RealtyTechBytes.com » Social Media

Build brand awareness with social media

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:00:33 +0000

I’ve got something a bit different for you this week. And agents, this may not be for you (it might be, though) so if it isn’t, please pass this along to your broker, because this is definitely something that they should be looking at doing.

We all KNOW the importance of building our brands to the point that we are the first thing that people think about when they are looking for the service that we provide. We also know that the traditional methods that we used in the past are nowhere near as effective as they were even a few years ago. And finally, we know that social media has become the darling of everyone looking to build brands, acquire new customers and to solidify relationships with existing customers.

We know all these things, yet the promise of social media has yet to be realized by most agents and brokerages. There are just too many unanswered questions about where to be, how to get started, what to say, when to say it, how often to say it and so on.

Too many of us have tried to go it alone by attending seminars, “camps”, classes and meetings hoping to find that “pearl of wisdom” that will lead us down the golden path. Some have succeeded to one degree or another, but most have failed.

I recently spoke with Chitra Rakesh, who is the Founder of Chitsie, a startup whose business is built upon the effective use of social media to build brand awareness, about these issues and how her company could help real estate brokerages.

Chitsie has a revenue model that is very similar to that of the real estate industry in that they offer a 100% performance based model (as well as a fixed price model). They build brand awareness through the use of contests, business games and exciting brand campaigns revolving around your brand. You can see the three current campaigns on http://www.chitsie.com. Please take a look, and to get an idea of what they are doing, go ahead and interact with the three brands. Who knows, you might win a cash prize or a merchandise prize. (Prizes are provided by the brand).

Given that Chitsie has a performance based model (Sounds a lot like our commission based model doesn’t it?) your brokerage could get some real professional help to build brand awareness without the huge cash outlay that traditional social media agencies typically charge.

Seems to me that you need to at least contact Chitra to find out if there is a fit. Drop me a line and I’ll put the two of you in touch.

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Build brand awareness with social media

Who’s got access to your Social Accounts?

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:00:10 +0000

It all starts out innocently enough, a game asks for permission to access your account, then an email app does, then another game and before you know it there are countless numbers of third parties who have access to your social accounts.

Most of these are harmless enough and they don’t really cause any grief, but the part that I found worrisome was that in order to keep track of them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others, I’d have to know many different ways of tracking them down. For instance, on Facebook I have to get into my Account privacy settings and then know where to look to find the App controls. It’s the same process with the others. I’d need to know where to look.

Knowing where to look isn’t the whole story though. What is really needed is an easy way to check on the apps that I have given permission to access my accounts. Without having to memorize a bunch of different ways to do it. Because, what I (and you) need to do, is to frequently check which apps are using your accounts so that WE can decide to if we really want some game poking around.

Here is where MyPermissions.org enters the picture. Just go to the site and click the icon for the account you want to check. If you are already logged in you will go directly to the place where you can manage the apps within each social service.

There is even a place to drop your email address so that they can send you a monthly reminder to go check your accounts.

Looks like an easy way to keep my “Social House” clean. And, oh by the way, it’s free!

If you want to give them permission to clean up your apps, they will do it for .99 per month which is certainly cheap enough, but I find that installing another app to clean up previously installed apps is just a bit over the top for me!

Who is mentioning you?

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:00:39 +0000

I found a cool way to monitor any mentions of your name, your brand, your clients, your competitors and virtually any keyword you choose.

You can monitor mentions on blogs, websites, videos, news feeds, forums, images,Twitter and Facebook. You can do this online or you can download desktop clients for Windows, Mac or Linux machines. You can even do it for free! The free version will limit you to 1,000 mentions per month, but that should be enough for most of us.

This is similar to Google Alerts, Nutshell Mail and Social Mention which I covered in a previous blog post at http://realtytechbytes.com/what-are-they-saying-about-you-2, with one big difference. This tool has a component called “Anti-Noise Technology” that learns from what you delete so that it can ignore non related search results. In other words, if you mark a result as being not related to what you want to see, it will ignore similar things that it finds in future searches. Eliminating the “false positives” will greatly speed up the process of monitoring by eliminating things that you don’t want. Like the others, it will send you email alerts when it finds new mentions for your stored searches.

To give it a try, go to https://en.mention.net/ to set up your free account. Are you using any of these free tools to monitor what is being said about you? Or are you content to have people talking about you behind your back?

Scatter some pictures on your Facebook Timeline Cover

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:00:50 +0000

The new Timeline for business pages went active on Friday for most Facebook business pages. This change is a pretty radical departure from what was available before, and at first I was inclined to hate it.

But, since Facebook looks like it is going to become the “Borg” (of StarTrek fame), the quote “resistance is futile” led me to find a way to like it. Once I started digging in to the changes, I found that there is a lot to like, not the least of which is the Cover Photo feature. Facebook gives us a huge picture space to tell a story to our fans. The space is 851 x 315 pixels. That covers the entire width of the fan page and is tall enough to really convey a lot of information. But, Facebook giveth and Facebook taketh away…you can’t use the space to overtly market! No calls to action, no links, no “Like my page” … all of which seemed like a natural way to use all of that space.

Determined to find a way to use this valuable space in a way that would not violate the Facebook Terms of Service, I went on the hunt. I found a lot of resources that would help you create a Timeline photo, but none that offered a marketing slant…until I found PicScatter.

At first glance I thought “so what?” But, then when I saw that I could take a photo album and use it to create a collage, the light went on. If you have a listing that you want to put on Facebook hopefully you will have uploaded a ton of pictures for it. Why not use PicScatter to create a collage for that page. Here is an example of what I mean: http://www.facebook.com/3058LiveOakCourt. I used PicScatter to create the cover image from the photos in the album on that page..

The free version uses your Facebook account to login and will allow you to take photos from your personal account, your Facebook Friends or your Likes. For less than $5.00 you can have the pro version which will allow you to remove the branding from the picture that it creates, add your own branding and also to grab pictures from any Facebook fan page! There are 8 different effects that you can apply, you can change the pictures by clicking on them or you can shuffle the whole mess and you can move the pictures around to get just the right look.

I am pretty impressed with this little tool and maybe you will be too!

If you are interested in learning how to use the new Facebook Timeline in your business, there are still a few seats left for my Facebook Timeline class on April 4th. Go here for info and for the registration form: https://www.facebook.com/events/357857867590964/

Facebook Timeline Changes and you!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:00:28 +0000

March 30, 2012 is less than a week away as I write this, and by the time you read this it may only be a few days away. What’s the big deal about March 30th? If you don’t have a Facebook business page, it’s no big deal at all. But, if you do have a Facebook business page (AKA Fan page) it’s a very big deal. That’s the day that Facebook will automatically switch your page from the way it looks now to the new timeline view. Along with the switch in appearance will come some big changes in the functionality of your page.

You may have noticed the sudden increase of spam emails warning you about this change, too. What I have noticed is that often times, the emails are providing some incorrect information. I decided to go to the source to see what Facebook had to say and what I found was a couple of really terrific resources that I want to share with you.

First up is this video which is a replay of a webinar that they held in which a couple of Timeline product managers answer the questions that came in from the live audience during the actual webinar. Although this will burn about 30 minutes of your life, I strongly suggest that you watch it as it will give you the straight scoop on what is happening and it will also give you insight into why things are being done the way they are. If you can’t see the video, go here to watch it directly: http://livestre.am/1kgiV

The next resource is a pretty cool walk through in the form of 5 interactive lessons. These are designed to bring you up to speed on applying the changes to your timeline. The course will take another 30 minutes of your life, but it does give you a chance to test your knowledge and to apply what you have learned. It’s baby steps and doesn’t cover everything, but it is worth checking out at: http://www.learnfacebookpages.com/

If you’d like a much more immersive and hands on learning experience, join me at the Bay East Association of REALTORS® on April 4th for a 3 hour, hands on, deep dive into what’s changed, how to apply the changes to your pages and more importantly, how to use Facebook in your real estate business. Here is a link to the registration details: http://www.RealtyTechBytes.com/FBClass

There are only 20 seats available for this class and some of those are already gone, so if this is something that you want to do, take action now!

I hope that this has been helpful to you as we navigate through yet another Facebook change! By the way, I’ve made the change both on my business pages and my personal profile. Click on the picture above to visit my Timeline business page and check it out.

Here’s why you need to use Facebook lists

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:00:16 +0000

Ever get the feeling that Facebook is hiding things from you? That people are talking about things that you don’t see on your Facebook wall?

If so, it’s because YOU have not taken advantage of Facebook’s enhanced List feature.

The Facebook wall, up until recently, was a riot of information. Posts from people that you knew were so well hidden amongst posts from people that you hardly know, and for the most part could care less about, that you often could miss the important things.

We have had the ability to organize our wall through something called Lists for sometime now, but most users have never taken the time to learn about them, let alone implement them. Recognizing this, in a recent update, Facebook has made them easier to use, while at the same time pretty much requiring that you do so!

To start with, the old Facebook Wall allowed you to see posts based on a secret sauce called Edge Rank. This meant that what you saw was what Facebook believed that you’d want to see. It worked pretty well, but you often got posts from people you didn’t care about. If you used the Most Recent feature you could also see every post from all of your friends…if you happened to be on when they posted or shortly thereafter. Again, a lot could be missed this way.

The new change urges you to divide up all of your friends into categories called Lists. To get you started Facebook has created some lists for you called Close Friends, Acquaintances, Family and may even have populated them for you based on information about your friends that it knows. They also created another list based on your geographic area.

Then they placed a section on the left sidebar called Lists. The idea is that if you see a list name in the sidebar,maybe you would click on it! If you do, the wall changes to just show posts from the people in that list, which is a great way to make sure that you see the things that they are talking about. If you make a status update or comment while looking at a list, then by default only that list could see it (If they were also subscribed to you).

You can create your own lists too. You might want one for your company, clients, past clients, competitors, your church and so on. It’s easy to do and it will make your Facebook experience more enjoyable. To learn how to do this just go to the following link which will take you to the Facebook help section on Lists:

https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=190416214359937&ref_query=List

If you’ve been to any of my Facebook hands on classes you already know that I was and am a big believer in using lists. If you haven’t been to a class and would like to attend one, let me and I’ll put you on an interest list for the next class.

In the meantime, just give it a try and you’ll be amazed at how it enhances your Facebook experience.

Social media marketing in just seven days

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:00:58 +0000

Here is the final reposting of my vacation series. By the time you read this I will be back at work, tanned, rested and ready to go. You might not be any of those, but you might be wondering how you could best go about putting social media to work for your business. The following article will show you the way to do it in a week’s time.

http://realtytechbytes.com/your-first-seven-days-in-social-networking

Next week I’ll be back to posting new content. I hope that you were able to get some value out of revisiting some ideas from past postings.

How to find new clients

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:00:47 +0000

As you read this I am on vacation and in order to make this a true vacation, I decided that I would not be writing blog posts while I was away.

Instead, I thought that I would revisit a few posts from the past that are still valid today and which could be helpful to you in your business.

Here are four posts that talk about finding new clients. Unless you are just slammed with people banging on your door asking you to work with them, you’ll get some value out of reading them.

http://realtytechbytes.com/get-new-clients-using-social-tools-part-one

http://realtytechbytes.com/get-new-clients-using-social-tools-part-two

http://realtytechbytes.com/how-can-you-use-social-media-in-business

http://realtytechbytes.com/who-is-your-ideal-client

Read them in any order you want, but do read them!

Tick-Tock, Facebook’s SSL requirement is coming soon. Is your page ready?

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:00:59 +0000

On October 1st, 2011, I’ll be walking on Kaanapali Beach on Maui. While I am doing that, those of you with custom Facebook fan page “tabs” that are not hosted on a server that has a SSL Certificate will find that their expensive custom tab is no longer displayed.

For the rest of us, this requirement by Facebook that all apps and custom fan pages be hosted on a secure server means that we will have an added layer of security as we cruise around on Facebook. If you have bought any thing online, or if you use online banking, you have been the beneficiary of secure browsing. Here is how you can tell if the site you are visiting is using SSL: it will have https in the address bar and not http.

Seems like a small change, but it is quite significant. That little added “s” means that all traffic between your computer and the web server that you are visiting is encrypted. Up until just recently, none of the traffic between you and Facebook was encrypted. This was especially precarious if you were using public WiFi to access Facebook. Coffee shops anyone?

For the owners of Facebook Custom Fan Pages, now would be a good time to get in touch with the person who built your custom tab and find out if you will be affected. If your page is using the old FBML method you are safe (unless you have an image on the page…those are hosted elsewhere) as those pages are hosted by Facebook. But, if your custom tab has it’s own icon next to it (and not the fbml icon) you need to find out from your provider if the page is being hosted on a secure server. Since the change takes place on October 1st, you’ve only got a few weeks to get this handled.

My guess is that you will be ok, as the designers have known about this since June. If you have designed your own tab and are hosting it on your WordPress blog, you might be in trouble. Facebook has precious little information on their developer site, so if you need some help on this get back to me asap…time is a-wasting!

An observation on REBCEB

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:00:05 +0000

I attended Real Estate Bar Camp sponsored by the Contra Costa Young People’s Network yesterday along with several hundred other real estate professionals.

Most were from the San Francisco Bay Area but people from Sacramento and Southern California were also in attendance.

Also present was Andy Kaufman who is credited with “porting” over the Bar Camp movement to the real estate industry a few years ago. Since then the idea has spread, and with good reason. When done right it is an excellent way to share ideas about what is working and also a way to meet new people and to network.

Yesterday’s REBC was was a good example of how the movement is changing and morphing into something different. Although I did attend a few sessions that held true to the original model, most of the sessions were presentations where the facilitator was “teaching” a technique or a method.

Who is to say if this change is good or bad? The important thing is that the attendees come away with new ideas that they can implement. The last session of the day was a group wrap up and when they were asked by the event organizer Nate Ellis how many people were leaving with at least one idea that they planned to implement, nearly every hand went up. When asked how many were leaving with at least 10 ideas, more than half of the room raised their hands. Using that as an indication of whether or not they considered the time well spent, I’d have to say that the event was a rousing success. Good Job Nate. Congrats to you, CCAR and YPN!

One of the observations that I’d like to make and pass on here is that in the 4 sessions that I attended, the concept of niche marketing was raised. What this means is that in order to be successful in using the new social media tools, agents (and lenders) need to be prepared to develop specialty markets that they can focus on for marketing purposes.

Given that social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn allow advertisers to use their demographic databases to target ads to specific groups of people, it is very important for those ads to deliver people to websites that are laser focused on the ad respondents area of interest. Sending targeted ad responders to our typical real estate websites (where they are faced with a myriad of choices and marketing claims) does not work anymore.

So, the idea that was raised in so many sessions yesterday was that effective real estate marketing has to be aimed at a narrowly focused market segment so that social advertising can be used to find the ideal client. Otherwise, why do it?

Determining the niche market that you want to work with can be the hardest thing that you will have to do if you plan to use social advertising…but it is the critical first step. Don’t take a shortcut and just jump into running ads. Instead, spend the time it will take to come up with a target audience that has problems that you can solve. Then take the time to create a web site or Facebook Business Page that answers that problem. Be sure to include lead capture and a call to action on the page. Then you can create and run Facebook or LinkedIn ads aimed at your target market.

This is not the easiest process in the world to do, but once done, you can copy it and use it for other niche markets that you want to enter. If you get stymied, I am here to help and my rates are reasonable!