How is social media going to help me with my business? This is the number one question I am asked by commercial real estate professionals, through the social media channels I manage daily. In the commercial real estate industry the answer is fairly easy to conclude. My first answer begins with a question. What business are you in? Whether you are a broker, an accountant, a lawyer, or a service provider, we are all in the same business....the relationship business. This is because a large portion of our work consists on developing new relationships and nurturing our already established relationships. Social media is the best available online tool to use for the relationship business.
The second most popular question: Where am I going to get enough time to handle social media, when I can't even keep up with my email account? To this, I also have a simple response, albeit, it does come with an extremely difficult challenge...CHANGE. We all have our routines, and adding new pieces into the mix can sometimes be met with difficulty. Doesn't anything worth doing require sacrifice? Participating in social media is like going to the gym... you get out what you put in. When social media is done right, you and your online community will exchange information harmoniously, and you will be looked at as a "thought leader."
We are in the relationship business, and social media channels are the best tools we have available to develop and nurture relationships. We do have the time to integrate social media into our routine when it benefits our relationships.
For more #CRE news you can follow Eric Wilson on twitter @EP_Wilson

Eric Wilson is special projects director at The New England Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.