My Social Media HomeFinder.com Makeover

OK, I admit it. The social media component of my business is a complete shambles. There are other parts that could certainly use a bit of touch-up or polish, but social media is the one I'm embarrassed about. And I certainly have no one to blame but myself.

I used to be a complete skeptic. I just didn't get how I could make a presence on FaceBook or similar sites turn into a valuable business resource, and I wasn't motivated enough to actually listen to the few people around me who had figured it out. It didn't make sense, so I wasn't going to waste time with it. I was already pretty busy.

Then I joined ActiveRain and started noticing that a whole bunch of people here - seasoned, smart, successful professionals whose opinions I was learning to respect - obviously believed differently. There was, and is, a lot of discussion about FaceBook, Google+, maybe a bit less on Twitter and LinkedIn. I read some of it, noticed a lot more, and got this sinking feeling that I was missing something important.

So I decided to get with the program. True confession time: I half-assed it. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly, right?

I had a FaceBook page I'd never spent any time with and a handful of "friends", but that was it. So I got a few more friends and put together a pretty basic business page for Mary & Dick. When the timeline upgrade happened, I let it happen without paying much attention. I got a Twitter account, and when Google+ came along, got one of those accounts too, and put up another Mary & Dick business page there. I tweeted, facebooked and google +ed my AR posts, because people said it was important, and that was pretty much my social media strategy.

And I still have that sinking feeling.

There is a difference. I can only fail to notice the obvious for so long. The overwhelming body of evidence, from AR posts and ARU webinars, my IMSD classes, my associates, and many other sources I can no longer ignore, all point to the fact that I'm missing the boat. So I'm going to do something about it.

Here's my plan:

Step 1: Seek expert advice. My friend and associate Chris Hardy had all this figured out a long time ago. Now I'm ready to listen to him, so I'm going to buy him a bunch of beers and pick his brain clean.

Step 2: I'm going to go back through the AR archives and actually read a lot of those posts I passed up when they scrolled by.

Step 3: I'm going to spend some time making my FB timeline look better. Ditto, my FB and Google+ business pages.

Step 4: I'm going to figure out how and why tweeting and sharing my AR (and now Blogger) market report posts help my SEO, so I can do it better. (Gosh, I hope that doesn't mean I have to make them readable and interesting, too).

Step 5: This is the biggie, and it was finally called to my attention forcefully enough for me to understand it - if I don't spend time and effort engaging with others on my social media sites, steps 1-4 are a complete waste of time (well, not having a bunch of beers with Chris - that's never a waste of time). And I have to learn how to engage productively - I'm guessing here, but tweeting "Hey! Do y'all know anyone who wants to buy a house?" is probably not the right approach. Seriously, I need to develop an understanding of how to be on FB, Google+ and Twitter in a way that feels natural but generates a return for the effort. And I might even learn how to have fun doing it, although that could cause some serious problems - fun is time consuming and I'm already having too much fun on AR.

A plan is no good without a commitment - I have that - and a deadline - got one of those, too. Making time for this isn't going to be easy, but I now believe that it will be worth the effort. I'm going to make that effort.

And by the way, if y'all do know anyone who wants to buy a house, please send 'em my way.

Mary & Dick Greenberg Coldwell Banker - Fort Collins 702-A W. Drake Rd. Fort Collins, CO 80526 970-689-4663 www.maryanddick.com