Social media use by business, and definitely by real estate professionals, is growing by leaps and bounds. And, if you read here much, you know that I'm a big fan of Google+, the new social spot on the Web. However, there's a lot of disagreement about how much to engage our prospective customers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now Google+. Some would say, and they practice it, that if a little works then a lot must work better. I do know that when I connect with a real estate professional in Google+, if I start getting multiple posts/day, especially if they're mostly promoting every tiny feature of their listings, I just disconnect. After all, I'm in Taos, NM, and have very little interest in their new listing in Detroit. (Another reason to learn to use Google+ Circles properly.)
Research recently published by ROI Research and Performics might shock some of us. They asked consumers and users of social media how often they considered "often enough" for business connections to communicate with them in social media. The top two response groups were 28% saying once per month or less, and 26% saying once per week was enough.
I know I'm doing more than that at times, as my blog posts here are fed to a Twitter account. I do the same with my personal real estate site. However, I don't think that it's about absolute numbers. I think it's more about content and quality. And, I definitely think posting up every one of your listings more than once is way too much. First, if you're doing Social right, you're building a large number of long term relationships. How many people who buy a home on average once every eight years want three listing posts every week for that eight years? That's around 1200+ posts they endure that will have absolutely no value to them.
However, if at least half or more of your posts are market reports, sold property data, local and regional news and views, then it's more like a magazine or ezine of local information. Your self-serving marketing posts can blend in without overpowering your contacts. Think about your social media strategy and how you would perceive it as the acquaintance on the receiving end.
Nice post–it’s funny that as salespeople we must remind ourselves to be empathetic to our prospects (which are often our friends and family). But a great point–I have unsubscribed from lots of vendors that bombard me with their messages and while in the process thought “If they just didn’t send me so many irrelevant emails!
Thanks for the comment Michael. When you work hard to get a site visitor and get their email address, it’s a shame to lose them for aggressive emails.