It’s our great pleasure to introduce our guest blogger, Karen Frederick, a REALTOR® in rural Northeast Indiana lake country.

LI, FB, RT, 4SQ, RE, DM, F2F, WP, FF...
Do I Need All of This? Or is it TMI?
BY KAREN FREDERICK, RE/MAX RESULTS - WOLCOTTVILLE, INDIANA

Do you feel overwhelmed?

Even if you don’t participate in social media (does reading this blog count?) you see it everywhere. Your grocery store has a Facebook page, your local coffee shop offers a discount to the Foursquare Mayor, and the local news is telling you to follow them on Twitter. If you are online, you are constantly being asked to like, share, comment, and retweet articles, photos, and events. Is it getting to be too much? Will we get to a place in time that people will decide they just want to be left alone or keep what they are doing to themselves? (Gasp!) I’m starting to see friends and family share the joy of “unplugged days or vacations” on social media platforms. After a period of withdrawal, they stop reaching for the smartphone, and... relax.

And what if your business depends on staying plugged in?

In real estate, our customers and clients want answers. And they keep expecting them faster. Customers move on quickly to the next agent or company until they get a response. You can either jump on the train or wave as it passes you by. It is rare to meet someone without email or who isn’t online. My clients correspond with me via text messages, emails, facebook private messages and wall posts. Some are in their early twenties. Some are boomers. Some are grandparents and even great grandparents.

The naysayers keep insisting on proof of ROI.  I don’t need their proof. I live it. The majority of my business comes from websites and blogs. Twitter just helped me push along a short sale.  And I stay in touch with current and past clients on Facebook. Some of it is “in the stream” where it becomes word of mouth endorsements to their friends which results in referrals. I can stay “top of mind” without being “a pushy salesperson” or email spammer. The cost is my time. But, I can participate when I choose to, between face to face appointments, while waiting for a buyer to show up, or during a boring meeting.

What happens next?

Duke Long shared that his 13 yr old daughter was watching a movie on Mini Ipod,while texting her friends. Also using Video phone to talk to another. My 16 year old is the same. It is rare to catch him without multiple screens (movie, game, skype), headphones/microphone, an Xbox controller and/or a keyboard. My 9 year old niece is texting me. Toddlers are on computers. These are the real estate clients and customers of the future. What will they expect from us? I’m hardly on the edge of “cutting technology”. But I follow people on social media who are. Articles or videos with step by step instructions on how to use the “next big thing” are only a Google search away. The down side is I see kids (and adults)  everywhere that are so plugged in they don’t pay attention to the people who are right in front of them.

Where do you think we are headed in the next year? Five years? Have you seen a return on the time you have invested in social media? Has it brought you new business? Is it worth spending your time keeping up with the latest tools of technology or social media platforms? Have we reach a point of oversharing? Where is the balance between using social media as a tool to meet new people face to face and being so involved in social media that you don’t have time to socialize?

Karen Frederick
RE/MAX Results
200 N. Main Street
Wolcottville, IN 46795
260-854-2414, x108  Office
260-336-4663  Cell/Text