Real Estate Hacker, Entrepreneur, Change Advocate. "Real Estate Needs Less Art and More Science."

I often wonder what’s behind the endless digital façades in existence online.  I often think most of us are lying to ourselves about who we really are.  When’s the last time you started something and saw it to the end.  When’s the last time you wrote the daring blog post about what’s been stewing in your mind?  Do you find yourself constantly re-tweeting Mashable or the next bit of Apple news?   Are you creating something?  Or are you just consuming?  I’ve realized not everyone can create.  In fact if we all created something, who would consume it?  You the consumer are a must for a perfect societal balance to exist.

Unfortunately for you the creators are the ones creating personal empires.  The Gary Vaynerchuks impact outweighs nearly all of us.  Is he better than you?  Is his content really that good?  Why is he succeeding?  Simple answer; He actually did it.  Seth Godin actually does it.  Make no mistake you do help build society though.  In fact, without you the creators would fold. The consumer determines which creators continue to create and which ones fail.  

With businesses, I often wonder what’s behind the click.  What’s behind all of the websites proclaiming they are social media experts, ninjas, and samurai?   Whatever your business is, deeply consider your true value add to your customers and society as a whole.  Are you daring enough to create real value?  Or did you just rip off the next guys content and business model, dubbing it as “inspiration”. If so you’re not really creating, you’re copying.  I think real value and change are what people are looking for behind the click. 

End.

Posted via email from Ryan Hinricher

Posted via email from Ryan Hinricher

The advent of the real-time web has happened nearly overnight with sites like Twitter rushing to 100million+ users.  But I’m curious to see how this has really affected the real estate industry.  Many of us are guilty of sending out many updates on a daily basis (myself included), but how is it really helping our businesses?  How many of your customers and clients are you networking with?  

I’ve certainly seen the fruits on the B-to-B side of this equation but have literally only heard of 1 story where a real estate agent has sold a property from Twitter.  And what was the best part?  I heard it from the buyer, not the agent.  

A girl I know in Tennessee was managing the social media account for the largest newspaper in Memphis, The Commercial Appeal.  During her tenure there she was following a lot of local professionals including one named, Joe Spake.  If you know Joe, or follow Joe you’ll see he takes a hyper-local approach the content he shares.  Follow him and you’ll get photos of local burger joints, find out when the latest reality crime show is on TV, or catch a listing from time-to-time (although he does this sparingly). This girl ended up thinking to herself, if he understands social media, and how to use it, then he understands me.  She ended up enlisting him as her and her husband’s real estate agent and purchased a home.  These stories seem to be too rare.  

I would think there’d be a lot of B-to-C applications.  I did a quick search on the term, “moving to New York” on Twitter’s search and found dozens of people who are discussing this.  Is anyone actively pursuing a connection with these people by offering them a relocation knowledge product via PDF through an @ reply?  Then following them and nurturing them?  I’m sure there’s a tasteful way to do this without being spammy.  At the last #140conf a heated debate took place about sharing listings on Twitter. If well thought out, I think it makes sense. After all, don’t consumers WANT to see properties?  If you have a lot of listings, what about creating a second account that explicitly says “Follow Me and Get Listings!” 

So my question is… What is the value of the real-time web to your real estate business?  Are you using it to grow your business on the B-to-C side?  If so, do you mind sharing?  I personally have used it to network primarily with peers and for B-to-B referral opportunities.  Is there anyone in the real estate business doing something extraordinary with the real-time web?  

Posted via email from Striking Thoughts