Follow Friday: Dale Chumbley

Dale Chumbley is a real estate agent in Vancouver, WA. But, since I’m not looking to buy or sell near Portland, that’s not why I follow him. And even though I do a lot of web strategy work in the real estate industry Dale isn’t a client (in fact, I should probably pay him consulting fees) so I don’t follow him for that either.

I follow Dale because he’s an awesome example of endurance and perseverance in social marketing. In any web marketing tactic that requires continued or repeated activity, Dale is there doing it to the fullest and he just doesn’t stop.

Remember those cool daily mugshot things people were trying out? Remember how people couldn’t keep doing them and gave up? Or how they just changed their clothes and background and shot them all in one day? Dale Chumbley is, as of this writing, on his 652nd mugshot. That’s tenacity.

Another example of his tenacity, is his approach to the  “365 Things to Do” meme. You’ve probably seen these pages pop up on Facebook “365 Things to Do in YourTownHere.” Lesser town curators abandon them after the fifth day or so. Dale is, as of this writing, on day 86 on his Things to Do in Vancouver WA project and I’m sure he’ll make it all the way through. Oh yeah, and he incorporates video into that as well. Once he starts stuff like this he just keeps going.

Dale does a lot of this social media marketing stuff without over-strategizing. I asked him once how long he spent planning out his 365 project, making an editorial calendar and so on. He said “I didn’t. I heard about it on a Monday and I started doing it on a Tuesday.”

What makes a lot of his stuff successful is that he knows his own work habits and is able to incorporate his social media marketing into his daily routine. For example, he does all the video for his 365 project on site, including uploading and posting. He shoots it with his iPhone, edits it with ReelDirector while sitting in his car, and then goes on with his day. Learning how Dale Chumbley does all this is the main reason I follow him.

Here’s the checklist of a few reasons you might want to follow Dale Chumbley as well:

• See an example of someone pursuing social media marketing over the long haul.
• See an example of someone integrating their marketing practices into the flow of their life/work.
• Learn about the Vancouver that isn’t in Canada.

Follow Dale Chumbley on:

• Twitter
• Clark County Real Estate Guide (including 365 Things To Do in Vancouver, WA)
• Flickr
• His mugshot