In my original post The Wild West of Real Estate: Snake Oil Vendors Hit Portland Agents I let it be known how disgusted I was about a company that was making the rounds in Portland, selling their snake oil to agents who basically didn’t know any better.
Fast forward almost 2 months. I’m at Inman News’ Agent Reboot up in Seattle for a day of learnin’ when I was told there was a local company sponsoring the event that was selling social media automation services to Seattle area agents.
Enter: Northpoint Social Media – they’ll just “do it all for you!”
At first I was a little shocked that Inman News would let someone like this sponsor an event like the one they were producing. It seems to go against the principles of everything we’ve been told about social media at every previous Inman event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many, as a former Inman News employee).
So, I decided to visit their booth in the back of the room and see for myself what the deal was. To make a long story short, when the lady I was speaking with found out I wasn’t from the area, she pretty much gave me the cold shoulder. But, I was still able to get a pretty good idea of what it was they were pitching agents and it’s very similar to what I describe in the post I linked to up above, although slightly cheaper. For those that don’t feel like clicking that link I’ll sum it up for you: a fully automated social media package, which includes a WordPress blog that syndicates each post to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
While this was just one of the “products” they offer, it was the one that definitely struck a nerve with me and obviously I’m letting that be known.
I event thought to myself, “man this would be a great conversation to have up on the stage at a future Inman event”, but apparently Howard Chung – VP of Business Development for Northpoint, isn’t willing to discuss this publicly (see image right). He even went so far as to remove some of their videos from YouTube as the criticism began to spread across Twitter and Facebook. Just proof that social media can be a real bitch sometimes.
So, all this got me thinking… It’s bad enough that agents are falling for this crap. Paying money that could be better spent somewhere else. Polluting the social media environment. All with a false sense of hope that in the end, they would be… and I quote “making more money”. WHAT? In the video featured on the Northpoint Social Media homepage (which has since been removed) Howard Chung proclaims that that is was social media will do for you.
While I don’t totally disagree, as I know social media has increased my business along with that of several hundred agents I’m connected with across the country. However, we all have one thing in common. We create our own content. It’s unique and reflects our own personal opinions and personalities. A key component to the “success” of using social media.
So, to sell someone on the idea that by letting someone else “just do it all for you” will actually make you more money is the biggest bullshit line of the decade in my opinion. Don’t fall for it.
Speaking of falling. If a tree falls in the automated forest…
The second major problem I have with the automation of social media campaigns is that of the whole “set it and forget it” mentality.
What I mean by this is that if the main goal of social media is to connect with others, and all you’re doing is letting someone else spew their content into your social media platforms, will you be there to participate: if someone responds to you? Asks you a question? Wants more information? Probably not… But, just to prove my point, I decided to test that theory.
I went on to Northpoint’s website, and found one of their example blogs. The latest post at the time was titled “Save Money, Rent Goats”. So, I went onto Twitter, and did a search for that phrase. Sure enough, there were a list of about 20 people who all had the exact same tweet. Presumably these are all Northpoint clients since none of them were re-tweets.
So, I sent each one of them an @ reply, letting them know that I had a question for them and wanted to know the best way to contact them. So far, only 1 has replied.
Northpoint Social Media (assuming you’re monitoring your brand via social media) – You think you’re doing a service to our industry? Think again.
Northpoint clients (based on my results, I highly doubt you guys will ever read this) – If you’re not going to put a little more effort into doing something right, do the rest of us a favor and don’t even bother.
Automated Social Media…
Can you take my wife out to dinner for me and I’ll tell you what I want you to talk about and then can you tell me what she said?
Thanks
There will unfortunately be agents that will fall for their hype mainly those who aren’t willing to do the work themselves. Further, if someone else writes for you, what kind of on-line reputation will you have since someone else is actually your voice, your opinions, your judgments, etc.
I’ve been accused of not being the one writing my own blog many times and I have to laugh. Those that know me well, certainly know I write my own posts. Those posts where I share information from another blog, I always link back to them or name them as the source.
However, there are those agents, unfortunately that are lazy and don’t want to take the time and energy, or make the effort to be their own voice and they will be the ones to hire this company to do it for them.
The real heartbreak here is that I know what agents are seeking and this type of promotion is something they easily fall prey to without knowing any better.
Imagine I went to any social function – looking like me, but talking like someone else – all reasons people connect with me and like me (I know, it’s a mystery to me too), evaporate as I parrot the thoughts of someone else.
And yet, after the last few days I have spent at REBarCamp Orange County, I do know one thing. Agents are anxious to participate in this form of communication, they are clearly overwhelmed and desperately looking for guidance. Sadly, when you don’t know any better, you can easily fall prey to charlatans. I don’t blame the agents entirely; they are trying to find solutions.
But for those that take advantage of that ignorance, prey on it, it’s particularly shameful. Kudos for continuing to shed light on it Jeff.
@Loren – Love it! I’m totally going to use that next time I’m talking about this to someone…
@Betty – I don’t have a problem with agents hiring “ghost writers” to get content into their site, and get some SEO benefit. But a lot of this content is garbage… It’s not unique, and really provides zero benefit to anyone.
Jeff…
Great post.
Our company does something similar to NorthPoint.
We post 5 “generic” things per week, i.e Monday is a great quote, Tuesday is a link to a relevant article, Wednesday might be the property of the week, Thursday is a rate update and Friday is weekend information for where they might be hosting an open house.
But the distinction we make is “engagement”. The agent still has to ENGAGE their audience.
As a Social Media Manager, our primary goal is to craft a comprehensive linking strategy to make sure an agent’s self-generated content is distrubuted to as many different places as possible to drive traffic back to their website and position them as the trusted authority in their market.
Keep up the great work. You guys are the best.
David
Jeff – Loren is so right with his example – what is sad is it is not just the lazy agent that may find these to be attractive – it is the ones that do not know better – they have been laying in fetal position crying oh whooo me the market sucks so long and are just starting to realize there are buyers out there now they try and do what all of us have been doing for years and they try to do it all at one time – they are prime for these companies because it allows them to lay there a little longer – sad thing is most of those that will be suckered into these companies will never find the truth like your blog and I am sure others out there.
This is all happening in my own Puget Sound backyard which gives me a little different perspective on it. Here’s how I view it.
First of all, NP as a company was pretty late to the social media party. if you’ve had any experience with the principals of the company, you quickly find a “we can do it better” attitude. Not a bad trait in most cases unless you have little understanding of the product you’re producing. In this case, an existing sm company (Web864.COM) was brought in to direct the charge and run the sales efforts.
The market they are targeting clearly exists. It’s a combination of what earlier commenters say about agents that fall prey to what’s being hawked AND agent/brokers that clearly wanted to check the social media box and move on. The majority of clients using the automated system just want some exposure up on the web. For those counting on monetary results, they’ll soon find over time that the snake oil isn’t producing and cancel their subscription (and possibly switch to another title/escrow company).
I call it “subprime social media” where some are true victims and many others make a conscious choice to blindly go forward.
Instead of hitting it out of the park, looks like their getting hit by their own pitch…
@Rob – Subprime Social Media – I love that phrase! It pretty much nails what’s going on…
Jeff, I’d love to know the tone or response of the one person (NP client) who replied to you on Twitter.
@Rhonda – Seemed to be a genuine response. Took him about 2 hours to respond. Not bad…
I for one think its very dangerous to “Outsource Your Personality”… The whole premise of social media is to be authentic and transparent… How could you ever expect to be considered an authority on your subject (not only) to the search engines, but to your colleagues and most importantly your potential clients if you are broadcasting (and the content is purchased)… The very reason that people are “looking to the web” is to find authentic sources they can believe in and converse with…
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1692314/please-don-t-outsource-your-personality-
Great Post Jeff, I’ve seen something floating around the mortgage world called “the written blog” that is pretty hokey, and obviously canned. I always just try to put out something that I myself would respond to. Believe me, if I thought that the canned content would engage and represent me properly, i would consider it. but it will never be possible. I also think that dan green at the “mortgage reports” blog (which is fantastic) is selling blog content now. strange.
@James – Dan’s been doing “Bring the Blog” for several years… At least his clients are nation wide.
I just don’t get why anyone would ever want to have the exact same content on their blog/site as dozens of their competitors (especially in the Seattle area example). But, to each his own…
Jeff, Seems like it is the wild wild west everywhere from short sales experts, REO specialists, and Social Media experts. Anything that is worth doing takes effort, time and skill – no quick fixes, easy rides, or short cuts.
I love the idea of tree falling in an automated forest, unfortunately for many they are ignorant of how much damage is done at their expense.
If you don’t want to spend the time on SM don’t bother since it will be more detrimental to your brand/business than doing nothing.
Oh well, maybe in a few years the snake oil salespeople will be on to the latest get rich quick scheme – I will just keep publishing good content and keeping an eye on my forest.
Thanks for the article and sticking up for what is right.
I’ve been watching this conversation from afar, but since you guys invoked my name…
Bring the Blog is a publishing company. I’ve been running it since 2006. I’m not going to pitch it here — you can reach out to me personally, or visit the website, if you want to know about what we do.
But with respect to using the same content on multiple sites, I used to feel the same way you do, Jeff. But after running my own blog for 5 years, and paying close attention to how big-time players like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times do it, I’m found that it’s less important to have unique content than it is to have *relevant* content.
If you open up any newspaper, you’ll see that they’re all the same at the core — AP and Reuters stories from cover-to-cover. What makes the papers unique is how they *surround* those stories. That’s where a paper’s personality and value comes from, and the same is true for blogs.
Using content from Bring the Blog isn’t a travesty — it’s a time saver. The travesty is not doing anything to make your site more local, more relevant, and more “you”.
You probably agree with me up until this point. But, where we’ll disagree is where I say that someone can absolutely be using paid-for content and still have the site be “theirs”. If the Wall Street Journal and New York Times can do it, why not the rest of us?
@Dan – totally agree with everything you said. Especially:
“The travesty is not doing anything to make your site more local, more relevant, and more “you”.”
I can’t blame the agents. Most don’t know any better… This is where my main gripe lies… The company offering these services should be educating their clients on how to best leverage this content. But, they’re not.
Interestingly enough, I was the first against “canned content” and still would not use it in my own blog but there’s something to be said about those agents that don’t have the “blogging bug” in them and can’t write a word worth their life.
So if you can grab that pre-written content, change it up a bit to fit your market and personality – then compliment it with your own stuff …. sounds like a good option for many.
For the Social Media purists out there (me included) – BROADCASTING may seem like a bad word, an obscenity of sorts…but guess what? it works for many! There’s a guy in my local market that is making a killing with foreclosure broadcasts and he NEVER engages anyone!! GASP!!
The point here is that we are in an ever changing realm where what works for you may not work for the next – we are all still learning.
@Dan I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to watch Northpoint’s video where they flat out say “we’ll do it all for you”… (their video was down last weekend but seems to be up “now”).
@Jeff I disagree w/you on “I don’t blame the agents”… if someone wants to pay for content, fine…but if you’re going to do it with no research or care of the content that’s being provided, then perhaps…well, what’s the saying about a fool and their money?
If an agent or LO is going to do something like this, they should check out other providers who have been doing this longer and successfully AND include their own content… #justsayin’
What the? Is that THE Ines that has graced my little blog with her presence?
Thanks for weighing in! It’s always good for us to remember what you said:
What works for me, may not work for the next person… And what doesn’t work for me, may be a goldmine for someone else.
Thanks for the smile JEFF …I think it’s about education in the end, no? Don’t just take people’s word for it – do some research, don’t be lazy and know that your reputation may be on the line.
@INES – now, what if 20 other people in your local market started send out the same tweet about foreclosures at that guy…how effective do you think it would be?
To me, this is like a Perfect Storm of crap. Automation, Duplication, and syndication all happening at the same time, in the same market. I don’t see how any good can come from it.
YES!
“It’s all about education in the end…”
@Darin – it wouldn’t matter if 100 of them did it as long as they got the results they were looking for. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone it, but we need to be aware that many use Twitter as a search tool as well and keyword rich tweets may get results for some businesses.
Those same people may think it’s ridiculous that we waste time in conversation and engaging others – which one is right?
You mean keyword rich tweets like “Save Money, Rent a Goat” ???
Getting back specifically to Northpoint Social Media…
Some of their other topics have been a little more relevant, but just barely. It’s mostly just fluff content that provides very little value (and since most of them are just embedded videos that OTHER companies have produced, there’s not even much SEO value).
Services like Dan’s “Bring the Blog” that provide relevant content, SEO benefits, education and encouragement to start layering in your own content are perfectly fine. In the end, the clients should realize that they are capable of doing this on their own, and will discontinue the use of the service. Or, maybe they never do… Either way, at least Dan’s company is TRYING to educate clients on how to properly use the tools.
Northpoint isn’t. They specifically say:
“It’s not education, we’re just going to do it all for them.”
Judging by the video that’s back up on their homepage, these agents are being told social media will “make you more money” so they’re expecting some sort of silver bullet. It’s a shame that they’re having to pay money to learn the hard way…
…and another thing:
I personally don’t think it’s ethical to charge agents for content that someone else has produced.
For example, Northpoint is using videos created by others as the content that is auto posted into blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Unless there’s an agreement between BHGTV, WSJ, NPR and whoever else…
Northpoint is basically using their content to make money.
Jeff, I never thought about that… I suppose Northpoint feels they’re charging a syndication fee?