Still Singing in the Rain - A Counterpoint

Still Singing in the Rain - A Counterpoint

I always love reading Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL's blogs. He's full of wisdom and curiosity, always giving his readers something to ponder. Last month, I read a post that Jon wrote, "Do You Hear the Song?" and began to write an answer in response...that well, turned into this post! Many of you know that I'm 'famous' for my verbose responses around the Rain - I simply can't stop at just one thought - I must give mutiple options/opinions! LOL

So, here's my counter-point to Jon's post (linked above)

I believe ActiveRain has 'risen to the occasion' with regards to doing what its founders set out to do but, perhaps has lost a bit of luster for some with the onslaught of social media. When agents who are too busy selling to 'play in the Rain' can simply log onto social media (let's say Facebook) where the vast majority of their clients are, WHY WOULDN'T THEY?  Social media is a 'free' billboard that is difficult to resist. Who can look the other way when communication is so instantaneous? Social media provides a means for us to reach out to our family, friends AND sphere and have a conversation with them...about life, real estate or whatever they want to discuss.

Do top producing agents blog? YES. Do top producers work their social media accounts? Not just yes, but, HELL YES! I am proudly in the top 1% of agents in my market of over 11,800 agents so, I know this to be true! I also know that I am not an anomoly - others do it in many areas across the nation and beyond; I see them doing it day after day. 

Blogging is simply not for everybody - it's something that can seem overwhelming to many and it's always been that way. Unless you carve out time for it, you don't feel that you can do it all. Why blog when your sphere/clients/prospects are right in front of you on Facebook? That's their mentality.

For me, I love blogging - it's therapeutic for me and it's the community that taught me so much about this business...and about social media. If you've been around the Rain as long as I have, you remember the days that Facebook began - in fact, we learned how to set up our FB profiles - right here, in the Rain. We learned how to create and name our Facebook business pages. We learned how to set up the newest 'hot' (at the time) social media craze - Twitter - and we learned how to use it, also, as we did LinkedIn, right here on ActiveRain.

Granted the community is a bit smaller; however, we remain a helpful, caring community that seeks out others who share our passion for giving to others. We get that exuberant feeling when we have a seller who is moving to an area where we have known someone from AR for years, can recommend them to our clients and KNOW that they are in the best of hands as they move into the next chapter of their lives.

We call, text or email one another when someone needs our help, whether professionally or within our scope of knowledge in our business. We pose questions - some just for the fun of it and some real-issue questions - and we respond with our opinions, sharing our experience along the way. All of this, in the hopes that we answer their questions and get them the help that they were seeking.

Do we market here? Well, yes! We share our neighborhood knowledge, our personal experiences, our listings and our market reports. We ARE here to market ourselves and as I recall, my very first post (way back in the beginning) was a neighborhood post. I hoped that everyone who searched online would find me and call ME about that neighborhood. I hoped that my inbox would be flooded with requests to show them that first community or to list their homes within that community. That didn't happen and it didn't happen for many months but, the quest was there and it was there with each subsequent post.

Because the powers-that-be are invested in other things, just as we are invested in other venues (FB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest...), the 'parenting' days are over, essentially. We are now the 'big boys and girls' that can steer this boat in any direction we want it to go - as long as we do so by the standards the founders set forth for us, here in the Rain!  Like parents who have a goal to empower their children as they become adults, ActiveRain has helped us get to where we are today in our businesses. And, if nothing else, it's given us an outlet to share, learn, care and exchange referrals as well as market ourselves in our respective markets. 

We know what to do now - let's share what we know with our new members and welcome them with open arms like the big brothers & sisters that we are! Don't be saddened by thoughts of the 'way it used to be' - be thrilled to be where you are today and excited about what tomorrow will bring.

© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | CharlotteBroker@icloud.com | Still Singing in the Rain - A Counterpoint