social media, the connection between the property market and potential purchasers has been far-reaching.

There is no getting around the fact that as South Africans, we like to view property first-hand and it will always be first-prize to get a potential client to site or to a home. The national lockdown has been a challenge for our economy, however, I believe this has really encouraged industries, especially property, to truly become more innovative. By utilising proptech and other digital tools, we have experienced first-hand how the property purchasing process can be enriched.

Catalyst for transformation

Proptech is not an adage to doing things the same way, it's a catalyst for how we transform an industry. The national lockdown has only propelled our actions, as we continue pioneering in creating interactive site maps, individualised onsite sales platforms, rich video content and lead the social media scene with platforms like Facebook Live. Through these various digital avenues, lockdown has resulted in an increase of between 16% to 35% engagement across various property websites we manage, as well as an average of 126% increase in engagement across the various social media platforms.

Proptech is the combination of property and technology working together to make the process of renting, sales, and generating unique property experiences convenient, easier and effortless. There is no ready-made solution when it comes to proptech, however, through the use of readily, and ever-changing, available technologies and applications, the potential to enhance the property market is endless.

We see this period as a kickstart for the South African property market to embrace these technologies and further digitise this industry.