Today The Talon Group hosted a 2 hour class on social media featuring a panel of two local real estate professionals: Jim Reppond of Coldwell Banker Bank, a Seattle area real estate agent who is an expert in video marketing, Facebook, BizNik (I could go on and on...) and your's truly.
I only had time to jot down a few notes that were mostly points I was hoping to make or points that struck me as interesting. Here's a bit of my rough notes:
The lines between personal and professional social media's are blurring. However with that said, I think it's important to have professional and personal sites. Facebook is a great example of where you can have a profile which is more casual (which I use for more personal and all types of people can find me) and a professional proflie (aka a "page") which is all business.
Real estate and mortgage are "personal". A representative from Biznik suggested the use of virtual assistants (off shore!) to help update and keep track of your various social media's (if I understood her correctly). I don't agree with this. If you're using social medias to attract new clients and contacts, the people you attract will not be attracted to you since you're not the one who's creating the content you're putting out in the internet. They're attracted to your virtual assistant! You stand to have some disconnect between your potential client and you if you are hiring someone to be you in the social internet world.
If you do not have time to be engaged in all the various forms of social media (and there are TOO many) pick a few to start with and go slow. Jim and I both picked Facebook and Twitter as our top two choices of "non-blog" social media platforms. However one of the class participants swears by LinkedIn--there is no wrong or right social media. You should check them out and see which formats are most comfortable for you--it's like buying a new pair of shoes--you want a good fit or you won't use it.
Be careful not to fall into a social blogging buddy trap. This can be a time sucker. Bloggers are friendly people and they'll all want to "friend you'. It's not important how many "friends" or "followers" you have. What counts is the quality of your friends and followers.
Go slow, have fun...be patient.
Stumble It!
