Know Who You Are and Where You Stand Before You Open Your Mouth

I just watched Jason Fried, the Co-Founder and President of 37Signals, speak with Bruce Upbin of Forbes on the Forbes Video Network; the full video can be found here. I’d urge everyone to watch the entire 9 minute clip. It hits home on an important point related to social media marketing — that many people have no idea where they stand, what they want to say, what their point of view is, or what they believe before they start blabbing away on social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook. The problem with that approach is that, particularly in today’s world where it’s easy to reach thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people in a relatively short time period — that means a LOT of people potentially can see that you have no idea what you’re talking about. And that’s damaging to your personal brand, which for real estate agents, could prove devastating to your credibility and long term business.

Watch the entire video here.

I can say from personal experience that those with a point of view are much more interesting to follow, and hence more likely to generate business via social media, than those without a point of view or opinion. So spend some time thinking through who you are and what you stand for before engaging with social media tools.