One of my high school friends, Beth, recently sent me a note on Facebook asking why I wasn’t on Pinterest. She said she went looking for my boards to see what I liked. Flattering! I hadn’t heard of this site — this was about five short weeks ago. She said that I would love it and it could be addictive, and my invitation to join arrived shortly after that via email. Addictive? Check. Love it? Check.
As a person deeply involved in the visuals of life, not only as a photographer myself, but art collector, seamstress and former art gallery owner (and cook!), this place was for made for me (you’ll feel the same about it yourself). It’s a glorious collection of beautiful images and though provoking things to see, set out for us to claim in a pin, to show the world we approve/like/appreciate. The site is put together beautifully, I might add.
So far, I have created a few boards that appeal to me and they’ve garnered very sweet followers. What I am not doing over there is promoting real estate on Pinterest with talk of houses, dream houses, my listings or “hire me as your broker” words. It’s going to be a purely organic place for me to look, pin, follow and re-pin. I love the girly-girl aspect to it. Yes, I am a real estate broker for hire but honestly, I am a lot more than that and it’s refreshing to work on another side of life for a while. Business comes from where it comes from. I am not worried about how to use Pinterest to find clients.
What is social media anyway? I was thinking about this today, after being interviewed by the California Association of Realtors yesterday about using social media in business (the article is coming out in their statewide magazine soon).
It’s really the social side of your resume, your life laid bare to validate who you are as a person. In my opinion and this is evolving, social media is not for business. Ask yourself: How much business do you get from your social media interactions? None? Almost none? It’s not for business. It’s about you as a social creature. Are you one-sided in your social media world, yammering on about yourself and your business and your agenda? Or do you like recipes, repurposed furniture, beautiful dresses, newsworthy items and things of beauty? That’s Pinterest. Men are hugely welcome there! They like cool things, too.
So real estate agents, please do not clutter up Pinterest with your “new” bright idea to sell houses at the site. If you do bring that to Pinterest, I promise you won’t find clients. We don’t want your agenda over in our pretty place. Don’t sell us anything. We’re not buying. But do join and let us get to know you as a person. Let us see your other side of life. And if you need an invitation to join, please ask me! All comers welcome, but keep the house selling off our playground. Not everything is made for selling real estate.
תגובות