Okay, welcome to 2017. I hope you've wiped off those cobwebs from the holiday. Got out of your coma because today we've got something really special. We've got a two-part series. We're going to talk everything digital, social media, platforms, the whole bit, how it works. So we've got a special guest today. We're going to introduce if I may, this digital queen or hashtag digital hool. Is that right? Is it digital hool? Yeah, digital hool. Digital hool, okay. So Melanie, tell us, firstly, let our viewers see a little bit about who you are and what you do with your business and why social media is so important in today's environment, especially for real estate agents. Yeah, well, thank you for having me today. So I went for myself and I run an agency with a bunch of content writers and digital experts and web developers. And what we do is we essentially do the heavy lifting for real estate agents or agencies. We come up with topics and ideas. We produce your content. So it's very much about content marketing and everything starts with content and then it's digital marketing. So amplifying and getting that content out there. So we work with you to come up with a strategy and then we're behind the scenes and basically you get a whole bunch of really qualified expertise, people that have been in the industry for like me 20 years. And you know, it's a low cost option for people that can't afford or don't really need to afford all of that head count in their business. Yeah, look, one thing I do know is the trend heading into this brand new 2017. Happy new year to everyone. And one of the things that I'm noticing is the trend around social media. Can you tell us a little bit about like every agent right now is fighting for attention in the marketplace. Listings have been really tight last year in 2016. So every agent's like trying to get their little space in the marketplace. If I was an agent today, what would be like I suppose like an idea or a tip that you would suggest in the social media space? Because I find like agents like they dabble in it. They just like, you know, they put their feeding net that don't really go full out. And the guys who are dominating this space are really starting to generate leads and business from it. So what would you say in terms if I was a brand new agent, not sure how to do this, what would be something that you would start off with say social media? Yeah, so I mean the number one question that I'm always asked or people say to me is I don't know where to start. You know, it's all well overwhelming. We know we need to do it. So that's great. That's a big tick that the industry has kind of woken up and the consumers are there. So, you know, Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter and Instagram, they've done the work in terms of getting us the audience. And now we've got the advantage of being able to reach people at a local level. So that's really the key thing that we started to see happen. And what, so what you need to do is really approach it like a health and fitness program, which is, you know, this is the perfect time of year to be thinking like that. And I've got a blog coming out which you can read which you're taking through this concept. But really, you know, you hit the net on the head with the fact that people start it and then they go, oh, this is too overwhelming and too hard. And they're too old for this. Exactly. And it's not, there's no ageism. It doesn't matter if you're 22 or, you know, you're 62 if real estate is your industry and your passion, you know, people in there, you know, that have been in it for a long time have a wealth of knowledge which you need to get out there and share. So it's really about taking a slow approach, doing one activity and then building on that and doing another and another and not overwhelming yourself too much. And we have programs that will take you through through that. Yeah, because this is the one thing that I know about 80 months ago, I wasn't very fluid or social media savvy. Like you've got Nico, Nico is behind the camera there. But, you know, he was wonderful with my social media and I've got to, my last like two big clients that I've got came through social media because I actually asked every client, how did you hear about me? And both of them said through Facebook and this is thing that I heard through some Matthew McClain, you know, editor-in-chief at Elite Agent Magazine. She said there's a thing called dark social and dark socialism. A lot of people are like watching you but they don't interact like like you or make a comment and these two people have it like my page, right? Or anything else or like made a comment but they're watching me and they reached out to me and when they reached out, they asked them about my business and what I do and how I do it and then when I asked how did you hear about me? They said we heard you through Facebook. So it's so important that you need to be everywhere. Like you know, you just got to be like in the social media digital space, you've got to maybe perhaps still be in the little box drops, you still got to be in the local paper etc. There's a platform but this social media place is really starting to really start to take off. And it's very much about trust. So trust is a term that we love in real estate. Yes. It's something that you know everybody says you know I'm a trusted agent but it's a way of building trust. So seeing your marketing in print format is very like one dimensional and then seeing it in digital format makes it too dimensional and then you know if you bring video into the mix then people can really get to know you and trust is built on feeling like they you know they believe in what you have to say and they believe that you've got the experience and that's all you're doing. You're showcasing the authentic real you the experience that you've got and you're just you know creating a digital you. Exactly and you know what trust is consistency right. When you're there all the time people start to trust you even there they don't know you they feel like they know you and I think that's a really important point that you've made their meal. Okay so what we're going to do is get into part two next week where we're going to talk a little bit about which is the best social media platforms that people should be jumping on which ones are the most important ones. And also just a couple of more questions around like how can you begin to stand out in your marketplace in this digital media world. So Mel we look forward to seeing you for next week's session of part two of our little series around social media in 2017.