social networking: Value of LinkedIn - 02/25/10 11:01 AM
I just started using Lindedin in the past few months. I have found value in the knowledge of the community.  One of my clients sent me a link and suggested I sign up and allow him to give me a recommendation.  This was one of my social media goals this year so I was glad for the nudge.  The first two or three months I just filled out my profile.  Then I began to reach out to others I know and build a small group.
This past month I decided to get on more often and explore.  I joined some groups, and … (11 comments)

social networking: Building Relationships with Social Media - 02/17/10 03:09 AM

When you begin to use social media, it's important that you integrate them into your total business plan.  For example, one of my main marketing approaches is to build relationships.  I mentally reward myself everytime I make a new relationship or deepen ones I already have.  I don't try to sell a house to each one.  I communicate and stay in touch.  I just try to be a good friend. My focus is getting to know my present relationships better over time and to add new friendships along the way.  I don't think of people as money or house sales … (6 comments)

social networking: The 4 Stages of a Typical Twitter User - 05/12/09 08:58 AM
I have received numerous comments on my Twitter posts with Rainers saying "I don't get it", to "I just generated my first Twitter deal!"  Some of you asked me what I get from Twitter.  Today I came across an article by Jason Hiner from a Twitter_Tips tweet that put my personal experience into focus:  Sanity Check: The four stages of a typical Twitter user.  How long you stay in each of these stages varies from user to user.  Where are You?
Stage 1 Confusion and Indignation.  This is certainly where I began.  I logged on and, being obcessive, read every word … (4 comments)

social networking: 2008 Social Media Statistics by New Media Lab - 01/27/09 06:32 AM

The Twitter phenomena is on us!  Thanks to Active Rain blogs from so many of you, I joined this month.  My first impressions are: 
1.  Whee.....    I never saw so much information explode in front of my screen and I only follow 72 people! Imagine the information explosion for guys like our governor Bobby Jindal who follows 3,071 folks.  Or Barak Obama who follows 168,024 folks.
2.  I gathered information and valuable links I never knew I needed like the statistics below from Brian Castillo, a fellow Active Rainer and local Tweeter.
3.  I attended a Tweetup and met some … (3 comments)

social networking: Fifteen Twitter follow dos and don'ts - 01/19/09 05:46 AM
 Fifteen Twitter follow dos and dont's
There are two schools of thought pertaining to who to follow on Twitter. One is what I refer to as the Guy Kawasaki method which says, "forget the influentials," "defocus your efforts," and "get as many followers as you can." It's more of a mass marketing approach.
Up and until Twitter imposed limits on the number of people that I could follow in a given 24-hour period, that's pretty much the school to which I subscribed and just about anyone and everyone qualified (minus the spammers of course).
Since then, I've had to be more … (3 comments)

social networking: Twitter Gone Wild - 12/02/08 02:41 AM
If you are using Twitter, have been wondering about Twitter, reflecting on how Twitter fits with FaceBook & Flicker & other social networking tools, want to get a wealth of links to ways to use Twitter, or wondering if Twitter is a serious business tool, then tune in and listen to one of the recent Rain Raido broadcasts "Twitter Gone Wild".  I hadn't planned to listen today, but got so fascinated, that I stayed for the whole hour!
 
You can also tune in today Dec. 2nd at 1pm CST and learn about "What Is the Future of Lead Generation", a radio … (2 comments)

social networking: Twitter for Business: How Does It Work and What's the Value? Part 1 - 11/12/08 07:58 AM
Nice overview and history.

(First, sorry for my latency in posting of late. Was away with my wife Amie on the trip of a lifetime to NYC! Travels are over; getting back to business.)

One of the questions I'm getting A LOT is "What's up with Twitter?" and "How do I use Twitter for business?" Let me say at the outset it is an amazing app with manifold uses. Companies as large as Dell have created a business model around it and solo entrepreneurs (real estate agents included) are proving its case as another channel for business development.
It's … (0 comments)

social networking: The Social Networking Buzz: Twitter Synchronicity - 10/30/08 05:45 AM
 
Fresh off the buzz of attending my first tweet-up, I noticed a tweet about a blogging class being given the next morning by Missy Caulk, Michigan's own online real estate superstar. Plus special ActiveRain guest Bob Stewart was going to be speaking. This was something not to be missed. The next morning, the room was packed and overflowing. Not only were agents from her company there, but several of us from the Twitterverse were as well, including Edward Vielmetti, a well-known local blogger who 'live-blogged' the session. He had found out about it by reading a tweet just that morning! … (0 comments)

social networking: The Social Networking Buzz: TweetBeeps & Tweet-Ups - 10/30/08 05:45 AM
 
 
Once I mastered the Twitter basics, I set up TweetBeep (kinda like Google alerts) to email me when someone wrote a tweet on something that interested me. For example, any time someone wrote a tweet including the word "Plymouth", I'd get an email. Do you know how many cities are named Plymouth in the world? Lots. Next, I noticed people talking about "tweet-ups". I had no idea what they meant, but had a hunch it might have something to do with getting together. As luck would have it, one of the local agents I was following organized one last week … (0 comments)

social networking: The Social Networking Buzz: Twitterland - 10/30/08 05:43 AM

I signed up for Twitter this Summer after reading about it on ActiveRain. With only 140 characters and chatty conversations between people that seemed to know each other, I totally didn't get it. As part of the social media webinar assignment, our homework was to log in Twitter and get our feet wet. I was ready to dive in. First, here's a quick explanation from CommonCraft:
I started slowly by searching for and following real estate agents (including Missy Caulk from Ann Arbor and Teresa Boardman from St. Paul), real estate techies and local folks. Gradually I started participating by … (0 comments)

social networking: The Social Networking Buzz: Getting Started - 10/30/08 05:42 AM
Where in Baton Rouge are people Twittering?
Last month I signed up for the first Social Media webinar series from the Domus Consulting Group mentioned on the ActiveRain network. I had a website, I'd been blogging over the years, and even had profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn. What I didn't get was how to leverage that presence and take it to the next level...Web 2.0 or social networking. What is social networking? Here's a quick Common Craft video overview:
So the shocking thing I learned in the first class? Email is for people over 30. That made me feel really old. … (0 comments)