Social Media ...do I... dont I....how do I?

There has been a lot of commentary recently on the use of social media which I have found quiet interesting.

Opinions are divided on the use of social media by agentsand experts with some stating that it isn't a space we should be focusing on.

We all like to be experts at something don't we, however lets take off the expert hat and simply look at basic facts around social media.

• There are currently over 11million Facebook users in Australia making us number 19 in terms of world rankings.
• 52% of the Australian population is on Facebook  - 46% are male and 56% are female
• The age group between 25-35 is the largest user 
•  However the biggest growth group in the last three months is aged 45-54

All fairly compelling reasons to play in this space I would have thought.

The question is how well do you play the social media game?

There are a number of channels available to us, the person on the most channels optimizing the use wins.

Marketing to consumers is the most common and potent use of social media.

• A recent  Burson Marsteller study showed that 65% of the Fortune 100 organizations now use Twitter to reach their customers.
• 29% of these companies have a Like page on Facebook and many use social media to dispense news.
• 30% of CEOs in these top  companies have a Facebook page.

Why am i quoting these facts?

Simply these top performing businesses and CEOs are using social media to open their doors, connect with their clients, show they care and accept positive and negative commentary on their products and services.

Surely they cant all be wrong.

We simply sell real estate people. Our business is based on people and relationships.

Isn't that what social media is about - social relationships?

We use social media to get referral, opinions, suggestions, recommendations from a trusted source - your friends, family and extended online community linked in by friends and family.

Is social media the only tool you use, of course not that would be silly, it is however one of the strategies you need. Theres no point in trying to fight it, imagine trying to fight the development of the internet in the early 90's.

As an agent today I believe (and i do not claim to be an expert) you need to have a number of channels you play in. It seems by virtue of popularity those choices would be face book, twitter, linked in and you tube.

Get an expert to help you or your business put a social media strategy together. Remember its not about how much you sold the property for but more about connecting with you clients, becoming that trusted online "friend".

I saw a recent ad in the financial review for the next generation of leaders. It suggested that we had to be globally connected, technology literate, mobile compliant and resilient.

We are all leaders. The world is a smaller place. The degree of separation between the entire planet is probably only one, business is now global, national, local then you.

We no longer have a choice. You don't need experts to tell you if you need to be playing in this space. That answer is obvious.

You need experts to help you play in this space.

The person on the most channels, that connects with people and creates trusting relationships wins. Social media is simply one of those channels.

But above all lets not complicate real estate, it is about relationships, people and communication. You need to be great at these first before you start to venture anywhere else.