Social Networking and the Future of Real Estate Marketing

For those of you who follow my blog, you know I haven't been posting lately...I was away for a week, then got home with a bug that I probably picked up on the airplane...Finally back to the office today and quite honestly, I don't even know where to begin. There are a dozen newspaper articles clipped and scattered across my desk...any and all of them are blog worthy...plus several excellent Internet articles that caught my eye, also well worth sharing. I'm just out of the habit of writing a post every couple of days...strange how quickly that happens. It took me months to form the good habit of writing regularly, it takes a few days to break it! Well, here goes! Rismedia.com recently ran an article about the top 12 ways to build a following on Twitter. Not familiar with Twitter? Don't worry, it won't be long before you are "tweeting" or know someone personally who "tweets" ! Twitter is a "micro-blogging, real-time website". The most popular online social network is Facebook, currently being used by 78% of online households that use social networking, followed by Myspace (42%), LinkedIn (17%), then Twitter at 10%. I like Twitter because it's quick and easy, only 140 characters. -And because I don't spend a lot of time reading the papers or watching the news I can follow the local newspaper as well as other papers and news sources online with quick and easy posts and links. I can get baseball scores, find out what restaurants in town are having specials and what new exhibit is opening at The Met in NYC...you name it, it's great! A lot of people use Twitter to build a personal following (42%). I use it primarily to build a business following, as does 26% of the other current users. I post links to our website, my blog, new listings and virtual tours. I am more picky about who I follow than who follows me...eventually I'd like to have thousands of followers, but who I follow will still remain more specific to what I want to read about and keep up with online. I can choose with whom I wish to interact, such as other businesses and companies, brands, journalists, news anchors and the like. So, even though I am on all the aforementioned sites; Twitter and Facebook are the two I use most regularly. LinkedIn is the one I want to get better at and use more for business connections. Another article posted online just yesterday by Rismedia.com talked about how Social Networking is "exploding" in popularity. 43% of the online community now uses a social network site. This is up from just 27% a year ago. More than half of the social networkers log on at least once each day! The phenomenon spans all generations. About 19% of the people who visit these sites are age 55 and over, up 6% from just a year ago. Men & women use Facebook equally, however women are more likely to use Myspace. Conversely, more men than women use LinkedIn. Myspace also attracts a younger crowd, the majority of its users are under 35. I enjoy Facebook, which I primarily joined to get more exposure for my listings. The friends and family that I have connected with through this site has been a wonderful, surprising bonus! Why, just a couple of weeks ago while my mom and I were in the New York area visiting family we enjoyed dinner one night with an old neighbor from over 30 years ago whom we had lost contact with, but that I found on Facebook! Chip & I are doing our best not to let these generation Xer's and Y's get the best of us. We have always tried to stay, if not ahead of the curve, at least up in the front of the pack. I think that with our 40+ years of experience selling the Naples lifestyle combined with our teams fabulous websites, an irreplaceable marketing coordinator (thanks Sam!), and all the Internet marketing and social networking that we are involved in, The Harris Peppe Team can't help but maintain their stature as leaders in the Naples real estate community. For old fashioned service with a high tech twist, call The Harris Peppe Team today! 239-370-0574 Now that wasn't so hard after all. I'll be back with more local real estate information and best buys soon!