Social Networking – “What’s in it for me?” 

Getting Started

 

Probably the biggest attraction of social networking sites for most business owners is cost, or lack thereof. Setting up an account on any of the social networking sites out there is free, but the variety of services they provide rival the abilities of costly media advertising campaigns.The only items that will cost you money are the digital camera (or video camera) and your computer. The investment you make is time, but as we’ll soon see, it’s well worth it.  

Lack of information – or lack of good information - is the biggest annoyance most Internet users have. Except for a few major sites, most of the information on the Internet is fluff, advertising in disguise. Users are getting sick of the bombardment of fluff. Content that actually fills a void makes an impact. If that content is yours, they’ll remember you when it’s time to select a real estate agent. Placing your knowledge of a particular area on a high visibility social networking site can lead prospects to your door.

But first, in order to do so, you need to be willing to pull away from the pack and become an expert in a particular area or niche. This will require two things that most of you have already – commitment of time and passion for what you do.

Thinking Like a Customer

Think like the customer and then show them what they want to see. It’s the basic premise of real estate marketing. The difference now is how you’re getting your message across.If you don’t think you can make an impact using social networking sites, do this. Go out to YouTube and search anything real estate related in your community. You’ll probably notice that there is not a lot going on. It’s a gap. It’s a gap you can fill easily and inexpensively.

Most any of the social networking sites provide you with an incredible opportunity to carve out a market niche for your business. When you consider what it actually costs you to take advantage of what’s available, it’s hard to consider not using the tools to build your business.

According to a NAR study in 2007, 84% of home buyers now use the Internet to  search for a home, which is up from 80% in 2006. Most of those buyers (82% of them) used a real estate agent to complete their purchase.

Social networking gives you the chance to attract new targeted traffic to your existing web site and puts your face in front of thousands of these potential customers – and get you referrals

Social Networks

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows you to post 140 character ‘tweets’ to your followers. - not really.. it’s just what they call your  friends, colleagues, and people who share similar interests, and they can follow you. Twitter is a social networking platform that has been growing seemingly exponentiallyaccording to CNN: It is a great way to brand yourself and is becoming quite popular - a 1,374 percent jump in visitors in 12 months –

Businesses can form instant direct relationships with their customer base by signing up and using the service regularly, and according the models Twitter is trying out – you will soon be able to advertise to the Twitter community as well.The best way to build a list of interesting people is to go to the

Twitter search engine at search.twitter.com and plug in your interests.Add people based on your interests, as most people will follow you once you start following them.Twitter was built to accommodate being updated from phones. The origin of the 140 character limit is the 160 character limit for SMS, which leaves some space for a name in addition to a 140 character message Some general rules to follow while tweeting -

o            Give Your Followers Value - Answer questions that your followers have if you know the answer. Share helpful tips for your industry that they can take away from the conversation and use

o            Tweet in Peak Times Peak times are basically during the day throughout the work week.

 o            Tweet Regularly Tweet often, but only if you have something of value to say. You should aim for a few tweets a day. Do not install a bot program to Tweet for you -

o            Leverage your other online real estate – show off your blog or  website, show off your new listings, share updates that you make to it

o            Create a Custom Profile Page Background - This tells your potential followers that you care about your Twitter presence and will probably be a good person to follow.

o            Give Out Free Stuff - Sitepoint grew their followers by 10,000 in a week. All they did was give away a free e-book that was usually only for sale as a paper book to anyone who followed them on Twitter or gave them their e-mail address.

o            Obey the Law of Reciprocity - Retweet other user’s tweets when you think they are relevant or you can help them out. Do unto others as you would have done to you and you’ll be a valued member of the community.

o            Tweet Really Interesting Stuff Only If you read an article that completely rocks your world, tweet it. If articles are rocking your world a number of times a day, pick only the few that rock your world the most.

o            Don’t Tweet Confidential Stuff -

The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter

 Question from the last Web Conference over TwitterSubject – Observing twitter posts for new homes or updates to listings.  Jonathan Osman is one of many agents that uses Twitter as a real estate hot list. The tweet provided a few listing details and a link to the listing or agent website through Tinyurl (tinyurl.com) in order for the URL to fit into the tweet

Question – Does using tinyurl instead of an actual link to your website help with linkback SEO

Answer - TinyURL does pass rank. It’s the same thing as a url redirect. The easiest way to tell is to look at the HTML of the link – if it has a “nofollow” in the <a href/> then it does not pass rank. 

Filling those gaps with Youtube and other video sitesYouTube is the best-known video sharing site these days. There are many others, but Google owns Youtube. Combining the gap filling concept with Youtube, you can provide a video that highlights the lifestyle and quality of living in a given community. Once uploaded, the video is searchable by the YouTube community. Why not create a series of videos that capture what’s great about living in your community? If you do this and post it, people will find it, and when they do, they find you.  

Microsoft Photo Story – (XP USERS) If you don’t have videos, create slideshows using your digital photos. touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures. Add special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Personalize them with titles and captions. Small file sizes make it easy to send your photo stories in an e-mail. Watch them on your TV, a computer, or a Windows Mobile–based portable device.  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92755126-a008-49b3-b3f4-6f33852af9c1&DisplayLang=en  

Tubemogul.com will post to many video sites at the same time. Start and account and pick the sites you want to upload to. And don’t forget to link back to your site!!!

MySpace.com, Facebook.com - Real Estate Lead Generation

 52% of the users are between the ages of 18-25, 15% are under 17, which means the rest are over 26 years old. – insidefacebook.com

How does one actually go about getting business on MySpace and Facebook?

The answer to this question is to simply drive traffic where you know leads can be converted. Both Myspace and Facebook have the ability to drive traffic to real estate website, and your website was built to convert leads. When posting messages to friends and speaking to others about the happenings in your (and their) life, be sure to drop a line such as, “Hey, I listed 123 Sesame Street yesterday. Have a look!” or “Did I ever tell you I was in real estate? Take a look at my site!”.

You will most likely be dropping messages by friends and family, and these people are your network and sphere. There’s no reason why this message left on Myspace or Facebook shouldn’t be considered as a “touch” or “contact” for lead generation purposes, Why not dedicate some time to it? 

Be ready though.. it’s scary how many people from your past will find you. But remember this - the average person will know at least a couple people throughout the year that are looking to buy or sell a home, so you owe it to yourself to stay in touch with those you already know.

LinkedIn - How LinkedIn Really works
For the linkedin traditionalist, you need to only like or link to to people you know and trust. That way, when other contacts are looking to use the services or hire someone from your contact list, they know they can have a higher level of trust in that person. That sounds good in theory, but LinkedIn doesn’t work that way anymore. Too many people have signed up and too many other people are offereing opinions/recommendation for too many people -  so the “rules” have changed. get what i’m saying?

  • For many people using LinkedIn today, the game is to link up with as many people as possible. For someone trying to reach an audience of potential people to hire and/or give them work (i.e. real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lawyers, etc.), you want as many connections as you can get because each connection gets you that much closer to someone who may be looking for your services in the future.

Here are four good reasons why you should be on linked-in

  • Real estate professionals are still pretty novel on the site, so there is plenty of room to stick out.
  • It is really easy to stand out… Simply upload your email address book and ask previous clients for recommendations. (will prompt you as soon as you sign up)
  • The site is primarily made up of primarily tech savvy people.
  • What’s the worst that could happen?

Other Real Estate 2.0 for SEO tools:

  • Blogs:  probably most widely used symbol of Real Estate 2.0  these journals or commentaries are incredible tools to drive traffic to your website. . Blogs can be on a free-standing site you create, a brokerage site, a real estate–oriented site that also includes listings, or a site designed to host real estate bloggers.

eAgentC Blog – Realtor.com blog powered by Top Producer Active Rain  - , You are likely to get referrals here, rather than leads for business to the consumer directly. The “ActiveRain Real Estate Network” is a free online community for real estate professionals run on behalf of its members. Our goal is to create a valuable resource of information and ideas for real estate professionals and their clients.

  • Wikis: These are compilations of information from a variety of contributors. Real estate networking gurus are creating wikis for their local communities, asking visitors to their sites or blogs to comment on schools, shopping, and other topics of interest to buyers and sellers. Web sites such as Inman.com and Zillow.com are also creating real estate wikis, asking real estate professionals to contribute their community insights.
  • Mash-ups: This term refers to combining elements from different Web companies on your own site. That could mean combining Google maps with local demographic information. (you can see the design I stole from Todd Ohlde and Jonathan Osmaon on www.southaustinteam.com The goal, as with wikis, is to give potential customers community information that will help them decide where they’d like to live.  (

Social networking and Search Engine OptimizationOne of the most important aspects of search engine optimization is the building of backlinks, which is something that social networking allows you to easily do. 1. Del.icio.us2. Technorati3. Digg4. Stumble Upon5. Google Notebook6. Furl7. Yahoo Buzz8. Reddit9. MyAOL 

Other social Networking Sites to check out

Ning, - featured on a previous tech call – create your own community and social network – share collaborate, communicate.  

Real Estate Voices, “RealEstateVoices is a real estate social news site designed to help you discover the most interesting articles of the day, as voted and suggested by your fellow users”, (www.realestatevoices.com, 2008).Trulia Voices - Consumers can ask real estate–related questions and get answers from real estate pros in their area.

Wanna Network, have fun while you network with other real estate professionals across the nation

Zolve - based in Colorado Springs, Colo., launched in mid-October 2007 with 2,800 members (membership is free). Is now HUGE and allows business referrals with contracts on its site creating a digital paper trail for any referral.My Agent Book – another online community network, share collaborate, communicate. General rule overall for Social networking – There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to use social networking to engage prospective clients. “Hard selling” or soliciting people you find online is a sure way to get “blocked” from another user. Agents who have had the most success on sites like Twitter have used it to become a resource for those looking for information in their area. By showcasing their knowledge and expertise through a blog, and then using Twitter to bring attention to that blog, an Agent can become a trusted advisor or resource for their local market. 

Some links I pulled from people I follow in twitter. – good for your soul, not necessarily your business J  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM

Feel free to take a look at Graham Cohen’s Site