Who OWNS Social Media?

An interesting discussion was started with a few advertising agency creatives on this one.

Who owns Social Media?  If you're a REALTOR, you might say: Facebook. Twitter. Some of us will say; Frank. 

Frank of Frankly Realty.  

He's the guy with the Flip ultra video camera he snaps into his steering wheel, and he calls it: Wheel Estate.  More on Frank later.

Who owns Social Media? Hmmm. Good question. We know that Social Media has impacted our real estate careers. For some of you -- it's left you with less leads than you had a year ago because you sort of scoffed at Twitter and Facebook.  It's been said when it comes to real estate marketing technology, "IF you don't get it... you don't get it."

If I were to rephrase the question and ask you who OWNS Search, what would your answer be?

I spoke to Greg Fox of Realty World Wichita. He said: Google. 

Okay, good answer. And it's probably the right answer, and one that most REALTORS would agree on, too.

Google drives a lot of eyeballs and a lot of leads to REALTORS. There's no argument on that statement.

But who owns Print Advertising? Who owns Broadcast?

These questions become harder to answer.

If you ask your local newspaper, they would probably say they down PRINT in your hometown. After all, they print the local newspaper, and the local real estate guide. Broadcast? CNN. ABC. Fox. That's a tough one, too. 

I'm working on a new eBook and audio CD called Embracing the Invisible.

There's still a lot of REALTORS that are not "getting it," when it comes to Social Media -- so because they "don't get it or understand it" they don't use it. Meaning they shy away from learning how to Chirp on Twitter, or how to create an effective Facebook Fan Page.

Slapping your graphics into Facebook isn't rocket science. My 7 year old niece can do that.  People judge books by their covers.  The good looking book cover gets picked up and read.  The dumpy and fat real estate agent loses out to the pretty cute agent when it comes down to the listing presentation.

So it follows, your me-too slapped together Facebook Fan page won't do very much to get your phone ringing if you're pasting in the same graphics from your website to your Facebook page.  

Do you have to learn FBML (Facebook Markup Language) and have dancing graphics, and pie charts flying at your face?  No.

Smart agents realize this and they hire an outside firm to DO that for you.

There's a good firm out there right now that does some impressive things with Facebook. The company is called ZNode. And they came up with a Flash Facebook plug in that will let you PASTE practically anything you want inside your Facebook fan page and make it come alive.

Users can fill out a form or search for homes right now on your Facebook fan page.  It's not a pipe dream. It's reality. 

I doubt most of you have five years of Flash experience -- so the "Do It Yourself," types need to check your attitude and desires for this at the door. Because if it were easy to do what I just described -- then every Facebook fan page would look like a 3D scene from the blockbuster movie, "Avatar." Right now, a lot of Facebook real estate fan pages look no better than the same McWebsites you find with Homes.com, A La Mode or Advanced Access. 

Dull and boring and me too Facebook fan pages are a sure fire recipe for ho-hum leads. 

So if you want the high octane sizzle and some increased leads to your Website -- you need to be looking to hire a few smart firms out there than can help you with this problem.  Znode.com is a company worth looking into. 

 

STEPS to GETTING BETTER on TWITTER and FACEBOOK

1.) if you don't have a Twitter follow me widget on your website -- get one.  It's free.  

2.) Then download any number of the Twitter broadcasting applications and CHIRP to your followers when a handful of homes drop in price.  Or announce "open houses." Or, if there are new Short Sales or Foreclosures in your neighborhood.  YouTube lets you paste in videos of your neighborhoods into your Facebook pages.  Look at Frank from Frankly Realty in Virginia.  Sure, he's a bit awkward with his Wheel Estate video camera. But the guy is brilliant. He went to Amazon and bought a Flip Ultra video camera for $170 bucks and snapped it to a cradle harness on his steering wheel. 

$170 dollars, and he's raking in the leads using Social Media.  Wheel Estate -- not Real Estate.  Funny. Innovative and it works. Frank has to be laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of you are probably thinking of asking your Broker for another Commission Advance. 

REALTORS like Frank know how to take advantage of Social Media. Success leaves clues, remember?  Copy Frank's idea. Try it and see if his success can become your success. Frank might be pissed off if you do this in Virginia. But if you're somewhere else -- why not do it?  You don't have to be the original or the "Real Thing," like Coke to make money.  

Exercise: Call RC Cola. Call Jolt Cola. Call Pepsi. Are they making money selling their knock offs of Coke?  I rest my case.

You don't have to be another lemming or wait to see the herd of cows mooooove over to greener pastures to start learning how to Chirp and how to put your best "face forward" on facebook.

Social Media isn't going away. In fact, 50% or more of your leads might be coming from Facebook, Twitter and Blogs by 2012. It's headed that direction now. Traffic is up on Twitter and Facebook by more than 2017% since March 2009.  

More traffic to your Facebook fan page, and getting more next time home buyer to follow you Twitter will be the result if you dig in now and get started. And that's something to Yahoo! about.  Pun intended.

Learn to earn people. Educate yourself on Social Media now.

 

Bart Wilson | As seen in Business Week

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