Click the 'via' link above to read Martin's great post about Poken.

sOCial sunday asks social media insiders for their wisdom! The recent #140conf gathering in LA of Twitter and related new media fans was an inspirational moment for Orange County marketer Justin-Moore Brown (@bigheadasian) of MoboMedia. Here’s 7 concepts that stuck with him …

1. You can run, but you can’t hide: If you aren’t already on social media, your life at some point will be touched by it. If you’ve flown Virgin America, or eaten at Kogi BBQ (@kogibbq) then you aware of this.
2. No more middle man: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc, are all factors to the removal of the walls and layers of communication between businesses and their consumers. Real time feedback, real time solutions, real time engagement.
3. The 4 E’s of customer service: Engage your market by asking questions and listening to answers. Excite your costumer base by promoting products through contests, giveaways, and specials. Educate your customers by spreading information of products/services. Evangelize your company by simply doing the above 3. Build a congregation of fervent, loyal customers.

READ the rest here.

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But you said this was good shit

Right. It is. All this social media stuff can be really valuable.

But there are caveats – big ones – we put to clients when assessing the viability of social media as a marketing strategy. Sometimes we go for it, sometimes we don’t. And that’s OK. There are other ways to approach the marketplace.

We have not become cynical, just more careful.

Here are a few of those caveats:

• Writing is a skill you must possess, or hire, to be successful. Writing is hard for most people. It’s hard for me right now as I sit in seat 12C, my mind wandering across the isle, out the window – anywhere but this screen. But good writing is absolutely essential to most social media strategies. If you’re not strong in this area – and plenty of smart people aren’t – don’t shine a spotlight on it.

• Social media marketing costs just as much or more than “traditional” marketing. You’re going to need to spend a lot more in time and spend your money in different places. On a marketing director with great writing skills, for example. Or a video producer who can do right by you. Social media needs to be treated with the same care that big newspaper ad contract received back in the day if you want results.

• Don’t believe anyone who says blogs are passé. Just because 95% of agents and an only slightly smaller percentage of brokerage companies lack the skills needed to publish a great blog does not mean they are not still the best way to engage. Can you exposit a complex thought in a Tweet? Can you build trust with a status update? It’s important to understand that there are no shortcuts.

• It’s from you but not about you. Reality TV may be popular, but no one wants to tune into the show called You. It’s your blog, your Twitter account, your YouTube channel. But just because you own it does not mean it’s a good idea to broadcast the quotidian pitter-patter of your life. No one cares. I’ve felt the temptation to write about something off-topic here from time to time, just because I can. But I always think better of it. No one wants to hear about how I spend my weekends, my workout regimen, or my thinking about how John Gosselin should be getting his shit together. Writing for a reader is harder than writing about yourself. But remember, this isn’t supposed to be easy.

• You must be willing to make yourself uncomfortable. Who am I going to piss off? Is that reference too weird? I have a twinge of fear every time I hit “publish.” But I do it anyway. If you don’t push yourself to share things others can’t or won’t, or say what they will say in a distinctive way, you’re probably wasting your time. Explore the taboo. Embrace controversy. Open yourself to criticism. Safe loses every time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put on my favorite Andy Williams sweater and go unleash some whoop-ass on Steve Austin.

Real estate brokers and agents are an identifiable categorical group in the social media, everybody recognizes their presence talking shop or chatting up the local community. The industry’s relationship with the Internet has historically been mercenary; the principal reason for online presence, whether with a website in 2001, a blog in 2007 or a Facebook page in 2009, is lead generation.

Examine the broker/agent’s marketing mindset. Their commercial mission is to stay “top of mind” to literally tens of thousands of people in their focus community on the off-chance one of them makes the decision to buy or sell a home. Pre-Internet, they did this with post cards; pre-social media, they drip email marketed their community to death, and always asked for referrals. The business has always been perceived as a numbers game based on how wide that network net was cast.

No wonder the real estate industry leads all other businesses (except tech and porn) in the adoption of new ways to expand online presence. The early adopters in real estate are hyper-practical and they figure out what works long before the social media pundits can see the utility. Every real estate social media conference I’ve attended has much richer content than the talking heads at typical tech conferences. Most of my colleagues in real estate will concur.

The paradox is everybody believes the real estate industry are slow adopters, and always describe it metaphorically as the classic aircraft carrier. This is also true. Most real estate agents are slow adopters (say, 95%) because they believe that their job is selling, not wasting time chatting online. They ask questions like “give me one example where somebody got a lead from Twitter”.

Read the rest here.

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Tagged as: Real Estate, Social Media