I was at dinner this weekend with non-real estate friends that have successful businesses and as usual, this question came up, “how are you doing? your business HAD to have suffered” …. and the answer was “of course we got hit, but we’re doing things differently to keep us ahead of the game”.
That undoubtedly leads to “different? what could you be doing differently in an industry that’s done things the same way for years?”
These questions make my subconscious go into overdrive – it makes me go back a few years and start looking and studying the progression of events and the way our business has opened up to change and how certain things have developed. These are the messy thoughts that come to mind:
- Three short years ago the word “blogging” was mentioned to me and that’s when I began testing a different way of marketing – I began blogging on Active Rain thinking it was a blogging platform – I felt safe and secure and loved to be featured as well as comments from colleagues (and for the record, I am very appreciative of AR for helping me learn the ropes and getting my blogging feet wet).
- Then the realization that ROI would come from a hyper-local audience rather than other real estate professionals lead to miamism.com (who’s 2 year anniversary will be June 1)
- The question of what next? came shortly afterwards- I was blogging successfully and actually getting business from it – how would I take the medium to the next level? That’s where linkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter came into the picture. With a lot skepticism about the time involved and results but always willing to test and try out new things.
- The talk of social capital, whuffie, and spreading Internet influence later became key
- F2F and tweet-ups helping with 2 objectives: exposure and reciprocity
- Social Objects came into play – part of branding, our staple, how and when people think of us – what’s your MOJITO? (always a work in progress)
Social Media is about strategy, but it’s more
about outward thinking rather than inward
It’s no longer about what you can do for your business – what I love about New Media is that it’s about engaging, paying attention and helping others – I know this sounds a bit far fetched and “oh here she goes again with her Good Samaritan complex” – just trust me on that – it will come back to you in ways you never even thought possible. But it doesn’t happen overnight and you need to have clear and genuine intent – ulterior motives are frowned upon in the New Media World. (If people ever become suspicious of you, you may have a difficult journey ahead).
But if there’s one thing you need to do in this medium to be successful is to anticipate. You need to constantly ask yourself what The Next Level is– whether it’s learning at the next convention, growing your team, partnering with a bigger entity or learning how to convert inquiries.
To find that next level you will have to challenge yourself on a regular basis and will need to make yourself vulnerable and be susceptible to change. You will need to be open to flunk and you will also need to be open to make adjustments to your business and marketing strategy.
It all boils down to never being complacent – this medium is about change and stagnant thoughts will stall your growth.
