Self-awareness- It's the only thing that matters
I spend much of my time talking to real estate agents about digital marketing. As the CMO of a large real estate brokerage (we have over 400 agents), my focus is on helping our agents navigate the digital landscape when it comes to real estate. What I learned very quickly, was that they go off headlines. " We heard FB is dying". "I post but it doesn’t work", "FB doesn’t show my posts anymore" The punchline is, they want a magic bullet. They want a blueprint that says, " Go on this platform, type X, and Y will be the result". I used to tell them that I don't have a magic bullet, but I realized I do. It's called SELF-AWARENESS.
Are Facebook, Snapchat, Anchor, Instagram, and LinkedIn important? Absolutely. Do they "work"? 100%. Do they work for everyone? Nope. But it's not because the platform doesn't work for your industry, it’s because the platform doesn't work with who YOU are. If you hate video. If you are uncomfortable getting on camera and talking and taking a selfie and documenting your story; me telling you that you should be on YouTube and have your own channel would be the worst possible advice. Does YouTube provide amazing results for vloggers who are good at storytelling on camera? Yes, crazy results. But that is because they are GOOD at telling their story on camera. Maybe you are really good at taking amazing photographs and telling your story that way. If you are, you should go all in on IG, Snapchat and FB. If you have a dynamic personality and love to talk and communicate, Anchor should be your favorite app. The punchline is, you need to know YOU. You need to be honest about what your comfortable with. What your good at, and what is going to put YOU in the best position to succeed.
Stop watching a YouTube advertiser tell you that they can turn you into the next IG influencer. Because if you’re not pretty, feel uncomfortable taking photographs and hate endorsing products, that will NEVER be a positive move for you. Too often people are taking advice from someone who has little to no context about who YOU are, and what you are good at.
Just as important to note, regardless of what platform you decide to call home on, it's work and it's a long tail game. You better enjoy doing it. If you don't when a year goes by and 100 people are following you, you will give up. Be patient. Be self-aware. If you can do both of those things you will succeed. There is a reason, I am writing this article, instead of ranting on it from in front of a camera. =)