I’ve been working on a bunch of stuff lately and I noticed that my social engagements on sites like Twitter went down a bit. I didn’t really notice it until I went a full day without updating on Twitter. I know there is nothing wrong with that. I’m not one of those types that likes to be on there just for the sake of being on there. To me it has never been about the numbers (followers, fans), the popularity (being at every local gathering) or other metrics. I use social media because it’s really fun being social through the Internet.

Recently as I’ve been working with a potential new opportunity, I was asked how to do social media. My answer was really simple. Be naturally social. In this new media nothing should be forced. Otherwise, when you force it, the whole effort will come across as fake. No one likes it when its fake. Its like running into a salesman pushing their new cleaning agent at a birthday party. Not desirable.

Now going back to what I mean about being naturally social, I mean you just adapt your work and lifestyle so you can seamlessly become socially active online. For instance, if you have a blog and you’re worried about generating enough content then you’re not doing it as well as you could. As you go about your day carry a camera around with you and take pictures. Post them on your Flickr account. If you also happen to be traveling, email yourself a summary of each day. Then when you get back in front of the computer, pull up your emails and your pictures. Put them together and you have a blog post. Simple and raw. And don’t worry about the length of your blog post, how you might come across and things like that. If you’re you then you’ll be you as you are social.

At the end of the day social media shouldn’t be about adding another layer on top of your already busy schedule. Otherwise it’s not worth it.

photo credit: ketrin1407

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There are many reasons why social media and real estate mix so well. For one thing real estate is an intensely people business.  Successful agents are defined by how well they treat their customers and are able to deal with them more than anything else. With the vast majority of people starting their home search online, its almost a given that agents need to have a solid presence on the Internet.  What many do not understand is that having a website and your MLS listings is not enough and does not constitute having a strong Internet presence. Today you need to be able to demonstrate your expertise to those who are seeking it as they are searching. There is no better way of doing this than thorough various social media channels.

I first met Dru Bloomfield back in 2007 when she attended my “Blogging in Real Estate” class. She is one of a few that took to heart the importance of blogging. Once she got going she has never looked back. Since then she’s been mentioned on Forbes magazine and been named as one of the “Top 12 Women Real State Bloggers of 2009″.  Besides the accolades  her business has thrived in a severe down market, the likes of which we probably will never see again in our lifetimes.

I followed up with Dru a few weeks ago to see how things are going. I wanted to ask her a few questions about social media, blogging and business. Here is what she had to say:

1. Why did you choose social media (blogs, twitter) as an integral part of your business development strategy?

My decision to blog was almost an instinctual response. I heard about it a few times and was thinking it was something I should explore. My broker mentioned it a few time in his meetings. I heard you speak. A colleague told me I’d better. Plus, I love to write.

As far as social media goes, it was a natural evolution. I like connecting with people, and connecting others that seem like they should know each other. I would say that it felt like the right thing to do at the time, and the positive results have validated that decision.

2. What is the most amazing thing you did in 2009 when it comes to social media? Perhaps there was a blog post or a Twitter connection?

Making the front page of the AZ Republic Real Estate section for using Twitter to connect to clients.

Real-estate agents use Twitter, blogs to boost clients – Arizona Republic / AzCentral.com, July 16, 2009

Having my blog mentioned on Forbes.com as an example of a locally focused real estate blog.

Must-Read Real Estate Blogs – Forbes.com, October 8, 2009

And one more honor:

Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers 2009 - Sellsius Real Estate Blog, December 22, 2009

Having my sunrise photos used for the morning news. (Channel 12)

Getting reconnected to aunts and cousins in the Mid-West through my son on Facebook who had never met any of them before!

3. As a real estate professional is it possible to successfully use social media without being passionate about real estate? What role does passion play in making your social media usage successful?

I think that one has to be “real” to be successful in social media, whether it has to do with real estate or some other related topic. For the most part, my blog is very real estate focused, either about the market or the city I work, live, and play in. With Twitter, I share a broader view of me, and find that it’s opened the doors to some fantastic dialogue and friendships. I’ve explored ideas, concepts, music, photography, and all sorts of other non-real estate related subjects, because I enjoy them, and because I’ve connected with others who do to. And, I suppose that is where the passion comes in. Do what you love and the rest will follow.

For me, being real is about being positive and passionate about life, that’s the vibration I hope people sense and want to tap into. Part of my strategy for my blog and my other social media interaction is to attract and connect with fun people that I would enjoy working with, and that would enjoy working with me.

4. How do you answer those that say social media takes too much time and is a waste of time?

Don’t do it. Find another way to connect with people that you actually like to do. I view social media as a time investment that I enjoy. That enjoyment is key — people know if your heart is in it.

5. How do you measure the success of your social media strategy? What role did social media play in making 2009 successful for you?

My success in social media is measured primarily by the quality of my interactions with others. I do generate business from my social media strategy, and find that it is a growth channel for me. My advances in social media in 2009 provided me a level of confidence in the medium, and I decreased my most costly business generating expenses by half. I’m also much clearer about my branding and how I want to expand it in the future.

6. How has the use of social media directly affected your business since you actively began using it?

I would say that the quality and quantity of my business relationships have expanded exponentially. I have touched and am touched by so many that I would never have known, if it weren’t for social media.

7. How has the use of social media affected you personally?

I think that social media has “forced” me to be more open. I tend to be a fairly private person. For me, using social media requires me (my voice) to be genuine. However, I have found that sometimes I have to stop myself what I really want to say, and other times, I force myself to push the Enter button, just to get the thought out there.

Plus, I think (hope) that I’m a better writer, too! Twitter does require me to be very succinct in what I want to say. My blog allows me to develop a thought into a concept, and requires that I do it in such a way that it’s understandable to a variety of readers.

8. What are your hopes for 2010 when it comes to social media?

I plan to use social media even more as the year progresses. I want to write more, as my blog suffered last year when my business is extremely busy.

I’ll continue to use Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Flickr to develop networks. I’d like to get more organized in how are the services interact with each other. I find that it’s a bit messy right now, with all the services feeding into one another. I need to decide on which service is the focal point and develop an operational plan from based on that.

Also, I’m finding that I’m “reporting” more real-time info, from my phone, so I assume that I’ll become more even more mobile this year.

Something new and exciting will come along too, I’m sure I’ll have to try that too!

Thank you Dru for sharing your insights with us.

Read the other “socializing interviews” to learn more about social media practitioners.

Socializing With Non-Profit Director and Refugee Advocate Kelli Donley

Socializing With Mortgage Pro & SEO Expert Justin McHood

Socializing With Online Marketing Expert Nipa Shah

photo credit: philcampbell

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Continuing in my series of conversations with social media practitioners, today I share with you an interview I conducted with Justin McHood. I’ve known Justin for a few years and we’ve enjoyed a professional relationship due to our shared background in the mortgage industry and our interest in SEO, affiliate marketing and other Internet Marketing tools.

Justin has worked as a loan officer for the last seven years. In those seven years he has been responsible for at least a thousand funded loans and by my estimation at least a thousand and one happy clients. He started blogging in May of 2008 at ArizonaMortgageTeam.com and now contributes to several different mortgage and Real Estate related blogs. Justin is a talented fellow with an MBA from Brigham Young University but he somehow never managed to let school get in the way of his education. He lives in Chandler, Arizona and when he is not trying to solve seemingly un-solvable underwriting conditions or get docs out on a loan “yesterday” he enjoys golf and tinkering around with Twitter.

So, all this humor aside here are my questions and Justin’s answers:

1. Why did you choose social media (blogs, twitter) as an integral part of your business development strategy?

JM: Working in the mortgage business, for many years the company I was with at the time only did direct mail, nothing on the web. As the market started shifting and equity values started falling, it became clear that we needed to make a shift and so in 2008 I started my first blog.

After the first blog launched, it became clear that there were many more things that I could be doing to promote “mortgage experts” on the web – such as Twitter, Facebook etc – and I was fortunate that there were very few loan officers at the time doing it.

2. What is the most amazing thing you did in 2009 when it comes to social media? Perhaps there was a blog post or a Twitter connection?
Amazing… I don’t know about “amazing” but the most positive feedback I remember getting was my “Dear President Obama” post and my “Is Your Landlord a Lemon?” posts – both on Zillow. The Lemon Landlord post actually was featured on the Zillow homepage – which was the first time that Zillow featured anything that a loan officer wrote like that – or at least to my knowledge it was. My personal favorite was the “We Suck Less?” post on The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, it just really hit home for me. Sometimes you can’t make that stuff up.

I also thought it was fun to teach Beverly Kidd the Keyword Game when she came to #EVFN (East Valley Friday Nights) – where we would pick a keyword for her to say on air over Twitter and she would sneak it into the evening news. Go ahead, give it a try – just get on Twitter, @BeverlyKidd a keyword and see if you can get her to say it on the air. You might be surprised at how savvy she is at slipping them in without missing a beat.

3. As a mortgage professional is it possible to successfully use social media without being passionate about mortgage? What role does passion play in making your social media usage successful?

Don’t let this surprise you, but I am not passionate about mortgages. To me, they are just another “widget” that people buy when they need to. So yes, I would say that it is possible to be successful in all kinds of social media if you aren’t particularly passionate about what you are doing at the time.

This is just a hunch, but many people who I have met through social media actually know that I don’t like mortgages – but know that because I am transparent and will tell them “the truth” about mortgages – they say that it is refreshing to get an “inside” view of what really goes on in the mortgage business.

4. How do you answer those that say social media takes too much time and is a waste of time?

I 100% agree that social media takes time and I 100% agree that it can be a complete waste of time. If you don’t do it “right” – it is probably going to end up being a waste of time.

There are many different ways to do it “right” – but if you don’t take the time to learn about what is and isn’t acceptable in social media, you are probably going to end up putting in a little bit of time, get nothing out of it and then declare that it was a waste of time.

Social media is… social. It is always fun to watch new people come into the social media circle and just try to “fit in” – and what kinds of strange things they do to try to fit in.

Although I offer none of my time to be a “social media consultant”, if I had a successful business and wanted to test the waters of social media, I would absolutely spend the money to hire the right social media consultant – they can make all the difference between doing it right and doing it wrong.

5.. How do you measure the success of your social media strategy? What role did social media play in making 2009 successful for you?

Social media is pretty much all I do for marketing – and I made it through the mortgage business in 2009, so I consider it to be a success. I also think that I probably have a base to build on going forward, which is key in my opinion.

6. How has the use of social media directly affected your business since you actively began using it?

Well, I think that since I use no more direct mail, I can say that I have transferred from a completely offline business into a completely online business.

7. How has the use of social media affected you personally?

I know a lot more great people than I used to. I used to be kind of isolated in my day to day world – but I have made quite a few “good” friends and even a few “great” friends through social media. In a lot of ways, I guess it is kind of a “digital country club” only there really isn’t a membership fee – you just need to be Authentic to be let in.

I also like to use social media references when talking to people about what I do for a living – it is fun to watch their faces as I describe it. For example, one of my daughter’s friends mom asked me what I did for a living and I told her that I played a loan officer on Twitter. She didn’t exactly know what to say.
Lastly, I finally have a group of friends that I can hang out with (almost) every Friday night at #EVFN. @evo_terra, @sheila_dee, @raillife, @deanouellette, @phxreguy, @dpatricklewis, @spellwight, @paulvalach, @shanehollenback, @cwaterhouse, and plenty of other great people show up a different location each Friday night to have a great time. If you live in the East Valley, it is worth going to these at least every once in a while – especially the ones at Whole Foods.

8. What are your hopes for 2010 when it comes to social media?

I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t really have any hopes or plans. I just kind of do what I do, adapt as new technology comes along and try to keep up with the smart people in the space. I think it is safe to say that I am probably not going to do anything that sets the world on fire in 2010 or if I do, it was a complete accident.

But I do tinker around with matches and dynamite a lot, so I suppose anything is possible.

photo credit: ncburton

photo credit: stefanopa

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I’ve gotten to know Nipa Shah over the past year and have greatly enjoyed our growing relationship. Even though its only been through Twitter, I’ve learned a lot from her expertise as a social media practitioner and online marketing expert. Not only is she an Internet Marketing expert but she is also the founder of Jenesys Group, LLC. I am a big fan of her work as a marketer and also her work within the Indian American community in Detroit, Michigan.

She networks via Twitter, she educates through her blog(s) and she engages via social networks. She is a true social media practitioner who has had a direct impact on her clients and her own business.  I wanted readers to benefit from her expertise and experience so I asked for an interview. Between working on her business and managing a score of other things on her list, she was kind enough to send me her response to some questions I sent her.  Enjoy:

1. It seems like many traditional marketing agencies are now offering social media services as a “me too” strategy. You’re different in that you’re an early adopter. What advice would you give agencies that are seeking to move into the brave new world of social media?

NS: Thanks for recognizing me as an early adopter. What advice can I give the newcomers? First, they should create a robust offering that is all-encompassing rather than just focused on one aspect of social marketing. Our advantage is that we implement Social marketing with Search engine marketing. Traditional agencies may not have the capability. They should partner with companies (like ours) to integrate that component for their customers. Second, they need to balance quality with quantity. Customers aren’t going to be happy if they only focus on quality messaging and the number of followers (Twitter), fans (Facebook) or contacts (Linkedin) remain low. How to build a network to influence while also posting quality messages is key. And finally, showing ROI is always difficult in marketing but it is important to establish criteria to measure campaign success and provide robust reports to demonstrate performance.

2. Can social media be out-sourced? Meaning can you blog or tweet on behalf of clients?

NS: Sure it can be outsourced. We have a team of bloggers, twitter experts, facebook experts, and people who are trained in social media marketing to help our clients. We write weekly blogs for them, we tweet on their behalf, we create and manage their facebook profiles, etc. etc. What makes this work is making sure that the resources are trained in doing this function. A key necessity for the success of outsourcing is ensuring that the resources are good at written communication.

3. How do you answer those that say social media takes too much time and is a waste of time?

NS: Marketing is a necessary ingredient to promoting a company and it’s products or services. Yes, marketing does take a lot of time. And its ROI is sometimes difficult to compute. But if you don’t conduct any marketing, how do you ensure that your company’s products or services get visibility. The same companies that say it takes too much time or social networking is a waste of time may also be the ones who spend thousands on getting their site listed on a directory portal, paid marketing campaigns, and networking events. What I say to them is that not marketing online via the Facebooks and the Twitters is no longer an option. That’s because if your company isn’t there but your competitor is, guess who gets the benefit from regular interaction?

4. How do you measure the success of your social media strategy?

NS: Traffic from social networks to the main website, number of connections, contacts, or followers, AND inquiries about my company’s products and services that is generated through the social networks. And believe me, it works.

5. How has the use of social media directly affected your business?

NS: It has led to additional visibility and traffic to the website. Social Networking has also allowed my company to get real-time insight into what customers are looking for in terms of the classes we host, feedback on the launch of a new website, input on something that we may be evaluating, etc.

6. How has the use of social media affected you personally?

NS: Personally, I enjoy Tweeting and Facebooking for fun and awareness. Through my tweets and FB messaging I am considered an “influencer”. People tell me how much they enjoy my comments and have even learned things about me that they would never have known before. I never discuss personal stuff online. But I do make comments about kids, work, and my opinion on things that are happening around the world. Since my personality comes through in my very opinionated comments, people tell me that my comments totally reflect my face-to-face personality. And finally, I have made a lot of new contacts and friends through the social media sites. Including you –

7. The nature of social media makes it difficult to separate your personal brand with your company brand. How are you dealing with this?

NS: Well, Nipa Shah’s brand is much different than Jenesys Group’s brand. Jenesys Group provides online marketing and web solutions. Nipa Shah on the other hand is a mother, wife, community leader, founder of the MIICC.com, etc. etc. So you see, I don’t see the brand conflict at all. For small companies, the brand may be associated with the person who founded it but by unique messaging, separating the corporate profile from the personal profile, etc. etc. are some ways to differentiate between the two. I see how that can happen to others, but I personally don’t have that situation. At least I don’t think so. Do you?

8. What inspires you?

NS: Selflessness inspires me. Mother Teresa (giving up everything to help others), Nelson Mandela (can you imagine spending 20 years in prison and coming out on top?), Dalai Lama and everyday great people like the New York Fire Department folks who knew the risk and still climbed the Twin towers to save people. That’s just a source of inspiration to me to become a better person. And that’s for my personal inspiration.

Inspiration for my professional life comes from an inner drive to do more and better every waking day. Why is that I’m not sure, it’s just my personality. I quit a perfectly cushy job at General Motors to run my company full-time, 4 years after I started it.

Thank you Nipa for taking the time to share your expertise with us. If you want to stay in touch with her I highly recommend you subscribe to her marketing blog.

photo credit: ilamont.com

photo credit: dougbelshaw

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The New Year is here and it’s going to be a year to celebrate. Unlike other years, 2010 has a nice ring to it. There is symmetry to the digits and for a former math geek like me that’s a very cool thing. Also, 2010 is almost like a religious number of sorts, perhaps carrying a secret of some kind.  Well, anyways, enough with the diversions!

If you’re a long time reader, you’ll notice that with the New Year I’ve changed the name of this blog and updated the look. If you’re reading this in your feed, you have no idea what I’m talking about. You’ll have to visit the site to know.

First let’s talk about the name change. This was done a few weeks ago. The reason for the change is that the old name “Social Media Wiz” just didn’t convey what this blog is all about. At the end of the day this blog is not about any “wiz”, but rather about sharing knowledge and thoughts regarding social media. Plus I came up with that name on a whim and never felt a connection to it. So, in its stead I have renamed the blog “Social Reflections” with the objective remaining the same. To put it in one sentence the goal here is to observe, comment and bring to light social media success stories, strategies and personalities.

With the name change, it was natural to change the theme as well. I like this new theme. It’s professional and fits in with the goals of this blog. Again if you’re still reading this in a reader you have no idea what I’m talking about.

With all this change I’m going to kick off the New Year by interviewing social media practitioners (not experts). These are individuals that have used social media to achieve predefined objectives and goals. In one way, shape or form these are people who are either using social media to increase sales, improve brand image or increase awareness of their organizations. In other words, true practitioners on the front lines slugging it out and having an impact.  And I look forward to your participation as well.

Stay tuned.

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Before I write the full post I want to ask “Aren’t there better things a journalist could be tracking down?” You’ll understand once you read the rest of the story.

So this reporter/columnist for the St. Louis Dispatch, who also happens to be the Director of Social Media receives some profane comments on his blog.  Alright? Who hasn’t. If you write a halfway decent blog some dweeb is going to come along and berate you, your manhood and your integrity? That is why you have comment blockers, filter, moderation tools and the old reliable “delete” button. Regardless, whatever action most normal people decide to take, this reporter/columnist decides to do the following:

1. He noticed the IP address came from a local school.
2. So he contacts the school and passes on the information.
3. The school’s IT guy then narrows it down to the computer terminal
4. The employee is confronted by the headmaster
5. The employee has no job (a week before Thanksgiving).
6. Reporter/columnist then writes (not one) but TWO blog posts bragging about this.

I am not condoning people anonymously posting vulgar, profane stuff on the Internet. I have been the recipient of this kind of stuff and it’s not fun. On the flip side, so the guy wrote something profane.  Just delete the comment and move on. Or, send the person an email reminding them of the comment or privacy policy and encouraging meaningful participation. You are the director of social media, you’re supposed to know how to deal with this kind of stuff.

But, please do not track someone down like this and get them to lose their job before the holidays. There are offenses and there are offenses. This one isn’t one worthy of this kind of retaliation. Especially if you’re in the newspaper business and your whole industry is tanking. You need all the good will you can get right now.

Plus, it’s the Internet. Now guess what – there is an entire site devoted solely to smearing your name! (Not Safe for Work). You’re not going to have fun dealing with this one Mr. Reporter/Columnist guy.

What do you think? Was this right? Wrong? Or about time someone did something!

photo credit: sanberdoo

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Its been a long week. I am sad that that past few weeks I have not been able to blog as much. I know there is a place and time for everything. I certainly do not want to get out of the habit of blogging.

I’m not saying I’ve been completely absent. In fact,  I just wrote a post about how no one really wants to read your blog and have posted it on the AIR Marketing blog. Here is an excerpt:

Let’s face it, no one really wants to read your blog. Honestly, the blogosphere is saturated. At last count, Technorati was tracking over 80 million blogs. In addition to this fact, company blogs oftentimes are used more for promotional purposes rather than building an actual audience and readership. In many instances, I’ve found press releases on company blogs. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but it’s akin to sending prospective clients a press release instead of a product brochure. It’s not going to work.

In order to make all blogging efforts worthwhile, it is important to understand that simply setting up a nice blog and posting a few articles a week will not suffice. The long and short of it is that your blog needs to stand for something. It needs to have a voice of its own, communicate a powerful message and engage readers on issues they genuinely care about. Additionally, your blog needs to provide readers a reason to revisit and revisit often.

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From the NYTimes earlier this week:

The study, which polled 2,210 people and was released this fall, found that the increase in blog readership from 2004 to 2008 was 300 percent; 47 percent of online consumers now read blogs.

Half of blog readers said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and more than half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

“This is what people are trusting more and more,” said Valerie Combs, vice president for communications at BuzzLogic, a company that analyzes social media and operates an Internet advertising network and that commissioned the study from Jupiter Research. “What we’re seeing online, increasingly, is that people are relying on peer opinion.”

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Companies are doing all kinds of stuff to increase exposure this year. Here is one from Kmart:

Kmart Enlists Bloggers To Get The Good Word Out

A sponsored social networking campaign enlisting the help of six well-known bloggers is yielding big buzz for Kmart and encouraging consumers to give the retailer another look during the critical holiday season.

Kmart gave each of six influential bloggers a $500 gift certificate to go on a shopping spree in the store and then blog about their shopping experiences in any way they saw fit (no censorship). The bloggers clearly disclosed this sponsored arrangement in their respective postings.

Interesting. There is a lot of buzz in the blogosphere, with opponents charging “sellout”. I on the other hand am a business person. I don’t blog for nothing. I believe in authenticity and transparency (and Chris Brogan was both in his post) – but I certainly support the idea.  Those who know me also know that I am a recent convert to this idea. I used to think of blogging as a community service type endeavor. No longer. When it comes to blogging I’m more likely to say “show me the money” than anything else!

What do you think? Should bloggers accept money to write posts? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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This is a very inspiring video from Glenda Watson Hyatt. It shows you the power of blogging and how it enables relationship across boundaries and people. Visit her blog at doitmyselfblog.com.

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