Facebook has been great for me with keeping up with my family and friends. I have a niece in Korea - teaching English without having to know Korean - and she shares videos, pictures and so much more with all of us. It wouldn't be possible for her to keep up with so many of us without it. I have found people I used to work with and see that they have had babies etc. I can keep up with so many people - including friends I have found on ActiveRain. But what really took it to the next level is finding past clients.
Thanks to reading a post from Brian Brady, I was introduced to the idea of using my Outlook contacts to find former clients and see if they are on Facebook. I sent an e-mail asking how to do this (he is now a friend on Facebook) and he called to personally tell me how. This is not a post about how great everyone is on ActiveRain but I was surprised and touched that he took the time to do that - and so quickly after I sent the request. When I was home at Thanksgiving, I coached my brother and sister-in-law (who own their own Tishhouse Electric business in Kalamazoo) how to do it and they found clients as well. It is very easy; In the top menu, find the Tab "Friends" and click. It opens to "Invite Friends" and click on this option. On the right hand side, click the "Import Email addresses". Here you will see two choices under Email Applications and click the first button for "Automatically import my contacts from Outlook" and click "Find Friends". It doesn't download anything but checks to see which e-mail address are in the Facebook data base and then creates a list of all matches and gives you the opportunity to invite all of them. It can take a while depending on how many addresses you have in Outlook.
I downloaded my Outlook contacts and found at least 12 former clients who are on Facebook and accepted me as a "friend". I found out that one of them is having their first baby and I was able to stop in and congratulate them. I will be able to find out when he/she is born and pictures I am sure. Then I can follow up with a card etc. Another client had their wedding pictures posted. We had talked about seeing them once and I never did-so I stopped by and commented as well. The list goes on. . . I know I often feel a certain withdrawal from my clients after working with them so much to find the right home. When it is over, I don't always know how they are doing. I send cards, periodic e-mails etc. but peeking in on what they want to share with those of us that they have accepted as friends is awesome.
Many of you may know this already - but our blogs from ActiveRain can be automatically posted and all our friends can keep up on what we are saying as well. I just joined Twitter and Twitter feeds on "what are you doing now" can be linked into Facebook as well-I can catch up on both simultaneously. Social Media - I love it.
Royal Oak Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan. TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.
