Advanced Access Blog

Unless you were living under a rock last year you probably heard the term social media used at some point.  It made a number of lists related to the evolution of real estate in 2008 and has been prominent in almost every business you can think of.  But even though social media has gone mainstream, many of you still aren’t on board.  If you missed last years train, it’s time to hop on board in 2009.

What’s in it for me?

The first thing we need to establish here is that social media is about the conversation and not primarily about the conversion.  Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment, America isn’t buying a lot of homes, however a number of people are still looking.  By getting involved in social media you can add a voice to your business and your community.  By building relationships with other realtors and the general public you are opening yourself up to future ventures, be it referrals or your next real estate transaction.

Where to start?

Niche Communities
By now I’m sure you’ve heard of sites like ActiveRain, Trulia, and Zillow.  If you haven’t now is the time to familiarize yourself.  According to Hitwise Zillow and Trulia were among the 20 most visited real estate websites in November and December of 2008;  both ranking in the top 10 with Zillow coming in at number 3 and Trulia at number 10.  Each community has its own set of features and own advantages.  If you are just starting out in social media these are probably the best places to test the waters since you will be familiar with the audience.

• ActiveRain – ActiveRain isn’t new to the real estate technology crowd and in 2006 they launched the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free social network and marketing platform for real estate professionals. This network helps agents to create business relationships both within the industry and with the consumer by providing blogging, groups, agent profiles, and even referral capabilities.
• Zillow – Formed in 2005, Zillow has become one of the top real estate websites on the internet.  The site was developed to provide consumers with a resource of tools and information once available only to realtors.  Today agents can list their listings on Zillow and aid buyers and sellers with their questions using Zillow Advice.
• Trulia – Mixing many of the features found in ActiveRain and Zillow, Trulia offers a place for both agents and consumers to interact.  Agents can get their homes listed on Trulia, interact with other agents in the Agent2Agent section and offer advice to both realtors and consumers in the Trulia voices platform.

General Social Media
Though not niche specific, there are still a number of social media websites and tools to help you get into the social realm.  Again each has their own advantages, though in this case each site is very unique in how you interact with other realtors and consumers.

• Facebook – With over 150,000,000 active users, Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networks on the internet with a growth rate in the U.S. averaged 3.8% per month over the last year.  The growth of Facebook has lead it away from just college students and has opened it up to businesses and individuals alike.
• LinkedIn – Founded in 2002, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site.  Again more focused on the business end of social media it is a great way to connect with other realtors and consumers through groups, LinkedIn Answers, and  personal profiles, which opens you up to leads, business relationships and outsourcing opportunities.
• Twitter – With a reported growth of 752%, for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December 2008, Twitter was one of the most talked about startups of last year and shows no signs of slowing down.  Twitter allows you to stay connected through microblogging where you communicate with others or talk about what you are doing in 140 characters or less.

I Get The What and Where, But How?

Start simple!  The one thing about social media is that it can easily consume a lot of your time.  I personally belong to over 20 social websites and am fairly active on each of them, but I didn’t do it all overnight.  If you’re new to social media start slow and build 1 profile at a time.  More importantly if you start a profile do so with the intentions of finishing it.  This means have a brief bio and picture ready to post on the site.  Remember to keep the bio original, even though you may want to talk about the same things you don’t want to look automated.

Social media is just that, it’s social.  If you aren’t giving people a face and an idea of who you are no one is going to want to interact with you.  Give people at least SOMETHING to work with and be sure to put a link to your real estate website or blog in any profile that will let you.  This gives potential friends and followers just one more idea of who you are and what you do.

Once you’ve set up your account explore the community a little.  Again each of these social networks has different features and work in different ways.  Observe the community and get a feel for the conversation, the tone, the kinds of comments and questions being passed around.  Take the time to get a better perspective of how the community works before you dive in with your own thoughts, ideas, and insight.

Once you have a feeling for the culture of whatever social network you’ve decided to join ease your way in and start interacting with other users.  Remember you are here to build relationships; never advertise your business on social media websites.  Contribute; get involved in the conversation and add some value to the community.  You can provide your websites and business information in the areas provided to you on that particular site, but don’t spend your time on social sites selling yourself.  If you interact with your community and assist people by answering questions to their problems or engaging in conversation people will come to you.

Still not sure about the social media thing?  If time management is a concern the real estate technology site MyTechOpinion did a great post on how to Organize Chaos with The Real Estate Tweet Plan, but it could be applied to essentially any website you join.  You can also connect with Advanced Access and we’ll help you get the ball rollin’.

• Advanced Access on ActiveRain
• Advanced Access on Facebook
• Advanced Access on Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Real Estate 'Biz', Social Media, Weekly Marketing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.