Social Media and the Great Personal Uploading
Hmmm.......the emperor is naked. We are a group of self absorbed folks. We have Active Rain and Facebook and we pontificate. We blog, therefore what we have to share and say must matter?
I am re-blogging this because Paul has put his finger on what I consider to be a truth. Yes you can develop a following, and you can get business by blogging. You can also get business by knocking on doors every weekend. You can get business by cold calling everyone that is not on the do not call list. You can get business by sitting at your desk. You can get business by accident.
There is little relationship between happenstance and causation. A good friend once told the story about the guy that traveled from town to town curing the common cold. He would advise the sufferer to tie a chicken in a bag and swing it over his head. The cold would disappear in 7 days.
Most colds disappear in 7 days. They disappear with or without the chicken. So, blogging is a lot like that...don't confuse the results with the method. You just might be swinging a chicken in a bag over your head.
We REALTORS are a narcissistic bunch. A revelation, I know. From the bus stop advertising that depicts an attentive agent fielding calls on a pink cell phone to the glamor shot of an agent with his toy poodles on a "For Sale" sign in front of an overshadowed house, the marketing realm is littered with examples of self-promotional prowess. No one sells self like a house peddler.
Enter the explosion of blogging and social media.
What other profession would employ the usage of such tools to the extent that we do? What other professional would flog a keyboard on a semi-weekly basis secure in the knowledge that the consumptive public was hanging on every innermost, poorly conjugated thought?
Yes, the posting of fresh content keeps the attention of the search engines, and drives more eyes to our websites. Our respective blogrolls serve as a running commentary on how we approach business and market our properties: an ever-growing resume for prospective employers, if you will. We provide handy tips and the latest market news from our primary coverage areas. All sandwiched around odes to our pet bunny rabbits. And journals of our kids' kindergarten adventures. Speaking of sandwiches, don't forget our series devoted to the amateur critiquing of local eateries.
Where are the insurance agents? Where are the divorce attorneys? Where are all of the professionals that are not in some way affiliated with the Real Estate industry?
Consumers do not think about us except when they need something from us, and yet we continue to pour our hearts and souls into these virtual diaries under the misguided assumption that the public actually cares. When someone needs a hammer, they shop for a hammer. When someone needs a house, they shop for a house.
The guy with the hammers is satisfied with the sale. The guy with the houses seeks a relationship. The self-indulgent assumption on the part of the latter is that the purchase of a home is such a momentous milestone in one's life that any old professional just won't do. Surely, an eager home buyer won't just call the number in a random property ad, right? He will want an experienced champion of unassailable virtue and expertise to don armor and joust with sellers on his behalf. He will want to know what his fledgling hero thinks of the current state of the market. He will want to know where his knight in Real Estate armor is ... eating lunch?
We kid ourselves into thinking the social media craze is some new manifest destiny. It is merely an extension of one's own indulgence. As we agents tend to sell the amalgamation of our entire being as much as an actual service, it follows that we continue to pioneer new avenues of conceit.
Yes, I sell houses, but Internet 2.0 protocol mandates that I don't simply advertise my wares. You must know what I thought of the latest Harry Potter installment, and where to take the kids to cool down on those hot summer days. Surely the general public will not do business with someone until they learn his political and religious leanings, just as no one would think to employ a member of the service industry before reading up on his family trip to the Poconos.
Don't think my commentary on the absurdity of it all precludes me from being a willing participant in the shared delusion. I will continue to unravel my own personal onion until there is nothing left. No mystery left to discover. No unique perspective left to impart. Only through full assimilation into the collective virtual mainframe does one realize his true social media potential.
Consider it Wikipedia for egomaniacs.
So while there are plenty of homes for sale on my website, I urge you, the reader, to keep following this blog. I have opinions about the career arc of Scott Baio that you need to know before determining whether I am the REALTOR for you.
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