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

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

Welcome to Part 2 of “50 Ways to Use Your Fan Page”. 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. Post personal photos. Photos are probably one of the most popular uses for Facebook. Photos grab attention and encourage people to take a look at your page. You can and should post personal photos but keep it professional. Make sure you keep in mind that this is a professional fan page and use discretion.

2. Post photos of properties. If you have a particular property that you are featuring on your website and would like to get some extra viewing time on, post an album in the photos section that is of the property. Be sure to put the properties address as the name of the album. For added benefit, go into the settings area of your album and set it to ‘everyone’ can view. That way, even if someone can’t see your profile, they will be able to see that particular photo album. (You can designate settings for each album.)

3. Post photos of events you attend. Make sure you take great photos of any events that you attend. If there are people you know who appear in the photos, get their permission and “tag” them. Tagging can be done as you are uploading your photos or after you have posted them to your album. When you tag a photo of someone, Facebook sends them an email letting them know and encouraging them to visit your page. This is what creates the “community” feel of your page. The more personalization you put on the page, the more likely it will be it gets visited.

4. Start a Discussion. Discussions provide a way to initiate conversation on your profile and encourage people to network with each other. Allow others a chance to communicate with you and your friends. It draws users in creates commentary. Click on the ‘discussions’ tab at the top of your fan page. Click the ‘start new topic’ link and enter the information. Once you’ve entered it, be sure to post on your wall that you’re starting a discussion. Keep it interesting; talk about current market events, or use it as a question and answer session. If you can provide valuable advice, you’ll get fans coming back for more.

5. Advertise your Open Houses. At the top of your fan page is a tab called “Events”. Here you can post upcoming events like your upcoming open houses. You can even attach links to a map for driving directions.

6. Add your own functionality through FBML (Facebook Markup Language). Facebook Mark Up Language allows you to add advanced functionality to your fan Page using this application. If you know HTML, you can design and create your own pages or have someone do it for you. This application will add a box to your Page in which you can render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for enhanced Page customization. Click here to add the application: http://harvard.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4949752878

7. Announce your blog posts. You can advertise new posts to your blog simply by posting it as an update on your wall. You can attach a link directly to your blog that will direct fans right to the article.

8. Use Twitter to drive traffic. Use your Twitter updates to let your followers know of unique and interesting content or new content you’ve posted to your fan page. Cross marketing is an extremely effective way to get social media to work for you.

9. Become a fan yourself. Not only should you make sure that you become a fan of your own fan page through your personal profile, you should also make sure that you become a fan of other causes, companies, brands and people with whom you know and do business. Reaping the benefits of social media means you have to participate in it as well. Make sure you are cultivating the online community by searching around for pages that match your specific interests. A consummate professional pays attention to the causes and companies that matter most to their clients and becomes fans of them as well. One good turn deserves another.

10. Visit at least two fans per week. Social media is like any other kind of socialization. You have to make yourself available to others for it to work. In today’s hectic business climate, you may find it difficult to pick up the phone and call people just to say hello. Facebook profiles make it much easier. Be sure to pick at least two fan’s profiles per week to visit. Post a friendly ‘hello’ on their wall. They will get emailed that you posted and feel good you reached out to them.


This concludes part two of my series. I hope you’re playing around with your fan page and starting to get a hand of its functionality. 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.

Labels: CyberSunshine, Facebook, Fan Page, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Web Design, Social Media

My last post told you all about how to create a fan page on Facebook. Oddly enough it can be really hard to find exactly where you can create a page, once you have a login to this popular social media site. In my last post I provided you a quick link. Check it out if you still haven’t created your Page.

To those of you who have created your Page and are now ready to move to the next step, let me first commend you for your efforts! I know this can be scary…but don’t worry! It’s FREE and the only way to truly goof up is to not do anything! Keep in mind that your goal in developing a social media marketing campaign is to keep it professional, build networks and cultivate relationships that will ultimately turn into business leads.

The first thing you need to do is look over your info section. Make sure that you have filled everything out entirely. You don’t have to give everything away but make sure that it at least provides your contact info and where you work. If someone is interested in getting in touch with you, this is where they’ll look so make sure it’s all accurate and up to date.

Secondly, you’ll want to check your settings and information. At the top left hand of the page, there is an ‘edit’ link. Within the edit section, you’ll find settings, wall settings, mobile, discussion boards, events, information, notes, photos, video, wall and more applications. To edit any one of these sections, click the small pencil icon to the right and then select ‘edit’.

• Under “Settings”, make sure that under “Published”, the “Published (publicly visible) is selected. Once you have “published” your fan page, it will become visible to other users.

• Under ‘Wall Settings” you can change the default view for fans and control who posts to your wall. This is where you can control who can post what to your page.

• “Mobile” allows you to publish your status updates via mobile phone for when you’re on the road. Once you get comfortable with Facebook, this can be a great way to let people know your status updates quickly. You have to have a carrier that works with this service so check your service plan.

• “Discussion Boards” allow you to get a conversation started about topics of importance or interest. This can be a great tool for you to get some valuable feedback from your clients. You set the topics and promote the discussion.

• “Events” is a great feature. This is a fantastic way to get the word out about any event you have coming up. Post open houses, grand openings, social gatherings, real estate seminars and more. If you send emails out to clients about events you would like to attend, make sure you post them to your fan page as well. Once you create the event, you can promote it to your fans through Facebook. Your fans are sent the info and they can even RSVP to it.

• “Information” is where you can manage the information settings on your page. This is where you can add your website, picture and basic info.

• “Links” provides you the ability to determine who can post links to your fan page. You can post websites, blogs, videos, and songs, as well as content on Facebook, like profiles, photos, notes, groups, and events. You can allow all fans to post links or only allow admins. This is your decision.

• “Notes” allows you to share information through written entries. You can tag people you know in these entries and others can leave comments. If you want to write an article about something important, or perhaps you want to write a thank you to a recent client, you can use this feature and then tag that person. They will get an email that they are in that note and can go right to it on your page.

• “Photos” allow you to upload your own personal photos to your fan page. In my opinion, photos are a really great way to gain interest in your fan page quickly. People like to look at photos online. Once you upload them, you can add comments and tag other fans in them. The photos are also posted in news feeds of your fans, which can get their attention and encourage them to take a look (which drives them to your page). You can create your own albums and then share them with others. If you go to an event, take photos of that event. If you have a property that is especially enticing, create an album for it. I’ll have more ideas to share about how to use this great application in future posts.

• The “Videos” section allows you to post, record and send videos to fans. This is a great way to generate interest, as videos can be extremely viral. Viral means that others will see it, then forward it to their friends, who forward it to theirs, and so on. If you have a video of a community or property, this is a good place to include it.

• Your Facebook “Wall” is the open forum where you communicate with your fans. It’s the best place to interact with them through comments, posts, insights and more. Think of your wall as your customizable bulletin board where you can post interesting bits of information. The best part about the wall is its interactivity between you and your fans. With it, you can share information and not only become an information resource, but obtain valuable feedback for your business.

That wraps up the overview of your new Facebook Fan Page. In the next week, take a look at all of the features of your page and get familiar with them and how they function. If you’re interested in learning more about social media and Facebook, please follow my blog. Next week I will be starting a new blog series, “50 Ways to Use Your Fan Page”. It will be a five week series that will provide you with 10 unique and creative ideas each week on how to use your fan page in business networking. If you’re interested in getting started but feel stuck on what to do next, you’ll want to check back each week. I hope to get an interesting discussion started on how we can all use this fantastic media to cultivate new and rewarding relationships.

If you use Facebook and feel it has been successful, I’d like to hear from you! Let me know how you have used it in your business to help promote yourself and your services.

Until next time, Happy Socializing!

Labels: business networking, CyberSunshine, Facebook, Internet Marketing, Social Media, social media campaign, Stuff You Need, yberSunshine