Social Media is A Great Tool For Top of Mind

There are currently hundreds of social media sites, more than 400. I asked Wiki Answers how many there were and they told me “too many to mention… but here are the top 52”. The top five are more than enough for most of us!

The top seven social media sites today are: Facebook, Google +, Twitter , LinkedIn , Instagram, Pinterest, and Foursquare. Of course, these sites are recommended for businesses.

All these sites are a little different. Some are much more social [Facebook], some are short and sweet and to the point [twitter], some are very informational [Google +], some are very visual [Pinterest]. Many are focused on a common interest.

Social Media for Top of Mind

The common thread in all of these networks is that they are social… something that salespeople and marketers often lose sight of. Any of these social sites can be great tools for staying in touch with your friends, family, associates and past, present and future clients.

During a recent Social Media session with Inman News, it was reported that the average real estate agent builds his database to the number 172, then plateaus. I thought that was interesting. There seems to be an invisible ceiling to contact management for most agents. Most agents can’t effectively stay in personal contact with large numbers of people.

The beautiful thing about social media is that there is virtually no ceiling. Anyone can have 5000 Facebook friends. The number of people you can “circle” in Google + is limitless. And you can follow and be followed by thousands on Twitter. What great tools to stay Top of Mind!

The other great thing about many social media sites is that you can make new contacts.

How to Manage It

When you think about having thousands of contacts in your social media circles, it can be difficult to manage. The purpose of it all is to stay engaged. One of the best tools for keeping it all in control is to build lists. Facebook and Twitter allow you to put all of your contacts into lists. When you want to check in on what past clients are up to on Facebook, click on your “past clients” list in the left sidebar. See what they’re doing, like a few baby pictures, comment here and there, tell them congratulations for the latest good news. Get off of Facebook. Done. Save yourself from the great time-suck that it can be by organizing all of your contacts into lists.

NAR has been quoted in several sources recently: It costs 5 times more to obtain a new client than it does to keep a past client. Social Media is a great way to stay in touch with past clients. And it’s free.