By Emily Dugal, Digital Marketing Manager

Dear Santa,

I am the Digital Marketing Manager at RE/MAX Leading Edge! We’ve been very good all year. I am writing to you to tell you my holiday wish this year! My wish is that all the agents at RE/MAX Leading Edge take a shot at Facebook Live.

Sincerely,
Emily Dugal

I know I’ve been pushing you all to do video, namely live video, for months now and as I start to see agents come out of their shells I burst with pride. One day you’ll get an idea and just let yourself roll with it.

Mug Monday came about while I was sitting in the back room of the Back Bay office with Christine George. I was still a marketing coordinator in Back Bay and I made some off hand comment about doing a weekly update and calling it something funny like “Mug Monday”. Christine loved the idea and said we should start doing it… oh um gee… okay. The next thing I know I’m broadcasting myself to all the people who follow our page and then some, wondering who is going to want to hear what I have to say and how am I going to say it without looking and sounding like a complete idiot! But now as I close my year out and look back I realize that Mug Monday has become a pretty big part of my routine. I’ve kind of just fallen into a flow with it. Every Monday there I am, getting ready for Mug Monday. I have my phone stand, my mug, and some notes on a paper. So my plan for this blog post was to write out the three things you need for live video…

1. Something to Say and a few notes
2. A phone/camera
3.  CONFIDENCE

*Warning: If you aren’t big on the tough love thing you may want to stop reading now.

But seeing as it’s the end of the year I’m going to focus on the third because, although I’ve heard many times that people don’t want to do video because they don’t have anything to say I know it is really because they are SCARED! That’s right I said it. You’re scared. You’re nervous.

“What if I say the wrong thing?”

You will.

“What if I look silly?”

You will.

But guess what, 90% of the time you are the only one whose going to notice you said the wrong thing or looked silly. How do I know…. that picture below is how I know.

Ew.

I was minding my own business, scrolling through my news feed and boom! Hello myself with a ridiculous frozen face. But no one has ever come up to me and said “You looked so weird when I was scrolling through my news feed the other day.” Actually, the only things people say to me are complementary. If there are people who think or say uncomplimentary things well then who needs that? I do a weekly live feed on a business page, what do you do hater?

At RE/CHARGE I had three people from outside our company, who I’d never met, say they recognized me from Mug Monday. I’m not gonna lie, I felt like a bit of a celebrity. I’ve had many agents tell me they love Mug Monday and that I do a great job with it. I always use that opportunity to encourage them to a live feed and sadly I’m often met with a response similar to “Oh I could never do that!”
BUT YOU CAN!

You all have personalities and knowledge! And a phone! You’ve got this. Facebook Live allows you to be yourself and get in front of people in a really authentic way. Look I know it’s hard. Believe me. Every week right before I hit “Go Live” I get nervous. You might even be able to tell I am nervous but I love doing it. I love interacting with all of you. We have 13 locations but Facebook Live allows me to get in front of you all from anywhere. Sure, it takes time to build up interactions and engagement but as it grows I get more and more excited. Wouldn’t you love to get in front of your sphere of influence from anywhere? Sounds pretty ideal to me.

My holiday wish for all of you is that you realize the potential you have and turn the camera on yourself and show us what you’ve got!

So take the plunge this holiday season! Wish your clients Happy Holidays and thank them for a wonderful year.  Reflect on what has happened to you both personally and professionally. Give insight on the future in real estate.  You all have the potential to create a successful digital footprint and I am here to help!

Wishing you and your families a safe and Happy Holiday and a prosperous 2017!