2018 ADRE Interview: Social Media & Website Guidelines
During a recent interview, Arizona Department of Real Estate Commissioner Judy Lowe spoke with Arizona REALTORS® 2018 President Lori Doerfler. Highlights are available on YouTube, below is a text excerpt.
Lori Doerfler: What social media guidelines do you have for members?
Judy Lowe: There isn’t anything written in the Law Book or the Rules about social media and advertising. However, all social media and online advertising must follow the statute and the rules that are written around advertising in general.
Just as in all advertising, when you have a Facebook listing that you want to post, there are only two lines that must be “clear and prominent”:
- The employing broker’s name, and
- The name of the company.
Arizona REALTORS® CEO Michelle Lind and I went back and forth on this, and made a very clear statement:
If there is not room on the initial posting to put the employing broker’s name, there can be a “one-click” to that listing that does include the employing broker’s name.
Websites
When the statutes and the rules for advertising were written, there weren’t many websites. Michelle and I declared, on behalf of who we represent, that the website must have:
The employing broker’s name clear and prominent at the top of the page, not just the homepage, but every subsequent page on the website after the homepage.
Clear & Prominent
Clear and prominent is very hard to define, but I can tell you what it’s not:
It’s not the company logo in the bottom right hand corner and you need a magnifying glass to see it.
Maybe not quite as prominent as the real estate licensee’s name, but just about as clear and prominent.
We need the consumer to know what company this individual works for. Where they can pick up the phone and call and talk to a designated broker about their real estate transaction.
Having the name of the employing broker “clear and prominent” on every piece of advertising and marketing is very, very important.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Related article: National Assoc. of REALTORS® Internet Advertising Policy
Tags: ADRE, arizona department of real estate, Judy Lowe, K. Michelle Lind, Lori Doerfler, Michelle Lind, online advertising