Rebecca- I think what you said... when it takes away from your handling other areas of your business or your family, or your health, that might be considered too much.
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It's hard to say how much is too much, I guess it depends on how much you have time for. I know that is can eat up a whole day if you let it.
Rebecca~ you have nailed it to the floor perfectly.. I don't pay much attention to the negative press blogging gets, I care WAY more about the results of my blogging... You explain exactly the beneficial reasons why we are here, social media done right is the best thing for our business
SUGGESTED in a big way!
William, It's critical that how and how often you communicate with clients is established early in the relationship. Thank you for stopping by.
Kathy, Thank you for the feature! We do need to be mindful of balance between all our obligations. Thank you for stopping by.
Donny, It can be tempting to follow the rabbit down the hole. Deciding not to is important up front. Thank you for your comment!
Hi Jon, Thank you for the suggest. As you point out, we need to keep it in perspective and use social media correctly.
There are so many vehicles for us to share our message these days. As long as we get the message out there in some way, that is key. It amazes me how many real estate professionals do nothing except wait for referrals and they seem to get by.
Rebecca: I see a wide contrast in advice regarding this. From one extreme to another. I try to keep track, reply, and comment to keep a fresh dialogue going and up-to-date info flowing. I add, as time allows. Not sure how anyone could possibly keep up with all the venues available!
Gene
I do not believe in any form of trashing our industry. I believe we can have intelligent disagreements like with the Agent match experiment but we should not go out of our way to look for that which we can trash. In reference to too much content I would only say that blogging just to get something out there is not going to help you. I would rather see 3 great posts versus 6 mediocre ones. The other rule I follow is that you don't have to be everywhere all the time. What works for me may not work for someone else. Stay with you strengths and dominate.
Belinda, I agree - we need to get the message out to consumers. With so many choices, we need to use the one(s) we're most effective with. Thank you for your comment!
Gene, I don't pretend to keep with all the social media and I don't blog every day. I publish content when I'm inspired to share something. Perhaps because of a client inquiry or a general observation. Like you, it depends on available time and priorities. Thank you for stopping by to comment!
Joe, You make excellent points! Each of us has a strength and we should use those gifts to educate consumers on the industry. What may not seem like a hot topic could be just the one someone needs. Thank you for your comment.
Hi Rebecca - good topic. There was much discussion today(on AR and in other places) that there was some anxiety when the ActiveRain curtain went down(or up) early this morning putting many early morning participants more than a bit out-of-sorts. Too much social media? I'm not sure -- life really is about balance and I guess social media is too.
That is really smart to blog for some local online papers. I recently started doing that for The Patch. I should actually see if it's possible to do for some other local places. Thx for the inspiration.
Another thing to consider is also consistency. If you miss posting at regular days or times that you always do, you'll end up losing followers you currently have, which is the most terrible thing that could happen.
Rebecca , love what you're doing with you advice column for the newspaper ! It's a clear difference maker !
Your newspaper column sounds like a wonderful source of new business. As for social media, sometimes it really is too much.
I think the biggest thing about social media is to be consistent. Whether you post something daily, every other day, or weekly, be consistent.
One of the things that annoys me about social media is people think they have to be on every platform so they cross post everything but don't monitor 75% of the places they cross post too. Any interaction goes unnoticed on those platforms.
Before you begin the hunt and peck, a plan on what to post now that builds on the other previous posts is smart. So you feed the topics, revisit and amplify to become more and more a local authority on a subject. And done daily so new, fresh, helpful gains the following that grows. If there is no beef, you are wasting your time and must going through the motions.
Regulating the social activities of a person seems unnecessary. You either like people and all it entails and move toward that in a subjective creative way or you don't...Liking what you are doing helps quite a bit too
Rebecca, the objective for blogging is to get information out to the consumer. As long as people are reading it, it can't be over done. Good luck with the newspaper blogging.
Good post, and your Real Estate Round-up is excellent. Providing useful and timely information is what is essential in blogging. I'm just starting out and I am very excited about bthe whole process.
You know it's too much when you are posting every single little thing you do throughout the day that nobody really gives a damn about. And yes, a lot of people do that.
Our local paper has began dedicating a whole page in their print version to online blogs by their readers on a variety subjects...they keep expanding on that concept so there is certainly something to the idea.
Good work, Rebecca. Social media, like Active Rain, needs to be kept in check or it can overshadow other important aspects of our business and our lives.
Good thinking and good post Rebecca, social media has it's place but sometimes it is just TMI-valuable information is important but rants and data are overload and personally, a waste of time to wade through in order to find the gem.
I agree - everything in moderation. Blog your little heart out - but some of this social media stuff gets out of control..
Rebecca, I'm not one to spend much time with social media. I have a plan to do so but it just is not something I am highly inspired to do. Keep getting the word out ... consumers need to good information so they can make informed decisions.
If you get measurable, quantifiable results out of social media, then it's worthwhile. If not, you could be spending that time prospecting and selling.
Thank you everyone for stopping by to comment. I wish each of you much success in sharing information with consumers who depend on all of us to be a great resource. Happy blogging!
I don't spend a lot of time on social media. Know agents that do. Think posting your every move is not the answer.
WOW! Congratulations Rebecca. Thats great that you are writing for your local newspaper. Hope it is helping you generate some buyer and seller leads. Have a greatr weekend. Take care.
Rebecca, this was an interesting post. I like your idea of blogging for the newspaper very much! Thank you for the excellent idea!
Rebecca, I think blogging for your local newspaper is great. And there is a balance that has to be struck between spending time on social media and prospecting for clients.
Rebecca: Time management is important in my world. During the first 2 months of this year, I spent much time networking one-on-one which really worked for me and which I plan to continue all this year. This does not leave a lot of time for social media outside of AR. I'll try to incorporate more, but there just aren't enough hours.
A good question Rebecca, I think that short easy to write, easy to read entertaining info should be shared daily, anything less and we lose momentum, and our readers fail to check in daily, and often forget to come back.
Rebecca... Great post and wonderful comments... I think agents need to be embrace Social Media which a lot of agents are not doing and I think agents must continue to do the most productive thing with their time... I like Bob's advise... short easy to read informative daily... Happy Day
Dear Rebecca,
Lots of good feedback on a wonderful post!
Have a successful day-
Lynn
Super article, Rebecca. I agree w/ your points about balance. That's great you are blogging for your local paper. I've been doing that for The Patch. I wish I could figure out how to do in one more local online paper.
WEll, even for texting and Emailing, I am getting a few more clients that prefer to talk directly with meand that is just fine with me.
WE are way overboard on social media.