Does Your Online Presence Mirror Your True Self?

Posted by DotLoop, Where Deals Get Done ™

Often times in television or film, sales people are portrayed as sleazy, conniving and immoral. While these underhanded sales practices are often embellished for dramatic effect, today’s sales practices actually require a great deal of transparency and honesty.

The prevalence of technology has created a virtual world where people willingly reveal information about themselves, inviting others to connect.  Realtors® are among the more prolific social media users, connecting with potential home buyers, sellers and other Realtors® as well.

While social media is spawning a generation of unprecedented openness, many maintain a healthy skepticism of unknown people or companies deciding to connect out of the blue.  Like everything on the Internet, spammers and scammers work to infiltrate people’s accounts in order to obtain valuable information. 

So today’s business professionals have a bit of a dilemma in front of them.  There’s a vast sea of people willing to release personal information, yet reluctantly pursue content of those marketing to them.

Therefore, it’s imperative for all professionals, Realtors® included, to be as transparent in their efforts as possible. With thousands of social media “gurus” out there revealing the “secrets” to success, it’s easy to believe there is hard and fast way to develop a solid online presence. 

Ideally, social media should mirror the way we interact offline.  If we’re all different in real life, aren’t we all different online?  As they say, “different strokes for different folks.”

What’s really important is translating your values in a way that’s easily understood by your online audience.  Therefore, content posted through social media should provide value and trust among prospective clients. 

That’s why vague posts generally arouse suspicion among an online audience.  Most people aren’t going to waste time on a link to “instantly win a free iPad 2” if they simply, “click here.”  While a free iPad 2 sounds wonderful, it also sounds too good to be true. 

Social media is a means of establishing contacts in order to further develop a relationship in person.  Therefore being honest, thorough and conducting yourself as you would in any other setting is a good start to establishing a good online presence.