Technology hasn’t changed everything. It’s just given us new tools to do the things we’ve always done in different ways. Real estate has always been a relationship business. Consumers have been cultivated directly, either through physical contact or solicitation. Thus, personal marketing has been used to develop a sphere of influence that often was geographic in nature. Similarly, smart agents are active in professional organizations, social clubs, churches and civic organizations to meet potential buyers and sellers and created a relationship of trust with them. The upshot, ideally, was that when these consumers or their friends and relatives have the need to transact real estate, they will go with the person they know. This type of relationship marketing absorbs the largest share of agent expenditure.

Now the technology has changed and a new generation of buyers and sellers is moving center stage. Their preferences for communication and the things that impress them are different from the things that have traditionally worked. They don’t join organizations to the degree that their elders do; they don’t like personal contact from business people; they do business on their schedule not yours. Is this the end of the world as we know it??? Not hardly. Younger people (and those who think young) will form relationships but not in the physical space. They form virtual relationships. For luring Generations X and Y consumers, it is more effective for you to spend a half hour blogging than an hour and a half at the Rotary lunch; it is better to be on Twitter or Facebook than the board of your neighborhood association. That’s where the intersection of technology and generation change are changing the real estate business.

For most agents–baby boomers all–this is scary. Using social media means bonding with people you don’t know. It means being in a relationship with people scattered across the globe rather than across the street. But when Xers and Ys choose their real estate professional, they will choose from among the agents who have established credibility and trust in virtual space. So, trot out your realtionship building skills, learn how to use social media and conduct business as usual–building relationships.