The newsprint medium in southeastern Wisconsin with the exception of a few specialized monthly publications, has long since disappeared as an option for advertising messages. The local weekly "papers" are now on line sites and the large daily metro paper has significantly reduced circulation.
It became increasingly apparent that social media was the way to reach our intended audience for our listings. Initially it felt like throwing words in the air and hoping they landed 
in the right place...the "touch" we had been used to of the printed word..choosing page position, paying an additional fee for any color used, etc. was gone.
Craig's list became the new "classified section" and ads run there were complimented by Active Rain, Facebook and others and what had appeared to be a mystical sort of "throwing words in the air" .
We were the first Realtors in our market to have taken the CDPE course for short sales. We were graduates of one of the first classes we took in Florida and unthawed our knowledge back in Wisconsin in February. We explained short sales...we marketed our short sale listings and told the Happily Ever After stories of successfully closed sales.
It was if a volcano erupted....Sellers found us (still do), referral sources found us (still do) and Buyers looking for 
short sales found us (still do) . We became the recognized experts in the market ....and credit our social media presence to that recognition.
We continue to build and foster our marketing efforts applying what we have learned works through this initial seeming to throw words into cyberspace...to come back to us as a significant part of a successful marketing plan.
We believe that no one medium is as successful as more than one...Socially speaking, social media is the front and center heart of our successful marketing plans and foundation of our reputation in the profession.
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