Over the last month, we have built a very strong
foundation to support the fact that social media is here to stay and have described how our clients can best utilize this trend to increase market share. In the last two
editions (1, 2), Ben announced our new solution, why we chose to invest in it, and how
we believe it will help you recruit, manage, and lead the real estate industry in this
new direction.
There was a day when your brick and mortar office was your complete identity. It was your castle...your fort. It was the only place that your troops gathered for strategy and inspiration, as well as the place they assembled to perform the majority of their work. This is slowly becoming less and less the case. People, especially young professionals, are increasingly mobile and have more access to the things they need outside the office. They are also quite tied to their social media platforms, in general. The internet has changed the game, and within the most innovative companies, social media has changed marketing, communication, collaboration, and recruiting.
While many smaller companies are trying to find a way to capture the benefits of this trend with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, they continue to be frustrated with the results of these endeavors. Why?
Ben described it well in his last article... You as a manager, won't benefit from the above platforms unless you have a way for everything to point back to not only you personally, and not only your company, but to your individual office and the people within it.
First, imagine that you have your own online office where much of the collaboration, inspiration, problem solving, daily tips, and success stories could be communicated. Now, imagine that outside agents, vendors, customers, and clients were able not only to see inside some of the collaboration of your office, but they could join in on some of it as well. THIS is what the bigger companies are doing, and we're betting this is how the younger generation will strive to go about their work.
Don't get me wrong, brick and mortar offices will always be necessary for a variety of reasons...but your online representation of your office and all of its communication and collaboration will be a key ingredient to attracting, retaining, and collaborating with the best and the brightest.
So, here are four reasons why you need to seriously consider an online social media office:
1. You need your own online TURF. As Ben mentioned in the last edition -- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social networking sites should be used solely as your outposts and embassies, all pointing back to your turf...your office.
2. To build new channels for collaboration. Imagine your agents pitching in (in real time) to help someone with an urgent question or problem.
3. To create value. Imagine developing a network of customers, vendors, and perhaps outside agents that you've been trying to recruit, and leveraging their collective brainpower to explore and develop new ideas.
4. To Recruit. Agents want to get a glimpse of your culture. They want to have conversations with agents, look around, and perhaps even develop some ongoing dialogue in order to see the dynamics of your office and how you and your agents think before signing on. This is one powerful way of accomplishing that.
Karl Moore, of Forbes summarizes this trend well:
"The benefits of collaboration networks are limitless. These networks breed co-creation, shared value, and cultures of collaboration that can be leveraged beyond the network. The new generation of Millennials and Generation C (connected, computerized, and community-oriented) have fully adopted the collaborative mindset as their own. They are educated, interactive, and collaborative, and have grown up using social networks as a tool for brainstorming and problem solving. This reflects a broad shift in generational thinking that is taking place. The broadcast generation from the industrial age is being met by a collaborative generation from the new knowledge age. The old ways of staying within the four walls to solve problems, guarding company information, and developing products, services, and solutions in isolation are gone.
Companies that can create or participate in a collaborative network and organize themselves to best leverage the benefits will enjoy a competitive advantage. Companies of all sizes can start by setting up a network of internal experts, suppliers, partners and customers."
And now you can too. If you haven't done so already, scroll back to the last two editions (1, 2) and learn about the conception of what we now call "RecruitingSocial."
Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
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