SOCIAL MEDIA MINE FIELDS How to the perfect customer Online social networking can help a real estate professional the perfect customer. As Doug Devitre says, you have an online directory of people, companies, positions and responsibilities, making it easier to the people you want to make contact and start to develop a relationship Here are some tips from Devitre for using leading social media sites to the ideal customer: Facebook. Become with past high school classmates, college friends and family members. This core group will remember you, hopefully still like you and be potential future customers. LinkedIn. Look for the companies and positions of individuals who may hire you or send you referral business. For example, you could search for builders, developers and relocation directors within a company, or a referring sales associate in a ZIP code where your buyer needs a specialized agent. twitter. Use the directory (twellow.com) to others using Twitter or the search function (search.twitter.com) and look for keywords like to Send those people an and share a link that provides market data or a community as well as your contact information. Is ThIs yOu? In the past week have you: Inundated your Facebook friends with Farmville and Bejeweled game requests? words that you speak he says. must represent the true you based on your interpretation of the closed sales. But also important to monitor your results along the way so you can adjust your messages or your social networking priorities. Devitre says one of the best ways to measure your in social media is to see how many people comment on what you say. comments the fact that the content needs to be more he adds. Do follow up with your social networking contacts. forget about your reputation. Once someone joins your growing list of contacts as a friend, fan or follower, a way to stay in regular touch. people connect with me on LinkedIn, I send them a personal thank you, rather than just click on the Kirkland says. I also pick up the phone and call them to build that personal Social networking is all about engaging people in online conversations. not another tool for direct marketing, promotion or advertising. In fact, bragging on Facebook that best agent in will be an immediate for most people. not selling says Kirkland. engaging them, communicating with them and building Do manage your time. Because easy to get addicted to social networking, Devitre says real estate professionals need to manage their time online. seller who sees you playing games on Facebook may wonder why her home is still on the he says. Do you really want to be known as the person on Facebook who sends out Wars or Bejeweled requests daily? Fortunately, there are tools to help you maximize your social networking presence, while minimizing the time you spend on it (see to Find the Perfect at left). forget to track your results. Finally, Kirkland says you have to stay on top of trends in the social media sector. Sites rise and fall in popularity, new groups are formed and online conversational topics change frequently. As Kirkland says, learn something new every day about what works and what I follow successful professionals to see what doing, and I try to listen to consumers as much as I can. a constant stream of education because such a dynamic Richard Westlund is a Miami-based freelance writer. Do keep learning. Is ThIs yOu? In the past week have you: Ideally, you should be able to track which social networking contacts resulted in Maintained your professionalism online by editing what you say and do on your social media pages? GReAt IDeA Using widgets (desktop overlay tools) or revising your browser menus makes it easier to manage your social networking time. For instance, you can set up your applications to automatically send all your website blog updates to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Find some great widgets on widgetbox.com. 20 FLORIDA REALTOR June 2010