How to Make Money Using Social Networking

Filed under: Social Business - Strategy & Networking 

Tonight, I received an email asking, “Has anyone made any money using social networking?”

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… I left the conference with even more questions about the value of social networking and how it would directly help me in my real estate business.

I am not a social networking expert and new to the total concept.  Perhaps it’s the word social vs business that is throwing me off.  At this point I am attempting to justify, value the time spent and to determine if it’s the best use of my time.  I would appreciate any input from the “experts” who have financial success posting on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Active Rain, Linkedin and/or Flickr. I would also like to know how many sales you had and what you did to be successful.

Let me take a stab at responding to the questions you raise, John. You are not alone in the effort to understand what is collectively known as “social networking.” And, I concur with the strategy suggested in the Trump webinar you attended:

James Burgin and Elizabeth Serra-Eichler, who conducted the webinar suggested starting on Twitter (limited to 140 characters which is going to really require me to be brief), blogging about real estate and attaching links to the blog, being the real estate expert which in turn would gain respect, a reputation and revenues.

Let’s go back 10 years…

What was your first response to “the world wide web?” Do you remember when online communications were on discussion boards? Compuserve? How did you get started using email? Was it AOL? When did you begin to consider these business tools? Did you create your first website as an either/or proposition? How much time did you invest online prior to making money as a direct result?

I imagine many of us will adopt the emerging communication tools in the same manner we adopted the first wave:

The technology adoption lifecycle model describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological characteristics of defined adopter groups.

The process of adoption over time is typically illustrated as a classical normal distribution or “bell curve.” The model indicates that the first group of people to use a new product is called “innovators,” followed by “early adopters.” Next come the early and late majority, and the last group to eventually adopt a product are called “laggards.”

Teresa Boardman, St Paul Real Estate is an early adopter of the emerging technologies. So is Jeff Turner.

The answers to your questions are better answered by Teresa, Jeff,  Dustin Luther, Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Ardell DellaLoggia, and Marc Davison — among many others.

Personally, I don’t believe the question is “if” we adopt emerging technology. I believe the question is “when” and “how” we incorporate the tools into our marketing strategy.

How would you answer John? Is there a better place to get started with social networking than others?

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Comments

  • I agree with Mark and Kathy. Gone is the day of slick-back haired salesmen telling us they have a buyer for our FSBO in a feeble attempt to get the listing. Yuck!

    While my mainstay is high-level coaching, speaking and writing for the industry, I still keep my license active and ONLY take referral clients, just to prove to my college RE students and myself, that this is indeed a relationship-based business.

    Social networking is the new Chamber of Commerce and much more effective as far as I can see.

    Thanks,
    Tamara
  • Hi, Tamara, appreciate you stopping by. You know that I'm also a real estate therapist, right? Did my graduate work at Florida State, moved to Atlanta, had a private practice for years. That training sure comes in handy...
  • I totally agree with Marc - it's amazing that 90% of the industry can't get "social cues" - does this mean we don't know how to behave in public and we have to "sell" ourselves all the time?

    Once you learn to let your guard down and actually engage people it's when things begin to happen - Thanks for the mention! :)

    <abbr>Ines’s last blog post..9 Things to ask your Miami Beach Realtor</abbr>
  • And yet, Ines, I know lots of folks who don't "sell" themselves in public. I think the keyboard and monitor shift our thinking. Sure wish I could remember who wrote a post this past week on how our behavior often changes online. Chris Brogan? Seth?
  • Well, as you put it, that's the struggle for agents. Not being able to see beyond your own limitations is death for any business person.

    <abbr>Marc Davison’s last blog post..Google bails on newpapers</abbr>
  • Nice article.

    Foremost, I think real estate people ought to first look at how to use social media and social networking to build their brand rather than how to squeeze it for money. It's not how social media works. It's a place to socialize, amass followings based on the very things agents are taught to do which is build a spheres around common interests.

    Money can and will come from the organic results of quality branding building. But if an agent tries to apply the old tenets of aggressive ROI marketing on the new marketplace involved in social media, it stands a very good chance of failing and missing out on the grand benefits of what social media offers.

    <abbr>Marc Davison’s last blog post..Google bails on newpapers</abbr>
  • Thanks, Marc, for sharing your insights. The struggle I see among real estate agents (among others) is viewing social media as an advertising medium. I don't consider my church as an advertising medium, and yet my relationships there provide the greatest financial return in my business.
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