It seems that with every day, there’s a new “fast-rising-social-network-you-need-to-be-on-or-risk-losing-relevancy”. Heck, I’m a geek, and even I’M inundated with it!
What’s unique about these particular newbies though is interesting, and in my mind, a trend worth noting: They seem to be organizing the chaos, using Facebook as a hub. I know a bunch of you are asking: “Say what? Isn’t that what Facebook’s supposed to do?” Right, bear with me here and ask yourself this, the last time you wanted to share a picture on Facebook – how’d that treat ya? I have take a picture, download it to my desktop, log on to Facebook, share it, waste time, then move on. I don’t know about you, but it’s too darn complicated. I have to share a picture Facebook’s way! Not my own way. Plus, the noise factor is starting to kick in, there’s too just too much garbage on the average Facebook wall.
Enter pinterest.com. With it, I can take a snippet – a photo off a website I’ve seen that inspires me – that I want to share now, organize it my way, and remember for later.
It’s simple to use – with a browser plug-in “Pin it!”.
Organization is customizable – I can pin pictures to boards that I create, examples I’ve seen are titled “art,” “my style,” “architecture,” “Hawaii,” etc.
It’s easy to share standalone, or it plugs into Facebook and Twitter. Plus, there’s a mobile app to share real world pics.
It’s visually driven, and the community within it is extremely active, sharing with each other what inspires them, outside of the noise that permeates their online-social lives. Specific content to a community of friends, devoid of noise, and it seems like every woman I know – ages 18 to 50 – is on it. It’s the digital representation of a scrapbook, viewable by anyone!
Chill, does this exact same thing, but instead of picture sharing, it’s video with your friends, Storify through the written word, Instagram with mobile pics, etsy.com for products, Pathdoes it for – uh – everything to friends and family specifically, and I’d even throw Spotify in the mix through music! With (through Facebook), or without noise; how I want to see it and use it. Even the big names are getting into the act! (Facebook Groups anyone?) And even the CEO of Youtube said that the “future of their content is niche channels.” Less the producer of the content, more the content itself – building channels (like yoga and stand-up surfing) around it.
So the next question you’ll have is: “Great, but how do I get leads with it?” You don’t. Stop trying. “But my listings would look great here!” True that, until it sells, and you leave it active on Pinterest, violating your MLS rules. Don’t do it. Stop trying. Your friends can look at your listings on your website. While there are ways to track its effectiveness on your website, don’t assume what’s working now will work in 6 months. These are sites to have fun with, to share and engage, just like Facebook, only to a niche audience. Take a page out of that playbook, pick the app/sie that best suits YOU, and organize your chaos!
So are you passionate about home design? Are you a stager looking to share ideas? Do you have clients looking to remodel a home that need to be inspired? Share your style, and tell the story of you – better yet – tell the story of the community in which you live and work, through pictures, and have fun with it! Let your peeps tell the story FOR you. Share what inspires them! Allow them to share on YOUR website. Here’s a great example of what Golf Digest did to engage with their readers through Instagram, Twitter and a hashtag. These websites are nothing but another point of online rapport and engagement with your sphere and community! Remember that. 3.3 million people can’t be wrong!
