Social/new media - who's buying/selling real estate

Here' a question - and I will have an answer later in the post - who is buying homes by using social/new media? Is it truly Gen Y or Gen X? Is it only tech-savvy people or, as some say, people buying into the now-mainstream Social Media environ (Social Media now mainstream per Forrester: http://bit.ly/332kHL)?

Is it people who are joining Twitter, or LinkedIn? If so, in order to attract these people, whether professional contacts or more on a personal level - are your posts more personal interaction than business - at least at the start? Do you continue to have conversations with people who have similar interests and passions outside of the world of real estate? It's a good idea to do this - and you may well find that your business prospers because of your involvement in social and new media!

So who is buying and selling? Let's take a look - Our company focuses on the fact that females make up 85% of purchasing decisions that affect the home (http://www.wcr.org/LeadingWomenMay2008/tabid/196/Default.aspx).

In fact, women lead men in their involvement in the social media environs (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080516_580743.htm). Statistics are here at this study by Rapleaf: http://business.rapleaf.com/company_press_2007_11_12.html, including data on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Plaxo (Twitter is not included).

Our opinion is then, that women, often involved in blogging and other social/new media environs, are the ones purchasing homes, sometimes as a result of their involvment.

For the real estate professional, activities like posting listings, driving people to your site, even posting new blog entries is all well and good, but can't substitute for the human aspect of it all. Even the term "personal branding" has a key word that designates what business of today is about - the person; the human, the face behind the words on the screen.

Twitter bud @ChrisBrogan is an adviser to businesses, and his blog frequently stresses the relationship side of bringing social and new media to the enterprise (www.chirsbrogan.com). Chirs avidly pursues more than just the enterprise segment of the Twitter phenomenon. As someone who clearly outlines strategy and tactics for using social and new media for the enterprise, Chris nonetheless never loses sight of the fact that he loves humans and that the love of humans and their interaction is what drives him to huge productivity yet also to being down-to-earth personable with those he meets, online or otherwise. It's a characteristic that can be both innate and learned, and serves him well in his business as well as in making new friends across the globe.

You might want to keep all this in mind as you enter the social media sphere of influence. One thing I know - if you go online to any of these and are pure business with no social interaction, the welcome will be weak. Just like IRL (in real life, not Indy Racing League), relationships are made to be nurtured and fed - and not faked, but very, very real. If your sales strategy is without the human aspect, your entry into social and new media could well falter (or someone may call you out on what feels like "spamming" them). 

The connections I've made online often morph into real-life friendships, with real-life meetups (or "tweetups" when on Twitter), as well as materializing, over time (just like real life) into business opportunities. Nothing better, in my opinion, given today's focus on online interaction, than to meet people in real life that you've met online, especially when those same people are as interested in your success as you are in theirs. Often, it's the helpful atmosphere that prevails. How better to interact with potential clients - who may, as we Realtors like to see happen, also become friends.

Whether it's a relocation lead, a local homebuyer or seller, or helping someone become a bit calmer when buying or selling a home (oh the potential frustrations), there's always the possibility of business flowing your way.