Today we’re going to look Social Media. Social media seems to be today’s buzz. The hottest newest marketing thing, but really it is something you been doing all along. You interact with people, you engage them, you talk with them – remember that phrase talk with them – you mix all that up and people do business with the people they trust. This is important. This is the way business has been done for a long time.

Now for the question that is always going to be asked. A question that is going to be asked and seems to be asked over and over again is  What’s in it for me?

 I’m doing fine. If your business is great and you want to keep it just the way it is, then maybe you would be best to move along because you don’t need to change. Yes, for some businesses this can be totally ignored. That is a personal choice and small businesses, especially in smaller towns, or smaller markets just don’t need all this new fangled social media.
For the rest of us, we look at the marketing plan and make changes or adjustments to adapt to the new world. I don’t claim to be an expert in real estate marketing here but over the years I’ve seen a few things. For instance it used to be was all about those print ads, all about those thick little free magazines and pictures, pictures, pictures everybody loved it and the people making those magazines loved it a lot as you paid money, big money, sometimes a couple of grand be on the cover or have full-page ads, Well then came the Internet and now we can put pictures up on the net people can look at it any time, they can shop for real estate at home. Wow! Then the visual tour’s came in to play. Visual tours were great now you can look around and never go there! And you were staging homes so that they looked oh so good. For a few dollars more all that furniture made them look ever so beautiful. Things changed. And They Continue to change. Now the advance of mobile phones. People are looking on mobile phone and as the net gets faster and faster it is predicted that that this will be marketing of the future. However marketing of the future is one of the things we are all chasing, and it is a moving target. Well it is here now! This, almost drive through technology, is incredible you can now have the entire world in your hand. These little devices are getting faster and faster and faster. Just wait and it will be 3-D in your house. And then the cell phone will be 3-D soon enough and then who knows they’ll be a holographic image in front of you that you can walk into to see everything. But that’s the future, we haven’t quite gotten it to consumer level yet, but it will! Everybody laughs, but if we just go back a little bit in 1984 the Internet did not exist.
So back to what’s in it for you? And, what’s in it for the consumer as well.
As I look at the marketplace I see a new generation of buyers coming up and the new generation of buyers are solidly connected, incredibly connected, At a seminar the other day, I was listening to Colin Powell speak. Mr. Powell has managed a lot of people in his career. For a while he managed our entire Armed Forces. And yet what did he talk about? The basics, the basics of interacting with people. The basics of communicating in a way that people understand and can be understood. And with the new generation you don’t get telegrams anymore and you don’t get a handwritten letter. You might get an e-mail and maybe that e-mail won’t land in a trashcan or spam bucket, but most e-mails end up in the trash as well, albeit electronic trash. So then there’s texting, And Facebook. OMG! Facebook and how many friends do you have as a base and then there’s twitter and how many followers do you have?
It seems that the generation you are in determines to a large part the filter with which you analyze the perceived quality functionality and desirability of a given communication medium. Now that may sound like a lot of big words, and it is. So let’s take a look at what that means. You see teenagers texting and they text about every little thing. It is a constant stream of communication. From their age group point of view this is necessary communication. From the people on the other end of the age spectrum it seems like drivel, totally worthless communication. But to them it is their life (I have heard those specific words!).

Now step forward a generation from the teenagers and we have potential market Here we have people who are highly connected. You’ll see Mr. and Mrs. texting each other and often texting more than voicemail.
We now have social media connections to evaluate businesses and people without leaving your home, office or even car.

 Are you ready?

Can you take any measure of control?

Can you have any inputs?

How can you find out what is being said, and can you respond?

I was working with an agent at one company, and for a very small piece of her time, she credits one listing and one sale last year. Well for an hour or two of your time, this seems like a no brainer to me.

So here are the Social Media Fundamentals, the basic recommendations, for today. Remember these are VERY BASIC. I am always approached by people or agents afterwards, who say oh I have this list and you should deal with this elongated list of social media sites. ‘There is more than one way to skin a cat’ as the old saying goes, or in modern terms ‘results may vary’ or as I like it in chef’s terms ‘meat and fire, so many combinations’. Although there are many ways to do anything, here is my advice, take action on what you can do. Do a little daily or weekly or what ever you can do to update you digital footprint and things will change.
This is where the analysis stops and the action begins. You know, this is where the rubber meets the road, Social Media Fundamentals!

Please, Be patient, and please do your homework. Your first assignments are:

Step one: Linkedin.com

Step two: Yelp.com

Thats all for today. When you finish this assignment and we can go on the the next part. Remember Social Media Fundamentals – Just like that basketball coach kept repeating – Fundamentals.