A couple of months ago I received a phone call from Whitney. “Patsy,” she said, “I found you on the web and 
need to talk to you about staging my Atlanta home.” (As an aside, the most beautiful words in the English language to the small business owner have to be, “I found you on the web.” Hooray! My SEO strategies are working!) She asked what the procedure is for home staging. Here is what I shared with her:
- I always recommend that we start with a staging consultation. This is a two-hour service where we walk through the home, room-to-room, and discuss what needs to be done while she takes notes on forms I provide for each space. When we are done she will know exactly what to declutter, what to pack, what to paint, what furniture to remove to storage and where she needs to add key accessories.
- The next step will be for me to return to the home for tweaking. Sometimes furniture needs to be shifted to open up traffic patterns, more delcuttering needs to be done, and pictures need to be hung.
- The final step, if needed, will be for me to return with key accessories for rental. Every room has a focal point and key features to highlight, whether they be architectural details, a view, a fireplace, etc. Sometimes all it takes is a key accessory placed in just the right spot to accomplish this.
- Once the Atlanta home is properly staged, photos can be taken and the Realtor can list the property. It’s so important that the home be properly prepared before the listing goes up. Positive first impressions online are critical to catch the eye of buyers who will take it to the next step by actually walking through the front door.
At this point you are probably wondering what all this has to do with social media. As my phone conversation with Whitney was coming to a close, she said, “Am I dreaming, or did I see something on your website about you being a Kentucky Wildcats fan?” (Please keep in mind that this happened a couple of months ago during the throws of March Madness. Yes, I need to bring my blogging habits up to speed.) I explained that she must’ve seen my Twitter post where I said something about congratulating the team for advancing in the tournament. Whitney went on to say that she is from Kentucky, also a huge Wildcats fan, and seeing that line about the Cats is why I got the call.
I've read much on Active Rain about the differing points of view regarding what you should tweet/blog/FB about. Some say your message should always be on point for your specific services and industry while others say we should "sprinkle in" messages that will allow the reader to get to know us personally. In this case, I got the job thanks to engaging in Social Media and tweeting about my love for the Wildcats, so I'm definitely a proponent of letting your readers get to know you.
Is social media a waste of time? Not in my book. Go Cats!!!
d, "You are the one who wrote that post on ActiveRain about The Google Academy! (At this point, she beckoned to her In Motion administrator, Deborah Douglin.) "Deborah, come here! You are not going to believe this! This is Patsy Overton who wrote the post on ActiveRain about the Google Academy!!!" (Now I'm feeling like a total AR rock star.) She continued, "When I read your post, I signed up for one of their classes to check it out. As a result, I have developed my own class on the same subject and taught the first one last month. It was a sellout!" Okay, pick me up off the floor.
Staging class taught at 
to following our instructional outline each week, we've also analyzed many photographs to see what works and why, discussed decorating dilemmas our class members have had and what to do about them, and have embarked on our own decorating projects. This week we will wrap things up by answering any additional questions and completing our projects which involve the following:
