There’s always something to howl about.

Is Social Media Marketing Worth The Effort ?

Greg Swann and I are working together, later this week.  We’re meeting in Phoenix to do some video work (mostly Q & A stuff), discuss the what we want BloodhoundBlog Unchained to look like,  and host a discussion about SMM at the  Phoenix Association of REALTORs (with Kerry Melcher).

We KNOW social media marketing works because we’re both busy but we really want to start measuring the efficacy of each effort.  BloodhoundBlog Unchained is a labor of love.  Our profits have been miniscule but we learn so much from the process of hosting the conference.  Hobby or not, we’re still committed to producing the premier three-day workshop, about online real estate and mortgage marketing, in the industry.

One of the reasons Greg and I have such a great partnership is that we approach the same issue from completely opposite camps.  Many of you have seen us “do our bit” about filling the funnel vs. pure pull marketing. I’m gonna let y’all in on a secret; we both practice what the other preaches.

I watched the forced registration issue with great interest.  I’m spending thousands of dollars to have a similar IDX for mortgage rates developed.  Naturally, I want to recoup the thousands as quickly as possible without threatening the customer to the point of having her click away.

I’ve watched people preach expertise about SMM who have never dealt with a bad Yelp rating, never engaged a stranger about their profession on Facebook, and haven’t monitored their blog comments in a year.  We’re all trying to find the highest and best use of our time while providing good content for the stranger who graces our websites with a question.

I want those people to become prospects, then customers, then clients, then sneezing fans but I don’t want to spend all day wired to the laptop or answering questions via e-mail.

Our critical mission is to find out what works and what doesn’t.  Most of the ideas we develop come from questions in these little workshops we do. People ask us questions and Greg and I try to find the answers.  Those answers usually come from you; we observe  what you try, swipe it, and try to improve upon it.

I’d appreciate it if you could answer some questions for me.  If you have any questions, ask ’em and Greg and I will stick them on our list:

1- How are you engaging with anonymous strangers on the internet?  How are you moving them from the wary question to think of you as a trusted advisor?

2-Which online medium is converting best for you?  …connecting with old friends and customers on Facebook?…meeting local folks on Twitter? …your IDX system?… e-mail marketing?… blogging?

3- Which offline techniques are converting the online relationship?  Why?  When?  How does it work?  More importantly, how does it fail?

4- What social media suck?  Seriously, I found Gather.com and AARP to be a waste of time.  LinkedIn Answers works for me if I jump on the telephone but it is mostly ineffective.  Where did you waste most of your time?

I appreciate your thoughts, insights, and questions.  As always, we’re intrigued with how to make this engine run more efficiently, want to figure it out before everyone else, and share it with the finest group of people on the net; the BHB community.

Many thanks in advance for your contributions.