There’s a school of thought that the best way to utilize Facebook to grow your business is to avoid controversial topics and be all business. This school of thought maintains that talking about your market, mortgage interest rates, neighborhood schools, community events and more will help establish you as the local expert and increase your chances of being called on by a Facebook buddy when they have a real estate need.
Which is all perfectly true, but there is more to life than real estate. If that’s all you talk about, you’re going to come off sounding like RainMan. And my guess is that unless you are Dustin Hoffman that is just not gonna fly whether you are on Facebook or out in the real world.
Which is why I advocate pissing people off as a way to grow my business.
Yes, that’s right. I have opinions — lots of ‘em, it turns out — and I’m not afraid to share them.
As a woman staring down into the first part of the second half of her first century, I am done hiding who I am from people. Regularly pushing down opinions, thoughts, and feelings in the name of “keeping the peace” or “not rocking the boat” or whatever term you prefer takes a LOT of work….and frankly, I’m not sure it’s a healthy way to live.
And even if it is a healthy way to live…..well, so is flossing regularly and consuming 5-8 fruits and vegetables a day and I don’t follow those rules too closely either.
If I was still in the corporate world maybe I’d be looking at things differently. After all, as an employee there is a certain amount of sucking up you have to do if you want to keep getting paid.
But I’m not an employee. I’m an independent contractor. And I don’t get a regular paycheck. I am paid on commission when I close a deal.
And if I’m going to work with people for months on end, I’d damn well better like them. Because if I wanted to be aggravated for free I’d just go home and listen to my kids fight.
Maybe it’s just me, but I just can’t see the point of working on a 100% commission basis with someone who reminds me of a REALLY bad blind date, but a REALLY bad blind date where I won’t have any chance to politely excuse myself, slip off to the ladies room, and climb out the window.
I don’t think my potential customers should have to endure such a situation either.
This business can be tough enough as it is……why add personality clashes to the mix? After all, there’s no reason to go over Donner pass when there’s an easier way around and nobody has to get eaten.
So.
Contrary to current business wisdom, my Facebook profile shows my religious and political views, it shows the groups I belong to and the causes I support, it allows my “friends” (business and otherwise) to “see” what I think and feel and what I do with my time.
If any potential customers stumble across my Facebook Page in the search for a Gainesville real estate agent, and are completely repulsed by what they find, then they’ll move along and find someone more to their liking. And that’s how it should be.
After all, why should real estate customers have to spend months on end with a real estate agent who drives them completely bonkers?
They shouldn’t. And that’s the point.
When it comes to using Facebook for business, I think we need to look at it as a kind of e-harmony site. If people like what they see, they’ll seek you out. And if they don’t, they won’t.
If people know up front who you are, nobody has to excuse themselves from the table and crawl out the window to get away from you.
How is that a bad thing?
I want to travel this road with those who wish to be on the journey with me.
As for my well-honed skills of stuffing my feelings, thoughts, and opinions in the name of harmony; I won’t let them go to waste.
After all, that’s what holiday dinners are for.
