Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Having too many irons on the fire can be a problem but also having too little can also be a risk. In his old book “The Art of Money Getting” P.T. Barnum would give the following as the golden rule number ten: “Don’t scatter your powers” and he would add: “Engage in one kind of business only and stick to it faithfully until you succeed, or until your experience shows that you should abandon it.” But today you can’t do any business without being somewhat versed in marketing and particularly Internet Marketing, which is a whole big field by itself.

So how do you combine the requirement of focus with the need to also keep in touch with the rest of the world? I find daily in my real estate business that I would be at a serious disadvantage if I were not constantly working on improving my marketing and particular my Internet marketing skills. But there is so much to do in all areas, where do you start first? And what do you do yourself and what do you outsource?

In my recent experience, the first effort should be put into branding yourself. That means having a voice and a presence both online and offline that gives a uniform message and that talks about you and not only about the business you are in. By making yourself known on one of the major social media sites, like Facebook or Liknedin, and by publishing a personal blog with some regularity, you can keep fresh your person in the mind of other people and they will involve you in new business when they have the chance.

Then you could look at which aspect of your current business could be “monetized” online. It doesn’t need to be necessarily an affiliation program or a typical Internet Marketing campaign, it can just be some kind of knowledge you have that can be offered to other people through e-mail, Skype or other long distance communication and that solve some specific problem people have.

For example I have found that my knowledge on how to setup a company in the US and how to have it running properly has gained me customers that wanted assistance in doing that and that cal also become potentially clients for my main line of business.

Keep it simple and it will come to you, just be careful in not starting off in one of the many get rich quick projects that you find on the Web, sty in your field on endeavor as much as you can. I close again with P.T. Barnum: “When a man’s undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different subjects at once”.

Roberto Mazzoni