In the wake of Inman Connect New York, it's clear that brokerages have multiple plates spinning at the start of 2012. Social media is top among them:
Who's the voice of your brokerage in social media? Who you choose to hand over the daily management of social media outreach could make a big difference in its impact and in the company's image, according to panelists at the "How to Make Your Brokerage Social" session.Read the entire article, written by Mary Umberger for Inman News, here.
Brokerages have several options when it comes to picking who'll take the reins of the company's Facebook page, blog, Twitter posts and other online efforts, according to Tassia Bezdeka, director of social marketing for Century 21 Award, a 12-office franchise in Southern California.
"You can add (the tasks) to an internal position, you can hire a new staff member, or you can outsource it," Bezdeka said.
The potential downside to delegating the job to an existing employee could be that the staff member is stretched too thin; outsourced providers might struggle to communicate the brokerage's brand and may be too costly for some firms, she said. Cost is also a concern in hiring dedicated social-media personnel, she said.
"If social is going to be your goal, you should put the resources behind it," said Marnie Blanco, vice president for eBusiness for Re/Max. "If (a big play in social media) is not your goal, you probably don't need a dedicated person."
No matter who does it, it's important for the brokerage to put expectations in writing regarding good taste and other corporate concerns for all social media postings, including those done independently by agents for their own blogs, etc.
"You have to have a policy, at least an informal one, on best practices, Blanco said.
"I don't look at every agent's Facebook postings, but I do engage them," Bezdeka said. If she comes across something an agent has posted that concerns her, she flags it to a manager for review, she said.
"But we're not Big Brother," she said. "We keep an eye on it loosely."
