September 27 2010
When I am talking to real estate agents about social media one statement comes up over and over again. “It takes too much time.” The statement is usually made by an agent who is not using social media so I probe further by asking them how much time should it take and how much time is too much? Usually this forces them to reconsider the statement before answering.
Social media can be a huge time commitment, if you make it one. For a real estate agent the key is to determine your purpose and focus your activities in the social media world. If you try to be everywhere all at once you will have some difficulty with time constraints, but if you identify the platforms that are of most interest and you are the most adept at then you will find it is a lot easier and you are far more successful.
During my presentations or classes I recommend six different sites or platforms to use and the order does actually have an impact.
Now as for time involved? Limit it. The commitment is obviously greater when you first begin but maintenance can certainly be done in much smaller time windows. I recommend trying to limit yourself to two 15 minute sessions per day for Twitter (or break it up into smaller segments), 10 minutes on Facebook (or less is possible) and a commitment of about 3 hours per week for your blog (writing and posting with scheduled publishing).
Results may vary but your dedication and commitment to being in the spaces you should be in, where your clients already are, is essential. They are out there so you had better be ready to meet them there.
How time consuming is that really?