At one of the hottest venues for technology and social media that I recently attended, the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, three buzz words kept popping up: engagement, transparency, and authenticity. Some thoughts on each:

Engagement - Social media experts constantly say “engage with your customer.” Ok, ok. But what does that mean? Well, you wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and start handing out your business cards to everyone you meet, right? In a social media environment such as Facebook, the equivalent would be to “spam” all of your friends with your contact information and constant reminders to call you if they are selling or buying real estate. Equally bad would be to “friend” all of the friends of your friends on Facebook even if you’d never met them, just to grow your sphere.

In fact, online, just like offline, is about connecting with individuals, one on one, around common interests. Be interested rather than interesting! Give as much as you take. Share information, knowledge, yes, even contacts. These activities create trust the same way they do offline and are even more important because you can’t see the person at the other end of the computer. So make an extra effort to reach out to others, ask questions, join groups on Facebook, comment on a wall, thank someone on Twitter for providing a great article.

Transparency - Social media makes it easier to connect and get to know people. People may say things during a conversation on Facebook, while sitting in the comfort of their own environment that they may not say in person. Everything you do says something about who you are: groups you join, articles you share, jokes you reply LOL to, the people you choose to follow on Twitter. To those that follow you it quickly becomes obvious what you think and believe. You need to be aware of this transparency for both good and bad. On the down side, each time you post something you are leaving a “digital footprint” that can always be traced. On the up side, it’s a great way to open up yourself and your company to the outside world and to appear real and approachable. Rather than try to “hide,” for example, that you’ve recently closed an office, it’s better to write a blog post about why you had to close the office and how it will make you a strong company in the long run. Ultimately, people are more apt to jump into a pool of water when they can see the bottom. Being as transparent as possible will encourage people to jump in and get to know you.

Authenticity - You are who you are. You can’t fake it, hide it or control it in social media. When you try to fake it, you break down trust immediately and it’s very difficult if not impossible to repair. The classic example is the “note from the CEO” on your website. If this is obviously a message created by the marketing or PR department, people will quickly realize that and ignore it. Social media sites are not for ghost writers, which mask authenticity. As a leader it can be so much more powerful and “authentic” to reach out by making a personal status update on Facebook or sending a “Tweet” yourself via Twitter. And for good or bad, the 140 character limit forces you to be brief and to the point. A good rule of thumb, 80% business but 20% personal makes you more engaging, interesting, credible and frankly, genuine.

Remember, Social Media is not what you have to say, it’s what people have to say about you. Embrace it as a way to listen to what people are saying, about our space, about their experiences with real estate agents, about their feelings about the state of the industry today, about their markets. They will talk about us with or without our involvement, so it’s to our benefit to be a part of the conversation.

Posted By: Stephanie Pfeffer, Luxury Portfolio Director of Integrated Marketing