People like to reveal to all the world what they are doing.

The name of the “suspect” was so unique that there was no mistake about him and then we because absolute certain of his identity when my wife mentioned some additional information about this guy. The funny thing about it is that this very person, who lives and works in Europe, had been complaining with his boss about how much he had to do and how he was not being able to keep the pace with all the requirements that his boss was sending from the US.

A very funny situation and we had a very good laugh, but our guest had suddenly come to see another aspect of social media power. He had not been familiar with Facebook until few months ago and he had never thought of connecting his own staff to himself: in the end he knew them already and had other communication channels already with them. But now he was going to connect with just everybody in his office and was going to keep an eye on everybody’s activity.

I believe it is kind of embarrassing to have someone else come to you and inform you, accidentally, about something going on you your company, but with social media the information is really shared on a wide scale and you learn much more about people by looking up their accounts and their activities than by just talking with them and sharing the same working space for years.

I have been living this experience myself in the last couple of days. I had hired a virtual assistant, somebody helping me on my business activities from a distance. We had a full time agreement, that is he was supposed to work for me all the time and he had given him a list of things to do at the beginning of the week, yet I had seen little results. He was moving slow and it took him two days to do an action that can be performed in half an hour. He told me he had technical problems to work out, but then I caught him sending out messages on Facebook about products that had nothing to do with my business.

I realized immediately that he had started working for somebody else and that was why he couldn’t complete my task list on time. I confronted with him and proposed him to get paid half, but when he complained loudly about the unfairness of my request, I knew I had hit pay dirt and it was time to end our relationship. By using Facebook, in just few minutes, I was able to spot a problem very early and act on it immediately.

I am not advocating the use of social media for controlling others, but social media has become so much part of many people life that you can use it to establish the true character and intentions of people even if they live in another continent and act accordingly. When people do something wrong they often want to be discovered and social media is the new channel that many individuals use to make their public “confessions”.

Roberto Mazzoni

Public confessions on social media is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Daniele Bogiatto, Chris Krimitsos and Miranda Sorgente at the Dream Factory of the Wealth Building Annex.

So it was natural for us to bring the two things together and yesterday we organized a meeting with Chris at the Dream Factory with two key figures in corporate coaching and training in Europe: my partner Daniele Bogiatto and Miranda Sorgente. Just the day before the TWBA staff had been fully absorbed in the delivery of a spectacular event to the members of the mastermind: a presentation by Gary Vaynechuck on the future of the web and  social media.

So the atmosphere was relaxed but still full of the energy generated by the event. So the meeting flowed very well and it lasted much longer then expected. I believe we have set the stage for my company to become the conduit also for American speakers and trainers wanting to expand their action to the European market.

The right relationships are already there and I enjoy the idea of bringing over some highly powerful personality like Gary.

We are still at the early stages, but all the ingredients are already present, so we just need to move now. My original idea to spend most of my effort and time into establishing few strong relationships is paying back big time because now they start to work for me and in line with the natural evolution of the business I have created from scratch. Once again it is not important what you know, but rather who knows you.

Roberto Mazzoni

Europe gets to the Dream Factory is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

I was actually in the garage when I suddenly got a phone call on my mobile phone from my business partner and best friend Daniele Bogiatto who was driving along the Italian highway towards to Rome for a major event where he will launch, together with other partners, a whole new company dedicated to Social Network Marketing. An enterprise that wants to be the first really successful mixture between Web 2.0 and network marketing.

He has been working on this project for some months now and in the coming week end they will organize in Rome the first world wide convention of the company that is an evolution of an already successful European network marketing company that has been using the Web effectively in the last decade but that now wants to master the social networks.

Daniele is a master in Web 2.0 promotion and has been invited by this major network marketing company to bring his experience in the project and to become directly part of the team, so I have been involved from day one since we share everything we do individually. It also happens that my wife Maria is a true genius in network marketing and has been the head of one of the biggest networks in Europe during the Nineties, so Daniele asked for her opinion as well.

Maria volunteered some important advice and also started talking about the imminent event in Rome to some of her previous network marketing connections in Italy.

Today Daniele wanted to know more about Maria’s actions on this line and so I put them in direct communication so that they could be on the same page. The call was very energetic and after that Maria started calling her connections in Italy. A flurry of activity ensued with interest about the event, despite all of these people were on the other side of the Atlantic, the interest about the Social Network Marketing initiative spread like wildfire and Maria was on the phone and on Skype for over 5 hours straight (she even missed lunch) and many new people are likely to join the program thanks to her communication of today.

This is the power of true networking relationships at work, the power of the Internet that connects people from all over the world, and the power of my wife who is capable of motivating and bringing to action just about anybody no matter where he is and what else he is doing.

Roberto Mazzoni

Social Network Marketing is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Maria has an extensive high level background on Network Marketing and Daniele is a genius in Web promotion, and I have been studying the merging of network marketing technique, e-commerce and Internet Marketing by meeting and talking with some of the highest people in the field to date. By the merging of our experiences and ideas, and with the superb development of the project by Daniele after he returned in Italy, we now have the first world wide convention on Social Network Marketing in Rome, next week end.

Many big companies, also in the US, have tried to merge network marketing and social media and have failed so far or have achieved limited results. This project, that will follow closely the culture and the etiquette of the Net, will probably bring together two of the most powerful promotional channels of the last hundred years: Web 2.0 and network marketing.

While this is going on, Mark Jackson, an experienced North American real estate investor is in Italy and is meeting all the people connected to this huge project and other connected projects to explain them why and how to invest in real estate in the US.

This all started with my arrival in the US 15 months ago and with the selection of the right people to network with and the development of such a network. It is a result I am very proud of and I can’t wait to see the evolutions it will have in the near future.

Roberto Mazzoni

All roads lead to Rome is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Daniele is the most prominent web promoter in Italy and has been recently working in supporting the Tony Robbins event in Rome and is the leading expert and eBay evangelist for the whole continent. Mark is evolving his personal position so to become a life coach for American entrepreneurs and this trip will be fundamental in his project as well as in our future personal and professional relationship.

Just before the take off, we were on the phone ironing out the last details of his mission: I wanted to make sure that he was fully prepared to immerse in the European way of doing business and that he could also position himself properly for who he is and what he can do. It’s been a “coaching” session on the fly that continue until the plane captain ordered to switch off all phones.

It is a special achievement for me as I have been building on this project since last February and this trip is the conclusion of a system we had put in motion together with Mark and Daniele at the Fairmont hotel, in Monte Carlo, on the 1st of April of this year.

I know that Mark will do well and that will return with a totally different scenario for himself and for our business. Yet another milestone on my adventurous new life in the US.

Roberto Mazzoni

An incredible project takes off is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate