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The Real Estate Agent

Time Used per Day: 2 hours

Primary Goals of Usage: Post community news, share listings, and share photos

Number of Original Posts per Day: 5–7

Number of Shared Posts per Day: 8–12 (I share a lot of community news.)

Number of Comments per Day: 30+. Connecting is a huge part of selling homes and commercial property, so I’m on here constantly, meeting people who identify themselves as being from (or coming to) my area, and talking with those in the community.

Links to My Blog or Projects per Day: 3–5. I admit I use this heavily to promote my listings.

Number of Off-Topic Posts per Day: 2–3 (It’s important to show my humanity.)

Typical Strategy: I want to be the connector in my community. For people to feel that, I stay on top of the local news, however big and small, and I share what’s valuable.

Special Uses: By curating so much, I get a lot more value than creating my own posts. But because people feel like they “know” me by what I share, they comment a lot on my original posts, too.

Notes: I’m seeing a lot of value in Google+ as a real estate professional. I’ve created lots of video walkthroughs, and I’ve even hosted local Hangouts that I use as digital “meet and greets.”

Takeaway: Being there between sales is the key to real estate professionals’ use of social networks. By giving past customers, current prospects, and potential future customers some interesting “connective tissue” in between transactions, there are many opportunities for connections and referrals, which are two of the four best parts of social networks and social media.

The Reporter

Time Used per Day: 2–3 hours (Some days, I’m glued to Google+ and Twitter.)

Primary Goals of Usage: Source gathering, story building, and commenting

Number of Original Posts per Day: 1–3

Number of Shared Posts per Day: 12–15 (I share a lot!)

Number of Comments per Day: 10–15. Connecting in the comments matters.

Links to My Blog or Projects per Day: 1–2. I point people to my news articles and my video posts.

Number of Off-Topic Posts per Day: 0 (Is that bad?)

Typical Strategy: Be the source of news, or at least one of them. Show my human side, which is important, too.

Special Uses: Video Hangouts with prospective story sources. Team video Hangouts with my crew. I also use Huddle on my Android phone.

Notes: What matters most is to gather up elements for a story, so I do that a lot here. I find that having more sources helps, so I’ve circled people into categories such as Tech News and Boston, and Best Of (for my top-shelf commentators).

Takeaways: If I were a reporter using this service, I’d throw in a bit of off-topic conversation. Even a nightly newscast has the lighter news or the silly anecdote. I think some reporters and news professionals fear that adding their own voice to their stream impacts their sense of impartiality. Society has grown up. We know our reporters aren’t robots. We know they have personalities. It’s okay to share that on Google+.

The Sales Executive

Time Used per Day: 1 hour

Primary Goals of Usage: Networking and prospecting

Number of Original Posts per Day: 1–3

Number of Shared Posts per Day: 7–10

Number of Comments per Day: 50+. Comments are where I spend most of my time. I might not always make new stuff show up, but I search out great profiles and comment on them all the time.

Links to My Blog or Projects per Day: 0. I don’t blog. But sometimes I link to things I’m selling or to people who need help. I’m a connector.

Number of Off-Topic Posts per Day: Everything I do is off topic. Or maybe it’s more that what I post I consider an important topic. I connect with people.

Typical Strategy: Build relationships and keep them warm. Comment, comment, connect, comment, and connect....

Special Uses: I don’t like Hangouts, but my sales team uses Huddle a lot. I stay active in the comments section, making sure that people know I find them interesting