OK, the title is a little dramatic. But there is truth to this. 

Late last week, the 2013 Social Media Industry Report was released by Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner. The insightful, and sometimes surprising, 43-page report is packed with trends and statistics based on a 3,000-marketer survey that focuses squarely on the social media platforms commonly used in real estate marketing.

It’s quite clear that social media is still one of the most popular areas of marketing that businesses consider, but what is even more obvious is that most marketers are still quite overwhelmed AND confused with the number of platforms. They still are very unsure about how to use them, even though the list of platforms keeps growing. So what do these numbers and insights tell us about how we in real estate approach social media?

Here are some highlights I found interesting:

• 90 percent of marketers still want to know which tactics work best.
• 88 percent of marketers would like to know how best to reach and engage their audience.
• 83 percent of marketers are thinking of social media differently. They are thinking about how it fits (under the larger umbrella called “marketing”) into their business by creating a social strategy.
• Only 26 percent of marketers are measuring their social media activities.
• Only 37 percent of marketers think Facebook is effective in their marketing, yet it is overwhelmingly the No. 1 platform of choice.
• Only 26 percent of marketers are optimized for mobile.
• Blogging and Google Plus are moving up the ladder in future plans for marketers.

Most of these numbers translate to the constant changes and confusion in social media, the pull of the distraction and noise, and lack of real understanding of how much time and energy social media should be part of your marketing playbook. So, without going too deep, here are some main things to keep your focus on when defining your social strategy for real estate.

4 ways to create your social media strategy and wipe out 80 percent of your competition | Inman News.