I’ve always felt Social Media should attract and engage new connections and enhance existing ones. I went in search the other day (online) for a few new contacts. I searched in the usual places; Google, ActiveRain, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. While I added a few it also crystallized the cold stark reality that sometimes what we do and how we do it actually hurts our doing business.
Here’s just a few examples:
If someone reaches out and requests to connect to you on a social network and you reply with “Do I know you?!?!?!?!?!” You’re building a wall. In social networking you never know where that next referral is going to come from. Send me a reply like that and our relationship just hit a brick wall.
If your website has only a contact me form and no obvious email address, phone number or anyway of really contacting you – You’re building a wall. Yes, I know it cuts down on spam, but how many potential clients have you lost because they didn’t want to fill out your form? I send all my email through Gmail for free automatic spam filtering. It doesn’t stop everything but stops plenty. Question: If you gain one additional client this year would it be worth it to have a few more spam emails?
If you place non working links to your website on your profile (LinkedIn, ActiveRain, Facebook, Twitter) You’re building a wall. Test and test again. Do you have a complete profile to begin with? Profiles are free links to your real business sites. Why not use them? Did you know LinkedIn will return a “website not found” if you don’t start your link with http:// ? Really! When was the last time you checked yours?
Congratulations, you are an SEO machine! Your Market Data Reports get you high up on a Google search for your keywords. However, if you’ve written nothing compelling, nothing that endears a “human” to want to connect with you, what’s the point? You’re building a wall.
If your site has banner ads, adwords, and affiliate links placed everywhere it raises the question – what business are you really in? You’re building a wall.
If you purposefully show just the first paragraphs of a post with a “read more…” hoping to drive more traffic to a particular site. Unless those few words convey everything you needed to say, You’re building a wall. The same could be said for incomplete RSS feeds. there’s very few that I get that I’ll follow to finish reading. Very few.
If you don’t do everything in your power to make it as easy as you can for any visitor to connect with you on any and every platform you guessed it, You’re building a wall. Think about that for a second. Social Media should enable a potential client to be able to communicate with you on the level they choose , not yours. They should be able to do so quickly and easily. If a client prefers to call you – how hard is it to find your number? If I find your number will I get you or will I get a recording? Are you a time blocker? What happens when a time blocker calls another time blocker? What about email? Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?
I’ll stop there. This is just my opinion but I think in times like these we shouldn’t be building walls, we should be tearing them down!
Do you have walls?
* original brick wall image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/vizzzual-dot-com/2226095398/
This post brought to you courtesy of Mike Mueller.
Feel free to ReBlog or ReTweet as you like as long as you credit the source (him).
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Amazing info....almost a checklist for us newbie bloggers and SM peeps! Will save this one and learn from what you have said here!
Absolutely Mike! Great points, great post.
I realize some of this flies in the face of certain "real estate productivity" wisdom but that was then, this is now.
Great post, Mike. Great way to convey the message. I'm surprised how hard some people make it to get ahold of them. And, as a consumer, I hate to have to fill out forms just to look at stuff. I understand the reason for it, but I am resentful at the same time. If you want my business, you shouldn't make it so hard to get the information I need.
Great post....and all good points. I think I've been Ok so far...but the "Do I know you" makes sense.
Very good... great reminder to go back out and check all the links. Think we all need master lists of the different social media we've signed up for, so that it's easier to maintain!
Thanks Heather - BTW: I've been asked to be a guest on a new radio show aimed at VA's! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/laurakennedylive I think the show is on 4/4 Looking forward to it.
Karen - There's two sides to the "Do I know you?" This is in context of a real estate professional. In the case of my Wife who isn't involved in RE or anything close it's a valid question. If you joined Facebook to connect with clients new and old and ask that - you better rethink your strategy. I'm all for being safe!
Penny - I actually have one (a master list) http://areweconnected.com/the-master-list/
Hi Mike - good analogies, I'm guilty of not including my email on my website due to Spam but you make a good point, it might be worth a little spam to make it easier for people to contact us. I think I'll add one :)
Penny - I actually have one (a master list) http://areweconnected.com/the-master-list/
Kevin - If you are really worried about spam from a listed email I have a tool.
http://rumkin.com/tools/mailto_encoder/simple.php
To the human - your email will look fine and work fine. To the bot or spider - they get nothing!
I'm off to give a presentation on social media (Keller Williams of Berkeley) and then to SF for a little TV interview - be back later to return comments. : )
You can always tweet me! @MikeMueller
WOW! Definitely lots to think about. Thanks for a great post. Got to go check on my walls...
Building walls is just not cool in Social Media.
Mike - Nicely done. I agree with every word of this post. I hope you're having a great week, buddy.
Hey Mike, You failed to add the one where you get a spam-catcher response to your e-mails that says you have 100 characters to explain who you are so that your e-mail can be approved for the recipients' inbox. Can you believe that agents do that?
For the most part I agree with you except for the first one. I've had people follow me on twitter that I don't want to follow. I've had 1-2 people request to be friends on FB and I didn't. It's not very often, but it does occur.
People need to network with people they want to network with. Not everyone who requests to be your friend should be your friend. I think you have to have boundaries, which is a mini-wall.
Absolutely correct--- good reminder of the reality. All the best.
Hi Mike -- I have a few walls that need to come down, thanks for info, I need to go get my sledgehammer!
MIke,
I'm still figuring out how to use the social media.
Some days, I think I'm Rip Van Winkle reincarnate. I used to know a lot about computers, programming, ... I still remember the day, a few years ago, sitting around at work, marvelling at our newest computer -- it ran at 12 megahertz in turbo speed!!!
Hi Mike,
I enjoyed your post. Very informative and useful.
Test test test all those links out there! A broken link is useless.
Mike,
I always enjoy your posts. You are one of the greats here on Activerain! Congrats on yet another feature!
Mike, I think you've made some excellent points here. I personally don't see anything wrong with using a leading paragraph and putting the rest of the story on your personal blog. Though I haven't done it in, like forever, LOL.
I promise not to ask "do I know you?" next time I get a request. I'll think of you and tweak my response a bit =)
Mike, great way to make the point. I particularly hate to be on the receiving end of a "Do I know you?"
True, what about agents who do not give any more than their office phone or turn off their phone so no other agent can call with an offer after hours?
Thanks for the great points, Mike. As a new member to AR I'll remember your comments in building a strong foundation, Without the wall.
Mike .. thanks for this good article and encouragement that we as Realtors, agents, and business people, should take a look whether we are building walls at our web sites and blogs .. between ourselves and friends and clients.
I looked at a blog article yesterday by Jason Sanders at AR and contacted asking him a tech question by email. I easily foudn and contacted him through AR. More good news is that Jason called me today, and we had a great talk. Even though I haven't met Jason, he payed it forward and helped me. So Jason's my hero today.
Great post, Mike, good advice too.
Break down those walls!
I especially like the SEO machine leadnig people to a blah website. This goes for ALL advertising - if you send a postcard to thousands of people, directling them to your boring website, you won't get credibility, you won't get them to stay long enough in your website to ACT and contact you!!!
Thank-you for this!!!
Great info Mike! It drives me absolutely crazy when I click on a link someone has provided me to "get to know who they are" and the darn thing doesn't work. I really like that link you provided in a comment of yours to "trick" the spammers> Just what I need :)
Great post Mike. And great info.
Nice post, all true little tidbits...I was a firm proponent of the contact form on websites until I switched to gmail also. I do still suggest using them for specific instances where you need to get specific information; however, I do suggest encoding your email address and putting it in plain sight as well.
Mike, Excellent advice and thank you. I can't always get back to the sites every day though I do try---I am just signing onto to some and I certainly don't want to build any walls!
Great post. I'd have to agree with you. It's been a while since I checked my own outgoing links. Guess I'll have to do that this weekend :-)
Hi Mike,
You make some very good points and I bet many members will be taking a closer look at their websites, profiles, etc.
Great post Mike. I met with a buyer today who asked if that was my cell phone number on my card and then asked if I will answer at any time. I said yes, that's my cell number and no, I won't answer my phone after 10 p.m. They called me last night after 10 p.m. and I let it go to voicemail. I hope that wasn't putting up a wall because I do answer my phone whenever possible. :)
Thanks for the post, great things to think about.
Mike this is fantastic...Thank you for sharing this information!
Mike - Wow ! Great points ! We all should have doors or even open doors versus these brick walls. Great analogies. Have learned a lot by reading your blog posts ! Thanks : )
Thanks for the post. I probably need to put my contact info out there more often
Good post Mike! I do find it useful to have some walls though...
One of the things that I find beneficial to life / work balance is to have both a 'Business' and a 'Personal' online identity.
Take Twitter for example. I have a personal feed that posts to my personal Facebook profile that only has people I personally know on it. I often get friend requests to my personal Facebook account from people that would be great in my business network, but just not a match for the personal stuff that freinds and family throw about on their Facebook walls. When that happens, I try to respond and let them know to look me up on LinkedIn to get those business connections established in a forum that is more business oriented. By keeping them seperate I can still enjoy the benefits of social media but not have to worry as much about my redneck cousin posting a video and having to explain it to my clients... :)
I also have a business Twitter account where I post updates about the current market, local events, and status updates that have been 'cleared' for the general public. I have a lot more followers on this feed.
I think that the key is not only keep things open and available (when possible), but if you have to put up a wall here or there, at least include a sign post or instructions on how to get through it, around it or directions to an alternate location.
-Jason
Great Post and very informing as well. I will have to check to see if I have walls and if I do I will tear them down.
Where is Pink Floyyd when we need them---"just another brick in the wall":)
I love this posting! Mike always gives such great advice! Thanks, I Tweeted this as well!
Great blog Mike - i have to go open the windows in my wall.
Mike, there is one point I would disagree with, and that is the 'read more' tag. The flip side of it is that if you have 10 complete posts on the first page of your blog, you could have a VERY long page. And so those posts that are lower down than... 2... might not get looked at. But, utilizing the 'read more', you can shorten that up and make more posts immediately visable... like the feature page of A|R.
Of course, there is a balance, and one of the things that has to be balanced is making an opening that will pull in the reader. Titles also become more important.
Mike, thank you for the great reminder. I love your brick wall graphics!!! Why don't you add to the list: WHEN YOU DON'T ANSWER YOUR PHONE, AND DON'T RETURN PHONE CALLS, you're building a wall!
Join my new AR group and post your blog at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice
Regina P. Brown
Mike - Thanks for this post. I'm always surprised to see business owners in social media block information or select to privatize their profile. Unfortunately there's a little too much paranoia out there.
Great points - we all need to be constantly aware of how we do things.
Mike - Yes, I do. I plan on breaking them, one or two bricks at a time. "Social Media should enable a potential client to be able to communicate with you on the level they choose , not yours." Well put, amigo.
Wow ! Thanks for all the great comments!
I want to address a few questions...
Melina - Actually it's always safety first. My #1 topic was more in the response to the request. If you don't know someone it would be a much better response, "Remind me again how we are connected?" or something to that effect.
Jen - Not at all. We need to have personal time. My Cell won't ring after hours (you can set it!). You don't have to be online or pick up in the first 3 rings 24 hours a day. I even "checked out" today as an example. I had a Social Media Class to teach and then had a TV interview to do. Only now at 8:30 at night and after dinner did I get back to this post.
Jason - In Facebook you can set privacy settings and seperate the two (your professional and private friends). But that isn't really a wall. If I find you on Twitter or FB, can I easily find a way to contact you?
Charles - I am a HUGE Pink Floyd fan! I even know which one's Pink! LOL
Lane - I see your point and understand it. The difference would be that it's all on your blog. I'm referring more to snippets here on ActiveRain trying to draw me to another site.
Jason - Thanks! I miss you and all my "Mortgage Peeps" : )
I'm guilty of some of this. But I'm completely OK with not putting my e-mail address out there for spammers to see. I do need to check some links though. I've found broken links in old blog posts when I least expected it. Oh! And I hate the blog posts that only post a part, then try to send you somewhere else... ESPECIALLY when it's here on AR, for the obvious reason.
Mike, that's one reason why I have never subscribed to the time blocker thing where you don't return phone calls until a certain time of day. First contacts are fragile. It's so easy to call someone else for answers when the first person you call is a voicemail. Great post. Reminds me that we need to check our sites. ~ Sharon
Mike - This are points we all want to consider, this is suppose to be social media so no wall building here.
Thanks for knocking the walls down. I think most of us are guilty in some form at different points. Nice slap in the face...which we need from time to time.....
Hey Mike,
Great stuff, one of the most informative posts I've read in a while. Thanks for the info, now I guess I need to get to work.
You've given me a few things to think seriously about and make sure that I'm not building walls.
Mike.. you make a great point.. don't want to buid a wall to keep people out.
Mike - Great post - dead links and the "do i know you" comment resonate with me. I sent a LinkedIn request to somebody who represented a buyer in a sale in the summer of 2008. It was a no problem (except you as the agent don't have a clue) type of transaction. It was the young lady's only sale from June to December, 2008, so I just thought it might be memorable. Or, just maybe, if you honestly don't remember my name, you might look at my profile or my picture and figure it out. I mean - my profile includes a copy of the sales brochure for the developer and development where you had your only sale in the last 6 months. Nope - It would be a better idea to send the "do i know you" reply. I replied back. No response. It makes you wonder why they joined a social network if... they, well, don't want to network. Oh, did I mention that we are offering a $1k agent bonus and $3k progressive sales bonus if you have sold at our development? No, you wouldn't know... unless you actually were curious and looked at the ole profile.
Love the Post Mike! I agree. In today's world and the ADHD mind set it creates things should be easy to find....especially on the web. I'm sure many can look back when the web was brand new and there wasn't much out there....we can also remember when you type something to google and find everything you're NOT looking for! In today's fast pace, instant gratification society your information needs to be created around your customers (plural for many different types). It needs to absorb all personas, answer questions and solve their problem efficiently and effectively...with no walls to overcome!
Love the Post Mike! I agree. In today's world and the ADHD mind set it creates things should be easy to find....especially on the web. I'm sure many can look back when the web was brand new and there wasn't much out there....we can also remember when you type something to google and find everything you're NOT looking for! In today's fast pace, instant gratification society your information needs to be created around your customers (plural for many different types). It needs to absorb all personas, answer questions and solve their problem efficiently and effectively...with no walls to overcome!
Great post! I am always amazed when I see broken links to realtor profile pages -- you really have to test at least once per month.
Great post Mike,
this is why I use 1phone number((cell) and 1email address (I purchased my domain, "ann hayman.com" many years ago for just this reason). If they want me I try to make it easy as possible. Now I will go back and check all my links to make sure they are working, thanks.
Just a after thought, Ryan, Kerry what are we doing up this late? 6:30am is going to be here soon, and I personally will hate the alarm clock. LOL!!
Hi Mike,
Great post! Thanks for the reminder to meet everyone with open arms. You never know who may be a potential client.
-Lisa
Haven't we all run into this, but maybe we have some walls of our own and not thought about the effect it has on others. Great eye-opener, Mike.
Simple, but Wonderful advice on marketing on the Internet! I am checking all of my Internet Pages and making the changes you suggested! Thank You!!
Simple, but Wonderful advice on marketing on the Internet! I am checking all of my Internet Pages and making the changes you suggested! Thank You!!
Mike, This is a great starting point for those of us trying to learn the new curve in real estate. Great
info and article. I will be checking on all of these items to make sure everything is working as it should. Thanks again for your help.
Rick Epperson
I'm with you Mike. And it takes a heck of an intro to get me to click through. There are a few people I'll click through on, but I would say that my click through rate for teasers here is about 10%. Now, if I am searching for something, I have a much higher click through rate because I am looking for specific information.
Mike,
I particularly like this one:
However, if you’ve written nothing compelling, nothing that endears a “human” to want to connect with you, what’s the point? You’re building a wall.
Congratulations on the feature!!
Mike in Tucson
Mike, loved your comment about letting people contact you the way THEY would like to - it's the whole Platinum Rule thing.
Also, interesting point about time blocker calling a time blocker - I would suggest most agents, however, have more of a problem with time blocking rather than the opposite.
Sean Goerss
Realtor, St. Paul, MN
Co-Founder
www.RealEstateTechnologyExperts.com
...where you can make your business lean and mean with technology
Connect with me here:
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/seangoerss
LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/seangoerss
Very true, we do not even know how many walls we put even when we think we are trying to network
Mike, I like and agree with what you have to say. I have been having a hard time getting all my sites to have all the information on them that would make them more effective. You would call that Building a wAll.
Mike - great post...and great points. When we are networking, we all need to make sure we are knocking walls down, not building them.
Very key points to ensuring prospects do not look elsewhere due to barriers! I'll be rechecking all my links asap!
Mike,
I'd like to write a long comment here, but I've got to go to my website and see if there are any bricks that need to be tossed into cyberspace!
Good job!
Kathy Opatka Re/Max OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND
Great post.
I especially like your first point. If you are online and belong to AR or Twitter or Linkedin, as long as somebody is not trying to sell you something, you need to look at it as a new source of business. If you're not doing this, you are leaving money on the table.
Great post! Thanks for the reminders about building up the social networking -- and also building up walls. Looking forward to reading more from you!
Great Post! I can't wait for more.
Hi Mike..not into walls but you know...there are some folks you don't know and don't want the "guilt by association" thing
Mike,
I LOVED this post. Not only the content but the way you "staged" it to sell your point.
I was up late last night working on the graphic for my next post... about another "wall" so to speak.
So you can imagen I was delighted to find this post this morning.
Me
Mueller~
Walls are something we all inadvertently build up- often not realizing how or why. The wall just gets bigger and stronger. I've had a few of those comments you speak of;
"Do I Know You?, Who Are You? -
Obviously, We find each other via the social networks we subscribe to. I will start to tear down a few walls today!
I actually do block out time for calls but will email people back usually in 30 minutes or less. It hasn't been a problem yet but it helps me make sure that the calls actually get made otherwise I might forgot to make them or, more likely, find something I would rather do.
Mike this is a good one. Sometimes the walls make you feel safe, sometimes they block you in and block your views. I have a couple of walls to knock down and work on my website -- thanks for the reminder.
Aloha Mike,
Thanks for the post. I was on the wall myself about accepting invites from unknowns but you gave me the insight to say alright.
Peace,