Blogging is a stage

Author: Jim Duncan

Posted on March 14, 2008 
Filed Under NAR - Advertising, NAR - General

And it’s one where one can publicly fail or succeed. It’s been said and written many, many times before about NAR’s need to engage their members and the public. Nowhere is active engagement’s value more readily seen than from David G (Zillow) and Rudy (Trulia) - so much so that they only need first names.

Witness this timeline on a recent Trulia interaction -

At least three things are notable about this example -

1) Trulia (and Zillow - see the comments) listened and fixed the problem.
2) When the problem was fixed, Trulia told the community.
3) The customer returned to the post and stated that the problem had been corrected.

If you’re not participating in the conversation with regularity, your “participation” is not really relevant - it might even be perceived as pandering. Part of listening is responding; people don’t listen to companies, they listen to people.

If you’re not going to dedicate yourself or your organization to learning about and doing something well, don’t do it at all. The internet is a very public place.

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Comments

6 Responses to “Blogging is a stage”

  1. Jay T. - The Editor on March 14th, 2008 9:56 pm

    Very sage points Jim, thanks for sharing. The value of active engagement is missed by many. And it’s crucial.

  2. Hi! I'm Rudy from Trulia. Thanks Jim... on March 15th, 2008 1:01 pm

    Hi Jim!

    Blogging certainly is a stage. And together, as a community, we are both the cast and the audience. Collectively, we educate and learn from each other. It’s been quite amazing to be a part of actually.

    Thanks for highlighting that back and forth. It’s really important to let people know that we are LISTENING [funny, all upper case implies shouting :)]. Having these types of conversations helps us maintain a good relationship with our community while at the same time, improving the user experience.

    Relationships are very important to me and I value everyones opinion.

    Everybody’s Voice Counts!

    Good luck on your listing appointment! [seen via Facebook]

    Rudy

  3. Jay T. - The Editor on March 15th, 2008 1:09 pm

    Yes Jim. good luck on your listing appointment! (seen via Twitter) ;)

    Rudy - thanks for stopping by. Clearly you (and hence Trulia) “get it”.

  4. Jim Duncan on March 16th, 2008 8:15 am

    Thanks, Jay and Rudy for making the point I was trying to make; I am pretty sure I will get the listing this week.

  5. Danilo Bogdanovic on March 18th, 2008 10:01 am

    So many people say that it’s a “fad” as a way to put it down as not being crucial to the business and to brush it under the rug. That argument doesn’t hold water and here’s why.

    The first part is correct - it IS a fad. But it’s a fad until the next method of communication comes along.

    But just because it’s a fad, doesn’t mean that it’s not crucial.

    Blogs are a way to communicate. Since when is communication a fad or not crucial to a successful business/organization?!

    Blogs may be a “fad”, but the reason they exist (communication and egagement) is becoming more important to consumers by the minute.

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    Your House Is Worth What? on Squidoo

    If you haven’ t heard the term“ You’ ve been Zillowed”…. listen up. It is becoming a familiar term amongst“ for sale by owners”. Most“ for sale by owners” have already determined the value of their home by getting a market analysis pr…

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