It all begin when I learned how to blog here at Active Rain. That was in 2007. I was new to Real Estate and I had no idea how big or how far blogging could take a person.
In 2009, a new restaurant had come to Owasso called El Fogon, which means “The Fire.” Now, I love Mexican food and I loved that this particular restaurant was family owned with everything being made fresh in the kitchen daily. And I loved their story. They moved to Owasso from California after a client had told them about our amazing town.
So I went and interviewed the owner and his wife. I took pictures of the restaurant, which they renovated themselves. And then I wrote my blog, which you can read by clicking the link.
Welcome to El Fogon, an Amazing Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Owasso, Oklahoma
After I wrote that blog, I didn’t get a single comment. I was bummed. But I had posted it here at Active Rain as well as on my outside blog through Active Rain. And it began to get traction. Eventually, I was called by a local newspaper photographer asking if they could use the picture from my blog in a piece they were writing. So of course, I obliged.
Today, if you Google “El Fogon Owasso,” you’ll find the yelp page, the Facebook page, a trip advisor page and lots of other pages. This is because the restaurant has become very popular. They’ve received lots of write ups in the paper and professional food people come and take pictures of the amazing food.
My blog pops up on page three, which is pretty insignificant these days. We all know you have to be on page one and that people don’t go back three pages anymore right? However, if someone does a Google search for “El Fogon Owasso” guess what comes up in the first couple of spots? Yep, my pictures from my blog from 2009. There are other pictures, but mine still rank at the top.
Now the reason this is a success story is not because I wrote a blog that used to rank. And really, it’s not a success story because my pictures still rank in the first couple of pictures. It’s a success story because I have continued to build on my original blog. Each time I go to the restaurant for lunch or for a team meeting or for any reason at all I post on Facebook that I’m eating at El Fogon. And I post a picture of me at the restaurant. And guess what happens? The comments light up. People interact over the fact that I’m at El Fogon again. I also have an ad on the table top inside the restaurant. In fact, it’s on every table top. And I am the only REALTOR who get’s to be on the tables. Often, people will post that they are eating at El Fogon with Bob Haywood. And they’ll take a picture of themselves with my ad and they’ll tag me in the picture. That’s marketing you can’t pay for right there.
And you can guess where I take people who are moving to Owasso when I’m out showing them houses right? Yep, El Fogon. And why is that? Because after we close the deal, guess who I often run into when I’m there eating? Yep, my clients. And we talk and catch up and it’s awesome.
There is a final reason why this is a success story and that is this. I bring so much business to these nice people that they now talk to me when it comes to real estate. And the cool thing about that is that there are other Real Estate people who eat there too. But I’m the guy. I’ve talked with them about commercial property as well as buying houses.
So there you go. We get tons of success from marketing through Facebook for our friends at El Fogon. And my blog and pictures started the whole thing. If you’re looking for a great way to use social media, partner up your blogs with Facebook, Twitter and other social media sources and watch your business grow!
Oh and by the way, working with local businesses and highlighting places of interest in your community are things that help make you the community expert, which is a part of the whole reason Active Rain got started. To give us a voice in the community. When you talk about your community along with talking about Real Estate, you become much more effective in reaching clients.
Interested in writing about your own social media sucess story? You've still got time!
Go read the original Active Rain blog and contest rules here: We Want To Hear Your Biggest Social Media Success Story
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