Why so many real estate agents fail at social?

Just about two weeks ago, I was sitting by the pool in sunny Punta Gorda with nothing better to do.  With iPad in hand I started to peruse the real estate Twitter stream that I set up. I was not looking for anyone or anything to pick, but for an idea that I could glean (that I could steal for my local market). However,  I starting seeing a trend develop. I was noticing some real estate agents trying to fit that round peg into the square hole. In a sense, pushing old media/marketing ways into new marketing mediums.

Let me start out by saying…I really do like the idea of listings getting their own website. I like the “idea” of it, but there is a better way to do it. A much better way to do it, but your new listing does not need it’s own twitter account. In my mind, the thought of that has #FAIL all over it.

First, I am will to bet that if your listing has a Twitter account then I can safely assume that you do. So, why are you trying to bleed away your social brand by enticing them to look away. There are plenty of other distractions out there don’t give them another outlet.

Second, in an effort to be noticed, you are probably using a local hashtag or two. Also, if you are tweeting as a “house”. I do not see envision a lot of changing up of the content or tweets  that much. Chances are very high then, that you are going to be darn close to the Twitter spam with your near constant and unchanging twitter message.

Third, by tweeting as a house, you are missing a great opportunity to brand yourself as anything but a twitter spammer. If you do not understand the power of branding then we have a lot more work to do than just altering your Twitter use. More on the power of branding, I still get recognized as a local mortgage expert even after being out of the business for nearly two years and rarely does a week or two go buy that I get a question or a call.

While, I may applaud you for the tad bit of innovation, but you are barely out of the box on this one. There are so many other options out there that you can take advantage of that you are not doing. Also, I do not want to hear that you do no have time. We all have the same 24 hours. It is time to work smarter rather than harder.

Also, it is time to get over the “it has to be perfect” or I will never post it. No one is, and not many of us expect it and it is better to seen as being out there doing something than not seen at all. It is really something to experience the “ISYOT” effect. If you want to be a successful agent you want to be recognized and have people say to you, “hey, I have seen you out there”. More on that in a later post.

As Twitter grows in popularity along with the other social channels, and as any new medium. Marketers, in any business, try to fit the round peg in a square hole. They try to  broadcast as if they are still marketing in a newspaper, radio or TV. I urge anyone trying to use Twitter or any other social medium to learn that particular channels best use and find out what your follower expects.

The majority of those on Twitter generally expect some level engagement rather than tuning into a broadcast.

Oh, the one huge downside of having every listing having it’s own website – search engine rankings, but that discussion is for another day.

Let’s burn some boats

Dave

FYI: I will be an active agent again here real soon, by 2/1/12