A real estate who's who
Realtor Notebook
By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, September 17, 2009.
Flickr image by Eduardo Deboni.How does this happen? I try to reach out to a social media expert only to find that there is no way to reach him. He has a Web site but it doesn't have his contact information on it, and I can't find an e-mail address and there doesn't seem to be one of those contact forms.
To make matters worse, his name on Twitter is different than his real name and I never remember what the Twitter name is because it isn't a real word and it doesn't make sense. I don't know him well enough to somehow connect the screen name to his actual name.
There is a picture associated with the Twitter profile, but it isn't easily recognizable and I can't connect it with any human face that I recognize. And once I am able to connect his name to his profile, he changes the picture on his profile.
A lot of people have some kind of an avatar, such as cartoons or virtual renderings, associated with their online profiles. Others use profile photos featuring several people, and still others were taken from a distance in a scenic spot. By the time they are shrunk down to profile size it is nearly impossible to distinguish anything human in the image.
Still, I can manage to make the connection in some of these instances ... until they change the image. And when their online nickname doesn't match their real name I forget who they are and I don't connect with them again until they initiate the contact. From a social networking point of view, they lost me.
There are some clever Twitter names, but they don't always make sense and I can't always relate them to a person. And if the person uses the same screen name in a profile and doesn't give me a real name, I forget the real name.
I once had coffee with someone whom I first met through Twitter and didn't realize until the next day that the woman I had tweeted with -- who had the funny name on Twitter -- was the same person whom I had coffee with. Some call the names and avatars branding, but I call them confusing. ...CONTINUED
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Submitted by Jason Berman on September 17, 2009 - 9:33am.
This was a timely article for me Teresa, thanks. I've been messing around with themes and haven't gotten around to getting my contact information back up. Thanks for the reminder.
Submitted by Antonio Atacan on September 17, 2009 - 12:00pm.
Great point. I had to go to WAR with my web designer to get my phone number on my home page of my website www.CenterCityRealEstate.com . He thought it was so 2.0. After about 2 weeks and a dozen e-mails he finally succombed, which probably cost ME a couple $100 for HIS time. I ended up firing him a few months later, because he knew nothing about what a client wants from a real estate web site.
Submitted by Bob Hendren on September 17, 2009 - 12:21pm.
Amen! One of our mantras - "Be easy to do business with!"
Submitted by Heather Tawes Nelson on September 17, 2009 - 12:42pm.
As Jason mentioned, this was a timely article. I was looking at my blog yesterday and realized the only "contact me" method was a small link to my website. So, I spent the morning re-designing the header so that it included my contact information.
Now, I need to tackle integrating my other "names" (Twitter, etc) into my marketing to avoid the potential confusion you alluded to. Thank you for pointing that out.
Submitted by Marilyn Wilson on September 17, 2009 - 1:02pm.
It's great to hear "logic" being brought back into a social networking discussion. If you are late to the game on Twitter, Facebook and others, it might be difficult to secure your actual name, but that doesn't mean you can't include a real picture of yourself and a reference to your real business in your bio overviews.
This article also reminded of a very interesting news piece I heard today from a judge in California. She said that Twitter, Facebook and MySpace et al information is now being used regularly in court as admissible evidence to demonstrate patterns of nefarious behavior, husband-bashing, affairs, etc. etc. Remember when you're on one of these networks it is NOT anonymous and it never gets deleted! If you want to complain about something or someone or reveal some potentially embarrassing behaviors do it the old fashioned way - call someone and talk about it!
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on September 17, 2009 - 1:22pm.
Marilyn - The local social media gurus . . one is a headhunter . . tell me that employers are searching social networks too fro similar reasons.
Submitted by WestportMoves on September 17, 2009 - 4:22pm.
Teresa- I am one of those people who don't use my name on social networking sites. My name is also the name of a political activist and past 60's radical of SDS fame. She is a consistent online contributor and we are about the same age. I would just as soon not be confused with her.
I am consistent and the name I use is the same on all the sites, as well as being my blog name. I also use the same picture on all those sites. I've gotten to know you from ActiveRain and twitter and I would hope you could find me if you had a referral for Westport, CT.
Submitted by Irina Netchaev on September 17, 2009 - 5:23pm.
Teresa,
It's unfortunate, but true. There are a lot of peeps out there that are really hard to find - website or not. I have quite a few people registering on line for my services, but I also get direct phone calls. Blogs/websites are supposed to make it easy for us to connect with one another.
BTW, it's been a long time since we've connected. :-)
Irina @ www.PasadenaViews.com
Pasadena California Real Estate
Submitted by Marilyn Wilson on September 18, 2009 - 6:06am.
Teresa,
Since I read this yesterday I have been paying a lot of attention to the real estate blogs I visit. More often than not it is nearly impossible to find someone's email address readily. Sometimes phone numbers are there, but if you like to catch up on blog reading at night, that doesn't really work does it. I'm worth you - make it REALLY easy to find you - phone, email, text, company website and property search all need to be really easy to find!
Submitted by Sharon Tudor Isler on September 19, 2009 - 9:14am.
Teresa,
Love your articles and this was especially timely. I'm going to check all my sites and make sure I can be contacted easily. All the contact info needs to be there!
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on September 22, 2009 - 1:13pm.
Marilyn Katz - I get it some times we have to use different names. I use T a lot online and TBoard because people can't spell Teresa. If my name were Mary Smith I would have to be more creative. I think consistency and having your real name attached to the screen name is all that it takes.
Marilyn Wilson- yesterday someone called me on my home phone, said she got me through information as she could not find my number. I had to double check it is on all of my sites on the right close to the top but no matter where it is some won't find it.
Irina - yes we need to change that. it has been awhile.
Heather - it is worth the effort. I have so much on the internet now that I am always finding something that should be tweaked.