Final Piece Consulting, LLC

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How to Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) in Social Media

It’s partly human nature.  We want to be associated with what’s new, what’s up and coming, what’s next.  This is especially true when it comes to social media.  Everyone is talking about Pinterest, Path or Google Plus.  It seems as though everyone has written a blog post titled something like “10 Ways to Use Pinterest for Business”.  All of these conversations about the up & coming social networks are a good thing, but it doesn’t mean these new social networks are right for your business.

Too often I’ve heard, “Everyone’s on Facebook & Twitter; we need to be on these networks!”  Your company may be successful by jumping on the social media bandwagon but I’d highly recommend doing a bit of research before jumping into your first social network as an company.  A little research goes a long way & will help your organization avoid SOS.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Social Network

Is it right for your company?  Does your target audience, or your potential clients, hang out on this social network?  What are my goals? (ex: leads/sale, branding/awareness, etc.)  These are the questions to ask before you decide on a social network.  I like to look back at the Conversation Prism (by Brian Solis & JESS3) every time I’m building a social campaign to remind myself of the sheer number & diversity of social networks.

Final Piece took this approach recently with a paint manufacturing client.  Facebook & Twitter were involved heavily in their product launch campaign (mainly for channel marketing/referral purposes) but the bulk of our social time was spent in a discussion board for paint & coating professionals.  A discussion board is not one of the new, sexy social networks but the audience was perfect.

After several months on the boards, we ran a promotion giving away the new product & garnering hundreds of quality leads from this relatively small corner of the Internet.  Why did the discussion board work?  It turns out that folks who own their own their own painting contractor companies don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook or Twitter.  So how did we find this discussion board?  Where should you go to find your audience online?

Target Audience Research Tools

• Social Mention – A tool for finding out who is saying what & where they are saying it.  Also includes sentiment tools.
• LinkedIn Groups – The new statistics feature allow you to easily see the group’s demographics & if a LinkedIn group is dominated by potential or current clients.
• Addict-o-matic – Primarily a listening tool, it can also be used to find your audience. Bonus points for ease of use.
• Forrester’s Social Technographics Tool – All social media users are not created equally.  Featuring both B2B & B2C tools, Forester helps you break down how your target demographic uses social media.

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Everyone knows the real estate market has been in the proverbial crapper for more than two years. So of course my wife

and I decided to put our house on the market in February (a cold and dreary month in NC) of 2011.

After 91 days and 10 showings we had an offer and accepted that offer early this month.

Why do I bring this up you ask? Because I am confident that an integrated social media strategy helped sell my home.

But first, let’s bring it back to 2010.

Choosing a Forward Thinking Real Estate Firm

I began to work with 1st Signal Realty (Disclaimer: 1st Signal Realty is a client) in September of 2010 when their owner, Will Dyson, and I sat down to discuss

his business model moving forward. Will has been a successful entrepreneur in a few industries and he wanted to meet with me because he understood

the importance of social media but simply didn’t have the ability to implement a strategic plan.

We spoke for a few hours and I came away with the feeling that I could come up with an integrated strategy across the web that included website updates, a local blog and a local focus on a few specified social networking sites.

Since that meeting, Will and I have been working together to not only help sell homes but to create a community of friends and clients online. It has helped grow 1st Signal as well as encourage home buyers and sellers to choose a real estate firm that is progressive and always evolving for their clients.

How Social Media Helped Sell My Home

Fast forward to late January of last year when my wife and I decided it might be a good time to sell our home in order to take advantage of the low interest rates. Will counseled us on how we should approach this decision and we had our home on the market by Super Bowl Sunday.

Since 1st Signal had a strategic and integrated social media plan in place for 5+ months at the time I knew my home was, at the very least, going to be in the upper eschelon of local homes in that prize range as far as visibility goes.

Because we had already created a community, when our house became available it was shared everywhere. Facebook, Twitter, Real Estate Forums and more.

We didn’t beg folks to buy our home or even ask them to “please, please tell everyone about our home!”  Instead, thanks to the commitment 1st Signal made to social media – our home was able to stand out from the rest of the pack.

Do Your Research

Make sure the next time you decide to buy or sell a home that you find a local real estate firm who is offering a marketing strategy that includes an integrated social media plan. There may be a bigger real estate firm that has more agents or a longer list of achievements – but I can almost gurantee that won’t sell your home.

How do I know? Social Media sold my home, that’s how.