The Art of Social Network Marketing

Have you noticed the number of social networking sites that are out there?  It’s amazing how it starts with just one or two sites, then if it becomes hugely successful, everyone else jumps on the bandwagon.  Which one do you join?  Which one do you make an intregal part of your online marketing and promotional activity?  I’m always getting invites to any new social networking site that comes along.  I’m already a member of so many that I have a hard time keeping track of them:

Fanbox
Activerain 
MySpace  
Facebook 
Orkut 
MyAgentBook  
MyBlogLog  
LinkedIn 
LiveJournal  
Trulia  
Twitter 
Stumbleupon  
YourTube 
Zillow  
Yahoo Answers  
Plaxo  
360 Yahoo  

Wow!  I didn’t know I belonged to so many until I started to compile information for this posting.  So, now my challenge is to figure out how to best utilize all of these social networks without unindating everyone with tons of invitations.  I’m always looking to make connedction with people and finding ways to help them with their real estate needs.  But I would prefer not to become annoying to the point that people “run in the opposite direction” when I come along.  Everyone remembers that one person you meet at a social gathering that is always trying to sell you something.  Well, that’s what I don’t want to become.  That is why the utilization of social networks is an art form.  They are the best way to meet people in today’s technological world.  You want to be able to connect with people without giving them the impression that all you want to do is sell them something.  As for myself, I have other interests other then trying to sell real estate to everyone I meet.  I am one of the founders of the Winslow Township Genealogical & Historical Society, I am an avid student of history itself.  I also am the site moderator of the American Local History Network’s Camden County NJ web site .  I also love trains and to that end I have been trying to put a project together that would detail the history of Winslow Junction, NJ.  So, with me, not everything is business.

Terry Iwaniw
REALTOR Associate
First Time Home Buyer Specialist
Foreclosure Prevention Consultant
RE/MAX Home Team
609-417-1086
http://www.terryi.com/
http://www.snewjerseyhomes.com/

Tags: personal, professional, Real Estate, self-promotion, social network, social networking

Experience does not mean that you are GOOD!

It amazes me as to how many agents are putting out ads telling everyone how experienced they are.  They all tout it as if that is the same as being good.  Well, it’s not.  Being an experienced real estate agent does not make up for any lack of marketing skills or customer service abilities.  We’ve heard about agents who have been in the business for 10, 15, 20, 22 years who do not return their clients calls.  Who do not bother to keep in touch with their clients, EVEN WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF MARKETING THEIR HOMES!  Yes, these are “experienced” agents who have been in the business for many years, who keep touting how experienced they are.  But they play a numbers game.  To them the most important factor for any potential customer has to be the number of years they’ve been in the business.  Not how many satisfied customers they have.  If they relied on this number only, it would be considerably LESS then the number of years they’ve been in the business.  The number of years experience means that they’ve had more time to play the gimmicks to get you to sign on with them.  If you could follow their “years of experience” you’d see that they’ve been -

1.  First Time Home Buyer Expert
2.  New Home Expert
3.  Foreclosure Expert
4.  Short Sale Expert
5.  All Around Real Estate Guru

Hmm, Jack of All Trades…Master of None.  All they have to offer is the number of years they’ve been in the business.  They have no comprehensive marketing plan, they have no idea of how to market in the New Age of the Internet, all they can keep crowing about is the number of years experience.  Which would you choose, a doctor with 30 years experience but everything is from the 1970’s and 1980’s or a doctor who has only half that amount of years experience that is up-to-date and current?  See?  Experience isn’t the absolute factor.  You have to know how to market, yourself and your clients’ homes.  When I see these ads from many of my collegues in the business I have to laugh myself silly.  These ads speak volumes about them.  And if their web sites mimic their ads (that the only thing they tout is their experience) then using these agents are NOT in your best interest. 

My strong suit is internet marketing.  How long have I been doing it and how long have I been on the Net?  Well, I won’t state specific years (because then I start sounding like all of the other agents), but I use to access the old BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and participate in the USENet groups via those BBS’s (we didn’t have the newsreaders they have now).  You had to TCP in to access any existing web pages. 

Essentially, I am a 1) business man (my business web site is still on the web), and then 2) I am a REALTOR.  There is an old saying among business people - - all business owners are salesmen, but not all salesmen are business owners.  When you own your own business you have to know how to market…your whole existence depends on it.  But if all you are is a sales person, you play the numbers game…to sell a certain number of homes you have to have a larger number listed.  Why?  Because of the Wall Effect.  What is the Wall Effect?  Well, it goes like this…if you fling enough things at the wall, something is bound to stick.  These agents don’t discuss things with you, they don’t inform you, they just say whatever it takes to get you to sign on the bottom line.

How many people have run into the agent that doesn’t listen to what their customers tell them they are lookng for, but instead push the homes that would pay them the most amount of money?  These agents are the epitome of a sales person -

1.  Sells you something you don’t want.
2.  Sells you that something at a price you don’t want to pay.

When the customer says No, they feel it is their DUTY to sell them.  There is an old saying in Salesmenshipland that goes like this - “Salesmanship starts when the customer says ‘No’”.  To me, Customer Service starts when the customer says ‘No’.  I need to understand what I need to do to get my customer to say ‘Yes’ and to be happy about their choice.  I don’t try to sell them something, I facilitate and help them make the best investment in their new home that they can.

If you buy into the “Experience Count” garbage, then know that it is the ONLY thing they have to offer you…the fact that they’ve been at it for a long time, but not very good at it.

Terry Iwaniw
REALTOR Associate
RE/MAX Home Team
http://www.snewjerseyhomes.com/
http://www.i-teamhomes.com/
http://www.terryi.com/
609-417-1086

Tags: advertising, agent, marketing, promotion, real estate agent, realtors, self-promotion