What Social Media Never Told You About Word Of Mouth

It used to be that word-of-mouth was the holy grail of real estate marketing. To have people preaching your good name up and down the block… or at least to their network of friends and family.

But then something happened. Folks were sold a new promise. A new sexy called social media and with it the mavens tagged it with a new set of instructions: “Go forth and mingle like it’s a cocktail party.”

Boy, that sure screwed folks up because it’s only partially true.

I’m writing this from the perspective that you want to know how to market your business – to attract real estate business – using social media. The reason you want to use social media is simple: that’s where the people are.

The truth about social media

Now, if you’ve given any previous thought to word-of-mouth (“Oh, that’s so 90s. Can’t you call it ‘buzz’ or ‘hype’ or something?”) then you’re in luck because what you really need to know is this:

Social media is just an extension of word-of-mouth

However, there are three key differences that amplify the effect of word-of-mouth online (“You mean social media, right?”):

1. Online, people can take immediate action on a recommendation. Visit a link, complete a form, purchase a product, etc.
2. Online, an individual is more effective due to a larger network of contacts and tools that, with a single click, can share a recommendation with everyone at once.
3. Online, it’s easy to have your recommendation jump networks. What was originally posted on your blog can easily be discussed on Facebook or Digg.

The beauty is this: social media empowers the individual by broadening their reach (“Take that, word-of-mouth!”). As a Realtor, every single one of your clients (and web visitors) is empowered to spread your word-of-mouth message at a rate never before possible. Conversations happen quickly, with more people, and are immediately actionable.

Your new social media instructions

But… it is still word-of-mouth! There’s no reason to confuse the issue by tagging it with a new set of instructions that, from a strategic level, are useless (“But… but… but… I’m 2.0.”).

The strategy for a Realtor that wants to explode through social media is not too different from that of a Realtor that wants to explode through word-of-mouth.

It starts with people and a message.

1. Nurture your network. These are your ambassadors that will go forth and share your message with the masses. You need to take care of them.
2. Have a message worth spreading. This is a tough one for many Realtors to accept but you can’t get by on being pretty good. Your message and content have to be unique enough for people to stop and take notice.
3. Empower your evangelists. Make it easy for your biggest fans to recommend you by giving them the tools to do so. Otherwise, folks will stop talking about you if every time they have to work at it.
4. Have a conversion engine. Like word-of-mouth, social media success does not make you a business success. You must have an engine in place to convert that success into leads and clients.

If you still believe that to attract business through social media that all it takes is a “cocktail party” approach then by all means keep doing that. The rest of us StomperAgents will be chilling with our evangelists and their friends and their friends and… (“I think I need a drink. Where’s the bar?”)

For a systematic approach to leveraging social media, you want to check this out.

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