We recently asked, Mike Cobb of Colliers International to discuss how he uses social media to expand his presence online.

As an expert in the lease and sale of office, industrial and R&D properties in the San Francisco Peninsula, Mike also shares his thoughts on the outlook of the commercial real estate market in 2011.

How do you use social media to market your services online?

Social media is a great tool for strengthening my brand. I am an established expert within my local market (the SF Peninsula). With the various integrated social media tools that I am using (Twitter, LinkedIn, My Blog), I am able to provide news and, more importantly, commentary on topics that will interest a local audience. I can also deploy my market reports to an audience well beyond my mailing list.

Any insights you can share on using the Real Estate Pro application on LinkedIn?

If someone wants to check up on my professional credentials, they are almost certainly going to go to my LinkedIn profile first—that’s what I do! Having the ability to feature properties that I represent right on my profile page is a great tool.

What social networking platforms do you visit to get the latest news?

Twitter has become a key source of information…I pick the people that I ‘follow’ to cover a wide variety of my professional interests—big-picture market news, Green buildings, local information, maybe a little Cal sports mixed in, too…

What exciting deals have you recently closed?

Well, I recently closed what I believe to be the biggest industrial deal on the Peninsula this year (90,000 sqft in South San Francisco at an AMB-owned property), and I also just handled a 30,000 sqft expansion and renewal in a long-term client’s building in San Carlos. 

What I’m most proud of, though, is the fact that we have recently reached 100% occupancy in the office portion of the Town and Country Village center in Palo Alto. We managed to keep attracting tenants to this project—at very strong rents—even at the worst of this market cycle. I attribute our success to a strong, collaborative relationship with the client, an exceptionally well thought out renovation of the project, and a great marketing team.

What are your thoughts on the outlook of the commercial real estate market in 2011?

I think that it will be an interesting year. Right now, we have this ridiculously bifurcated local market. In the core downtown locations up and down the SF Peninsula, rents are actually higher now than they were before the wheels fell off the financial markets. At the same time, lease rates for the broader markets are just bouncing along the bottom. I don’t think that the growing gap between rents in the top markets and the broader averages is sustainable, and I don’t see Class A office rents going down, either. I expect to see multi-tenant office rents to start tracking up over the next few quarters. I don’t see similar movement coming for big floor plate R&D buildings, though, for at least 18 months—in fact, that submarket may well degrade a bit more.

All of us have that ideal building in mind of where we’d like to locate our business. Could be the location, the character, or the other tenants. Maybe you’ve worked in that building before. Or maybe the office rent is known to be downright cheap. There’s a little known feature on our site called building search that lets you keep tabs on that specific building and check for availability.

Building pages on Rofo help you decide if a space is right for your business. Building pages, such as the Oregon Trail Building below, feature available office spaces for lease within the building, photographs, area maps and a building description.

Start your Building Search today and find the next space for your business.