InfiNET Marketing

Help Keep the “Social” in Social Media

How do you like your vegetables – fresh, frozen or canned? Are your social media friends, followers and associates canned or alive?

Converting lookers into prospects and then real estate clients is the goal of all branding and marketing efforts – online and offline. The same principles apply in both arenas and they basically boil down to two activities:

• Givers Gain – This is the motto for Business Networking International (BNI) (www.BNI.com ). We’re big fans of BNI as our participation in our local networking group has resulted in over $250,000 in commissions. What can you do for others – freely, with no strings attached?
• Relationship Building – Relationship, Relationship, Relationship – Take serious note of the “social” in social media.

Wikipedia: Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content”. Social media utilization is believed to be a driving factor in the idea that the current period in time will be defined as the Attention Age.

Social media can be said to have three components:

• Concept (art, information, or meme)
• Media (physical, electronic, or verbal)
• Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print)

The guiding principle in all social media interaction is to engage the other person/s. The biggest mistake (still being made by many) is using social media primarily for broadcast advertising instead of engaging others in real interactions. It’s okay to broadcast a listing, or “I just closed a deal,” – if this is 90% of our content – we have it all backwards.

The purpose of social media is to help develop and nurture relationships – a lot of relationships. If the primary goal set is to amass a huge following and there is no real interest in deepening the contact and relationship – stop reading these posts, you’re wasting valuable time.

Here’s a great example of social media ignorance and “canned friending”:

A friend asked me if I would reach out to an agent and help them with a situation – which I did. Months later this agent joins our office. One day, after a Harper Team meeting, we have some salad and pizza left over, so I cruise the office to see if someone needs some lunch. This agent does, so she gets a free meal. I pass this agent in the hall or office numerous times and always say hello – she rarely responds and never initiates any interaction with me. So far, she has sent me 5 invitations to be her friend on Facebook. What do you think? Is she really looking for friends?

Later on we will specifically address ways to engage people using the 4 social media venues we are discussing in this book and ways to engage them and generate responses from them.

Next Post on Using Social Media to Dominate Your Real Estate Niche Market:

• Social Media Basic Business Principles

(Read the entire series on Niche Marketing in Real Estate)