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

Okay, so maybe simple things amuse me tremendously, but I think this captcha is really neat.

Labels: Real Estate Blog, Real Estate Web Design, Stuff You Need

Tablefy is a nifty online tool that allows you to compare things. You can make your own tables or search the ones already made by other users. I made this one so I could see how it works:


go to the table!

It's pretty easy to use. All you do is choose the topic and the components, and then the attributes to compare. It only takes a few minutes. I found all my info by doing Google searches (Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't know all that superhero info off the top of my head!). You can use this tool in a variety of ways to help you with personal things and business things. It doesn't tell you which of the items is best, but it does put the most important information side by side so you can better evaluate which (of the items you're comparing) is best for you. You do have to register with the site, but it's free.

A few good uses for this tool:

• Comparing cell phones or any other electronic device
• Comparing cities (this would be a good idea for a post, making your city the favorable one, of course!)
• Pros and Cons of a situation, for those times when you need to make a decision but you're stuck

I am sure you can come up with a million other uses for this tool, so have fun and get started!

Labels: Real Estate Blog, Stuff You Need, Website Tools

You may have noticed that box on the sidebar that has little square pictures of people along with their names. That's a widget for MyBlogLog. MyBlogLog is a social networking site that allows you to keep track of friends (like Facebook) and it also streams in your newest blog posts. It's like a constant RSS Feed. You can also join communities to meet new friends, and it's a great way for people to stumble on your blog by searching for topics that interest them.

Of all the social sites, I actually find this one to be the most useful. It has a wide range of users, comes with a widget for your site (which is free), and has been more helpful for me when I'm looking for new blogs to discover. One thing I recommend is that you use a photo you want to keep using. People remember you based on that little avatar, so it's like a branding thing. Make sure that whatever you use is something you'll be comfortable with long-term. For more tips on ways to use MyBlogLog, go here.

The widget is by far the best feature for me. It allows you (and everyone else) to see who's been looking at your blog. I like to know who has been reading my blog, so that I can go read theirs and possibly introduce myself. You can never have too many friends! You can also send personal messages to your visitors by clicking on their photo. It takes you to their page and then you can learn about them and contact them.

If you're new to blogging, this should be your very first networking tool!

Labels: CyberSunshine, Stuff You Need, Website Tools

Most web-savvy Realtors already know what Trulia is and are using it to their advantage. But this blog is not directed at the web-savvy Realtors. This blog is for beginners, so I'm going to tell you a little about Trulia and how it can help you. That way you're not left behind the times.

According to Trulia.com, "We are a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process." According to me, Trulia is a really cool site that allows you to post your listings in the most informative way possible. When a potential buyer does a search on Trulia, not only do they get accurate results, but they also get way more information than they ever expected.

When you do a search and then click on a listing, the information provided is astonishing. To name a few things, Trulia gives the user comparables, similar homes that are listed, public records information, ratings on the local schools, and a map of the location of the home. There is also a neat sidebar called Trulia Voices, which is a real estate blog that specialists in the market contribute to daily, and it feeds in information relevant to your search location. By far, this is the most user-friendly real estate search site I have ever encountered.

As a real estate agent, this is very helpful. Trulia allows you to create an account and post your listings as you please. Your listing has a photo of you and links to your site, your photos of the home, the MLS listing of the home (if that's what you want) and details your contact information. Plus, Trulia is the only site of it's kind that (in my experience) non-real estate experts are aware of. So by using Trulia, you have a better chance of reaching people that are out there searching the web for their next home (as opposed to using some site nobody has ever heard of).

If you consider yourself a "techie" and want to read more about Trulia and it's features, here's some recommended reading for you.

Labels: Real Estate Blog, Stuff You Need, Website Tools

I come across a lot of cool things in my web browsing, but this beats all as far as I'm concerned. This tool is called Google Insight, and I have to tell you, it has been a long time since I have been this stoked about a web tool! This one was pointed out to me courtesy of Lani over at Agent Genius.

Google Insight basically allows you to search for search terms to see their popularity. It allows you to compare several search terms as well, like I did it the chart above. I compared Naples Real Estate (blue, bottom) with Miami Real Estate (red, top). You can see that the two terms followed similar paths. Naples Real Estate seems to have a more up and down line than the steadier Miami Real Estate, which leads me to believe that real estate in Miami is probably not as rocky as in Naples. However, Miami Real Estate consistently is higher in popularity, which leads me to conclude that more people are searching for real estate in Miami than Naples.

Insight also allows you to see where the searches are coming from, both by state and by country. So if you want to know which state is most interested in Naples real estate, this would be an excellent tool for you. Perhaps the coolest and most useful feature of this site is that it gives you a list of search terms that are up-and-coming that also relate to the term you are searching for. For instance, in this search I learned that Sarasota Real Estate and Pelican Bay Real Estate are becoming more popular search terms for the Southwest Florida area. That's good to know, especially if you sell in Pelican Bay (which is in Naples). That kind of knowledge allows you to know when you need to add new keywords to your site, making you more searchable.

Labels: Stuff You Need, Website Tools

This one is an oldie but a goodie. If you've been in the online networking/real estate blogging/technologically advanced world for a while, then you're already following 900 people on Twitter and have probably amassed quite a following yourself. However, this blog is aimed at all the newbies out there that might not know what I'm talking about, or even what Twitter is. So here's a rundown.

Twitter is a social networking tool that basically allows you to update all your followers (kind of like "friends", for you myspacers and facebookers) as to what you're doing at any time of the day or night. You can update as often as you like, and you can also send messages to specific people, or "nudge" people (also similar to a Facebook feature called the Poke). You can have mini conversations, connect with people you may not have otherwise found, and keep in touch with people who are just as busy as you are.

Now, the all-important question... Why do you need this? The answer is simple. As a real estate professional, it is expected of you to network, network, network and know everyone that's anyone. The internet and the technology age are great benefits to you because now you have so many ways to connect with people, so there really isn't any excuse for you to be out of the loop anymore. Twitter just helps you stay in touch with a myriad of people that may or may not be useful to you in your career or personal life at some point down the road.

Here are two posts that I found especially useful in giving real-life situations where one might rely on Twitter to make a connection and make something happen. The first one is by Jeff Bernheisel, whom I just recently had the pleasure of "meeting", and the second is by Jay Thompson, a blogging veteran. Both of these a great examples of things that could really happen, but won't if you aren't using Twitter! Just a suggestion: I highly recommend both blogs. Put them on your summer reading list.

By the way, I found Jeff Bernheisel because he was showing up on Jay Thompson's Recent Visitors (that's a widget for your blog, courtesy of MyBlogLog.com) when I just happened to visit Jay's page. I didn't know who he was, so I clicked on him and went to his blog to check it out. We'll talk about MyBlogLog some other time though... *hint, hint*

Labels: Stuff You Need, Website Tools

Welcome to the future of search engines. Pretty cool, huh?

Now let me tell you why this is important. There are a few reasons.

1. This is the new look of things. Just ask Steve Jobs. If you have an iPod, iPhone, or an i-anything, you know what I'm talking about. On the iPhone and in iTunes, when you look at your albums, they appear like this search engine does, with little squares that show you a thumbnail of each album cover. This is not only visually-pleasing, but it's also neat to flip through them. It's like a tiny, on-your-pc jukebox. And since we all know about the popularity of anything that starts with an i, you can bet that this look is going places. That means that all the twenty-somethings and younger are acutely aware of how this type of technology works. That's important because you WANT to be in the loop on things like this, otherwise you'll be behind the times.

2. People can see your website without going to it! Of course, for CyberSunshine this is awesome news since we specialize in building custom websites for real estate agents, and we pride ourselves on making sure they look amazing. So now when people search for stuff on SearchMe.com, they not only get perfect results (not quite as accurate as Google, but give it time), but they also get to see the site before they go to it. So now, having a visually appealing site just got even more important, don't you think? Just think, if your site looks really great, and its appearing in a search next to some ugly sites, where do you think the searcher is going to click? People naturally like pretty things, it's human nature.

This is the future of websites, and I can assure you that SEO and site design are going to merge beautifully with this type of technology. I bet Google is already scheming a way to use this technology to their advantage. Something to keep in mind when you're thinking about redesigns on your site...

Labels: CyberSunshine, Stuff You Need, Website Tools

This is a new series, but a more sporadic one with no end in site. I like to keep you on your toes like that. Anyway, this series is going to give you some tips and tools that will make your life easier, or your site/blog better. Because that's what I do.

So our very first nifty gadget is called the Website Speed Test. You need this for one important reason. You'll want to know if your site is as fast as... Speed Racer, perhaps? Or maybe it's so annoyingly slow that people will get tired of waiting for it to load and click off to some other site that loads faster. That happens more often than you might think. I, for one, am guilty of this as I am incredibly impatient (ask my husband). As you know, real estate is quite competitive. So you need a fast site so people don't click over to your competitor's site. I can't think of a worse way to lose a lead, can you?

I tested our site, and the home page loads at .98 seconds. That's pretty good, if I do say so myself. What's your speed?

Of course, I have to give credit to Joe Ferrara at Sellsius for finding this one (Thanks, Joe!).

Know of a cool gadget or trick that you want me to share? Email it.

Labels: Stuff You Need, Website Tools