Let me introduce you to Gary Vaynerchuk…
Age: 36
Height: Probably around 5’7″
Likes: New York Jets.
Why does this matter?
It matters because the way we communicate has changed. As human beings we are going back to small town, old world habits which is what Gary calls the Thank You Economy.
I had the privilege of hearing Gary speak about “the internet” at the Remax Kickstart 2012 Conference (#RMXKS12).
Before speaking, he checked out 50 REALTOR® Facebook pages and out of 50, 49 didn’t talk about anything other than real estate. First of all, kudos to those 50 that have a Facebook page but what you do on your page matters more than being on it. Are you staring blankly at the screen wondering, what’s the problem…and thinking, “Of course all my content is about real estate.” Well, Gary’s message to you is: be human and get personal. How personal? Well, however personal you would be with friends in your home. I’m not suggesting that you share what Gary did (he peed the bed until he was thirteen), but nonetheless, be personal.
Gary has attention grabbing tactics ingrained in his personality when he speaks. He got the point across that he is not in the business of technology or social media but rather in the business of selling and well, “Social Media Sells Stuff.” (If any of you have heard Gary, we both know he didn’t use the word stuff.) Gary says that social media is two words to describe the relevant sites on the internet…
“Social Media is the internet in 2012”
Now, I know that humans hate change and to demonstrate this he asked who said they’d never join Facebook and are now on Facebook (about half the room). We don’t like change but we adapt. For those of you that hate change, bad news: we’re living through a massive culture shift. Innovation happens regardless of what we do or think.
“The amount of content we have created from the beginning of time to 2003 is now being replicated in 48 hours.”
It is now an attention business. In this attention business, you must grab one’s attention and have a story to tell it (in addition to just posting on Facebook about real estate). Don’t just push out content and spam your followers and fans.
“It is imperative that you become bigger than who you are!”
I’m sure you’ve heard these messages but why is it important? Well, if you’re retiring in the next 5 years, it’s not. If you aren’t and you don’t adapt to utilizing the new method of communication, you will have to work A LOT harder than those that adapt. Let me give you an example:
Gary’s friend in NYC tweeted “I’m looking to buy a new apt…I need help.” Five REALTORS® in NYC replied on twitter, he met with three of the five and bought a 3.1 million dollar apartment from one of them.
That is what the future will look like for the new home buyers that have been growing up in a tech world and who are accustomed to communicating in this way.
So, thank you Gary Vaynerchuk for kicking some digital sensibility into us. If you take just one thing away from this post let it be twitter.com/search. Go there now and then head to Foursquare.com aka start adapting now.
To help you adapt, follow along the social media section of the OREA blog at oreablog.com/category/social-media.
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