Staying Social in Social Media: Suggestions on Content

If you don’t have content you don’t have anything. It isn’t enough to simply create an account on any of the multiple social media sites; to stand out from the crowd you must have something of interest to your audience.

Success in social media goes beyond effectively including SEO words or even having a large network. If your content isn’t interesting then it is most likely your page won’t be read and then there goes your efforts to increase your business through social media.

Take the time to consider these sites as a platform to establish yourself as an authority in your area. So what should you add?

Listings – This one is easy. After all, getting the word out on your product is the prime motivator in tuning into social media. Just make sure that listings aren’t the only things you include. Think about it: you wouldn’t spend much time on a site that lacks variety, and neither do your readers. Who wants to read a list of listings anyway? That is why they have you as an agent.

Neighborhood News – Is there a home on the block that has been featured in a prominent publication? Did a neighborhood decide to go green? Or is the neighborhood the kind of place that embraces annual block parties? Share that with your readers.

Favorite Haunts - As an agent you spend plenty of time in your real estate territory. Most likely you’ve become familiar with the restaurants, boutiques, and special mom and pop shops around the area. Feel free to share those kinds of nuggets of information you’re your readers. Readers appreciate that kind of insight.

Staying on top of what is going on in the industry and presenting it in an interesting manner will help strength your social media sites. Get creative and personal, but be careful how personal, after all this is still business.

 

Twitter: The Next Networking Frontier

In this virtual world of tweets it can sometimes be difficult to wrap our minds around socializing without ever having to actually see a person face-to-face. If you are using Twitter as a tool to further strengthen your business it might be time to rethink how you follow fellow tweeters. Following the wrong people could be hurting your business, and wasting your time.

Allow me to elaborate. If you were trying to use Twitter as a tool to generate more leads, why would you follow those who are in your industry? Here is a radical idea, why not follow those individuals who share your same interests, or live in your area? Here is a simple step-by-step solution to making better use of the tweets, and preventing you from making twitter your next full time job.

1. Relax and be more social- Simply because you are using this tool to add to your business does not mean you have to be the annoying advertisement plugging in your business every opportunity you can. This will not get your more friends. Share your interests, tweet about things you care about, and yes that can include the top reasons why you love chili fries so much. Better yet, forget you are tweeting about your business and have fun socializing.
2. Embark on a search for your tweeting soul mates, or those that are interesting to you. This search does not have to become a full time job. Nowadays, there are plenty of sites that make finding your tweeting soul mates as easy as well, tweeting your thoughts.  Check out LocalTweeps for those in your area, and ChirpCity for the latest happenings in your town. (Tip: try finding the local hashtag for your area. It will make it easier to find your neighbors.)
3. Avoid looking like the creepy sales person, by trying a tried and true introduction. Simply say hello. Think about tweeting as your virtual forum of the classic networking party. You wouldn’t walk up to someone and introduce yourself by asking them if they want to buy a house, so don’t do it online. Try to establish a relationship with those who you find interesting. Let the business come later, and believe me it will.

For more detailed information you can check out these two articles on tweeting: Who Should Real Estate Agents Follow On Twitter, and Six Twitter Tools to Network Locally.

Facebook Pages: What to Consider When Having One

Facebook pages are becoming more and more popular as businesses start infiltrating Facebook. Like every other social media outlet there are a few things to make sure you have and a few that it would be best to avoid. Here are a few tips on making sure your fan page is working for you and not against you.

What Not to Do

1. Have Nothing to Offer: Fan pages were created for celebrities, businesses and important causes. Before starting a page consider why people would want to become fans of your page. Make sure the page offers something of value to the community.
2. Try to Have All the Control: Facebook is a platform to engage in a conversation. Don’t delete negative comments or try to control the flow of conversation your page. You can certainly guide your fans, but don’t rain on the conversation parade.
3. Applications:  These can be great when integrated on your page. Now the bad part is when you add them without knowing how to work them, or add them simply for the sake of adding them. Avoid making your page a mess with all those apps. The rule of thumb is don’t add then unless you are prepared to keep up with them.
4. Automate Your Page: This isn’t like a blog or twitter account where you can automate your responses and interactions. People become a fan to be able to engage with you. Be present for your fans and they will make your page successful.
5. Formulated Responses: Ever consider how impersonal a scripted conversation is? Now very fun, huh? That is exactly why making your responses a little more personal will go a very long way in ensuring the success of your page. Just because you don’t see the fan face-to-face doesn’t mean you can get away with not establishing a good relationship. Treat the page as if you were having intimate conversations with your fans.

What Does Work

1. Show Your Human Side: Sure everything is online now, sure life is limiting human interactions less and less (i.e. iPods, electronic banking and texting instead of calling), but that does not mean you should forget your human side. Be present for your fans and be real. Check your page often and respond to message and comments in a timely manner that is priceless. And remember to represent the brand well and mind your manners.
2. Tech Support: This applies to those who choose to have applications on their page. If something goes wrong, make sure you know how to fix it. Nothing is more frustrating than nonfunctioning apps. That could lead to many fans abandoning your page. No tech support, equals no page love.
3. Guiding the Show: You can offer suggestions; give resources, and even redirect. Just don’t treat your page like a strict professor. This is a place to have fun and allow interactions to flow naturally and freely.

The Basics of Your Page

1. Fun: Have fun with your page. Social media that it doesn’t have to be boring, that is what is so great about it. Try having contests, giveaways and even polls.
2. Visual Media: Who wants to visit a page swamped with text? No one. So feel free to add photos and videos. Show up on the images, perhaps even on the videos to add a touch of personalization.
3. Engage: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. People love to give their opinions so give them something to comment about. And don’t forget to thank the fans.
4. Have a Consistent Message: Make sure to plan out your posts. It should be more than once a day and have a variety of information to be successful.
5. Landing Page: This is important because it is the first thing fans visit when they find your page. You can customize it to fit your needs but make sure it is something that will engage visitors.

Via: InMan, WebWorkerDaily

NutshellMail: Get Yourself Organized

Keeping up with all your social media outlets gets easier with NutshellMail. This is a must have service for anyone who has become a professional technology juggler. How it works is NutshellMail allows you to consolidate all your social media accounts into one mail message.  A summary of all your social media alerts will be sent directly to your main email account, where you can then interactively manage it all without having to deal with checking all your other accounts.

NutshellMail supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace, Gmail and many more. It is a great tool to keep connected and build on all your media sites.  The best part is that you can schedule it to be sent on your own schedule. So let’s say you prefer to do all your blogging, chatting and facebooking in the morning, then you can set it up so that all those messages don’t bombard you during the day, and a nice neat message alerts you in the morning. Better yet, you can receive summaries of email messages from your lesser-used accounts.

Among the other features is the ability to tweet, reply, retweet and DM from your email inbox.  In a nutshell you have an electronic organizer for your social media outlets. Now you can move to more important things like getting that home off the market.

How Much Is Too Much?

It is easy to figure out when you are over sharing in a face-to-face conversation.  It is even easier to figure it out when you are dealing with a business marketing situation. But what happens when the business mixes with the social and the line between the personal and business blurs? How much is too much? Here are some tips on what information you might want to hold back, and what information you shouldn’t hold back.

Hold Back:

It’s pretty obvious what not to share like your personal information, health history or details on your relationship. But what about other things that seem harmless like stuff about your family? Those details depend on your personal level of comfort, but then again consider your audience and that in the end this is for business. While we are at it let’s steer clear of volatile subjects such as politics and religion. There is a time and a place for that. And I absolutely know that you would never under any circumstances make your home address public information, for your whole networking sites to see. Avoid posting photos or comments about how wild your weekends are or salacious gossip. Facebook users don’t post updates on what your Mafia Wars or Farmville pets are up to.

Feel Free to Share:

So what information can we include without sounding like a boring business presentation? Plenty! How about some information about what you do? What do you specialize in? How long have you been doing it? Talk about some of the organizations you are a part of. It is okay to have a little fun, share some thoughts on that fabulous restaurant you found hidden away in your favorite neighborhood, or stories about your recent trips. If you find it interesting, they will find it interesting because your passion will shine through your words.

Now some of us maybe a little more open than others. For those of you that are consider this before posting. I suggest getting some feedback from a trusted confidant. Sometimes saying it out loud helps. And for the rest of us just follow this rule of thumb, would you share that information with someone you just met? If not, then don’t post it. Or simply follow your gut; if you aren’t comfortable saying it, then you probably shouldn’t post it on your social media sites.

Via: InMan News

Tweet Your Way to More Clients

So you did it, you went ahead and started a twitter account for your business. Now what? While you probably won’t be tweeting about your breakfast options, or that funny comment you heard at happy hour you can still add your own personal touch.  Twitter is a great tool for sending out real time information to your followers, and can be effectively used in localized situations, such as for a real estate professional. So here are some things to consider.

Custom Feeds Are Key- So you figured freely posting live information would be a breeze, just hastily type a sentence or two and voila ! Instant communication to the world. Well my friend, you would be wrong. Take the time to customize your feeds. No one will read what you have to say if you are not reading what he/she are tweeting. You can find people by using the Twitter directory.

Stay Organized- Just like you group your phone numbers on your smart phones you should also categorize those you follow on twitter, fellow realtors, real estate enthusiast, you can even follow real estate publications in your area.

Get Localized- Just because there is a plethora of information out there does not mean you have to stay tuned to everything. Get yourself localized by finding out who is tweeting in your area. Real Estate is all about location and tweeting can help you stay on top of fellow realtors and new happenings in your area.

Mind Your Manners: Survive the Tweeting World

Remember that tweeting has it own set of rules, so keep these in mind when tweeting for business purposes.

1.Re-tweet: When you Re-Tweet (repost someone else’s comment) you are A.) commenting on something you like (which is always great) and B.) you are allowing your audience to exponentially grow.

To Re-tweet: Click “Re-Tweet” button next to a message you like and want to share with your followers, or simply just copy and past the message, don’t forget to add RT @ _____ (that would be the person you are re-tweeting).

2.Be thankful: For all those who mention you, make sure to thank them. You can check to see who mentions you by clicking on the @_ _ _ button on your home page. And do it every day, yes tweeting is a constant so be prepared to stay on top of what is going on.

And also make sure to respond to those direct messages you get, just say thanks. Beware, don’t start sending those annoying spam messages it is an easy way to lose followers and quickly.

3.Sharing is Caring: Don’t shy away from being personal and letting your spunky personality shine, after all this is twitter and it is all about connecting with people. Be genuine and in no time finding material to tweet about will be a breeze.

Social Media is a fun and personal way to keep your business growing. What are some other things that you have found helpful when using twitter?

Source: Inman News

 

Need A Plan?

Katie Lance, of Inman News, has a plan to keep up with your social media pages. She calls it her “Secret Sauce,” below is her plan that has made her successful. The best part is that all you need is an hour.

Katie suggests starting up all your pages (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter), plus your website, blogs, and favorite news sites. Then move fast, but make sure to reply to all messages, put up your posts for the day, and comment/re-tweet on anyone else’s post that you found interesting. Log out and close those windows.

Once you are done with the social aspect of social media, move on to your websites, blogs and favorite news sites.  Pick 6-8 links to share on twitter, and then pick 3 to post on Facebook. She suggests also using Hootsuite.com, and plugging your posts and links into the site, separating them 1-2 hours apart.

The key is to be quick about it, don’t dilly-dally and lose focus. Repeat in the evening and then the next day. This will soon become a habit. She suggests adding an extra 2-3 hours for bloggers and taking the time once a week to add new friends/ followers. Above all don’t forget to stay social, comment on other’s posts, and have fun interacting with your network.

For details on Katie’s one-hour a day plan, check out www.inman.com.

Think Social Media is For You?

With all the marketing tools available nowadays it can be difficult to decide which is best for you. Although Social Media has dominated the networking scene, it may not be for everyone.

Like all marketing tools you must first decide what you want to achieve by going the social media route. Yes, you may be able to reach large amounts of people by going this way, yes you will be able to quickly relay time sensitive information, but consider the time and dedication you must put into it.

Luxury Insights offers these tips when planning out your social media approach.

• Positioning
  Know your desired positioning.  Be on message for your target market.  Own your niche and communicate appropriately.
• Professionalism
  Demonstrate your market expertise, professionalism, and competence.  Be ethical.
• Personality
  Be memorable–do business with style.  Be human and personable.
• Persistence
  Social media is increasingly time and location-based.  It’s not a one-shot deal, but more likely an ongoing commitment to publishing content on a regular basis.  It will require patience, focus, and persistence.

Are you up for the challenge? Remember social media was created to express your individuality. Think about your personality and feel free to show it off. Before beginning lets revert back to those early marketing classes.  Remember the SMART goal setting rules?

S- Specific

M-Measurable

A-Attainable

R- Realistic/Relevant

T- Time-bound

No matter what marketing route you choose, this will help you stay on target.

How to Start your own Blog

Keep it Simple

These days its very easy to start your own blog. There are many platforms like Wordpress or  Blogger, where you can go in pick a template & start designing your own blog. Or you can hire a company that will design your blog using one of those platforms. It’s all a matter of time & money!

I think the simpler the blog the better, what really counts is the information you share. The information you share is called your content .

Here are some tips on developing content for your blog

1. First ask yourself who is your audience, are they buyers & sellers of real estate or another sector of the market?  You will be writing for them so you will need to put yourself in their place and figure out what is important to them.
2. Read other blogs in your industry & see what others are blogging about.
3. Your writing does not have to be perfect it should be as if you were having a conversation.
4. Write about your property listings or someone elses!
5. Write about events in your community

Offer help, be consistent, add value. This is what you do anyway. Now you are doing it online for the world to see !

Google Voice for Mobile

Realtors Use Google Voice Mobile

Google Voice for mobile allows you to make calls and send texts from your Google Voice number. You can dial your Google number then press 2 and call the number that you want to connect with and the receiver of the call will see you Google Voice number! Inexpensive  international calls are also an option…. Google has dome it all!

 

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