Is there a certain number of key social media sites to be using?

Recently I spoke at Richard Robbins Achieve in Toronto.  While we couldn’t get to all the questions during the event we promised to answer them all.  The following is just one of many…

Question:

Is there a certain number of key social media sites to be using? Can they interface?

My opinion of course, but let’s start with the reason you want to engage in social media to begin with.  Are you looking to actively engage relevant people and create or enhance new relationships, or are you looking for more eyeballs and trying to drive more traffic to your site?  Chances are, your goal might be somewhere in the middle.

1. HOMEBASE

Let’s start with the idea of “Homebase”.  Everyone needs a place where everything stems from or leads back to.  Ideally I’ll say that’s a self hosted WordPress Blog.  Once we have that (and yes, a blog is a form of social media) we can look at other places.

2. FACEBOOK

Facebook would be the simple answer.  It’s where everyone is so why not be there as well.  The question that next comes up, is that a Profile or a Page?  Actually it’s both.  I think every Agent needs to have a Facebook Page.  Read: 5 reasons every Agent needs a Facebook Page.

3. TWITTER

Twitter.  “I don’t get Twitter” or “Who cares and who’s listening anyway?”  That’s what I usually hear.  I’ve got two words: Google Does!  Google is starting to show relevant tweets in Google Searches.  Here’s a search for Justin Bieber.  See that section called Realtime results?  That’s Twitter, and it’s live even if you are not using Twitter!  Google pays Twitter big $$ to have that pipeline they are going to make good use of it.

While you may not want to be found by somebody searching for The Biebster, you may want to found by someone searching for “3 bedroom home in Sunny Acres”.  See where I’m going with this?  You need to be on Twitter, you need to be tweeting, you need to engaging and most of all, you need to be listening.

Those are the big three right now.  There’s a lot more out there but they are all fluff in comparison.  If you have extra time for extra fluff you might want to look into YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr and a few others.

As for the Interface part of the question.  YES they can.  My blog has a Retweet Button for every post, any tweet I favorite shows up on my sidebar.  As for Facebook, my facebook page is on the sidebar (you can actually like it from there), you can share any post with the Share Button or just like any post with the LIKE button.

Every one of my posts start here on my blog.  I will usually be the first to ReTweet the post and by doing so pull in twitter peeps that might not have read it.  I’ll also Share the post on my Facebook Page, bringing in that audience.  Each new visitor is a new set of eyeballs but there’s more!  They usually don’t just read and leave.  Often times they’ll also ReTweet or Share the post with others in their sphere.  That’s an new audience I previously had no access to.

Then there’s Google.  My blog is an SEO machine.  I get a great deal of traffic from people searching Google and having my post show up in the SERP.

As for Social Media sites to be on, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I don’t want people to feel they HAVE to be on any site but if I had to narrow it down these are the ones I would concentrate on.

What sites did I miss?

Want to see all the questions and answers?  http://areweconnected.com/tag/richard-robbins/

Mike Mueller

Mike builds the custom Apps that create the Tabs that make Custom Facebook Pages special. He builds Discount WordPress Blogs and shoots commercial high def video. He's an avid hockey fan, rides a motorcycle (a really fast one), loves strong beer and good red wine.

                          

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