Social Media Isn’t About Selling

Most real estate agents view marketing in terms of what they do to sell a listing. Some of the better and more successful agents view marketing in terms of what they do to promote their brand. The latter is more like social media than the former.

The number one reason for social media is to interact with the community. It’s the “social” part of social media. Selling is for traditional media platforms like print, radio, and TV. I was at the Social Media Club of New Orleans meeting a few months ago and Christine Marciante, of The Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, made it clear they understood that when they created blogs and Twitter accounts for some of the restaurants.

Rather than just pushing out specials they wanted to give readers a look at what goes into making a new dish. They talked to the chefs, they went with the chefs to the farmers market to get ingredients, and they took pictures during these excursions and uploaded them to Flickr and Facebook. They told people a story about the restaurant and used visual aids to enhance it.

Just like good pictures enhance a listing they help tell your story better. Social media is about telling a story that your followers want to read and stay updated on. I’m not saying that you can’t have a call to action in your social media message but if you have a call to action in every message you will quickly find that you no longer have any followers.