RISMEDIA, December 20, 2010—With the holidays upon us and the snapshot of our year quickly developing before our eyes, if it had not been developed already, for many, reflection sets in. As I joined the Lucky Strike Social Media Club for dinner this past week at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City not only did we discuss many of the people, technology and social media strategies of the past year, but in individual conversations, looking toward next year was on the forefront of many minds.
What does one do after day 365 of 365 things to do? Should I keep my website and blog site separate? Should I combine and streamline my websites? What marketing will I keep doing? What will I stop doing? What new marketing should I do? All valid questions, certainly not isolated to those around the table, but instead the same for thousands of REALTORS® and professionals across the country.
I remember having a conversation with Steven Fells, CEO of Agency Logic (www.agencylogic.com), at the beginning of the year in which he said to me, “this is supposed to be the year mobile explodes,” and it has. We have seen tremendous growth this year in the mobile space and will see even more in the year to come. Even more than the explosion of mobile though, I would say, was the explosion of the term “social media,” which was plastered, said and seen everywhere you looked or at any real estate event you attended this year.
Overall, its explosion was greatly in the form of trial and error. Everyone tried it, most people didn’t make any money from it, few used it exceptionally well to generate new business and as Chris Smith, Tech Savvy Agent (www.techsavvyagent.com), put it, “create their business savings account” for next year. Another great point that was made over dinner was the fact we can’t forget that there are a TON of other ways to make money using the Internet to market your business. Facebook can simply be a way to drive traffic to other Internet marketing channels since that’s where a lot of the eyeballs are right now.
Whether you are going to spend more, less or the same amount of time on Facebook next year, one thing to take away from this year’s many trials and errors is that you better have a method in place to capture leads and generate new business from your marketing efforts. This year, approximately 20% of your Web traffic came from mobile devices and that will only increase next year.
If your website/Internet marketing efforts are not mobile enabled, you will lose out on your chance to capture that business. Furthermore, if you’re planning to incorporate the fourth quarter’s most talked about technology, QR Codes, in your marketing next year – you better make sure when scanned, they are driving people to a mobile-enabled destination or you are simply doing it wrong!
The only trial and error when it comes to mobile is not trying – that would be a huge error. Take the time during the next couple weeks as you reflect on your year and formulate your marketing plan for next year to create your mobile strategy. Having a mobile strategy is a sound and effective means to maintain and grow your brand and business.
Merry Mobile – Happy Facebook!
Seth Kaplan is the president of Mobile Real Estate ID. Contact him directly at Seth@mobilerealestateid.com or, for more information, visit www.mobilerealestateid.com.
