We learned a lot from the 400+ IAR members who took our magazine reader survey last month. For one, Facebook leads the way as far as social media tools used by Illinois REALTORS® for their business (66.9%), followed closely by LinkedIn (58.6%).

Still, most (77.6%) IAR members who took the survey have yet to “like” us on the official Illinois Association of REALTORS® Facebook page. (Today we’re at 2,911 likes. After reading this post, log on to Facebook and help us get to 3,000!)

The top action readers take when reading Illinois REALTOR® magazine is applying ideas from an article to their business, and that’s great because that’s the goal of the publication. Several members said they use information from the magazine in their sales meetings or share articles with their clients.

Most (58.4%) prefer to receive the magazine in print but we anticipate that as more REALTORS® go mobile (42.1% still use a mobile phone with no e-mail or Internet for the tried-and-true basics of calling and staying in touch with clients), more will access IAR resources in a digital format.

Since the fall of 2009 IAR has offered print, digital “flip” and online versions of the magazine. New in 2011 is the Illinois REALTOR® Digital Extra, which only comes in a digital format as a way to give IAR members more hot topics and business tips between quarterly magazines, plus informative videos from the Illinois REALTOR® YouTube channel.

In this survey, the iPhone ranked #1 (28.0%) among mobile devices used by Illinois REALTORS®, followed by BlackBerry (22.5%) and Android (21.2%). Just 8.0% of members surveyed use the iPad for business.

We always want to hear from readers! Tell us what you think or share a good story idea for the magazine at [email protected].