MEMORANDUM

February 12, 2016

To: Dr. Cummings
From: Ashling Murphy

RE: Rhetorical Strategy of Local Realty Companies on Facebook

Introduction
This document provides a rhetorical analysis of the social media presence of realty companies
local to the Wilmington, NC area. As a result of Wilmingtons coastal location, tourism thrives in
the area and visitors flock to vacation homes and rentals throughout the year. This provides a
great need for realty companies in the area, but also requires that various companies compete
with each other for business. Using social media to communicate with the community, allows
realty companies to establish their business in an ever-growing market.

For the purposes of this analysis I examined three local real estate companies. They are:
Bryant Real Estate
Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage
Intracoastal Realty
All three companies service the Wilmington and South Carolina coastal areas and specialize in
vacation homes, income properties, summer rentals, and high value properties. Although it may
seem these three companies exist in a niche market, they are targeting very similar audiences
and must compete with one another to gain loyal customers who could be Wilmington natives
or out of town visitors.

These companies communicate heavily online. For the purpose of this memo, I examined the
Facebook profiles of the above-mentioned companies and focused specifically on written
content shared or posted on these accounts. After examining the various profiles, I noticed two
trends in the content being shared. First, the companies employed rhetoric as a community
building strategy and secondly, the companies utilized communication as a persuasive
marketing technique. Both of these trends are analyzed and explained with the figures below.

Community Building
The nature of a majority of posts shared on these accounts was community-oriented. It was
clear that all three companies were projecting a community minded image to their audiences.
Specifically, Bryant Realty focused heavily on audience interests by frequently sharing
community news on their page. By posting about community events, Bryant Realty and their
competitors focus their messages on the needs of their audience prior to posting persuasive
messages.

Specifically, in Figure 1, Bryant aims to illustrate a strong awareness of community news and
events while also appearing helpful to the community and their followers. By posting about
such delays, Bryant conveys a sense of caring for the time of their followers and shows they are
concerned for Wilmington news and current events. This empathy is important to Bryants
customer appeal.

By understanding their consumers
needs, Bryant is able to adapt
messages to their audience more
effectively. Bryant conveys empathy
for the heavy traffic situation and
subsequently conveys to readers
that they understand the concerns
of the community and as such,
understand the needs of the
consumer (Guffey and Lowey 2-4a)

Bryant made a similar rhetorical
appeal following a tragic fire in
Carolina Beach. Again, Bryant
showed empathy and conveyed and
understanding of their audience by
posting a message related to a
community tragedy.

Figure 1




By sharing the article illustrated in Figure 2, Bryant
uses an unfortunate news event to demonstrate
their understanding of current needs while also
showing compassion for the community.

Bryant does not simply share the article with
readers, but includes a brief message, expressing
their condolences while also wishing everyone the
best. This message is important as it shows Bryant is
able to express empathy (Guffey and Lowey 2-4a)
while also effectively expressing sympathy (Guffey
and Lowey 6-5c). This indicates Bryant Realty has
effective communication skills when presented with
negative news.

It is important for business to be able to convey
persuasive, positive, and negative news effectively
Figure 2

as that represents their ability to communicate effectively in the business world. In this post,
Bryant does not dwell on the negative news, but also does not shy away from sharing it with
the community. This adds to Bryants credibility by illustrating their support for Wilmington in
both positive and negative times, as well as their commitment to being open and honest with
their customers.

Other realty companies are also concerned with community events. Intracoastal realty similarly
shared several articles in an effort to appeal to the interests of their local readers.

The post featured in Figure 3 is specific to Wilmington industry and involves news that will
impact both tourism and the housing market. By sharing the post with a positive comment,
Intracoastal establishes their community interest without making a push for their business. This
is a necessary balance to show readers that the company is involved in the area for honorable
reasons and is not always pushing home sales.

Specifically, in this post, Intracoastal addresses Wilmington directly with the message, Good
news Wilmington! The use of relaxed language and an exclamation point demonstrates
Intracoastals desire to be both conversational but professional with their posts (Guffey and
Lowey 2-4c). With this post, Intracoastal is using communication on social media to build
community. By remaining friendly with their language, the company creates a feeling of mutual
interest in community matters.

Persuasive Marketing

In addition to creating posts that are
community centered, the examined realty
companies also generated posts that were
persuasive. All three companies made an
effort to include persuasive posts in
addition to their community outreach
articles. The persuasive elements were at
times more pronounced than others with
the companies utilizing social media to
promote business.

As indicated through the above figures,
Figure 3
social media platforms can play a large role
in building community through
communication. As such, companies like Coldwell banker are taking advantage of social media
trends in order to promote their businesses. This is the case in Figure 4, where Coldwell utilizes
the hashtag, Motivation Monday to promote a listing. This technique gets the readers
attention by taking advantage of hashtags and their rhetorical benefits.

Notably, hashtags help to brand businesses through social media and also make posts easier to
find through online searches (Guffey and Lowey 5-5a). By utilizing social media trends such as
this, Coldwell is able to market more effectively. As you can see in the below figures, Coldwell
posts frequently about their properties and uses persuasive language combined with social
media trends as tools for selling their homes.

Figure 5 is a marketing message, posted by
Coldwell Banker with the intent of selling a
specific property. The post employs the
you centered view of writing to appeal to
their audience (Guffey and Lowey 2-4b).
Specifically, the line, bathrooms are
waiting for your enjoyment directs the
communication to the reader and focuses
the post on the readers needs. This
technique clearly communicates what the
benefits to the audience are showing
readers the business has a genuine interest
in their needs (Guffey and Lowey 2-4b).

With this post, Coldwell creates compelling
rhetoric through the organization of their
message indicating that communication can
be persuasive as a result of both content
and formatting.
Figure 4


A final example of Coldwells rhetorical strategy
is pictured in Figure 6. In this post, Coldwells
employs emotionally vigorous language to clearly
convey their message (Guffey and Lowey 2-5e).
Notably, the home in the post is described as
magnificent and peaceful and descriptive
language is used consistently within the
message. These words are meant to evoke a
feeling of wealth and grandeur within the buyer
and their use showcases how heavily Coldwell
values language when promoting their
properties.

Figure 5

In Figure 4, Figure 5, and Figure 6,

Coldwell uses several different
communication approaches to market
their properties while promoting their
business. Coldwell takes full advantage of
social media to share persuasive rhetoric
with their readers. By using different
strategies of business writing, Coldwell
successfully appeals to the needs of their
audience, subsequently promoting their
services.

Findings
All three companies utilize Facebook
successfully to create a strong online
presence. The companies foremost
establish a connection within their local
community and communicate this
connection with their audience. This
allows the companies to not only better
Figure 6
understand the needs of their respective
audiences, but also to format their messages in a way that illustrates this understanding.

By utilizing social media posts to connect with readers, Bryant, Intracoastal, and Coldwell are all
using communication to build community. After establishing this sense of understanding, the
companies are able to employ persuasive strategies to gain business. Without the feeling of
trust that is founded through their community building posts, the companies would not be as
successful rhetorically when marketing their properties.

By understanding the needs of their audience, all three businesses are able to customize their
online presence accordingly, effectively establishing their brand, and promoting their business.

Sources
Coldwell Banker Seacoast Advantage figures retrieved from Facebook profile: Coldwell Banker
Seacoast Advantage @ https://www.facebook.com/seacoastrealty/?fref=ts

Bryant Real Estate figures retrieved from Facebook profile: Bryant Real Estate Rentals @
https://www.facebook.com/BryantRealEstate/?fref=ts

Intracoastal Realty figures retrieved from Facebook profile: Intracoastal Realty @
https://www.facebook.com/IntracoastalRealty/?fref=ts

Guffey, Mary Ellen, and Dana Loewy. Essentials of Business Communication. Mason, OH: SouthWestern/Cengage Learning, 2010. MindTap. Cengage Learning. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.