There has been some buzz on the real estate blogs about today’s Market Watch (Wall Street Journal) story Top Realtors Disclose Marketing Secrets for Tough Times. The article discusses a survey by a top provider of direct mail, mass email and e-marketing services for Realtors. The top ten core themes and findings don’t tell us much new: Realtors use direct mail, newspaper ads, and email and have websites.

What caught the attention of the bloggers was the statement that “67% of real estate professionals are now part of an online social network.”
Is this statement accurate? Well, I guess it depends on how you define “part of”. There is a huge difference between JOINING a social network and PARTICIPATING in one. With Realtors there seems to be a Bandwagon Effect. Agents are quick to jump on the latest trend, especially if there is the promise of making more money, but they are not very likely to do the follow-through necessary for mastery.

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