Ok I know that I have been MIA for quite a few weeks and for that I sincerely apologize! I AM currently working on my next installment of ideas for your Facebook Fan Page as well as some WARNINGS for Fan Page users that I have recently encountered that I must make sure you know about asap. More on that in later posts I PROMISE.
The reason I have not been able to post as much lately is because we have been working on a new website project, http://www.NaplesArea.com. This website integrates MLS data, agent info and community info in one easy to use location. This information is offered to the public by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS (NABOR) . It was designed as a way to provide its members the ability to advertise property information to the general public at large.
The project was a collaborative effort between NABOR, NABOR's IT staff and my company, CyberSunshine, Inc. We are SO excited to announce the offical launch. I am hoping that you go and check the site out as it has professional design, cutting edge technology and a wealth of information all at your fingertips. Though it is early into its inception, we believe this site will soon become a great information resource to anyone looking to buy or sell property in the Naples area.
Thanks for taking a look! Have a great night!
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.
This is going to be a very short yet very sweet post about some great social media tools that you can use that are not only easy but FREE. I'm watching the NFL kick off and really need to get back to the game! :)
1. HootSuite
This great (and cute) little application lets you manage multiple Twitter accounts, view your retweets, mentions and statistics all within one very easy to use web application. There is even a "shrink it" box that you can paste long URLs into and it will shorten it for you automatically so you can fit it into your Tweet. I was amazed at how simple it was to setup and how great it is for managing my accounts. You can even schedule tweets - so convenient for those of us that are time challenged!
2. Bit.ly
You may have already seen this floating around the internet. This is another URL shortening service but this one really rocks. Let's say you want to Twitter the URL to one of your property listings but it's really long. All you have to do is copy and paste the url into this site and it generates a new, shorter version for you. BUT (and this is the great part) it also gives you TRACKING tools on these links so you can analyze information about who clicked your links. Great marketing tool!
3. Twhirl
This one is for the more "intense" Twitterer or what I would consider a "Twitterholic" but it's a great program none the less. You have to download a copy of Adobe AIR to use this but they provide a link for you to do so on their website and it is FREE. This application does a wide variety of things from managing your multiple Twitter accounts with an expanded integration with other services such as TwitPic, FriendFeed, Ping.fm and Seesmic. A great thing about Twhirl is that it is available to Windows AND Mac users. There is a Tweet spell checker, instant notifcations, tracking and more.
I just had to share these great tools with you as they have been very helpful and effective for me and I know they will be for you too. Thanks for stopping by!
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.
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. ;)
Co-Founder and VP of Marketing at CyberSunshine, Inc. http://www.CyberSunshine.com, a real estate web design firm.
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