Real estate is a numbers game. Take that how you will, but in some way it's true. But what numbers are we looking at? I think when it comes to social media, the focus is being placed on the wrong numbers.
I'm not impressed by the real estate agent with 5400 followers on Twitter. I don't care how many friends you have on Facebook or how many connections you've made on LinkedIn. I mean I really don't care. There's not a number you can toss at me that will impress me.
Social media is about meeting people whom you otherwise would not have met. And when I say "meeting" I don't mean online. I mean in person. Did you hear that gasp too? How many people have you met IN PERSON as a direct result of your social media efforts that you wouldn't have otherwise met? That's a number that means a little bit to me.
Real estate is like baseball, we have statistics for everything, and 73% of those statistics are meaningless to 47% of the real estate agents who use them. But, it's a numbers game so we use statistics. How many people that you met in person did you help buy or sell a house? That's a number that means even more to me than how many people you met.
Now for the real number, the one that actually matters. Say what you will about me being shallow, but the number I want to see is how much profit have you made from your social media efforts? Take the money that you've earned from selling real estate to people whom you met via social media, subtract however much money you spent to pay the guru who told you he would make you a Twitter superstar, and that's the number I care about.
I'm in business to make a profit. That doesn't mean it's my only goal or I'll sacrifice anything to make the almighty dollar, but if I don't make a profit my family will starve. Actually, I'll starve 'cause my family will most likely leave me and I'll be left to feed myself on my 5400 Twitter followers. I like the warm and fuzzies of real estate (really I do...7 of the 11 families at my daughter's birthday party on Saturday were clients of mine), but profit is the only number that really matters. I can tell you how many Twitter followers, Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections I have, but that doesn't mean a thing. I can tell you how many clients have become friends and came to my daughter's birthday, and that means something. Or I can show you how much profit I've made, and that is what determines how successful of a real estate businessman I am.
What numbers are you tracking? What numbers are you chasing? How's it working for you?
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