Online Real Estate Technology

Effective Blog posts ahead

Every day I can guarantee that you will be impacted in some way by social media, there will be experts telling you, you need a profile on social networks like Facebook, and that Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread was invented, so you create a profile and you start to tell everyone and anyone who will listen about your latest listings and open homes, but is that really the way to approach social media, doing the same thing you do every day on more traditional mediums?

Taking this approach to your social media strategy will do nothing more than waste your precious time, time that could be spent prospecting for new listings and working with your clients face to face.

I know some younger agents who think that social media and the Internet will replace face to face contact, the reality is it won’t, however the very same principles you use face to face, apply to social media, the only difference being the method of delivery.

I know of some real estate groups who have launched their social strategy with profiles on this site and that network, yet  their sites are full of their member offices congratulating themselves on such forward progress, but where is the consumer?, where is the engagement factor?, where is the interaction with the people that count the most, your customers. This should be the reason you create your social media strategy in the first place, to create the local expert, the trusted advisor role, create and engage your community and to provide information and advice for the long term.

One question to ask yourself is, why do people interact within social network sites in the first place? Is it to get your latest listing, or to find out about your open homes, or to get an appraisal? No, No, No, they are there to connect, to engage and interact with other like minded people, to share experiences, to share activities and create a sense of community and to stay in touch with family and friends.

You as a business person need to understand this motivation and work with it to really maximise the return on your investment of time in creating a social media strategy for you and your business

So what is the best way to approach a social media strategy, firstly you need to work out why you want to have a presence on social networks, is it because everyone else is doing it? Is it because your competitor down the road is doing it so you should as well right? Well wrong actually, do it because it gives you another advertising medium to capture the attention of prospective customers, do it because it is a huge billboard of opportunity to take your message to the masses, do it for you and the exposure it can bring you and your brand, do it because you are an expert in your field and do it because people are looking for an expert to advise, coach and motivate them.

Start by doing a business and digital media strategy and look at ways in which you’ll start to build an audience, do you start a blog first, do you jump on Facebook and MySpace or do you start using Twitter and on what network sites do you create a profile.

How do you declare your brand identity? Remember, you should be focused on how you and your team help other people, being the agent to call when listing a property and raising the profile of you and your office on the web.

The first Step, is create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube. Check in and see where you fit in to the community, upload or add all of your contacts into Facebook and start a routine of regularly adding “friends” to your page, the goal is to get your personal contacts engaged and to start to follow and engaging with other local businesses, build a schedule so that you can allocate time each week to this, otherwise you will find yourself becoming overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all the conversations that happen.

As you become more familiar with the sites you learn that Linkedin or Twitter may not be for you, that’s fine, at least you are now more informed than you where when you started. You are learning, next you can start to build your blog, your blog web site is your central hub with all roads leading to it, and everything you do should be designed to get people to your blog and interacting with you on your territory.

It’s great to have a Facebook page but even better when you have both working for you; you are in a win win situation.

Remember, with your blog comes responsibility, you’ll need to add content to it regularly and this takes time, so you should allocate at least 2+ hours a week.

Use the same strategy for all the social network sites you use, allocate time each week in your plan to update your sites and remember it’s about engaging your community not only about promoting your latest listing.

We can help you save time and money in building your social media business plan and setting up your pages and blog, we provide weekly coaching clinics that provide information and advice on content and tactics for social media. If you’d like to find out more about our social media integration plans and coaching clinics contact me at Mike Andrew Consulting and we’ll design and set up a coaching plan for you.

Wordpress Blog Platform

I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog the number of women who are now using social media sites including blogs, to not only research business and products, but who are directly influenced by what they read or research on these networks. The influence of social media on the female internet user is often underestimated by business.

In the US, new research from SheSpeaks highlights that social media networks have become a must for women this year and social network penetration climbed from 58% of internet users in 2008 to 86% in 2009.

When asked about brand related activity on social sites, 80% of female users said they had become a fan of a product or brand directly from a social network. In addition, 72% had learned about a new product or brand, or joined a group around one. To me, one very interesting trend stood out, women were less likely to participate on Twitter with product or brand related activities.

Another interesting point is with actual purchasing of products or services, with one-half of female Internet users buying a product because of a social network. Purchases based on social networking sites and blogs both increased dramatically over 2008.

Users seemed more receptive to social network advertising than they were in 2008, with 9% saying that they always look at ads and often click through, compared with just 2% last year. Thirty percent look sometimes, versus 13% in 2008, and fewer users felt annoyed by ads or actively ignored them.

Brand Related Activity on Social Networking Sites

The ROI for business with a social media strategy that is well set up and planned is well worth the effort and the work put in, and with that in mind, I’ve been really inspired by this research, so much so that I’m prepared to help you get your blogging efforts set up and running for the month of January, I’m going to set up 10 free wordpress installs. No sales efforts, no push, all you have to do is drop me a comment on this post and tell me why you need/want a blog and how having a blog might benefit your business.

To Qualify:

In order to qualify all you need to do is buy one of my hosting packages for a period of 12 months, they are really inexpensive and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Let me know if you’d like additional information on this.

This is what I’ll include -

• I’ll install and configure Wordpress for you. The self hosted version.
• I’ll upload and activate a theme of your choice for you so that your blog looks a million dollars.
• I’ll set up and install add-on software (otherwise known as “plug-ins”) to give your blog a bit of a boost. Things like Disqus commenting, Akismet Spam protection, Tweetmeme, etc.

This is what is not included:

• I won’t move content over from another blog. I’m setting up a brand spanking new blog for you in this case.
• You won’t get personal one-on-one blog coaching. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t sit down with you for some one-on-one coaching if you needed it. It’s not included in this Basic Install. If you’re interested in coaching, then please head over to  Mike Andrew Consulting
• You won’t get tech support. I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have if time permits.
• You’ll need to buy or already have your own domain name as the blog will need this. I’ll help you work out the best domain name for you but you will need to have it ready.

So there you have it, as I mentioned I’ll be happy to do about 10 of these installs so to qualify all you need to do is get writing and leave me a comment, if you already have a blog then please  send the link or recommend this to someone who doesn’t have a blog yet.

Real Time search on Google

Ok, if you been putting off starting a blog or using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s time now to think again and very seriously. With the launch yesterday of Google real time search, it opens up a world of opportunity for bloggers and social media users to get their efforts at the top of the search rankings, Google now pulls information as it happens from sources such as friendfeed, Twitter and Facebook as well as blog posts and news feeds.

This is essentially Googles answer to Twitters and Facebooks search engines which provide up to the minute updates on trending topics, and it was a natural extension for it to be applied to search engines, after all they are trying to give you the best response to your search query.

Real time search will enable information to be delivered as it happens, by clicking on “Latest results” or selecting “Latest” from the search options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other web content scrolling right on Google.

You can also filter your results to see only “Updates” from micro-blogs like Twitter, FriendFeed, Jaiku and others.

Latest results and the new search options are also designed for iPhone and Android devices when you need them on the go, be it a quick glance at changing information like ski conditions or opening night chatter about a new movie — right when you’re in line to buy tickets.

So there you have it, create your blog and start writing, and by creating good quality content on your blog or social media network, you might just end up in the number one spot on Google.

It’s the freshness factor that is also important when it comes to getting your information ranked high on Google and now with real time search, you can get fresh up to date information on trending or newsworthy stories as they happen.

If you’d  like to start a blog and don’t know where to start, visit Blogging for Business Packages and get started today.

Watch Out for the Twitter DM Hacker

Watch out the Twitter DM hacker has struck again, having been a victim myself only last week please make sure you log in to Twitter and change your password. Don”t be tempted to share your Twitter log in details with any third party software program that you don’t trust.

The DM spam attack, presumably being spread by hacked Twitter accounts, contains unknown but dubious content, and we advise you to avoid clicking on anything that appears suspicious. Be on the look for tweets like, “hi, did you do this quiz thingy.”

I lost a few followers last week because of these hacked DM’s so please be warned and be careful. If you’d like to check the latest on these, search “dm spam” on Twitter.

It had to happen at some stage and here it is, a song and video about Social Media, not quite as serious and informative as my previous post and video about  Social Media, but I thought this great video would bring a smile to your day.

So please enjoy!!

Yes, well here we go again, another one of those, I’ve got  a list of over “9,000″ Twitter followers so I’m a social media expert marketing forms has hit my desk today. Come along it says, “to my affiliate marketing driven roadshow and in 4 hours I’ll make you the expert, but there’s more, if you sign away your hard earned money right now, i have an e-book special for you, yes just for you, an E-Book that I didn’t write by the way,but I’ll pretend its mine, and all it will cost you is $89.00.”

I get emails like this every day, offering free product that I can sell or give away as my own, I get E-Books, money making ideas and lots of materials that I can re-brand, that’s not being an expert, that’s a faker.

These so called experts all have massive numbers of followers on social media sites like MySpace and Facebook and of course Twitter, and they fool you to part with your money.

Well don’t fall for it, because I’m going to tell you how to fake it, and then you too can be the instant social media expert, you know, the one who can’t get a job selling real estate so they opt for this easy money.

Ok this is how you do it, On MySpace and Facebook, you find as many people with similar names or interests as you and then send them friend requests, a lot will decline but you would be surprised at the number that actually come back and accept you, that way you build up your following very quickly, they never do anything with you but hey it builds your numbers. Next Twitter, there are a number of programs that will show you how to build big follower numbers and it’s funny but it’s nearly always around the 9000 mark. You can do the same with Twitter as you do with MySpace and Facebook, that is follow large numbers of people and I’ll guarantee you a fair number will follow you back, and you know the dead giveaway? look at the follower number next to the following number, that they can’t hide.

I know of one expert that actually sends out his flyers with “I have 9000 followers on twitter” so I must be good, well one thing he doesn’t tell you is he follows over 10,500. If you really want to get serious with this, have a look at the Twitter accounts with large followings, 99% of them are well known actors, celebrities or business people, so what does that tell you.

I have always taken the tack that to build a social media following you should earn it, build it on providing good quality information and advice and create the “Expert” tag through experience and generate your followers organically not by underhand means and faking it.

There are so many “snake oil” sales people out there you really need to hang on to your wallet.

So next time you get a flyer or an invite, stop and do some research first, the web and Google are a great place to find out information on your expert. How many articles have they had published?, where do they rank on Google?, What recommendations do they have and what companies have they worked with in designing and integrating a social media strategy. For example, I’ve just done a search on social media experts, and this person I’m telling you about doesn’t even rank on the top 20 pages.

Is this sour grapes? no, I just don’t like rip off artists who pray on people like you.

Creating Your Real Estate tweet Plan

Twitter is the flavour of the year and a lot of you will be starting to use Twitter for the first time, and using it correctly to not only build your following but to get your followers to go where you want them to and to get buy in from them is not easy,even though there’s lot of people using the micro blogging service, you still need to have a plan to get the most out of the site. For those of you who have been using Twitter for awhile, this article will also help you get more response for all your efforts.

To be successful using Twitter you need to offer value to those following you, and you need to create what I call the “Trusted Adviser” role for yourself, once you have created this role and others see your expertise on a subject, they will follow you to get information and advice, but first you need to work very hard to create this persona.

Creating your Tweet plan and then following the strategy you have set up for yourself, will help you keep your plan on track. Just posting tweets about your product or listing is not engaging your followers nor is it creating value, it is just plain boring.

Setting out to become a trusted adviser means you need to listen,respond and broadcast and build your community, that’s what your followers are, your community, and you need to offer value in what you do to get engagement from them.

Creating your topic list is a good place to start, define your area of expertise and start to build that trust.

Some of the topics you could include if you are just starting out would be:

1. Your Expertise

2. What are your passions

3. Stats in your market – Good for those in real estate

4. Share your interests

5. Tweet what you are doing

6. Updates on your listings – real estate again

7. Share links and helpful information

So now you’ve worked on your list of topics, it’s time to create your tweet plan:

1. Make a list of topics

2. Identify your resources – sites to turn to, to get information

3. Schedule drips – spread your tweets out throughout the day

4. Be spontaneous

5. Follow other twitters of like minded interests and retweet information

Once you have your tweet plan worked out, you then need to set up your Twitter profile:

1. Create you Twitter background and personalise your profile

2. Complete your profile – serious followers always check out your profile before a follow.

3. Use monitoring and measuring tools to check your tweets – Use URL shorteners such as Bit.ly/Cli.gs/Hootsuite

4. Add video to your tweets by using Bubbletweet.com

5. Use Tweetlater.com to add an auto welcome  message for new followers

I hope that you find the above information helpful, particularly if you are just starting out with Twitter, and by using the tools I’ve suggested, it will give you the basics to start building your following and help you create the trusted adviser role.

Some helpful Twitter tools you can use to start building your Tweet plan:

1. Tweetdeck.com

2. Topify.com – Uses email notification for new followers

3. Hootsuite.com

4. Tweetlater.com

5. Tweetmeme.com – Search and retweet the hottest stories on Twitter.

Now to final the tip for you, using social media sites as farm areas can generate new sources of leads for you, particularly as you can tap into the conversations taking place right then and there. A great site for you to use is www.demandspot.com, it is a real time lead generation tool for real estate agents that taps into the conversations on Twitter, you enter the suburb or state into the site and it will give you the details of all conversations taking place about real estate in your selected suburb including contact information, you can then join in the conversation.

One word of warning though, please be careful how you use this tool, ramming your listings or services at them will not make you friends, the best way to engage these people, is to create the handshake and enter the conversation quietly.

Good luck.   

One thing that has really annoyed me over the past few months is the amount of spam I’ve been receiving via social media sites I’m a member of. I’m sure you know the sort of spam I mean, “Click here to earn a million dollars”, “A friend of mine just found the secret to Internet marketing and you can too thanks to me”, all that kind of rubbish.

Then there’s the Twitter spammers, spamming Twitter with all sorts of offers, promising to increase your followers by a 1000%, and then when you’re hooked, along comes the crunch, it’ll only cost you $99:95 for this amazing strategy.

Then if you sign up for these fantastic once in a life time offers, you get suckered, they will never ever leave you alone again, everyday getting email after email offering amazing deals only available to you.

The reality of this, is that if a deal sounds to good to be true, it probably is and a lot of the testimonials used are fake, just there to get your money, so my advice to you is give them the big heave ho.

So what is the point of this article? I want to assure you that you don’t need all of these quick paths to fame and fortune on social media, you’ll achieve great results by providing good quality content and information by becoming a trusted adviser. There is no quick fix on this and the followers you will gain by using these spam sites is rubbish, so don’t waste your money.

What you want to do with your social media network is generate referrals, and turn those  referrals into business. Clients come from referrals and often those referrals originate from friendships we’ve made via social media sites, so there are ways to do it right and generate long term relationships via social media, not by spamming people. For example I’ve allowed my Twitter following to build organically and I get new followers every day, why, because I only Tweet when I’ve something to say, I always try and provide good quality information that is of use to them in business and I’ve never ever participated in spam.

So what are some of networking things you can do to avoid being considered a spammer and become a trusted adviser.

Don’t sell me before you get to know me – Build rapport and trust before trying to sell me your product.

Don’t spam your friends or followers – We don’t like it, it’s annoying and it just makes you not want to support your product or service.

Don’t play the numbers game – Allow your follower numbers to build organically by providing good content and networking, who cares about huge numbers of followers if they never connect with you. A small loyal band of supporters will do me thanks.

Don’t be a faker – We can all see through you, don’t have a hidden agenda be honest and up front. If you are a fake, you’ll go on my spam blacklist forever, no second chance here.

Don’t ignore people - It only takes a moment to communicate with your followers

Take time to get to know me – Spend some time with me and get to know me, then I’ll be open to your product or service, but I don’t wnat it rammed down my throat every second of every day

Treat me with respect - I’m here to follow you and get advice, give me some good staff and I’ll think you’re a guru.

Ok, there endeth the lecture, so now I’ve got that off my chest I feel better, and hopefully given you some advice, particularly those of you who haven’t yet got into social media but are thinking of starting your strategy.

Remember it takes time and effort to build loyalty and create friendships, there are no quick fixes not even by spam, but in the end,all your efforts will be worth it.

Mike Andrew owns and operates an Internet Marketing Consultancy on the Gold Coast in Queensland

For those of you who are really interested in social media, I’ve decided to create another blog called Social Media College and my intention for this blog is to include information and updates about my training courses and updated articles tips etc on Social Media.

Very soon you’ll find information on my Bloggers Masterclass series which I’m putting together as we speak, I also intend to use the blog purely for social media updates and leave this blog for real estate tips & technology updates.

So please make sure you have a look at the blog and leave me comments on your thoughts on layout and content etc.

It’s amazing how quickly you can get out of the discipline of writing blog posts, and having just returned from the US and not having written any articles for awhile, it’s really taken me a little time to get back in the mode again.

But here we go, I’ve written a lot about the impact social media usage is having around the world and having spent the first part of August attending the Inman technology conference in San Francisco, where social media was a dominant theme, I thought I’d take a look at what is happening in the Australian market. 

In June, over 70% of Internet users visited a social network site, that transposes into an increase of 29%. So which sites were the most popular? Facebook had the most increase out of all the sites, with Twitter benefiting from it’s mainstream popularity.

Nearly nine million Australians visited a social network in June, making it among the more popular content categories on-line. Facebook led the sector with over 6 million visitors, growing 95% from last year.

Other interesting facts are as follows: Windows Live Profile chalked up close to two million visitors, but Twitter grew the most, rising to 800,000 visitors in June — up from 13,000 in June of last year. What’s more, social networking use is quite high across the web, composing almost 90% of users that populated Australia’s top Internet properties for the month.

Social media is now an essential part of peoples’ daily on-line routine, providing a level of engagement and reach that far exceeds most other content categories, so understanding how to leverage this audience successfully is both a challenge and significant opportunity for most small business owners.

If you are still  mystified by social media, let me know and I’ll help shed some light on how you can successfully tap into this medium for your business. Another idea is to attend one of my forth coming workshops on social media.

As always, let me know if I can assist you or answer any questions you may have with regard to Internet marketing and web site SEO.