Social Network or Blog? Which is best to start for business purposes?
-
I am a Realtor and was wondering which is better to start for Lead generation? A social network for local professionals or a blog?
-
I actually have a website with a blog. Currently I'm on page 1 for my main keywords. I was thinking of another way to generate new leads. So the Social network was an idea for another project.
What do you think? Is it worth it or dead end?
-
I work with several realtors/builders and I would say to build a website with a blog on it (for content and SEO value) then use a lead gen from that. Build an email list, there is no better way for realtors to connect with potential clients, whether you are trying to get other realtors to show your listings or get buyers to list with you.
Network with other realtors on networks like Active Rain and LinkedIn, use some sort of IDX solution on your site so potential clients can search for properties, and bait them in to sign up for your email list.
The money is in the list!
-
Joel,
Ryan is spot on. I've worked with many Realtors over the years, and I've also seen many others who think a templated social network service is a great way to get lead gen going. The problem is many-fold.
For all the "template" based systems that claim to be "easy" to set up, they're not. Unless you want a highly unprofessional looking site from your target market's perspective.
Even if the visual aesthetics are pleasing, social network solutions outside Facebook are rarely, if ever, going to be found by your target market easily. They're isolated from the world, and you need to build up inbound links and off-site signals to get them ranked with more effort than you would imagine, because they're disjointed and lack clean topical focus the way a site and its blog would be.
So unless you're going to spend the time / invest the effort to first build & design a very high quality a templated social network, and then can easily and for relatively little cost then promote it through traditional or gorilla marketing to drive enough traffic that eventually enough of those people actually want to participate, there's no viable reason I've ever found for me to be willing to recommend them as an intelligent, sound business decision.
If you had a company with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people in the organization and you wanted to create a platform for internal dialogue, I'd say it's a consideration. That's the only other circumstance I can advocate for them.
-
Technically its a lot more involved than a blog, probably requiring more bandwidth and processing power if it becomes successful. And it requires more technical know-how to get it set up properly. Then the challenges of building and maintaining an online community are significantly greater than just publishing a blog and attracting a readership.
But again, if you can pull it off you'll have a fantastic resource and a great way to market your brand.
-
I was thinking about using one of the Social Network Templates out there like Social Engine. Have you heard of them?
What hurdles do you think I would face?
-
Do you mean start your own social network? The challenges and technical hurdles to doing so are much higher, but the potential rewards are also much greater.
I would say start a blog, get a post or two a week on it, and publish those to your social media accounts (especially linkedin, twitter, fb).
Once you've got that down, if you still have the resources to create a social network then go for it! You can use existing services like Ning or Drupal Connect to speed up the process.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should our rebranded company update our existing Instagram profile or delete it and start from scratch?
Our company just did a complete rebrand with a new name and logo. Instagram allows us to change our name, username, logo, and information, unlike Facebook, but there isn't a lot of online content about whether or not that's the best route. Any thoughts?
Branding | | RyanHeffernon0 -
Should I submit the same blog post on Linkedin as an article with permalink?
Hello All, I just want to know that is it the right way in SEO to submit the same blog post as an article on Linkedin or other social sites or article sites.
Branding | | DenorL0 -
.com or .me for freelance business?
Hey there, Which domain do you think is better and why? (1) surnamename.com or (2) surname.me? Since Google treats both the same in terms of the rankings, my biggest concern is about the branding. (1) is longer but is .com (people usually see .com as more trusted one). (2) is shorter, easier to remember, but less tech savvy people might be confused with .me. Purpose of the site is personal/freelance profile. Other domain versions are already taken. Shoot the ideas! Cheers, Martin
Branding | | benesmartin2 -
Is it "correct" to welcome to my social community an authority figure?
Hi, I just "earned" an authority figure as a follower on my company's twitter account (not a big account - 600 followers). The authority figure is the founder of a very relevant and big niche news site. Should I welcome her to my community? Is it correct putting her on the spot?
Branding | | BeytzNet
Will it offend other followers who I don't welcome? (Needless to say that I would love the opportunity to blog with them etc. - to have a relationship) Thanks0 -
Advising clients on Blogs, twitter and social
I am looking to put a crib/cheat sheet together for clients about writing content, blogs and twitter and other social. I want this to be SHORT - SHARP and to the point. Any advise is appreciate. This is what I have so far.... Blogs - Tell the world what your company is doing, whats new, also link it to the news - BE INTERESTING - Educate don't just say "we offer this services its great" - make it relevant BUT do not be obvious - ask yourself would you read this blog find it interesting - read it again - what did you learn? Twitter - Treat like a micro blog with a personality - use it to great a company personality do not just link to your site when you do a blog post - comment on news events - BE INTERESTING - BE FUN - Make people want to engage with you - we recently tweeted this:- eg:- Something pointless for the weekend - See fun video link. Social - Again use it to create a company personality - be fun but do not just copy and paste the same content - judge your audience. Feel free to help.... watch?v=isZNJjPsaMI
Branding | | JohnW-UK0 -
Best Practices for Google+
I have a client that has a decent following on Google+ on his personal account but his business profile doesn't have many people going to it. The law firm he owns has roughly 14 attorneys and all of them write for their blog. Since they are all new to Google+ except for him, I'm wondering what everyone things that the best practice is to get the information shared. When we post the information on his personal personal profile, he generally gets between 50 - 75 +1s and a dozen or so shares. If we put it on the business profile we don't get more than 10. The issue is when one of the attorney's that is new to G+ posts on their timeline and then we share it via the business, we then have to share it via the owners timeline to get any traction. We need to build followers for each of the attorneys new to G+, that's obvious, but what do we do in the mean time? Since the owner is also the brand, what is your suggestion of the best strategy?
Branding | | DarinPirkey1 -
Social Media Icons for trust - have link land them on a social media page or have them stay on the page with like, tweet, +,etc?
An interesting question arises out of a conversation with one of my team. We were talking about FB pages in particular regarding a client and I am for icons that allow for trust without leaving the client's site page (I am from a direct marketing background originally and am against sending them somewhere else). She was pointing out that we had a client who has a FB page and we were not sending them to that page. I explained how I do not like to gain a bit of trust by sending them off site because it is the opportunity to lose a conversion by them becoming distracted. I also thought of a client who has over 100,000 likes, shares, etc. and who still is in the direct sales business at the end of the day; were they better off with a prospective client/customer to send them to their FB page/Twitter page, etc. or should they stay on the commercial site? I still believe that in the bricks and mortar world, I would not have a customer who came in to buy/look at a TV first go down the street to a social club for people who liked my company and then hope they come back and buy. Also, is there an opportunity to close a sale that would not have been closed by virtue of sending them away or to increase the size of the sale (remember, this must be such a sale increase or probability of sale increase as to outweigh the risk of loss of a client who would have bought)? I look forward to your assistance.
Branding | | RobertFisher0 -
Trying to decide on best domain
I am trying to decide on a domain for a real estate site in Utah where the area code is 801. My choices are utahhomes801.com, the search term "utah homes" get 3600 exact matches, utahrealestate801.com with "utah real estate" getting 22,200 exact matches or forget the 801 and go for a shorter domain Utahnow.net or utahhomeboy.com. Is there any reason to stay away from 801 in the domain? Any thought or direction would be appreciated. Scott
Branding | | rozier0