Tag Archives: Allan Dalton

The Future of Facebook

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Stephen M. FellsFor the last few years I have consistently and openly discussed the longterm objectives of Facebook and it nearly always falls on deaf ears; the future of Facebook is business, not personal. Of course it will be a combination of the two but it certainly won’t be centered on games, poking and stalking ex’s.

At the risk of being accused of over simplification, the first version of the Internet was solitary; I could go to ESPN.com to get the Yankees score and no one knew about it (other than ESPN).

The second version of the Internet (the ‘social Web’) makes our online activity community based; now if I go to ESPN.com to get the Yankees score I can ‘like’ that they are beating the Red Sox, add a “Got Rings?” comment and with that one click tell thousands of friends and followers what I’m doing and what I’m thinking about in real time.

But this is still so basic. We really are at the very beginning of the socialization of business and we should all expect to see far better integration via all online properties.

Whenever I describe the future of Facebook I always use the Yankees and secondarily books as my examples. Part of this is because I love both of them but I have always thought books are the better example because they are a global commodity. I describe how one day I will log into Facebook to buy a book from Amazon. Not Amazon.com but the Amazon store inside Facebook. Why go to two Websites when I can do everything via one?

I focus on Amazon for another reason; they were one of the first companies to introduce a community based mechanism with reviews. By allowing us to provide our thoughts on a particular book, conversation changed from the then traditional business to client model to one of client to client to business. This predated nearly every social Website, tool and service we now use.

Amazon.com has taken another step, one that gives my prediction an even better chance of becoming a reality, with their roll-out of tighter integration with Facebook. Although still in beta it’s indicative of how we should expect to do business in future years. Amongst other things we can now see our Facebook friends birthdays while on Amazon.com – an incentive to buy? The wish list has a few kinks that need ironing out but this is a very interesting step in business and social integration.

Image Source: businessinsider.com

Image Source: businessinsider.com

And so to Realtors, who perhaps more than anyone (certainly more than most) need to take note. Allan Dalton has long spoken about the sad but true fact that home owners looking for property related advice will talk to neighbors and financial planners well before ever talking to a Realtor. That conversation is increasingly taking place online which means one thing; you have to place yourself in that conversation.

Before you respond in the negative understand you are increasingly in the minority.

Ultimately ‘social’ anything, be it networking, marketing or media will not be described as ‘social’. Just think about the word ‘cyber’ – it seems so last decade. The ‘e’ in eCommerce will follow it (if it hasn’t already) and we should expect ‘social’ to become meaningless; our lives will become significantly, possibly predominantly, integrated online making use of the word ‘social’ pointless.

One last thought; to most consumers the Internet is only 16 years old. Think about that for a moment. Since 1995 pagers and PDA’s have come and gone and we now take mobile phones and satellite navigation for granted. The next 15 years will see even greater change; do you think it will have us doing more business online?

Criticize Social Networking At Your Cost

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Stephen M. FellsLast week a Eugene, OR based Coldwell Banker Realtor wrote a post on the Inman News Website that generated such an enormous and negative response even Glenn Roberts (Managing Editor) got involved.

As at yesterday it was the top commented post with almost fifty comments, all of them negative:

“This post is incredibly out of touch.”

“This article reflects not the professionalism of the writer but her naivete and ignorance of the business world.”

“Respectfully, I completely disagree with your post. It would appear that you have not been properly trained []. My bet is that you still use a fax machine and maybe a FiloFax to keep your appointments.”

Some just treated it as a joke:

“Tip your waitress. Alisha appears here all week!”

Alisha’s sin? In trying to answer the question “Should Realtors use Facebook to communicate with prospective clients and open house visitors?” her answer was based on your age:

“20-29 never; 30-45 maybe, 45-plus OK.”

You’ll need to read the article to see all of the comments and don’t be swayed by this one post; the Inman Website provides excellent content (this post being a unique exception) from some amazingly intelligent and forward thinking people.

I was the first person to comment and, as you might expect, also disagreed with the comments. But I also need to thank Alisha because she has helped me make a point I’ve voiced several times; many Realtors dismiss the new social world we live in because it’s too early for them to understand what it really means.

The following video clip is from the NBC “Today Show” and really makes my point. In it you see two prominent and intelligent co-anchors (Katie Couric and Bryant Gumble) ask questions that in 1994 weren’t anywhere near as funny as they are today. One can’t help but smile as Gumble, when describing an email address, questions what the @ sign is;

“that little mark. The A with a ring around it [] Katie said she thought it was ‘about’. I’ve never heard it said. It sounded stupid when I said it.”

As the email address violence@nbc.ge.com displays on the screen (with the @ represented as the letter ‘a’ in a circle) Gumble describes it as “NBC GE COM” omitting to mention the ‘dot’ (as in dot com). Couric can be heard adding that she thought the @ sign meant “around or about” and collectively they continue the fun by asking questions like “What is ‘internet’?” and “What, do you write to it like mail?”

Today we all routinely describe the Internet and our email address at a domain name making Couric and Gumbles comments sound like a comedy skit. Which leads me to a question; with so many Realtors refusing to leverage social media, social networking and social marketing (Allan Dalton is correct; they are three distinct and separate things) will we ever look back on their objections, rejections and excuses with a smirk on our face?

Poor Alica’s lack of social experience has been very publicly outed which brings up another question; will this be part of her legacy? Our great, great, grandchildren will know more about us than we will ever know about our great, great, grandparents. How? Consider how we publicly share our photo’s, locations and (for some) most intimate of activities and thoughts for companies like Google and Facebook to archive and backup and store forever.

And with that in mind please enjoy part of the Today Show’s legacy 🙂

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How Long Is A Real Estate Relationship?

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Stephen M. FellsA TV commercial in the UK is currently generating a lot of conversation and having watched it, I found myself thinking about real estate, specifically the relationship between a Realtor and their clients. Here’s the commercial:

The video shows the stages of a woman’s life and has generated some emotional commentary about how positive for some, negative for others, the underlying message is (some naysayers take issue with the suggestion that there is an expected path for women). For me, looking at this from a purely marketing perspective, the final message; “Our lifelong commitment to you”, is the most powerful and makes me wonder what lifetime commitment a Realtor has to their clients.

This also ties into comments made by Allan Dalton at last week’s Westchester Real Estate Professionals meeting. In part, Allan highlighted ‘transactional relationships’ which I understood to mean that a Realtor will be part of my life only when I am buying or selling a house. Essentially there is no ongoing relationship.

I expect people to disagree but know that along with Allan (and increasingly many others), I don’t think sending a calendar or fridge magnet each year counts for anything. Trash giveaways like that, under the guise of ‘drip marketing’, do more harm than good to the real estate industry. They certainly do nothing to continue, let alone build upon, any type of relationship.

I’ve lived in my home for almost seven years and so I am about to hit that sweet spot when data says I am considering a move. If I was contemplating that and I had a note of the name and number of the Realtor I previously used, I would call them. But there’s a problem; I do have that information but it’s out of date. I know that because, just for the hell of it, I called her office to say ‘hi’ and was given her new contact information.

Yeah right! They explained she was no longer with the company, they didn’t know if she was still in real estate but someone else in their office could help! Please don’t tell me you are surprised; Realtors guard leads from the people sitting next to them so giving up even the potential of a lead to another company is never going to happen.

My call highlights a really important problem in real estate and relates to my main question; how can a Realtor keep a real and longterm relationship going with their clients?.

Colleagues, past or present, are highly unlikely to help. Google was actually my solution. It helped me find my Realtor and she is still in business locally. But I only know that because I put the effort in to find her. I don’t know how many people would do that but I would guess not many. As a result, if I was really looking to sell my home the commissions would end up in another Realtors pockets.

Allan suggest’s Realtors embrace social media to create and continue real and long term relationships. I roar my approval. Facebook provides a mechanism to do that by allowing Realtors to regularly connect with and be involved in the life of their client. That’s how relationships work in real life – you have to connect with a person on a relatively regular basis and put some effort in.

You could, of course, just stick with annual gifts. Allan was pretty blunt about one he received from a Realtor; a ‘welcome home’ mat with her name on it ended up in front of his dog’s kennel. Am I missing something? Is there a better way to keep in contact with your clients than social media?