Some day, when this blog is more than two days old, someone is going to Google “get rich with social media” or something to that effect and land here expecting all the answers.
So let’s just come right out and say it.
You’re not going to get rich using social media.
Oh sure, some people will command ridiculous appearance fees from their social media presence. But let’s face it, we can’t all be Gary Vaynerchuk. Some people will write best-selling books, but we can’t all be Tara Hunt or Chris Brogan. (for the record, I *love* what all three of these people do, say, write and stand for).
The simple fact is, the vast majority of “social media practitioners” won’t make a dime from social media. Many will pay (lots of) dimes to hear “guru’s” speak and preach about how you have to use social media in your business.
Do you have to use social media in your business?
Of course you don’t. Let’s face it folks, the vast majority of businesses out there use absolutely no aspects of social media, and even in the current economy, they are doing just fine thankyouverymuch.
In fact, I’d go so far to say that you’re better off not using social media than using it “wrong”. Go wrong and at best you’re wasting your time, you’re probably making yourself look silly and at worst you are damaging yourself and your business.
Here’s an example from Twitter on “doing it wrong”. I’m not trying to pick on this guy. My guess is he’s got no clue that what’s he’s doing with Twitter is senseless. There is even a good chance some “guru” told him, “Get out there and follow as many people as you can! Follow everyone back! Follow follow follow!”.
From the actual Twitter stream. This goes on for page after page after page:
There is zero engagement from this “user” of social media. Oh, he can tell prospective clients, “I’ve got 2,246 followers on Twitter!” but so what? Is he sharing anything (other than a link to his website)? Is he actually meeting with and engaging with anyone via Twitter?
No. He’s blindly following people and perhaps more remarkably, people are blindly following him. Why? What would anyone possibly get from following this guy?
What. Is. The. Point?
So now I’ve just about blown any chance I’ll have at landing esteemed speaking gigs. I’m telling you you don’t have to use social media to be successful. In this day of social-media-is-the-whiz-bang-get-rich-scheme-of-the-new-millennium who the heck would hire a guy that’s saying you don’t have to use it? (note to conference organizers: you should hire the contrarian. One who’s not afraid to buck the trend. And I’m cheap. Just sayin…)
Don’t get me wrong though. You can use social media in your business. And you can use it to grow your business. I have, and trust me if I can do it, anyone can. It’s just that contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to participate in social media to be wildly successful.
But you damn well at least better understand it because it’s not going away. Sure, the tools may change. But until human beings cease talking to each other, social media is here to stay.
Personally, I think anyone can achieve “untold wealth” via social media. It just depends on how you define “wealth”. Yes, I’ve secured several clients for my real estate business via social media. I’ve gotten exposure in the traditional mainstream media. I’ve been invited to speak on social media. All that puts hard dollars in my pocket.
But where I’ve really gained untold wealth is in the friends I’ve met literally all across the world. How do you value friendship? I happen to think it’s priceless.
Jay Thompson is a real estate broker, father, husband, wannabe geek and has a blogging problem.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Jay, sometimes you sell yourself short. I enjoy the way you tell it like it is…looking forward to reading more.
Well put, I get a lot of “blind” followers (usually bots when I post something on Twitter that says “Foreclosure” or “Real Estate” I’ve never once followed them back.
Effective social networking and participation also requires frequent trimming of you contacts for those who will provide value or be of some form of entertainment (at the very least!).
Love this blog already… can’t wait for the next post
Jay – Congrats on the new blog and what a perfect starting post!
Amen! I’d go on to say social media is not a silver bullet. As more and more real estate agents jump on the bandwagon, I see more and more broadcast messages like your example. So, I’m left wondering about the disconnect. What prevents agents (and other industry folks) from understanding the medium? Are they too lazy to learn? Or is it the messages delivered from the stage fall vastly short of educating?
I look forward to your new SM blog, especially since I study SM so much, and I know you are a great source. I second Kathy re the broadcast messages… but it seems in many arenas too many people want a ‘quick fix’ and do not want to take the time to learn about something before diving in. The friends and the KNOWLEDGE I have gained through SM are worth their weight in gold.
No wonder you’re bringing on new agents every week … You need someone to bring home the bacon while you’re playing with your blogs!
Very cool, Jay … And I agree with your points. I am trying to get my web sites up to par and get in the habit of actually creating content that people would want to read and participate in. Participation being key here.
Still trying to get twitter. I see it as a good vehicle for casual chat and random musings, but until there becomes a way to follow a complete conversation that you may happen upon it just frustrates me more than anything.
James, following a complete twitter conversation is possible with the right applications. I use HootSuite which gives an option of showing the preceding messages. Several applications allow grouping of your followers. It’s much easier for me to follow the convo in a group of 50 than the entire stream. (Hoping my smiling face appears soon. I just updated gravatar with my new email address.)
Hey, your smiling face is there!
Sure, there are convoluted ways of hacking a conversation together, but it’s hard to do when you see a tweet that catches your eye and want to trace it back to the origin and include all the participants … or am I missing something?
If twitter made it easy to have a threaded conversation that would be awesome. Not everyone uses the “reply” link (or maybe different apps handle it differently) so threads aren’t always complete.
If I’m not mistaken, the original thought behind twitter was to post a random thought or a quick note and not to be used like a chat room or an IM system but that is what users morphed it into.
That in itself is cool, though, because it’s an example of the users of social media taking a tool that was created for one thing and then moulding it into something that they wanted.
The developers of twitter had the insight that the platform was bigger than themselves and made it possible for outside developers/users to hook into the platform and extend it for uses that were not originally intended.
The twitter evolution has been interesting to watch.
Thank you for the reinforcement of what social media is all about. Our business is about developing relationships and trust. Thank you for the thoughts. Keep em coming.
Scott
Jay,
I would really like to buy you a couple beers in Vegas at REBlogWorld and pick your brain… I’ve been stalk– following you for about a year, and you have a way of distilling the BS down to the essence of the matter (sorry, another alcohol reference – can you tell I’ve been reading your stuff?).
I’m looking forward to future posts at Thoughts on Social Media, and I will be passing along the link…
Did someone say “buy me a couple of beers in Vegas”?? You’re on Bill!
@Bubba – better (I suppose) to sell ones self short than over-promise and under deliver?
@Brandon – thanks! It’ll be interesting to see how it evolves…
@Mike – thank you. Enjoyed you on Blog Talk Radio today! We need to chat sometime about a FB page…
@Kathy – that’s the 50,000 question. I think too many just dive in and apply “old school” techniques to this newfangled thing. (And yes, I’ve seen some horrific “new media experts” out there, teaching all teh wrong stuff)
@James – Twitter does not really lend itself well to threaded conversations. A desktop client like Tweetdeck can help (you could create a small group on the fly to try best as you can to follow a single conversation).
@Scott – I’ll keep the thoughts coming until I run out of stuff to say! Right now, there’s enough material to keep me busy for several years…
Whoops, missed @Susie there… “The friends and the KNOWLEDGE I have gained through SM are worth their weight in gold.”
Indeed. Knowledge is power. And I can’t begin to even describe the knowledge I’ve gained through social media!
Dear Jay,
thank you for your criticism of my twitter replies to my followers.
Yes, these are replies to the people that have chosen to follow me on Twitter.
I think it’s the decent and polite thing to do, don’t you?
We shouldn’t use Social Media with the sole idea of “getting rich”, but even then, If that is someone’s idea, I believe that we should establish an honest relationship first.
I wish that you would have taken the time to write directly to me, as a good Samaritan did today, informing me of your blog and of this writing about me in it and that way, perhaps you would have gotten to know me better instead of prejudging me without knowing who I am.
You wrote: Oh, he can tell prospective clients, “I’ve got 2,246 followers on Twitter!” but so what?
Believe me Jay, my intentions are not to brag to my clients about how many followers I have, (that by the way, I have not used any software or any other gagged or system to achieve 2,246 followers). All I have done is respectfully replied to them.
I want to also point out to you and to your readers, that I analyze everyone of the follower’s messages that I receive and that I don’t accept everyone of them just to add followers, as a matter of fact, I delete quite a few of them that come from people that are not acceptable or are not compatible with me or my profession.
I Also want to point out again, for your readers benefit, that I am not a Spammer and that I just reply to my followers with what I believe is a polite thank you message.
I hope that using me as your example, served your purpose of appearing to your readers as a great and knowledgeable writer and fine Real Estate Broker and that they continue to congratulate you and your blog.
If you ever need anything from this humble Real Estate Broker in Miami, don’t hesitate in contacting me. In the mean time, best wishes to you!
Sincerely,
Sándor R. Ochoa
My gratitude to Kathy for her decency in letting me know about this.
Sandor –
I appreciate you coming here and commenting. I did send you an email several weeks ago when I first picked up on your Twitter stream, but you never replied. I also “@replied” to you on Twitter and heard nothing. I realize we’re all quite busy and it’s entirely possible that my email and Tweet got buried and/or went unnoticed.
Please note, no where did I call you a spammer. And of course there is nothing wrong with thanking people for following you.
But Sandor, that thanking of people is all I see you doing on Twitter. So I don’t understand the point. Granted, I did not look at every tweet you’ve ever sent, but all I see is the same “thank you” message over and over. I see no engagement, no replies, no links, no conversation.
So help me understand, what is the point?
There are clearly many ways to use Twitter and other social media tools, and I’m by no means an expert. But for the life of me I can’t see what you’re getting from twitter, nor can I understand what people that follow you are getting from you. I’m not saying that anyone has to “get” anything from Twitter, but you’ve obviously spent a lot of time cultivating a following. I’m just really curious as to why?
I didn’t use your twitter stream example for the purpose “of appearing to your readers as a great and knowledgeable writer and fine Real Estate Broker”. I used it as an example of someone who uses twitter without truly engaging (I don’t consider a single “thank you” as engagement). I used it as a real life example of something *I* see as a waste of time. You are certainly free to disagree. I’d truly appreciate it if you’d help me understand your application of Twitter as I’m just not getting it. We’ve all got a lot to learn, there are no hard and fast rules, so maybe we can all help each other. THAT was the point in using your example.
Sandor,
As I read through the post again and Jay’s response to you, I believe we are all coming from a similar philosophy – to be helpful to our clients using today’s technology tools.
Do you use Twitter to talk to your followers beyond the initial note of thanks? Or to set up offline communication? Developing online relationships via Twitter is an alternative – or perhaps bonus – to developing relationships via email and other channels of communication.
I’d like to learn from the experiences of you, Jay and his readers; and share my experiences in return. I look forward to a continued discussion.
I almost feel guilty right now (and already did) for my attempt to get to #REBW09. It’s definitely been against my basic rules of Twitter. Lucky for me, I think the people I associate with know that I’m not a spammer. Although I might be slightly annoying, they know what the cause is.
Much like if you (Jay) spent a day sending out messages and needed the Twitterverse’s help, I think you would get the response (you are a real estate social media thought leader – like it or not).
What I have found about my recent attempt is that a) I’ve built some great bonds with people I already knew, b) I’ve met some new people through relational networking, c) a lot of people are willing to lend a hand – even when they may not know who they’re lending it to.
Although I can’t speak to everyone all the time, I find it is possible to form great bonds with people in short bursts. Continuing it on a long term basis is the key.
I’m hoping to give you the good news that you and I will finally meet up in real life. I guess I still owe you a beer.
Well put, Jay. It all goes back to SM is merely a set of tools. They won’t make a bad agent good. Used properly they will expand reach, connections, influence and knowledge. And agree, increased wealth is not all $’s in the pocket. See ya in 2 weeks. peace.
Matt – I don’t think what you did was spamming. It was a one-time “event” and you were simply cashing in on some of your “Whuffie” — your Social Media capital. You earned it, nothing wrong with it.
I think you’re spot on about making relationships and meeting new (amazingly helpful for the most part) people.
It fascinates me.
And you GUESS you still owe me a beer?
Jay, most excited to see you giving a place to voice your “ThoughtsOnSocialMedia”. Love the title too! This will be a welcomed feed in my reader as I’ve come to highly respect and appreciate you. Thank you for being one heck of a great guy.
FWIW, I traveled back at least 15 pages on the “example” site & found only one RT. Besides that, there was NOTHING but the Thank you for… I’d also love to know the “strategy” behind this methodology.
Jay – I like this “no BS” approach to social media. I, too, have made money from social media, but the real value has come from the side projects and relationships as a result of connecting with individual friends. It has even re-defined our notion of what constitutes a “friend” in the first place.
Well said, my friend.