Social Media vs Being Social

The craze for the past few years has been all about Web 2.0 - Social Media (FaceBook, Linked In, Active Rain, Blogging, Twitter...) and how an integral way to build (or have any) business is to get everyone on your fan page, tweet about everything, and don't have a boring blog, but blog a lot. Many agents have been reluctantly getting on these sites and doing what they think they should be doing.... BUT where the heck is the business???

Real estate has and always will be a relationship business. If you have no real life relationships who the heck is going to follow you and your tweets or read your blog... no less give you any business? Social media is not going to create relationships unless you build them first. Have you read "The Power of Who"? One of the key themes is that you already know everyone you need to know to help you make your business succeed. It doesn't mean that you don't need to keep building relationships but the that ones you have will help you create the ones you need.

To begin building new relationships you need to take inventory of everyone, yes EVERYONE, you already know. You need to be in contact with these people... re-connect. This is one of the very powerful benefits of Facebook. Get your Fan Page started on Facebook (this will mean that you've started your Facebook page) and start posting stuff. Beef up your Facebook page so people from your past can find you. Start with high school, if you went to college, college. Start looking up old classmates and friend them. Catch up & keep in touch. Where did you used to work? Who did you like (or at least know)... find them. Were you in sports, have kids in school, a bar you hang out at... find people. Find every single person you know (and they don't hate you) and friend them. If they're not on Facebook help them set up an account and tell them how great it is (even if you hate it as much as I do). Build it up.

Now, that's the past. What about today? Social media helps those that are... social. This means you need to get out of your home... away from your computer and boob tube. You need to go to parties. You need to have parties. You need to join clubs or get more involved in the ones you already belong to. What do you like doing? Hiking, biking, skiing, playing cards, Scrabble, cooking, eating, volunteering, whatever it is do more of it and put yourself out there. Not sure what you like? Type in some key words to meetup.com or just google stuff that's going on in Portland. Beat Facebook at it's own game... search Facebook fan pages. Become a fan and "like" things. Like food? Find a restaurant opening. Take a class at PCC. Find events that are going on at the water front. DO SOMETHING. In person.

When you meet people, don't just give them your business card (be sure you do), but also ask them for their email and see if they're on Facebook, then friend them. If it's too soon in the relationship for them to want you on their Facebook page, then ask them to become your fan. You've got to put yourself out there. These aren't the times to be shy. As sales are still tanking you've got to do something that you haven't already been doing. The only way people are going to give you any business is if they know you're in the business and that you want their business (or their friends, family, collegues, neighbors, etc). The only way people will know you're in the business is if you TELL THEM.

Figure out creative ways to foster new relationships. Have parties, attend parties, create events like a plant sale, block party, or a car wash for a good cause; speak at events, offer free classes... Build your sphere. You need to see people outside of your computer. Get out there and GET SOCIAL. Don't be afraid to tell people what you do and why it's such a great time to buy real estate (ie: buyer's market, low interest rates).