T H A N K Y O U for Truth and Poignancy!!! Joy Carter

“I’m often shocked at what some agents will make public.”

Then you said:

“I find your comments to be considerably unintelligible. Clearly you are trying to make a point albeit mired in incoherence.”

My point is that Mike Ferry has given more agents a start in Real Estate than all the web 2.0 scams going today. Dustin I’m sure is a fine young man, you might be also, but you are harming consumers who might believe the internet is a resource for home purchases.

Great points. Thank you. As one who has risen in the ranks of popularity in a short period of time, you bring a welcome nuance to the discussion.

I agree with you, Bill, Ines and others. For the most part.

The best part of SM is the ability it provides us to publish our message to the world rather than be dependent on traditional means – reporters, newscasters, PR’s people, advertisers, etc., to do it for us.

Given this amazing power and its potential reach, there are pitfalls which those who have made media relations their occupation better understand.

Everyone sure does have the right to post anything that comes into their heads. And clearly what works for one person might not work for another. This goes without saying. But do we disagree on the caveats which advise us to be cautious because these things we publish can haunt us in ways we may often times never know?

As for experimentation – perhaps in very low doses. I would not advise one who has never drank to start out experimenting with alcohol by pounding 13 shots of Jagermiester then parading around in public. I see the equivalent happening on SM in RE.

There are enough poor examples of SM gone wrong and some dazzling examples of it done right to gift any agent/broker who is new at this or to those who have been at it awhile but who have been led down the silly path as examples to follow to help lessen the public woodshedding.

There’s much at stake here IMO. Maybe I’m more cautious than you guys because of the 2 decades I spent in the music business and realize the pitfalls of having everything you say become public record. RE people are, for better or worse, public people. But they aren’t loved like celebrities are and do not have access to great PR people who can work it to cover up their pubic foibles.

I would not advise RE people to experiment. Especially since it’s so easy to get caught up with the popular SM gangs and try to fit it by engaging in the non sequiturs, and hip hop gansta speak. I believe we all have one shot to come out strong and build from there. It’s best understand the different platforms, pick the one that is right and that meets your skill set and then own it.

While some things that work for me might not work for others, I really believe there are some things that make darn good sense that work for all of us.

I also sense we all probably agree on most of these points but each of us offering a slightly different angle on it. That’s what makes this dialogue so powerful.

“With great power comes great responsibility”… Uncle Ben, Spiderman

Perhaps it was growing up in The Bronx, knowing people who were tainted by McCarthy Red Scare (I actually wrote Square!) tactics, gives me somewhat more caution.

My mother went ballistic when she heard that I was giving out campaign literature at the Pelham Parkway IRT El Station, and a policeman (yes, all men) took down my name and phone number.

She knew what it could mean to be on a “list”

And the students of PS 105 on Brady Avenue knew the serious consequences of having something put on your “permanent record”

Why is this relevant?

Because I try to be very aware that everything that I post, and everyone else who is associated with my posts, blogs, tweets, checkins, checkouts reflects upon my permanent record.

So, it’s a personal choice to me to avoid posting anything online which I wouldn’t want my mother to read …. and though growing up in The Bronx, we learned “If you can’t say something nice, say it” If I can’t say something nice, I don’t say anything at all.

There are times when that’s hard to do, so I just talk to Carol or Poudini or Baby T.

Before hitting “send” on anything, ask yourself – “Do I really want this on my permanent record”

Because it will be!

Ira

I think the real concern comes from those that have not even thought of the repercussions – or those that don’t even think of the permanence of their engagement on-line. Again, valid concerns.

“Take for instance this: In consideration of farming some work out to someone I plugged their name into Google Alert so I can monitor what it is they write about over a two week course. On Sat, Google spits back one Twitter post made that regarded their body piercing fantasies and where on their body they’re considering piercing.

Use SM to be social. But be aware others beside the person you are dialoging with can see it. Be mindful of what you write, how you write it, etc., and do your best to try and make sure each post is your truest emissary.”

Sounds like a different form of SM

But I digress.

I think that this is a great post and that there is much to glean from it. I agree that many agents (and others) who are trying to get the hang of things (meaning SM tools & apps) might (just might) get a little carried away with things like FourSquare (and anything else that might tickle their fancy). I think that a certain amount of experimentation is OK.

But I have to agree with Ines and Bill here. What works for oneperson may or may not work for another. I think that so many of these things is so new that some trial and error is perfectly reasonable. If something doesn’t work for me, I won’t use it, but I won’t question someone else if it works for them.

I think that tweeting, or FourSquaring, or Yelping, or whatever, to the total abandonment of everything else is inadvisable. There is some traditional marketing that still works. There are Facebook pages that work, and work well. There are blogs that work beautifully and those that don’t. It’s up to each agent to determine what works best for them.

Thanks for your contributions.

For the most part, the main take away for readers is a reminder that social media is in fact “media” and therefore serves as an advertising platform to broadcast value and personal brand with the added benefit of providing an historical and personal public record of who we are, what we think about and how we feel about things.

What concerns me is while many of these social platforms provide a bullhorn to the world, often times the messaging from it is fragmented and non contextual given the platforms like Twitter and Foursquare and how any one post isolated from the string could lead an onlooker to form an opinion that is inaccurate, negative or disjointed from who you really are.

Take for instance this: In consideration of farming some work out to someone I plugged their name into Google Alert so I can monitor what it is they write about over a two week course. On Sat, Google spits back one Twitter post made that regarded their body piercing fantasies and where on their body they’re considering piercing.

Google Alert offered no other posts or context to what that random post was about so I had no idea what this was about or in what context. But when I read this I found it weird a bit creepy and wondered why a real estate professional would write this publicly.

Use SM to be social. But be aware others beside the person you are dialoging with can see it. Be mindful of what you write, how you write it, etc., and do your best to try and make sure each post is your truest emissary.

My goal has always been to attract like minded people. As Jay said above, I don’t want to be the agent of everyone nor can I, and that is just fine. I would far rather deal with people that appreciate me as a person as well, assuming all else is equal (I actually know what the hell I am talking about regarding real estate and I can represent my clients in a professional manner).

My favorite clients and my biggest fans have always been the ones that invited me to social events during and after the real estate transactions completed, because they enjoyed my company, because they knew exactly who I was, and appreciated it!

As far as generating business, last year we probably closed about 10 deals based on Social Media alone…which as Jay says, not bad, considering I gained clients out of checking in to my local Costco, or other venue. I use it as an ice breaker, this is the starting point of having something in common with my clients and isn’t that what we all strive to do, find common ground…think about it.

Again, great post.