What role does social networking/marketing play in real estate development and investment?

1.In today's competitive market it more important than ever for commercial real estate companies to use these tools to build brand equity, or to find, form and foster client and referring broker relationships.2.Larger CRE companies realize this and are working hard to incorporate the web into their branding, marketing and community building projects.3.It seems to be more questionable whether or not the smaller CRE broker can utilize and have success and see a ROI using the web and social media.4.First off ROI is not just about making a deal.
ROI also can be measured in new clients and resources you are able to find and utilize.
If it is used to enhance customer service then you might want to measure complaints or thank yous you receive.5.Another words, property promotion is just one of the many ways and not necessarily the best way for a CRE broker to utilize the web.6.If you are a CRE broker in a very localized market, you can use social media to build community within that market.
Offer local news for property owners and business, the amounts of good will you will foster will be astounding.7.The web is very powerful and has been used to organize campaigns that have stopped development projects and to develop public trust for successful development projects.8.The web used correctly and systematically is proven to have the best marketing results for the least price.9.Many believe that the web will consume too much time for what it pays out.
This is just not true.
If you let the tail wag the dog and chat all day on Facebook then you would be right, but many successful brokers spend less than1/2 a day a week answering and putting out relevant content.
If you don't learn to leverage this media to your advantage you will fail to maximize your marketing potential.10.Social media won't work for the CRE industry.
CRE is no different than any other business, to think this is true is naive at best.11.Using social media will give you great benefits for both yourself, your resources and your clients.

Real estate market potential has an undefined territory.
To address such a territory and to maximize the reach social networking and web based platforms are the strongest and most effective tools.

Social Media Marketing is essential and will impact your business and will eventually result in profit if used in the correct way.
If you are doing Commercial real estate, then the situation will be different, you will need less focus on social media investment and concentrate more on other channels.
If you are doing residential real estate then the more you focus and the if you are doing it right you will indeed get good results.
Good luck!

I will say mostly participants answers very well. 

It trigger hard competition which leads to better services and business development indeed.

Social networking is the era now! With proper marketing facility and the right talented people, one can grow their business just by connecting to the right media, and sending the right message.
The business revolves around its customers.
Every move of customers is marked through marketing.
In today's era, Facebook, twitter, Linkedin etc are used as social media tools in reaching the customers.
In a real estate business, its important to have a good clientele and word of mouth which is achieved through social network and marketing.
More customers can be identified through social media, tracked and followed.
We can understand the customer mindset through social media.
Apart from identifying, this tool also helps in receiving feedback from the customers.
Thus, social media marketing, is highly vital for not only real estate business, but others also.

One of the major roadblocks with real estate development programs are people who do not know what they are getting into or what is coming up in thier neighborhood. Using social media, one can asses the mood of the croud and also push relavent information that you think is necessary for these people.

 

Social media can be used very effectively to give out realtime details on land deals. This will increase transperancy that is generally lacking in this field.

I believe social networking, if used correctly, has the potential to reach the target audience and can induce strong real estate investments.
I think Alka Verma has already explained it beautifully.