The secret sauce
I promised you some tips from my “magical marketing plan” in last week’s post about my inbound lead generation success.
I am a woman of my word and so here is the first ingredient in the Social Media Secret Sauce….YOU.
I was being tongue-in-cheek when I called it magical (you knew that, right?) because there isn’t anything magic about it except what you bring to the front with your personality.
You are the magic.
Now the question is, “how do I bring my personal type of magic to the front to help me with social media marketing?” The answer to that is, find your voice.
What is your niche? Who are you hoping to attract as clients and customers? What are you passionate about in your career? What do you bring to your clients that no one else can replicate? Where is your source of energy?
The answers to these questions may overlap or they may all be different, but they will help you to focus your attention to your “magic”.
This voice is the one you will use as your guidepost in social media. It will help you decide what blog posts are most important, who you are following on Twitter and what message you are trying to keep front of mind with your social media sphere.
The next step is the biggest
After you know what your voice is, the next step is the biggest: be tenacious. It takes time to build an effective social media marketing plan and even more time to implement the plan and even MORE time to see even a small result. This isn’t an overnight event, this is an investment in your future business that will take very little money, but lots of attention and time.
I started my journey a couple of years ago. It took about six months before I started to see some traction and it was a year before real viable leads came my way. I did this without much guidance because I was an early adopter. Maybe you can do it faster with the advice of those that come before you.
Two years into my plan, I have concrete results each week. Just yesterday a buyer called me after reading some of my blog posts and asked me to be her buyer’s agent. The results of a social media plan can be far reaching and very lucrative when you follow your voice.
Last week I had a double sided closing. The listing was a short sale and the seller found me after using Google to research short sales in Western Massachusetts and reading my blog posts. She had been turned away by two other agents in the area and was using Google to find help. I listed the home and a first time home buyer found me through my internet marketing. His offer was accepted by Bank of America (after a Twitter intervention). In the process of showing this home three buyers decided this property wasn’t the one for them, but asked me to represent them as their buyer’s agent. Last month the seller’s boyfriend has listed his house with me. All of those leads off of my blog posts.
All it cost me was some time and a lot of effort.
A social media plan isn’t something that you can set and forget. It is a change in prospecting mentality from outbound to inbound marketing and it takes dedication and determination to the effort. You won’t need to spend much money, but you will invest greatly if you want to see success.
Bippety Boppety now get to workety!
CC Licensed image courtesy of faeriequeen via Flickr.com.
Lesley – you should really test your website westfieldhomehelp.com in other browsers – it’s not looking so good using firefox. Also you may want to invest in a more interesting theme for your other site, it’s a bit bland
Thanks for the input. I like clean and simple and feel for a topic like distressed homes basic layout with helpful information is what the consumers are looking for. Besides, I didn’t discuss blog themes or layouts, nor do I plan to. Taste is a unique thing, but I am of the opinion, as stated above that the most important part of a social media plan is the person implementing it.
Lesley,
Am I missing something or am I seeing things correctly? On the blog that you mention you have had a total of 2 posts in 2010…you also herald a ranking on a keyword that NOBODY is searching for.
I know in your last post you were asked for back up numbers and refused to provide any…so I won’t bother asking…but in this regard, you have written yet another blog post championing your take on SM and when one looks it seems the only real SM you have is her eon AgentGenius.
In this post, you mention one closing…one single closing…am I alone here or does any of this make sense to anybody else?
I mean seriously, some of this might make sense to newbies and those who don’t really know any better but c’mon…really?
You say you started your SM journey two years ago but you still don’t rank for any major keywords and only have 4k twitter followers?
You say you started your SM journey two years ago and your sites really have no PR to speak of?
You say you started your SM journey two years ago and only have 40 links to your domain and those links are from AG, ActiveRain or sites that you own?
So what have you been doing for 2 years to develop this “presence”? And what pray tell is your marketing plan? Or is that secret as well?
I mean no disrespect, but you have to understand…there are some of us out here who can easily see the wholes in what you have been saying. Maybe we shouldn’t be reading these posts and maybe we should just keep quiet and move on. But it just does not seem right that these kind sof posts are appropriate here on AgentGenius. It kind of makes the “genius” part of the moniker lose a little luster.
It may be fine for Active Rain…but I really don’t think this kind of a post needs to be seen here.
However I guess I should applaud you for now taking advantage of your tenure here. If you play your cards right it can only serve to help your stature on your other sites…that is if you begin implementing the marketing plan you seem to be touting.
My main blog is http://www.lesleylambert.com, where I have been writing posts for years.
http://www.westfieldhomehelp.com is a niche blog that is specific to distressed home sellers which I don’t post as often to.
http://www.westernmahomes.net is my newest blog (and will be merged with http://www.lesleylambert.com as soon as time permits).
Sellers and buyers are finding me via google every week.
Barry – given the amount of time you invested on this rant, you could have clicked around Lesley’s site a bit more. Lesley can defend herself, but she’s been regularly posting on her primary blog for over two years. If you actually read her article, she didn’t say that she has only one sale from SM – she only cited a couple of examples.
Bruce you obviously don’t know me nor have you read my postings. This is hardly a rant, it’s direct questioning of a post that speaks directly to the integrity of the author and the information she is providing.
I also don’t know where you visited, as the blog she links to in the article (westfieldhomehelp.com/) has only had two posts this entire year, like I said in my comment.
Lesley, the fact that you went from #7 to #1 in your company speaks volumes to me. If you were doing that with postcards, I’d go out and buy stamps.
The rest is all dog bones, if you ask me.
Hey Lesley — In your opinion, what would happen to your annual production if you added serious local DinosaurMarketing to your mix? Would love to hear your thoughts.
I hate that kind of marketing. I was never good at sticking to it because I didn’t like it and thus I moved to my inbound social media plan. Since I don’t use it effectively I moved my time to what is working for me. Each agent is going to have their own unique results based on a lot of factors….that goes for social media marketing or “dinosaur marketing”.
Lesley…
First off….Massive kudos to you for the advancement in-house! That is awesome and quite the testament to the idea that you know what you are doing…and do it well.
Secondly…I am a huge fan of the information you provided in this post…especially the importance that you put on being tenacious! You have to want it…bad. And, you have to be willing to do whatever is needed to get it. Rinse. Repeat.
Keep knockin’ em out the park, darling!!
Clint
Hi Lesley, I enjoyed your post very much, and agree with you … it takes time and effort, but is well worth it. We all have to do what works for us, not somebody else. Automated lead generation turns me off, and I don’t think the new generation of buyers are going to be ‘leads;’ many of them will be readers or followers of ours.
The more I got into real estate, the more I realized that the Cowgirl in me is much more passionate about helping horse people, offering horse properties and information, and promoting the horse industries that are dear to me as the result of my years showing and raising horses, and never-ending passion for them, than being a RE Broker, per se. People naturally gravitate toward me with horse and horse property questions, referrals, etc. None of that shouting stuff needed. Love it!
ding ding ding!
> I hate that kind of marketing.
I figured that out, which is why I didn’t ask the question, “Hey Leslie, do you like DinosaurMarketing?”
I’d love an answer to the question I asked, if that’s OK.
In your opinion, what would happen to your annual production if you added serious local DinosaurMarketing to your mix?
I guess I don’t understand what you are trying to get at and am a bit unclear on your question.
If you are asking me if I think my production would improve if I did a bunch of advertising and mass mailing in my area, then my answer is: it might. But it would cost me a lot of money and the leads generated would be less familiar with me than the leads that find me through social media.
Hey, work what works for you.
Great article and perspective. I’m visiting the links to read more.
You’re so right about “finding your voice”, which is sometimes the most difficult part. Probably the most important thing you pointed out is the effort and committment required. You don’t put up a post and have your phone start ringing. It takes a consistent effort (which I’m working on) to build a following and have people find your information when THEY need it.
As far as the Dinosaur Marketing question… If you work it properly, it still works well for a lot of people. I personally do not have the patience, money or desire to go that route. And basically, I retrieve the mail from my mailbox, go straight to the trash can and pitch anything that isn’t a bill or a card from my mother.
By the way… I still LOVE your site header with you holding the little house in your hand! It communicates well the level of care I know you give to each of your clients.
Persistence is key in all endeavors. Social media is no different. I agree with you about the mail, Lisa. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!
> I guess I don’t understand what you are trying to get at and am a bit unclear on your question.
What part don’t you understand? What’s unclear? You probably don’t mean to, but you’re insulting my intelligence.
> If you are asking me if I think my production would improve if I did a bunch of advertising and mass mailing in my area, then my answer is: it might.
I can’t top that one.
I am completely not trying to insult you or your intelligence, I am guessing that it is me that is missing something here.
My way isn’t the only way, it may not even be the best. It is just me here sharing what works for me in case someone else can benefit.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘the best way’. Factoid: 100% of my business since 1/1/2004, with the lone exception of referrals, is through SM. But I don’t, or at least haven’t had the choice ’till just now, of using anything else BUT SM. The reason is because I was forced to abandon my local market. I’ve had no local market since late 2003.
I’m now able to come back, if only on the listing side, as a result of the massive correction. You can bet your last commission check I won’t be eschewing 2.0 marketing. However, I’ll also be using much of what’s worked well since I began so long ago. I’ll make a prediction: The income I generate locally will be split roughly 2/3 from OldSchool efforts to 1/3 SM.
Don’t wanna go out on a limb here, but I suspect the results won’t depend much on if I like doing or not.
That is great, I don’t think we need to be judging each others idea of marketing here.
I wish you nothing but the best in your new endeavors and hope your business is booming however the leads find you.
I think what Lesley means, and certainly what I mean, is that one is more likely to practice consistent behavior in an activity they enjoy and from which desired results are believed likely.
I don’t shy away from traditional marketing just because I don’t like to do it or that I think it’s not effective. I don’t use it because it’s not the right method for me, so I won’t do it the best it can be done. I firmly believe that if you’re not committed to practicing a method to the best of your ability, you will not see the desired result. I know plenty of people who use traditional marketing with great success. I think that’s wonderful and wish them continued success.
As for me… it’s not part of my future marketing strategy. I do wish you great success with the blended approach you seem to be taking. I’m certain that if your faithful to your strategy, you’ll find the desired result.
I’ll try my hardest.
I think the winner of the Old School vs. SM debate depends on your overall business strategy. If the foundation of your business is based on acquiring listings in a geographical area, then Old School is the only way to be successful. You need to *physically* reach out to sellers via direct mail, print and other *physical* media.
If the foundation of your business is to acquire buyers, then SM is one of the most effective methods since buyers are online.
I have both – but listings acquired via old school marketing is the foundation of the business. I don’t see this radically changing in the coming years.