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First Draft - forgive me for posting my draft, I am new at this!

Social networking from a business perspective was taking off well before the current financial and credit crisis began. Now that the financial crisis is nearing a full out recession, the impact of the Internet and social network are exploding. There are several factors that come into play to cause this. One of the most interesting is the amount of idle time laid off workers and ‘not so busy agents’ now have.

A major complaint among employers these days is the amount of time the catch their employees on MySpace and Facebook. What do you think happens when one of these MySpacers gets laid off? Of course they go home and can spend the entire day now, on MySpace, Facebook and several other newly popular people portals. True they are wasting most of their time chatting with past acquaintances, but, some are finding these friends have friends that know people, that still have jobs.

This sounds like a mess, and it is. There are a mix of people on social networking sites. Some are wasting time, and others, are forming a strategic network of ‘friends’ that will turn into, buyers, listings, referrals, employers, partners and on and on. One of my favorite sales gurus, Joe Girard called it the rule of 500. Everyone you know, knows 500 people. So when you start prospecting for sales, write down the 500 people you know and start with them. This same rule applies 40 years later, in our Internet age, but the potential to network beyond your classmates and cousins is phenomenal.

In addition to all the extra people there are spending time in the Internet, the financial crisis is forcing us to look at our marketing differently. Since 1996 I have been preaching to brokers to advertise more of their properties on-line and less in print. Too much resistance from their sellers forced brokers to continue to spend money on ads that were not effective, and they held out as long as they could. Until now, brokers in this current economic environment cannot afford to place expensive newspaper and other print ads, that show little return on investment. The most effective and economical way to advertise, and to get more customers is through proper e-marketing, and now brokers are buying into this in droves.

The brokers that go into these Internet space are finding that many of thier customers are already there. What a great way to connect to more people, more often, and for no cost other than the time it takes to log in and send out a few messages.

So if you feel guilty about missing church this week, or you haven’t been to a Lion’s club meeting, didn’t make it to NAR because your budget is a little tighter than last year, get out on the web and meet some new people. You social networking skill will grow as will your sphere of influence along with your Internet presence.

After I properly edit this article we will discuss the importance of the spiderability of your blogs and social networking pages.

Cheers!

Jim