DISQUS

Brandon · 4 months ago

I actually think twitter is awesome to market real estate (not a realtor myself). A smart realtor can be a local news source for the areas they sell in and build a large following. Every once in a while throw in some RE related tidbits to stay top of mind and it's gold IMO.

It beats the hell out of mailing thousands of dollars worth of crap people will just toss into the trash.

andrew wee · 4 months ago

The ROI on social media mktg is especially disturbing for me.

If social media is purely about branding, mindshare, buzz and other intangibles, it's not very much better than display ads in traditional print, broadcast and radio.

Not exactly a gripe (ok, it is), but as we see social media evolve (and perhaps with more tracking in place), the relationship between social media investment and ROI will be more apparent.

chriswinfield · 4 months ago

Hey Andrew -

Actually for many of our clients, it's not just about "branding, mindshare, buzz and other intangibles." It's about traffic (I.E. ad impressions), links, bookmarks, public relations (leading to press) plus those other things you mentioned. So the ROI does become much clearer. But I do get what you mean...

Matt Siltala · 4 months ago

And I would add for a lot of my clients ... the branding and "getting their name out there" is what they are wanting and looking for ... control the SERPs before they control you! (a little rep man. 101)

Gab Goldenberg · 4 months ago

For the record, Rebecca, you are t3h awesomesauce. I got that word from a blog.

rebeccakelley · 4 months ago

Awesomesauce is awesome.

andrew wee · 4 months ago

@chriswinfield

Yep, I'm sure that the pros within the SEM/SMO space like 10e20 and a couple of others, there's an active drive to educate clients and show tangible metrics on social media spend.

I guess I'm refering more to the other 90% of one-eyed men leading the blind out there...

Ethan Rosenberg · 4 months ago

yes i agree. social media is all about branding and making your presence known!

Pete Gronland · 4 months ago

I too am fed up with self proclaimed "social media guru's" it's just another element of the online marketing mix, which can be effective but only with substantial effort.

Social media done poorly is more damaging than no social media activity at all, too many people are using this medium becasue it is the "in" thing to do.

I have recently explained to a client the manpower required to run a successful blog & utilsie Social media + online PR, they have, quite rightly decided to focus this time on their SEO efforts as they see this as much more tanglible & effective.

rebeccakelley · 4 months ago

"Social media done poorly is more damaging than no social media activity at all."

I totally agree with you. Nice job educating the client on the amount of time and effort it takes to run a blog and properly do SMM. If they can't commit to that, they won't be able to succeed.

rumblepup · 4 months ago

This one is awesome:



"People talking about all this traffic but never taking it further than ‘it brought me 100k visitors!’ What about the links?"



I would add, What about the conversions? Traffic for traffic sake just doesn't site right with me. Qualified traffic, now that I like

Matt Siltala · 4 months ago

EXACTLY!! but I was limited to 140 chars in my answer .... hahaha .... great point I 100% agree with!!!

Michael Martin · 4 months ago

The worst thing is the proliferation of charlatan "Social Media Experts" like the snake oil salesman that jumped on SEO when it was the "buzz" word of marketing.

,Michael Martin

MikeTek · 4 months ago

Steps to Win in Social Media:

1) Hire Scarlet

2) Get her sauced

3) Put her in a room with nothing more than a table

4) Film her taking a tumble

5) Win at life

rebeccakelley · 4 months ago

I don't think you even need to get her drunk. ;P

Steve · 4 months ago

First off the problem is lots of these so called Social Media experts they dont understand the fundamentals of online marketing. Also the clients out there hear the term "Socia Media" an they think its this magical new way to generate buzz and sell products. Social Media should be coupled with Offline PR, Organic Link Building and Affiliate Marketing. It should not be a stand alone solution to the ever long question " how do i produce more sales"? Trying to explain this to clients about more of an Integrated Marketing strategy can be quite cumbersome

Steve
grindvision.com

Anatoly · 4 months ago

I absolutely agree.People have tnes and hundreds of thousands of followers and so what?
I analyze my site and do not feel any results from my Twitter followers.Simply big numbers create you much more credibility in the eyes of newcomers and that's it. Not many of these followers become your subscribers or buyers.

Uk Webmaster Forum · 4 months ago

Yes social media is all about branding and making your presence known! Forming an alliance with people in your target audience is really a great way to go. To me twitter is extremely valuable for anyone who have something to promote because you can easily and quickly build brand awareness and a loyal following, especially among bloggers, online marketers etc