Rent vs. Own in the Social Media World (Or the New Mobile Home)

As a real estate professional that question comes up often especially in today’s market. With the introduction this past week of Google+, I realized that conversation is no different in the virtual world.

When I started in the real estate industry in 1999, it was the early days of websites. Most agents were just depending on what their company’s. I decided I needed one. My instincts told me I should be in control of my product, my message, my platform. Over time, as different types of websites were popping up I registered, posted my profile and started blogging. Then I realized I needed to own that as well and started created a Blogger blog linking it back to my website. In the fall it will be 2 years since I dumped my expensive static website and separate blog and went WordPress.

As social networks have grown over the last few years, many people inside and outside my industry have made it appear that it is all about Facebook. Twitter for some, but many people still cannot wrap themselves how the conversation on Twitter works or that it is a conversation.

My instinct throughout all the rapid growth of the medium is I need to have a platform that I control. If I don’t own it, I have no control over it. I don’t want to be a renter. I can take my brand and post it anywhere but I cannot take a Facebook page that some people have invested so much time(and for some money) in and move it to Google+ or whatever comes down the line.

If you search this site, you may notice I have not posted in a while after being an active blogger. I lost my focus on this marketing/branding tool as I get busy listing and selling. The massive explosion over the last few days was a wake up call for me to go back and work on what I already know. So by the second anniversary of my WordPress blog, the plan is to have it where it needs to be.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, social networking will be changing faster than you can say “Follow me on my Facebook Business Page”. At the very least, most may still be around but in order to continue growing your network and brand you will need to be able to go from site to site. Just like everything else these days it is all about the ability to be mobile, even virtually.

Everyone’s home is a work in progress. It is not on Facebook, Twitter or Google. In the virtual world it needs to be a mobile home. You need a great base that you can take out on the road down what ever the current paths are.