There is a growing tendency in estate agency to confuse visibility with value. Scroll through any property feed and you will see it in full flow: agent led introductions, walk and talk videos, carefully framed monologues delivered straight to camera. The house, supposedly the subject, often plays a supporting role.
It raises a simple and uncomfortable question. Does any of this actually sell homes?
“Social media has become the industry’s favourite distraction…”
“Social media has become the industry’s favourite distraction…”
The honest answer is that, in the vast majority of cases, it does not.
Social media is excellent at one thing: attention. It can showcase a lifestyle, reinforce a brand and give the comforting impression that something is happening. But attention is not intent. People scrolling through Instagram are not, by and large, making six or seven figure decisions. They are passing time, not committing capital.
When buyers are serious, their behaviour changes. They stop scrolling and start searching. They register, compare, study floor plans and book viewings. They return to the same places they always have: property portals, agent websites and direct conversations with experienced agents. That is where homes are sold.
Yet social media has become the industry’s favourite distraction. It produces numbers that look impressive and are easy to present: views, likes, reach, engagement. Too often, those metrics are used to mask a lack of substance elsewhere. It is marketing theatre, not market traction.
“When the agent becomes the focus, the property itself is diminished.”
“When the agent becomes the focus, the property itself is diminished.”
The trend for agent led property introductions only sharpens this point. For a profession that has historically been accused of ego, placing the agent front and centre of the marketing feels a curious choice. More importantly, it diverts time and attention away from the work that actually moves sales forward: identifying buyers, managing sellers, holding chains together and negotiating outcomes.
Have Corum explored this approach? Yes. We believe in staying open to innovation. But we also believe in being honest about what works, what doesn’t, and in calling out gas lighting when performance is mistaken for progress.
There is also a risk to credibility. When the agent becomes the focus, the property itself is diminished. The home turns into a backdrop for personal branding, rather than the asset being marketed. That may play well on a feed, but it rarely influences a buying decision.
A simple test cuts through the noise. Ask the agent how many homes their social media has sold. Not how many people watched a video, or how far a post travelled, but how many transactions it has directly driven. The answers are often vague, because the truth is inconvenient.
“It is marketing theatre, not market traction.”
“It is marketing theatre, not market traction.”
As a reference point; Corum sold more than 2,000 homes last year and none of them were bought through Instagram.
This is not an argument against social media altogether. Used properly, it can support brand awareness and reinforce presence. But it should never be confused with the engine of a sale. Homes sell because they are priced correctly, presented properly and matched with buyers through active, human led agency.
In property, results still matter more than reach. And while social media may flatter the ego, it is experience, judgement and hard work that sell houses.