Social Media Real Estate Marketing

I love marketing...I love it because it is ever changing and now more than ever the face of marketing is in tremendous flux right now. For the moment, I just want to discuss social marketing. This relatively new aspect of marketing is fascinating and it puts many smaller organizations and individuals on an even playing field with even the biggest players.

As real estate professionals, one of the hardest things to do is to be "found." I don't have official research in front of me at the moment, but I know a lot of folks these days turn to the internet to find a home. This is a great advantage in a social networking environment, because these social networks exist on the internet.

Let's be clear about a couple of things. First of all, you are not going to get rich quick on the internet, I don't care what anyone says...it isn't going to happen, so get the idea out of your head. Social marketing takes time, energy, consistency and a plan. If you aren't willing to invest in all of those basic elements, don't waste your time.

The amount of each of the critical elements is totally up to you as well. You don't have to do it every day, you can do it at just about any pace, but make sure you do pace yourself. If your frequency is once a week, then make it a habit. One of the neat things about social marketing is that the credentials you are building by being on line and networking within your industry or specialty is that the conversations and threads lead to the most amazing places and introductions.

I will also tell you this from experience...If your only goal is to get people to do business with you and all you are doing is advertising...go away, please go away. If you don't have some useful advice or something that helps people other than yourself, don't waste your time. Remind yourself why the internet is so popular and prosperous...Information at your fingertips. I am pretty sure that nobody is going to wake up in the morning and say to themselves, "Hey! I need to google Susie Real Estate Investor and see if she can help me out." More than likely someone will wake up and say "Hey, I really need to find a good deal on a lease option because my credit is toast!" That person will probably look for articles or posts about lease options or alternative home buying solutions. When they see your name attached to a HELPFUL article or conversation...you have branding!

The more you post, the more that threads get out there. It doesn't hurt to promote yourself a little, but keep it to a minimum, we all get it, you are an expert and you would like to earn as much business as possible. We make that assumption because you are networking in the first place.

Next, pick a few social media sites after reviewing them for a couple of weeks and monitoring them. Don't just pick one, and don't pick all of them. Like I said, this is a commitment and nothing will happen if you don't nurture your accounts. Local Real Estate Deals makes use of 6 particular sites.

Blogspot... www.LocalRealEstateDeals.Blogspot.com
www.YouTube.com/LocalRealEstateDeals
www.Twitter.com/LocalREDeals
www.facebook.com/localrealestatedeals#/home.php
http://localrealestatedeals.myplaxo.com/
Linked In

Once you find the ones that are the most applicable, get involved...it doesn't do any good to sit on the sideline and not communicate...this is netwworking after all...Join discussions, ask questions, give answers, join groups, form groups...get the most out of it and make connections. Do it to enhance your knowledge and to be helpful...if you are just looking to sell, sell, sell, you are going to find yourself quite alone.

Social marketing is not the end-all, be-all marketing tool. It is an arrow in your quiver and you still need to have a good product and people skills to make it work. It also needs to be implemented just like any other marketing plan. It should be a part of your business plan, whether you have one or not and should be done methodically. You should also have a way to justify the expense (of your time and energy) to keep it going. If you are not getting results, then why would you keep doing it, right? The key is to engage fully for no less than six months to determine if it is worth moving forward. This goes for any marketing for that matter. Most people fail to give their marketing plan enough time to get off the ground. If you are not going to stay with it for six months, then save yourself the hassle and don't get started in the first place.

That's just a birdseye view of my thought process for the moment. Books could be (and probably are being) written about the subject so I am sure I will have more on this later, so check back every so often for updates. Until then, you are more than welcome to follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/LocalREDeals

Good Luck and God Bless!

Rob