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Rob Hahn from 7DS and Associate and Tom Ferry of YourCoach discuss social media.

First of all, although Rob starts being facetious here, some of the points he makes, he’s quite serious about. So let’s tackle some of them:
1) Why do “none” of the top 10% of Realtors in the MLS not engage in social media? Well I would suggest that first of all a very small percentage on a whole of all Realtors engage in regular social media usage. Second, a big issue is that these Realtors can sit back and be fairly complacent with their current practices and know they have checks coming in… They don’t need to embrace social media as either a lead generation or branding play. I would suggest that it’s Realtors that are looking to get to be top that are in the trenches of social media and the ones using it effectively. A great point Rob made here was that “what’s your time worth?” The top agents just don’t want to spend the time. Again Rob correctly points out that you can’t pay someone on your team to tweet for you. Unfortunately, many of top professionals attempt this only to lose all credibility.

2) “Social Media is new media” that should be treated like a marketing campaign. It’s a way to reach more people and lower costs. Although I tend to agree that social media CAN be used like the farming postcard campaigns of old, its not necessarily a given. You don’t have to hyperlocate your tweets. I think that you can easily brand yourself for your entire area and beyond as an intelligent Realtor. Using the farming method for tweeting and social media interaction is probably the closest you will get lead generation. But social media is much more about interactions. It’s about creating relationships. No print campaign can create a relationship. Social Media is so much more than just a postcard campaign.

3) Apple has no social media, so social media isn’t always necessary. Tom Ferry makes a good point here. Apple has a $400million ad budget. They don’t need social media. Much like in #1 how top Realtors don’t need social media, big brands don’t need it either. However, Apple does have some social media interaction. They do have at least two Facebook pages, one for Students for Macs and one for iTunes. Both offer free music downloads, and push current discounts for Mac products. Furthermore, Apple uses its standoff nature in it’s marketing. That’s part of their game. There is a reason they don’t release any information about products early. It’s how they build hype. They keep things close to the chest. It works for them, it doesn’t work for everyone. Realtors can’t do big announcements of new listings that everyone will fawn over.

4) Agents shouldn’t brand the broker on Facebook. This concept goes directly to one of our core beliefs at Tribus. The balance has shifted DRAMATICALLY towards agents having too much power. When agents can put out ads like these brokers need to start taking control.  Consumers think less of those major brands because of the ads that the agents put out.  Just like with print ads, someone in a brokerage should at least be monitoring the brand and ensuring it’s proper usage in ads like on facebook.

What do you think of each’s arguments?

-I preface this post by suggesting that there is NO specific rules about social media and what you can do.  It SHOULD be free and an open conversation, not something that is forced.  You shouldn’t take the information below to be an exact program for what you need to do.  I suggest this only as a way to begin in social media.  You’ll find that after you get into it, it will ingrained into your daily life.

We do social media trainings around the country offering Realtors a glimpse at how it can expand their long term business.  I’ve been to numerous other sessions offered by qualified social media trainers in real estate and I converse with them about what is the number one push back on using social media.  Without a doubt it’s “where do I find the time?”

If you had a TV during the 90s you no undoubtedly remember “8 minute Abs.”  It was a video sensation.  You could have six pack abs in just 8 minutes a day!

However the concept in the video offers nothing different than what we all know.  Crunches and situps leads to tightened abs.  The real sensation of this video is that it made this easier to achieve for most people by convincing them to do it each day.  Who can’t find 8 minutes in their day to achieve something they really wanted?  They started the routine and stuck with it because it didn’t seem as daunting as dressing up for a workout in a public place, driving there, waiting for machines, etc.  It really was just 8 minutes that could be done whenever there was free time.

The question is are you as serious about increasing your online branding and potential long term business by devoting just 8 minutes a day?  I’ve been working on this concept over the past few weeks and am convinced it’s not only feasible but very doable.

There are a million scenarios of how you can use your 8 minutes, but I will focus on what I believe to be the two most powerful social media networks for Realtors: Facebook and Twitter.  (We’ll do another post soon on who to follow on Twitter, this is an important aspect.  Many Realtors spend their time following other Realtors on Twitter.  For long term strategy it would be much better if they actively sought out people in their area to follow.)

(It is best to try and break up your 8 minutes into two chunks, one around lunch, one in the evening.  But the tasks to do are the same….)  Each task can be completed in 1-2 minutes.  Where people spend a lot of their time in social media jumping from person to person trying to find anything of value.  When time is a major issue it’s much easier to just look for the tidbits and if you find nothing to move on…
1) I would start with Facebook by logging in and looking at your news feed (the main portion of the site when you login).  Take a quick glance through to see if there are any photos or items that are of particular interest to you.  If so comment on them not just with “nice photo” but with something meaningful.

2) Take a few moments to look through some of your close friends’ pages to see if there is anything you missed throughout the day. Try to pick different people different days.  Obviously you’ll have a mix of friends that are ultra-social on Facebook and those that rarely update their pages.

3) Login to Twitter and immediately check your @Replies and DMs respond to them immediately if necessary.

4) Look through your current stream of commentary and see if anything is of interest to you and if so @Reply them.

5) Post a message or link to an article that you were interested in throughout the day.

Things to remember

-  Try to post at least one item every 5-7 days that without selling reminds people you are a Realtor.  A really amazing deal… Market stats that show something you wouldn’t expect… a VERY high priced listing… a message saying your excitement at closing a deal today… etc.   The most important aspect here is that these sorts of message should encompass no more than 10-20% of your total feed.

- People don’t go to social media sites to buy houses.  They go there to strengthen previous relationships and build new ones.  You’re goal is to interact.

- Over time you should try to expand your social media usage to be something you do in lots of little spurts throughout the day.  For example if I’m waiting in line chances are I’m on Twitter or checking Facebook.  It’s a way to stay connected without taking up time I should be doing something else.  What else do I have better to do while waiting for food at a restaurant?  This involves getting social media apps on your cell phone.