Social Realty

We're trying to sell our house, and --obviously-- buy or rent somewhere else. The internet has obviously revolutionized real estate, and I wonder if social media is doing it again.

The real estate and auto industry, among other industries, lost their information advantage when people were able to compare prices and do independent research online. Not only are people able to find information, they're able to actually do the buying and selling directly. Agents and dealers are, by definition, middle men.  Their "expertise" and access have made them essential ones, but the advantage in using them has decreased.

This has all been true for years, but social media is the latest wrinkle in this.  It could be an opportunity for those who do it right, and it could be death for those who do it wrong.

Opportunities:
1. Real Estate brokers using social media to deliver news and updates. (price drops in areas, etc.)
2. Using social networks to establish themselves as thought leaders in the industry. (i.e. Duffy Realty of Atlanta)
3. Partnership with online realty sites (Zillow, Trulia, etc.)
4. Increased customer knowledge could lead to shorter turnaround and fewer home visits
5. New sources for lead generation

Dangers:
1. Individuals can access the same sites to search for and sell homes.
2. Online realty sites like Trulia and Zillow will become competitors. How long before they have agents, physical or otherwise?
3. A bad experience with an agent is broadcast to the whole world.
4. Content has to be awesome and varied, or else you'll come off as too "selly"

It's an interesting time for real estate, and I think social media will have a huge role to play.  It may only be a matter of time before a majority of people at least start the process by trying to buy or sell on their own.

I don't know a lot about real estate, admittedly.  What aspects of real estate make agents essential?  

Yahoo! taking a tumbl?

So the big news recently is that Yahoo! is dropping US$ 1.1B on micro-blogging site Tumblr.  Is this a good move?

Well, for who?

First, it's very good news for the guys at Tumblr. Think about it. There are countless blogging platforms out there.. for FREE, that people can use.
David Karp, Founder and CEO could create a new one tomorrow (if it weren't prohibited in the deal somewhere, which I'm sure it is), and so could a hundred others. And now he has a gazillion dollars.

David Karp: Ballin' hard

So is it good for Yahoo! ? 
(it's very difficult to end a question with their name, by the way)

Yahoo! could have used their own, or tried to create a new one. I guarantee it wouldn't have cost a billion dollars. It's a website, and the proprietary software or that mystic "special sauce" wasn't some patent.

First, let's examine the reasons not to make this deal if you're Yahoo!
1. It's 1.1 BILLION dollars. In 2011, Tumblr was valued at $800M, but its primary source of income is advertising. (something that didn't excite investors for Facebook) Some reports have tumblr's revenue at $12M.  Not profit, REVENUE.  That's nothing.  It's a pretty big bet.

2. When old people try to hang out at cool places, they don't get cool.  They make the cool place less cool, and the cool kids go hang out somewhere else. In case you couldn't decode my web of brilliance, Yahoo is your mom, and the tumblr is the popular table.  Plenty of users have sounded off on this already and have started looking for a place to move.

I'm not sure of the valuation, but I think it's a good move for the Yahoo! people.
1. Yahoo! doesn't need a platform, it needs an audience. Hello 108 million blogs and 13 billion page views a day.

2. Yahoo! has decided it's going to compete with Google in the web services realm. In order to do that, they're going to need something like this and something like Google Drive, and something like Google+.

I think that people will be upset about it and not want to feel uncool, but in the end it will wear off and people will go back to tumbling---tumblng---tumblring---to their little heart's content. As long as Yahoo doesn't start going crazy with the censor button and start changing all the rules, then everything will  probably be fine.  The bigger question is how tumblr can and will be integrated in the Yahoo! ecosystem.

It's not new, either.  Google bought Blogger, and here we are. The point is, forget the dollar value. When we get up in this stratosphere, it's all monopoly money anyway.  If it works, it's worth it.  If it doesn't, you might be dead anyway.

Three lingering questions:
1. What else will Yahoo! try to acquire?
2. Will Yahoo! change or add new features to tumblr?
3. When is Apple gonna buy Yahoo!, already?! should they?

My little dude

Nothing to do with social media and business, but definitely lightens the mood.

Negativity is viral - @prodigalsam "exposed" on Twitter

Every good social strategy must rely on content.  "Content is king," they say.  Unless your content is adding value to your product--whether that's yourself, a phone, or a smoothie-- then you're just a pushy salesman. As a fake writer, I'm all for this lovefest with content.

Everyone wants there stuff to go viral. Virality is the new thing. Well, I'd expand my goals a little if I were you, because if all you want is vitality, screw up.  We've seen it from this KitchenAid oopsie, where an employee responded to Obama's debate comment about his dear departed grandmother from what he thought was his personal account...

...and was quickly fired. But this baby went viral.  I don't think that was KitchenAid's plan A.  

Mistakes, accusations, and public fights.  Negativity is viral.  Negativity. Is. Viral.

And it's not just for businesses. Thanks to the interweb, individuals have crafted brands (and generated income) for themselves with great content and influence.

Enter @prodigalsam.  For a couple years now, Sammy Rhodes been one of the "it" accounts for Twitter, getting love from Huffington Post , Paste, and basically any site that catalogues "best of" Tweets.  

I love @prodigalsam for his irreverent, vulnerable, self-deprecating humor.   And it's clean, so I'm not worried about NSFW stuff lighting up my phone at work. Seriously, almost every single tweet was hilarious.

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"Haters gonna hate." - Abraham Lincoln

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The recent drama surrounding @prodigalsam is that he's been accused of "stealing" tweets.  That is, that he didn't come up with his own material. 

Apparently, Brian Gaar is a comedian, and created a Tumblr account to expose Rhodes:

In the comedy Twitter world, this has gone crazy. People have jumped off the @prodigalsam wagon very quickly, while others have defended it harder than the race of man at Helm's Deep.  In true @prodigalsam fashion, he tried to laugh it off a bit, with limited success:

The latest revelation in this post is this morning, as Rainn Wilson, or "Dwight" from The Office (and an excellent Twitter account as well, @rainnwilson) has come to Rhodes' defense with a couple of scathing tweets for the opposition (read from bottom to top.)

Needless to say, DRAMA (please read in middle school sarcastic girl voice)

Check out Sammy's Tumblr post where he addresses the issue and decide for yourself.  In his posts right now, he's clearly trying to balance fighting this and doing his normal posts. Why? If he completely stops posting for a couple days, he'll be crucified.

I'll be trying to stay updated on this "news" as it continues.  On the larger scale, look at the storm that has been created over this simple thing. Now extrapolate that to a large company, or look at what happened to Walmart when it decided to secretly pay off bloggers.

Two lessons whose obviousness doesn't make them any less poignant*:

1. Be transparent.

Whether it's @prodigalsam or Walmart, you have to be transparent with what you're doing.  Honestly, I don't think that people should be surprised that Samsung wants to sell you a phone or that Panera thinks you should buy its bread, or that a comedian wants you to buy tickets to his stand-up. Just be honest with what you're doing and consistently add value to your brand or product.

2. What you write lives FOREVER online.

I should add, "even if you delete it."  I promise you KitchenAid deleted that post pretty darn quickly, but have you ever heard of a screen grab? Not only can people do that immediately, but in Rhodes' case, someone (albeit with an envious amount of spare time) can go through your entire catalog of posts and bring something from the past directly into the present with a new Tweet, status, or post.

Whose side would you take?  Does it lessen the humor of something if it's a rehash of something else?  Is plagiarism even a thing?  What business lessons did this make you think of, o sage? Do you take something someone says in real life and use it for your own social schemes? 

*confession:  I almost definitely didn't come up with these.  Bring it on!

UPDATE 6/7: Salon.com did an email interview with Sam to discuss the whole issue.  Check it out.  I'm convinced.

UPDATE 6/11: Over the weekend, Sam got off Twitter. He said he's going to "step away from Twitter for a season, for the sake of my family, ministry, & own soul...." 

The amazing thing is how likable he has come off with this whole thing.  He hasn't jumped in the dirt to fight it out and start name-calling.  He's remained respectful and humble.  Perhaps my favorite response to this up until now has been this one from @Iagreewithjoe:

KPIs vs. Metrics

They're not the same thing. 

We have countless metrics to sort through, and "big data" is all the rage right now.  There are excellent social media and digital marketing metrics that can help, but that doesn't mean they should be your company's key performance indicators.

(I'm borrowing and summarizing a few excellent posts from Avinash Kaushik's blog, particularly his latest, "Eight Silly Data Myths Marketing People Believe That Get Them Fired.")

Helpful metrics are usually diagnostic in nature.  Most often, they show when something is broken or just plain crappy. Bounce rate, for example, is an excellent metric, but it's more of a tool than the end goal.

Key Performance Indicators, however, are the things you should "obsess" over, according to Kaushik.

Here's a list of excellent metrics for different businesses, depending on your size.  While these metrics are pretty universal, it's up to us to decide which ones are our KPIs.

One of the most helpful points Kaushik makes is the tendency for bosses or clients to get obsessed with trendy and dumbed-down metrics, like Likes, followers, and Impresssions. (It was actually one of the issues I had with the Wisp "deliverables")  Oh, and real-time data.

Two main thinking points from Kaushik to remember for me:

1. "If you are not spending 30% of your time in 2013 with data, Ms./Mr. Marketer, you'll fail to achieve professional success."
2. "I don't want real-time data, I want right-time data. Let's understand the speed of decision making in our company. If we make real-time decisions, let's get real-time data. If we make decisions over two days, let's go with that data cycle. If it take ten days to make a decision to change bids on our PPC campaigns, let's go with that data cycle." 

So the big questions I have to ask are, what are our KPIs for social media? How do I bring and show dollar value to a conversational medium?  How can I produce leads authentically and without scaring away potential customers?