New Asteco Facebook app leverages social media boom

Asteco Property Management has announced the launch of a new Facebook application, the first from a Middle East property company, further demonstrating its marketing prowess and technology leadership within the region.

The Facebook application, which launched this week, enables users to search for property, make enquiries and request appointments, all without having to leave the popular social media application.

“Recognising the rapid growth trends in online usage across the region and globally, along with the increasing uptake of mobile devices, this new Facebook application makes it even easier for people to find information about our customers’ properties and to make contact with Asteco’s real estate agents,” said Elaine Jones, CEO, Asteco.

Demonstrating the huge opportunity this represents for Asteco, the Middle East witnessed a 78% growth rate in the number of Facebook users between January and December 2010 alone, growing to 21 million from 11.9 million users, according to research from the Dubai School of Government. It also highlighted that the UAE has the highest penetration rate in the region, with more than 45% of the population having Facebook accounts.

The new application comes as part of Asteco’s overall focus on further enhancing its online presence, with the property company recording impressive results from marketing within this space.

“Total enquiries driven by online sources have shown a steady increase relative to our print advertising campaigns. Second only to Asteco’s outdoor advertising signboards, our online marketing generated more than 600 enquiries last month alone,” added Jones.

A complement to the Asteco Facebook page, which has more than 1700 active views per month, the Facebook app will add the feature of “property search” and “property enquiry” within the page itself. The Asteco Facebook page will also provide access to special offers and prize draws along with other enhancements coming soon.

The Facebook application is the latest in a number of innovative technology solutions introduced by Asteco this year, including QR Codes, another regional first for the property company.

By simply pointing a mobile phone camera at a QR Code, information on specific properties with a printed bar code can be forwarded to the device, including links to images and individual property features.

Since Asteco began rolling out its QR Code print advertising campaign in March this year, the QR Code has been scanned 750 times, with a 30% increase in this number over the last month alone.

Having started by integrating the codes into its print property advertisements, Asteco has now also added them to all its business cards. Additional features to be added in coming months include access to quarterly market reports and the latest Asteco news.

Asteco has also become active in Twitter, with its ‘UAEpropertynews’ having attracted almost 2,500 followers, providing the latest commercial and residential listings and instant industry news updates.

The Asteco Facebook application is available at apps.facebook.com/astecoproperty.