Our company, Blogging Systems, attends a great many real estate conferences, conventions, etc. Seems I'm on the road a couple of times per month. We sponsor many such events, Richard speaks on panels, and we normally exhibit in tradeshows associated with the event.
I talk until I'm blue in the face about how, thanks to the Internet (particularly the next generation net, the Web 2.0), marketing has changed. It used to be "I talk and, consumer, you listen." Now, the consumer is using blogs, wikis, forums, social networks, SMS, podcasts and other forms of social media to do the talking themselves. Now, marketing is (or should be), "Consumer, you talk, and I'll listen." Or, at least we better be! And not only should we be listening, we had better be using the same tools the consumer is using to engage them as well.
You guys get that. You understand that it's no longer about broadcasting a one-way message, but engaging consumers in dialogue. But, many Realtors I speak with don't. They still want to stage-manage the message and hold it closely to the vest. They are so worried someone will leave a critical comment, they're not willing to take a closer look or think about the deeper implications.
So what if someone leaves a critical comment. Let me ask you. When, or if, that happens on your own blog do you rush to delete it? Or, do you moderate comments so that they don't appear automatically? Or...do you let the comment live, take it at face value, and respond accordingly with your own comment or subsequent blog post?
Even at this conference (LeadingRE) I've seen opportunities being missed left and right. For example, at Networking Night last evening, a major LeadingRE participant had two very cool booths next to me here in the Expo hall. One used a hockey theme and the other an Oscar theme. They left no stone unturned in terms of theming. Set, lighting, costumes, the works! (Free champagne too.) The Oscar booth even had a 10-foot tall "Oscar" statute.
They were having fun, people were having their photos taken in front of the statute...it was great just to watch. But, because they don't realize the impact blogs can have from a marketing perspective, they missed a wonderful opportunity. They could have taken those photos, uploaded them to a blog, written a fun, creative post or two which could serve as an entre to talking about the services they offer (or not), and created something that would have served to humanize and personalize their company. Are they going to do that? Probably not. What a shame.
Another company here, a vendor, has a nationally syndicated real estate-related TV show. I won't reference the company's name, but the show is totally feel good and has an avid fan base. Are they blogging about it? Are they giving fans the opportunity to interact? Are they creating virtual community to energize and fuel consumer evangelism? Are they even posting clips from the show on YouTube, AOL Video, and other video sharing sites? Nope! Nada! Zip! Zilch! None of the above.
"I talk, you listen" doesn't hold water any longer, not in this era. When will the real estate industry come to that realization? Soon, I hope. One thing you can be sure of...I'll be here on my soapbox ranting and raving about it.
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