I've known this for quite some time. Social media is not a good use of marketing time and money. Social media is what it is, fun socializing time, and some new clients mixed in for good measure. Sure, there is some business to be had, however, the time spent to garner a new client in social media would garner scores of news clients if the efforts were put elsewhere. HubSpot, who generally advocates social media for business, posted an article (Stop Wasting Time With Social Media) the other day providing evidence that for instance, an email contact is worth $948. as compared to a Twitter follower's worth of $3.50 Granted, the article is comparing the value of an email lead against the value of a Twitter follower, however the marketing takeaway is obvious, and to put it in the author's words, "... think of how much time you're allocating to participating in each community, with growing your business in mind..."
Colleen and I will continue our social media presence, however, like a battle ship anchored off shore. If the winds change, we'll be ready, but until then we will continue are efforts in search engine optimization, blogging, etc. How about you?
Social Media is changing how we all do business but exactly how is still an unknown, it is exciting. No one knew what to do with the internet when it first took off and some big mistakes were made. Same with Social Media, Twitter will be brilliant or stupid and we won't know which until time passes.
Joe. Social media can be very time consuming if we let it control us. The biggest issue is that there are so many sites out there that we "must" be on. Personally I spend maybe an hour a day with social media. Just enough to keep my face out there. I still prefer blogging over Facebook and Twitter.
@Carla,
Yup, I hear ya. We have a strong social media presence, but not as strong as those who are not using their marketing time effectively.
@Bryant,
I have to admit, we might be spending an hour a day as well. I'm hoping not, but let's face it, social media is fun! :)
I think you have to pick a few things and stick with them. If you try to do everything you will go crazy and have no time for your real life. Every part of real estate, has some value, open houses, cold calling, Active Rain Facebook etc. Choose you path and go forward. :)
I spend about two hours a day on social media. I have gotten a couple of buyers off facebook in the past year.
As mentioned earlier, we still spend a small portion of our time on social media. Recently, we devoted a bunch of time to social media and developed about 1000 visits per week to Facebook account. Between fans and friends, Colleen has about 1000 folks, so she doesn't have a ton, but a fair amount of folks she's in contact with. But compare 1000 visits per week to one (just one) keyphrase we rank for in Google, 'kennewick wa homes.' There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of keyphrases, but that phrase garners 24,000 searches per month and we rank #1 for it. And, the funny thing is 90% of our traffic is from longtail searches.
Add to the above numbers Colleen Lane the person. She truly is a good agent. Most of our business comes from referral as Colleen is smart, kind, competent, and folks simply enjoy being with her. She is the prototype of the Perfect Agent. So, between her ability to network and my ability to market via the search engines, social media clearly takes a back seat in our marketing efforts.
All work and no play ... . So doing the social media thing allows you to expose your other self....not your business persona. This makes you real to folks who may not personally know you. A good thing.
Being a real person like everyone else does have advantages.
You are right to warn not to allow social media to take over your life.
Everything in moderation.
Dominick
You make valid points, however for those who are disciplined in their use of social media and wisely spend their time choosing and selecting where to participate and how much time to invest, it eventually pays off.
Watching this video today confirmed it for me:
I hear ya Maria and Chris. No argue here that social media is taking the world by storm, however, in light of real estate marketing, I think social media efforts pale in comparison to other types of marketing. 6 months, or a year from now, I may be posting a blog entry to the contrary. I guess we will see, eh.
How many agents are also wasting their time with having a website? Blog? The direct mail they send? Their email campaigns? Doesn't it really come down to the quality of the content and the passion of the agent not the platform? Social Media is now the Media period. How could you not want to spend time where all of the eyeballs are? The real issue is what the time spent there is accomplishing. You can engage with more clients in Facebook in 5 minutes than you could through your website in 5 weeks. I can appreciate your perspective, but I think to knock the platform and not the skill of the user and quality of the content produced in said platform is taking to general of an approach.
@Chris,
You're funny! Actually, it's not about doing no social media marketing, it's about wasting time doing too much of it when other marketing efforts can be employed where the returns on time invested are greater.
I don't think Social Media marketing is a waste either. I will continue to blog and work on SEO as you said but will contine with the other things as well because your business is comprised of a multitude of things not just one, two or three things.
@Debra.
Keep in mind, it's only a waste of time if too much time is spent on it. We put just enough time into social media to stay ahead of the curve, but that's about it.
We agree that social media can be a huge waste of time if we let it consume us. However, if we schedule an alloted amount of time and use it simply for the purpose of making contact, it can actually produce great results. Good post!
We agree that social media can be a huge waste of time if we let it consume us. However, if we schedule an alloted amount of time and use it simply for the purpose of making contact, it can actually produce great results. Good post!
Anything can be a waste of time if not done properly or too much time spent doing it. I have heard many people getting buyers from AR, websites and other media, me so far not much of anything.
If you let Facebook or Twitter overcome you, you are truly not in the right business frame of mind. Facebook has been truly a great advancement in our Company's prospecting and communication with our leads. Learn how to grasp the essence of using these websites to gain clients, and keep in touch for future buyers. It has been a blessing to have, it also lets you reconnect with people you once went to school with; keep in touch with events such as weddings, deaths, etc.
Nicholas Schauble