Whether you are a seasoned blogger or just getting started, its always good to go back to basics and check yourself to make sure that you are covering all bases. I found this article today and wanted to share it with you:

Inspiration for your Company Blog

Pay special attention to the Google Alerts point. Google Alerts is a great tool for getting news feeds straight to your desktop. If you're not familiar with it or are not using it, be sure to check it out. You can sign up to get alerts anytime information that matches your keywords appears in Google. As an example, I am originally from Wisconsin so I am signed up to receive news alerts anytime my city appears. I am also signed up to receive news alerts for the word 'REALTOR' so I can keep on top of what everyone is up to in the news! To sign up, click here.

Where Google alerts is most helpful to your business is when you can get information on local market news. Be the first to share and disseminate the information through your blog or Facebook Fan page and your clients will appreciate that you are a one-stop shop for everything local.

Finally, I also happen to love their suggestion to get guest writers. Check your list of friends and business associates and start thinking about how they could offer your clients beneficial information. Whether its a friend in the mortgage and finance business, real estate law, title companies or maybe even your company's broker, ask them to be a guest to your blog. Decide on a topic ahead of time and be sure to promo your guest to gain interest. Once they've posted, be sure to spread the word through your various social media sites. If you can bring new, interesting and unique content to your blog, you'll be able to capture readers again and again.

Labels: Blog Dictionary, Blogging Ideas, Facebook, Facebook Fan Page, Google, Google Alerts, Real Estate Blog

If you’re following this post, you have setup your Facebook Fan Page and started obtaining Fans. I know that many of you got some helpful tips and tricks from my previous 30 ideas on how to use your page for your business. Since my last post, all kinds of great things have become available for your Fan Page through Facebook. I hope that through these next 10 tips, you start thinking creatively on how you can promote your page.

The first item on my list is critical to your social media campaign. It’s not only an execution strategy, but a way of thinking at all times in marketing. I have been noticing that though a lot of real estate professionals have their Fan Pages started, they are missing one crucial element. It’s so important, I’m making it #1 on my list.

1. Your Fans should be consumers.

Though I will attest to the fact that real estate professionals are great at socializing, you don’t necessarily want to be doing it with your fellow industry peers on your Fan page. You can do that on your profile page where you and your friends hang out. Your Fan Page, however, should be about you and your business. You need to attract customers who are looking to buy and/or sell a property in the future, or who have bought and/or sold in the past. Remember, they are your “Fans”. They are people who know you and have done business with you or would like to in the near future. Now, don’t take this wrong- you can most definitely have Fans on your site that are your friends, after all, that is how you network and reach potential clients. However, if you take a look at your Fan list and see that 50 – 80% of your Fans are fellow REALTORS®, you’ve got some work to do.

2. Add a “Fan Box” to your website. To encourage people to become a Fan of yours, you can add some simple script to your site that will take them there. On your Fan page, there is a link on the left hand side under the logo that says “Add Fan Box to Your Site”. Click on that and it will give you the code to add to your site so that visitors can see your updates, Fans and click to become a Fan. This is a GREAT tool to drive traffic to your Fan page. See it in action on our site at http://www.CyberSunshine.com (hey while you’re there, become a Fan!) We also added it to a non-profit site, http://www.AnimalRefugeCenter.com

3. Hook your Fan Page up to Twitter. For those of you with Twitter accounts, you can now save yourself a whole lot of time and headache by synchronizing your Facebook Fan Page with Twitter. Login to your Fan Page and follow the prompts, allow the application and login to your Twitter account. Once this application is setup, your updates on Facebook will automatically be sent to your Twitter account as Tweets! You’ll be reaching two audiences in half the time.

4. Import your blog. Facebook allows you to import any external blog that you utilize so that your Fan page is automatically updated with your blog articles in the ‘notes’ section of your page. The great thing about this is that no matter where you write your articles, if you set this up (and it’s EASY) your articles will appear. This is a MUST for those of you who have blogs on your website. Once your blog is imported, visitors to your site can subscribe to your ‘note’s (essentially an RSS feed).

5. Send updates to Fans to subscribe to your notes. Going along with the above, once you have imported your blog through FB, you should then let your Fans know. Update them through your FB Fan page with a link to where they can subscribe. (hint: it’s found under the ‘notes’ tab of your page)

6. Get involved. One of the great ways you can generate interest is to give back to the community and get involved with a non-profit’s Fan page. When you associate yourself with causes you care about on Facebook, other people will gravitate towards your page through the connection. The very nature of Facebook is to draw people who share similar interests or desires through their friend’s particular interests.

7. Buy ads. I promise I do not work for Facebook but I have to put this in here just simply because it IS an option. Facebook allows you to purchase ad space for your Fan page…have you noticed the little banner ads on the right hand side? It’s one way that you can increase awareness and exposure. The great thing about their ads is that they are targeted to those clients who would most likely be looking for your service. Through information gathered by profiles, they are able to target their ads in such a way that you get maximum exposure.

8. Create a focus group. Professional marketing companies seek out focus groups to get real world information on what kinds of products and services will be most successful when they are on the market. A great way to use your Fan Page is to get feedback on the kinds of services you offer. Create a group and then invite some Fans to get their opinion on your services. Focus / user groups are GREAT for websites too. If you’re thinking about designing a new site, gather a group of Fans on your page and ask them to use your site and then provide you honest, real world feedback. You’ll be amazed at what you learn AND your site will be that much BETTER.

9. Update frequently. If you have your Fan Page started, the next thing you need to do is set aside time to make your updates. Though you may feel you are too busy to keep up, make updating and checking your Fan page a normal part of your marketing schedule. Facebook is geared to highlight new information so the more you add, the more you’ll get noticed and in marketing, getting noticed and noticed often is the name of the game. Don’t forget that you can send all of your Fans updates via an email message from your page.

10. Add a Link to your Fan Page on your Email Signature. Add a link to your Fan Page in your email signature along with your Twitter handle if you have one. You’ll be promoting your page each time you send email. Oh and if you don’t use a signature- well you really should start. Including pertinent contact information like your name, company name, phone number and email is standard in today’s email communication and makes your customer’s lives much easier when they need to get in touch with you.

This concludes part four of my series. There are only 10 more tips left to hit 50. I hope you’re finding the information helpful and can try and work as many of these tips into your social media strategies as possible. Try each one and you’re bound to start seeing the effects quickly, but don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen overnight. Have patience and know that social media is very much like search engine marketing- it takes a concerted effort on a frequent basis for it to pay off. Once you have a strategy in place that you feel works, don’t abandon it or give up.

Check back soon for my final 10 ideas as I round out 50 ways to use your Fan Page. For more tips and tricks on real estate technology, please visit our website and sign up for our monthly e-Newsletter. It's FREE.

Until then, Happy Socializing!

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CyberSunshine, Inc. is real estate web design firm that has been developing website and intranet applications for the real estate industry since 1998. Regarded as one of the industry's premier technology development companies, and recently named as one of Florida's Top 100 Small Businesses, CyberSunshine, Inc. enables clients to maximize their marketing and sales potential through the internet by providing flexible, dynamic systems with robust web-based solutions tailored to their specific needs. For additional information call 239-437-2628 or visit http://www.cybersunshine.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

I live in Southwest Florida and I attended a business meeting last night where they had a panel of representatives from many of our area’s major media organizations discussing how the traditional media companies that they work for are currently using social media in their daily business operations. In attendance were representatives from the Naples Daily News, The Fort Myers News Press, FOX 4 WFTX-TV, NBC-2 (Waterman Broadcasting) and BOBFM. From traditional newspapers to radio and TV, the panelist included a fairly broad spectrum of traditional media corporations.

I was both intrigued and rather surprised to find out that many of these organizations really do not know what to do with social media. Though they have all significantly adopted these sites- mostly Twitter and Facebook- they remain unsure and almost skittish about predicting what place social media will have in their organizations in the future. It seemed to me that there was an adoption of practice, but a reluctance and uncertainty as to how to use it to improve their bottom lines. Effectively, they know they need to do it, but they’re not exactly sure why.

The radio stations probably have the clearest perspective on how social media can and will affect their business. They have already established Facebook Fan Pages and are driving traffic to these pages while they are on the air. Though interestingly enough, the disk jockeys remain skeptical on how mentioning these sites on the air will effectively help drive business. They even indicated that many of them were very reluctant in the beginning to even adopt the practice of mentioning their website. That said, the marketing gurus of these agencies clearly see how a mere mention of a contest on the air and encouragement to view their Fan Page causes a spike not only in their Fan Page traffic but to their website as well. They feel this is an excellent indication of how they are reaching a broader base of consumers through their on air to online interactions. Ultimately, they feel that at the end of the week when the Nielsen ratings are taken, the more exposure their consumers have had to their brand through these new media outlets, is and will have a significant impact on their advertising sales.

Radio has also found the celebrity factor useful through sites like Twitter. Though they are only local celebrities, they are well known in the community and appear to be gaining Twitter followers quite quickly. Radio marketing experts feel that through these utilities, they are creating a more human connection and interaction directly with their consumers and radio broadcast personalities. Essentially, now the public can follow what these people do all day even when they are off their air. It was not specifically discussed how their radio personalities feel about this new type of ‘fame’.

TV News Broadcasting is even more interesting from a social media perspective. They indicated that social media is new on the scene at these companies and has not exactly affected their business or changed their strategies from a marketing perspective. However, they said it has definitely changed the way they gather their news. I found this rather interesting- essentially saying that reporters may be starting to ‘listen’ to the Tweets to find interesting news stories as they are happening through their followers. A sort of ‘reverse Tweet’ if you will. They indicated that though there has not been much resistance on the part of the reporters to adopt social media, they do not have any public Facebook profiles where you can interact with them and they are not necessarily actively using it in their day to day reporting business. It will be interesting to see whether or not this trend begins to shift more towards the use of social media to gather news information as its happening around the area and around the world. Certainly the recent election in Iran was an indication on how powerful social media sites can be in broadcasting news as its breaking. It begs the question, however, if the news is free…does the value of these organizations begin to decline?

Which brings me to our local newspapers. I found them to have the most interesting perspective on social media with the Naples Daily News appearing to be a tad more savvy and directed on how they are currently using social media and will continue to use it in the future. The Fort Myers News Press, though certainly well informed on the topic, seems to be a bit less sure of how they intend to utilize it in the long rung. Interestingly enough, none of these outlets have any policies with their employees (including reporters) on the usage of sites like Twitter and Facebook; though the Naples Daily News indicated there is a policy in the works and on its way down the pipeline.

In terms of news dissemination, these local newspaper reps indicated that social media may be changing the delivery of news overall. Whereas news used to be delivered to the people, there is a growing trend of other people delivering news to each other through the use of social media. They related this shift to the notion that we are now getting some of our news from each other via these websites verses directly from news sources. Blogs are one good example of this; many of us get our industry news and information from blog writers- they get their info from other blog writers and so on and so forth. The Fort Myers News Press stated that where just a short year ago much of the news was distributed by news sources and then perhaps ‘tweeted’, the current practice may now include someone tweeting that they are going to write a story, then asking their followers to contribute feedback to the story, then tweeting as they are writing it and finally submitting it via the web where it is then distributed through various news channels.

Finally, all of this begs the question, “Why do it, and how do you measure it?” Many of the panelists were unsure what to say. Newspaper reps were especially unsure; they seemed to feel that because the newspaper industry is changing so quickly that only time would tell exactly where social media would fit into their business objectives. Currently they are able to see a rather significant inrease in traffic to their online new sites from their social pages. Radio reps were a bit more certain. They indicated that they could see clear results in their Nielsen ratings from incorporating social media by the increased traffic to their sites. They indicated this increase of traffic would not online increase and enhance brand awareness, but also turn page views into marketing dollars; after all, these companies all survive on advertising revenue. The banner ads and in some cases commercials they run on their site will get more ad views the higher their traffic. Ultimately, they said, THAT is where social media will begin to show its effectiveness.

In closing, I should mention that one of the major sponsors of this panel discussion was a local real estate team. They were not on the panel, but it speaks to the growing trend of social media adoption and participation within the real estate space. Nowhere else can you gain the kind of one-on-one interaction with your clients as service professionals than on a social media site. You must learn this practice, embrace it and do all that you can to begin thinking of creative ways to make those personal and professional connections. People do business with people they know and like. Never before has this been more true than today. Embrace this practice and you’ll easily see how social media can and will fit into YOUR business (even if these media giants can’t yet.). Maybe I should direct them to my blog series, 50 Ways to Use your Fan Pages for Business. ;)

Labels: Facebook, Real Estate Marketing, Social Media, traditional media, twitter

I recently came across a new website, http://www.averyhess.com. The brokerage is Avery Hess REALTORS® serving Maryland, Virginia, Metro DC and West Virginia and I have to give them KUDOS. They recently launched this custom site and you just have to check it out for its clean, simple design and along with it, some pretty cool features.

The first thing you should notice is the front page. It’s very Web 2.0. Clean and simple; using a three column format on the bottom of the front page. Three columns are becoming more and more popular in web design and are useful because you can fit a good amount of text links and information without cluttering up the page. You can also use one or two of the columns for an auto-feed of your blog posts or relevant content for your SEO.

One of the most interesting and notable features of this site is its “MyLife” Home Search. This lifestyle search is interesting in that it lets the consumer delve more deeply into what kind of life they want to live based on very specific personal criteria - which ultimately translates into where they want to live. My husband, for example, loves to Kite Surf. Therefore, living in Iowa is out of the question…no offense to anyone from that part of the country.

By pinpointing exactly what kind of criteria someone is looking for in their day to day life, this site presents listing results pages that are more tailored to the consumer, thereby increasing the likelihood of a sale. For example, this site offers a “Search by Metro Line” feature - commuters can find homes perfectly located near their specific metro rail line. They can even search for homes near their specific metro stop!

Once you’re on a details page, it tells you just about anything you would want to know about what your life will be like living in that area- average gas prices, medical facilities nearby, shopping destinations and more. They have local school information but most notable is the estimated commute time and cost calculator. Fantastic!

How do they do this? Through custom programming on their website. Much of this information is FREE and you can obtain it, but it will take some effort to create it. You can provide just about any kind of information you’d like to if you have the creativity and motivation to provide it to your clients.

The reason I point this out is because I am noticing that with the economy, many real estate professionals are turning to template solutions because of price concerns. Though I can appreciate the need at this time, a template should not be a long-term solution. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are part of one of the largest member organizations in the country. That means you have a LOT of competition. As an agent or brokerage, you have to find more creative ways of providing value to your clients and standing out amongst the crowd. This website does exactly that and I guarantee you their business and agents will get more exposure because of it.

To find out what might help you stand out, do some market research yourself. Large marketing firms hire focus groups to analyze what is important. You don’t have to hire a large marketing firm to get one- get a group of your friends or contact some of your Facebook Fans and ask them if they’ll provide you information on what they might want to search on if they were looking to buy or sell property. Track their answers and tailor your website features to those needs.

Start thinking creatively about your online marketing- technology is always changing and unfolding. The possibilities are limitless if you set your mind to it. Through creative features and functionality, you can provide your clients a unique and specifically tailored experience on your website. The more specific information you can give, the more likely your visitors are to find your services of value.

Welcome to Part Three of "50 Ways to Use Your Fan Page". If you missed the first two posts, please check out my blog to catch up. Each post I will give you 10 more ideas on what kind of information to post and provide on your Facebook Fan Page. I'll give you unique and creative ideas on how to promote yourself, your listings, your website and your company online using Facebook. I'll also provide you how-tos on promotion of the page, reading statistics and more.

The next 10 ideas on how to create value and promote your Facebook Fan Page are listed below. If there is something you would like to know more about or if you have an idea or suggestion you feel works, please feel free to let me know or post it below! After all, social media is all about sharing and collaboration. It is only successful when others participate.

1. Network your Blog on Facebook. If you don't know what a blog is, you had better figure it out - a soon! Blogs are great tools that not only help you connect with others, they help in your search engine ranking too by providing dynamic, relevant content and links. If you have a blog that you post to frequently, it will only be effective if people know its there. There is an application available that allows you to post your blog to your Facebook profile. You can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=9953271133

2. Add notes as updates. If you want to let your fans know of new information that you can't say in a short update, notes are perfect. You can add links and photos to notes as well. When your notes update, it shows up in your feed. Others can click to subscribe to your feed which will notify them of new posts. This is a great area to add information about what is happening in your market area, a recent listing you acquired or a recent sale. Be creative; notes afford you the ability to communicate in more lengthy and meaningful ways than just status updates.

3. Post your LinkedIn Profile. LinkedIn is one of the most popular and widely used business networking sites. You must have a LinkedIn profile for this to work (www.LinkedIn.com) but it's a great way to connect your networks in your LinkedIn profile to those on your Facebook Fan Page. An icon that you select appears either on your wall or in a box (it's your choice). Fans can access your profile info (which hopefully includes recommendations for your work) on your page.

4. Post a different part of your website each week. Your Facebook fan page is a way to generate buzz and interest in your services. As a real estate agent, you want to ultimately drive traffic to your website where they can (hopefully) view property inventory and information about your market area and buying and/or selling. If you are marketing yourself appropriately on the internet, your website should be a plethora of information that is both informative and useful to your clients. Post links to those parts of your site each week to generate interest and encourage visitors. The more eyeballs you get to your site, the more likely you are to capture the lead and get that ‘sticky' factor.

5. Don't post political or religious viewpoints. This is one of my don'ts; only because with all of the latest political debates I see more and more status updates that spout off about everything from health care reform to the Iraq war. Don't use your business profile as a way to sound off about your religious or political view points. Though I know its tempting to want to say what's on your mind, your customers should NEVER know anything about you that might alienate them, offend them or put you in the sort of light that makes them not want to do business with you. Your goal with your page is to make yourself open to anyone and everyone, regardless of their political or religious beliefs.

6. Get familiar with Social Calendar. http://apps.facebook.com/socialcal/ Some apps you have to be careful of because they will download your profile information and that of your friends. You also have to be careful when you download it because they depend on viral marketing and always ask you to pick friends to include. You may risk offending your fans so be careful how you use this application. However, its actual purpose can be really great. Social calendar lets you manage and maintain important events and dates of your fans. Most popular are birthdays. A great way to connect with your fans is to get their birthdays added to your social calendar. When you see its their special day, navigate over to their page and send them birthday wishes. They'll be impressed you took the time.

7. Upload your contacts from your email client to your fan page. You can upload contact information into your profile and then ask them to become fans. It's a great way to get started with a solid fan base. http://www.facebook.com/friends/?filter=ffp

8. Share and post survey or research information. NAR and organizations like it often post research reports to their website that contain valuable information about a variety of topics. Read up on this information and report on it within your page to show you are aware of industry trends. http://www.realtor.org/research You can get local market info here http://www.realtor.org/research/research/metrohomepriceanalysisreports

9. Become a fan of NAR Research on Facebook and share the info. The information NAR garners is incredibly valuable, and collected on your behalf to help you work with consumers at large. Become a fan of NAR Research and stay up to date on the latest information. On this page, you can ‘share' the links and post them to your profile.

10. Suggest your page to friends. Even though many of your friends may not be looking to sell or buy a home, they are likely to know someone who is, and when they make a referral, you want them to think of you. On your personal profile page, you can suggest fan sites to your friends. Suggest your fan site to them by sending them a message through Facebook. They will be encouraged to become a fan; since they know and like you (hopefully) they will probably fan you. The power of social media is the viral nature of the marketing; 2 people know 4, those 4 know 16, and so on and so forth.

This concludes part three of my series. By now you should have your fan page setup and you should be starting to gain some ground. Try and think of your fan page as a plant; the more care and feeding you'll give it, the more it will grow. Check back soon for 10 more ideas as we work towards providing you with 50 ideas on how to use your Facebook Fan Page!

Until then, Happy Socializing!

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CyberSunshine, Inc. is real estate web design firm that has been developing website and intranet applications for the real estate industry since 1998. Regarded as one of the industry's premier technology development companies, and recently named as one of Florida's Top 100 Small Businesses, CyberSunshine, Inc. enables clients to maximize their marketing and sales potential through the internet by providing flexible, dynamic systems with robust web-based solutions tailored to their specific needs. For additional information call 239-437-2628 or visit http://www.cybersunshine.com.