09/13/2013
It's time to speak of the Social Media Elephant in the room and boy I'm fired up about it!
Everyday I hear more and more Real Estate agents talking about the ins and outs of Social Media. We've all learned the lingo and I hear the same one-liners being echoed over and over. While we're worrying about business vs. personal pages, if we should or shouldn't post a new listing, or how many times a week we should post, agents are missing millions of people having great conversations and being well...Social.
Social media became successful for one reason ...It's an amazing way to communicate. It brings importance to your day-to-day activities and allows you to share your thoughts like never before. Somewhere down the line Social Media became a business. Any time someone can profit from an idea you better believe a million "new ways" will surface. Most of these opinions are offered from people that are really good at telling people how good they are at Social Media. Now before you get upset at me, there are individuals I respect and learn from when it comes to Social Media.
"Social Boom" by Jeffrey Gitomer is a great book. If you haven't read it you should. What I like about this book is Gitomer is very clear that what he is talking about is BUSINESS Social Media. He writes it over and over throughout the book. He has incredible insight regarding what makes Social Media so important to people and he tells you how use it to build relationships with individuals you would never have the chance to speak with on any other day.
If you'd like to take a great class on Business Social Media you should check out Mike Bianchi who gives SM classes for Berkshire Hathway HomeServices. He teaches a common sense approach to connecting with people.
But that's just it. He's talking about BUSINESS Social Media. I believe it's hard for agents to use Social Media to their advantage because they are bombarded with tips and tricks on how to build their business. While there is a time and place for that (Facebook has an AMAZING AD Feature that allows you to target individuals better than anything we've seen) there is a foundation that must be in place before you can move on. I read in "The Thank You Economy" by Gary Vaynerchuk that, other than technology issues, our grandparents are much better at Social Media then we are. He goes on to explain that it's because our grandparents understand how to be social better than out generation because the communities back then were in contact with each other more often.
I'd like to use this moment to introduce the idea that we just need to get back to being social again.
It's interesting to me that I hear comments like "No one cares what you had for breakfast" or "Who cares that your dog did something cute". That's the excuse people use when they're not sure what to post on Facebook or Twitter, or, maybe they just feel smart by repeating something they've heard. The truth is EVERYONE CARES! That's why they are in your friends list. A great example of this is Giambarba. Andrew is amazing at building business and has had many successful ventures in his lifetime. He is an individual we can all learn from. On any given night, if you go to Andrew's page, you're likely to find his latest creation in the kitchen and people EAT it up...excuse the pun. You know why? Because it's who Andrew is. People care what he had for dinner because that's part of his charm. It's not my charm. Honestly I really don't think anyone cares that I had a hamburger for dinner because the process of creating great food is not part of who I am. Which leads to my final thought...BE AUTHENTIC.
Your friends and family want nothing more than to communicate and connect with you. Social Media allows us all to do that. BE SOCIAL, BE AUTHENTIC, and stop trying to figure out how to sell your house to people you found during a facebook search that you don't know. Connect with people and your business will grow. People do business with people they like. It really can't get much simpler than that.
Right now I'd like you to go to your page and write one thing you are truly thankful for. One good thing that happened today. Watch the responses pour in. Congratulations, you just succeeded at Social Media. - Josh Lamb
