Super-Size My Pond, Please.

Not too long ago I was working slowly and diligently toward becoming a medium-to-large size fish in the decent sized pond of my city, Richmond VA. I frequented all the local real estate investor groups regularly and was known by a good number of local investors, as well as a few in other parts of the state. Sure, I had big dreams of knowing and becoming known by investors all over the country, having a huge network of people to draw on for experience and out-of-town investing, but I figured I had a long LONG L-O-N-G way to go before that would ever happen. I just had to keep slowly building and adding to my network through meetings and seminars, and eventually I’d get there.

Such was my thinking, until I was hit by the tidal swell of social networking. A few months ago a colleague suggested I put the local investor group that I head up onto two well known social networking sites to keep our members better connected. Formerly I had always been of the “pish-posh” school of thought on such sites, thinking they were just for teenagers and the socially desperate. But I’m not one to turn my nose up at other people’s suggestions without some thought and a good test, so I joined both social sites personally to check them out. Of course, I connected to the obligatory family members and old high school boyfriends, but I was amazed and blown away by the number of real estate investors suddenly available to me across the country with almost no effort on my part to find them. And what’s more, they WANTED to connect to me!

Before I knew it, I was “friends” with educated and seasoned investors in Florida, Illinois, California, Georgia, Arizona, New Jersey and so many more locations that I would have NEVER known investors in had it not been for these sites. My pond had gotten a lot bigger, super-sized with a few clicks of my mouse, but that only meant I had more room to grow into an even bigger fish. Even better, the groups, blogs, forums, and fan clubs have provided a treasure trove (sunken of course, lets keep up the nautical references) of information and contacts that are potentially endless. I can and have asked these people for advice, opinions, bounced ideas off of them, found an investor radio show in Kansas, and even just chatted about our different markets. Needless to say, I’ve become a BIG fan of social networking and did, indeed, put my investor club on several of them.

Here’s a few words of wisdom I’ve gained in my short social networking career:

#1. Find one (or two) you’re comfortable with. Some sites are very simple and user-friendly, even require minimal interaction. Some are geared towards professionals, some towards more casual friendships. Still others may seem simple, but have such a vast array of codes and nuances that it may easily overload a new user. Know yourself, your commitment level, your desired results, and ask around or do some research to figure out where you might start.

#2. PARTICIPATE! There’s nothing worse to most avid social networkers than those who sign up but only log on once every blue moon, or maybe even only once. Trust me when I say that it may seem silly or dull or slow at first, but the more you participate the more you will be “seen” on these sites and the more people will want to be a part of your newly expanding network. Plus, if you don’t use it you’ll never realize the benefits it can have for your business like finding or listing properties.

#3. Don’t get overloaded! If you end up liking it and start joining more and more sites, it could easily become a full time job just to keep up with everything (because you are an active participant, right?). I know a few busy investors who actually had to hire others to log onto their social networking sites and post/interact. Most of us think this is a little cost prohibitive, so don’t take on more than you can reasonably handle with your schedule.

Of course, I still attend every local investor meeting I can fit into my schedule (nothing can beat face time), but I’ve expanded on my idea and information base exponentially, more than my local groups could ever offer. I may not yet have an incredible network of real estate connections across the country, but thanks to this crazy idea someone had to allow people to personally connect over the internet, I’m now on the fast track to achieve one of my goals. I’ll never doubt the teenagers again… well, at least for good networking strategies.

Til next time, happy investing!!!