It’s proven that social media marketing, if done right, can lead to business — there are plenty of agents around the country that can tell you that. But how do agents find the time for social media amidst their busy days selling real estate? There’s a great question in Zillow Advice I wanted to link to in order to get feedback from the Geek Estate audience –“How much time do you spend on social networking vs. working?” and it was posted by Marsha Mayer in Florida:

I have to work real estate at least 12 hours per day which leaves 1 a.m. and later to review posts, ask and answer questions and write blog entries on my 3 favorite social media for real estate websites. It leaves little to no time to read and learn ‘etiquette rules, go to ‘camps’, learn more about SEO, attend local social media ‘friend’ groups.  I am working for clients and with customers in real estate.

How much time do you spend on social networking vs. working per week?  and HOW do you manage  getting it all done?

There’s a fairly long discussion (28 replies as of right now) brewing, so I’d urge you to go check it out and chime in there. I’ve left several comments, but my overarching thought on this topic is that there are not enough real estate agents using SMART phones with email and web capabilities to produce content and engage others from the field during the day. In the present landscape, I’ll be honest, I don’t know how an agent can survive without having email on their phone; consumers want instant responses to their questions — a response 12 or 24 hours later means you’ve likely already lost that buyer or seller to another agent who responded quicker. Are using a SMART phone to make yourself more efficient? If so, are you only using it for email or are you also using it to create content on a daily basis while you’re out and about in your community?

Disclosure: Yes, I’m biased on this topic since I work for YouReach Media, which offers a social media training program for agents.