An unpopular thought.
I've never been know as one to shy away from speaking my mind and this time I wonder what the reaction will be. I'm not here to tell you how to run your business, but I still feel the need to speak up. At Trulia Voices there is constant controversy over what is the "best" or "right" way to respond to questions. I have plenty of opinions about that, but you'd probably be shocked to hear some of them. I'm not as single minded as you may think.
When you join, what do you do?
When you first joined Trulia (much as I did), you probably clicked around the site and began to see what was out there. I saw a lot of interesting things that I thought I could use to help build my business. One of the things I enjoyed the thought of was Trulia Voices. A way for end users to get some ideas or help. An opportunity for agents to get in front of buyers and sellers and begin building relationships - social media 101.
Most agents seem to gravitate towards Trulia Voices much like I did. And when you first get there, you wonder - who can I help? You're eager, you're excited, and ready to take on the world of Trulia's visitors hungry for your knowledge.
So you start answering questions. You reply to 3 or 4 in your first sitting. You hope to see a reply from the visitor who asked the question or better yet, receive a phone call as you're still typing. You pour your heart and soul into an answer and you know you've written a masterpiece.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
You're late. You've been waiting for a reply or a phone call and nothing has arrived. It's quiet. Know why? That question was asked a month ago, two months ago, a year ago. It's old news. A dead topic. A lost cause. But you just brought it back to life and to the top of the list...so another agent jumps on it and answers it. They give their pitch for business (a whole other topic that is hotly debated on Trulia) and...guess what? Rinse and repeat.
I did it too when I first started. But I've learned that to use Trulia to it's fullest, you need to be talking to people who are here. Internet users tend to move quickly, from site to site. Sure they might come back, sure another person might read the question and find your answer interesting, but you're late to the party and it shows.
That's not to say you can't participate and some questions deserve follow up years after they were written (after all, the laws change from time to time, so updating those questions is a great idea). I think if we work harder to provide pertinent content in the "here and now" instead of building our answer counts, we can actually make Trulia a better place. Yes, I'm idealistic. Nothing wrong with that in my book. When you do answer an old question, think about writing an answer, not a sales pitch...that answer will sit there forever (and be linked back to your profile where users can learn more about you without the "call me" answer).
If we work to bring more timely info to Trulia users, we can bring more users to Trulia who come to rely on agent expertise, not your advertisement.
That's my two cents.
This post was inspired by a recent rash of answers to an older question here in San Antonio and an agent's comment asking if this was indeed an old topic. Just got me thinking.
photo courtesy of imagesbyk2 Photography
** This post was originally written on August 6, 2009 over at my Trulia blog (which I don't use very often), but I thought it beared repeating as I am beginning to see many of the same things happening. I know I'll never stop them, but if I can change one agent's mind about how they're going about using Trulia Voices, I'll be a happy man. **
All content ©2008-2010 by Matt Stigliano unless otherwise noted.
Matt Stigliano, Realtor® Becker Properties | (210) 646-HOME | www.RErockstar.com
"Your all access pass to San Antonio real estate."
every now and then I see a post of yours that peeks my interest. My question is -have you had success with Trulia Voices? Just wondering.
Interestingly, Trula sends out "alerts" to agents about questions in their areas. And sometimes they send out those old questions... that may be a year old. When the agent receives that alert... he assumes it's recent.
D'oy!
I never thought about answering an old question because I assumed the public would think just what you said, that I was late. So when I do answer I try to be in the "here and now". Good post.
Angelia - Through Trulia Voices I have brought in two clients. I actually try to use Trulia Voices as a service to the public - my way of giving back. In one case, I saw some answers that were sketchy at best (basically the consumer was asking about a home that was a phony ad - showing pictures of a gorgeous house that was not the home in question) - I reported the ad and figured the consumer had already been contacted by a billion agents (as they put a phone number in their question), but I felt bad, because I knew that the agents that had answered the question completely ignored the fact that house ad was obviously incorrect (it showed a $700K house that was listed for $140K - anyone could see that clearly in the photos). So I called the consumer, explained to them that I wasn't trying to solicit business, but wanted them to know what the deal was. They were clients the next day.
Alfonse - I've seen that happen to, although most of the alerts I see are usually because a new agent signed up and went through and answered every question they could find - including old ones.
Barb - There are several out there right now that I missed when they popped up and I have great answers to, but I feel the question has already been resolved and the question is too old at this point. I try to stay more current with my answers. I am not fishing for business on there (although, yes, it is my final goal), but instead figure if the public sees me as helpful, they can make their own decision about whether to pick up the phone and call.
Good topic to write out on Matt. I too try to answer Trulia voices WHEN: 1) the question is a new one, and 2) it's a legitimate question. Have followed through on some of the questions asked only to find that the person posted lots of questions that were plainly were not legit.
Lee and Pamela - What I don't get is that people don't even read the questions sometimes - they just say "pick me pick me" and it shocks me. Certainly not the way I want my industry represented.
Matt, I only do Trulia Voices in my area. I try to answer them quickly. I will do Michigan but NOT if it is about a listing I don't have access to. My biggest peeve is agents in Florida or elsewhere answering a MI question.
What is the point?
Interesting post! I'm embarrassed to say this, but I've never heard of Trulia Voice before and I'll have to check it out. One more thing I need to add to my routine of social networking. :)
Have a great night!
Sincerely,
Kathleen
2nd Missy ... The main issue I have is the out-of-area, and worse, out-of-state agents that answer questions they aren't qualified to answer. Other than that, I've recently set up some alerts for the Voices q&a in my local markets and try to get in there if I can. I, as you, don't solicit directly (I may include a link to my web site in the additional resources section), but never come out and ask for business or tell them they need to contact me directly for an answer.
I agree, it is a good way to give back. If the user likes your tone they'll contact you if they so desire.
We also participate quite actively there and only stick to our area. I also drop few blogs into our trulia blog and they get viewed quite a lot. I think it also helps now that the blogs show up on the area pages (or whatever they are called) towards the bottom. I think I have about 75 posts and over 5500 views. Mostly market reports. ~Rita
Oh just wanted to add that recently a new agent - new to trulia - did exactly that: went over several questions none recent, and more annoying basically repeated for each questions what had been said already! (rolling eyes) :)
There's one question that has been there for 2 years. And since I commented on it then, and had it set to e-mail me when new answers were posted, I started getting a ton of e-mails when that question suddenly became a war zone between the late-comers. Regardless, I haven't been getting my notifications lately. I need to go over there and check my settings again. They seem to stop e-mailing you every 6 months, even if you've still been actively participating.