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Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

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Maplewood Chamber of Commerce - Use of Social Media as Marketing Tool for Business

11-10-09
Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

Maplewood Chamber of Commerce

Maplewood Chamber of Commerce

The Maplewood Chamber of Commercewill be hosting its quarterly business luncheon on November 10, 2009, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Schalfly Bottleworks. I will be speaking at the business resource session on Social Media Marketing. Learn the basic strategies behind a social media campaign with examples from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Activerain, YouTube and more. For more information, visit the Maplewood Chamber of Commerce website.

Need a speaker on technology, real estate or construction? Contact Ryan Shaughnessy at PREA Signature Realty at 314-971-4381 or visit our website at www.PREASignatureRealty.com.

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Gateway Men's Chorus - Grand Performance at the 2009 Women's Council of Realtors Vendor Expo and Fashion Show (St. Louis, Missouri)

11-09-09
Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

THANK YOU TO THE GATEWAY MEN'S CHORUS FOR A GREAT SHOW!!!

On November 5, 2009, the Metropolitan St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Council of Realtors held its 2009 Vendor Expo and Fashion Show at the Sheraton Westport Chalet. It was a sold out event with over 300 real estate professionals in attendance. However, this year's event had a new twist and an added benefit. After dinner and before the fashion show, the Gateway Men's Chorus of St. Louis regaled the sold out crowd with various melodies and numbers from previous and current shows. Just in case they didn't know it - their after dinner entertainment was a great hit with the crowd.

Gateway Men's Chorus

Gateway Men's Chorus

If you saw their performance, I suspect you don't need much encouragement to become a subscriber for their 2009-2010 Season. Season tickets start at $65.00 for three shows. The current line up for the season is:

  • Winter Concert - Holiday Hit Parade - December 11 & 12, 2009
  • Spring Concert - When We No Longer Touch - March 20, 2010
  • Summer Concert - Mama Knows - June 18, 2010

You can also support the Gateway Men's Chorus by purchasing their CDs and cookbooks.

With less than 50 days to Christmas, there are several easy gift ideas for your brokerage staff, referral partners and clients. Trust me - they will love the show. Plus, it is a great way to support an organization that contributed to the success of the 2009 WCR Expo and Fashion Show.

For more information on their 2009-2010 Season, vist their website: Gateway Men's Chorus. Or, follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

6 Comments
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Are Listings Taboo on Social Networking Sites? My Answer - Not When They are Presented in a Passive Format like a Listing Widget

11-03-09
Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

Yesterday, I posted an article to my ActiveRain blog entitled "Stop Annoying Your Facebook Connections - Use SeeMyListings.com to Place Your Listings on Your Profile Page." It was a pretty simple post. It described how you could use the www.SeeMyListings.com widget from the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com to place your listings on your Facebook profile page and eliminate or at least reduce those "just listed" type status updates that can be annoying to friends, family and colleagues on social networking sites.

The response from AR members and subscribers to my AR and outside AR blogs was positive with most comments being something along the lines of "Thanks... I didn't know that about the listing widget." Given these comments, I posted the article as a link in a status update on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Again, I received positive comments so I also posted to several LinkedIn groups. Again, 99% of the responses were extremely positive. In the NAR LinkedIn group, it seemed to provoke a storm of protests from the self-proclaimed "social media police" and "social media gurus." It seemed odd for two separate reasons: first, the listing widget was created by Realtor.com for use by Realtors, and, second, it was intended to allow Realtors to show their listings without bombarding or annoying their "friends" on Facebook with listing information. Realtor.com has held tech seminars around the country this year and the listing widget has been offered in these seminars as a preferred method of presenting listings over repetitive status updates. Nevertheless, the discussion posted to the NAR LinkedIn group seemed to be controversial.

Here are a few of the comments that I wanted to share from the LinkedIn discussion:

  • It always bothers me when people continue to use social media to do sales. The reason social media has evolved is because people are tired of traditional sales and advertising practices. Consumers look to their inner circle for trusted influencers. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are all places to network, be social and expand one's influence by providing value, not flashing your business card and homes for sale in everyone's face... Spamming these sites doesn't help the agent who has the listing. It harms them. I unfollow, block and basically turn a blind eye to their listing spam and them. It's an indication of a lack of understanding the simple basics of social networking.
  • OK go ahead and post your widget. Turn FB into a marketing site. My point is the origin of social networking is exactly NOT about what you are doing. It is repeating the same repulsive behavior that has been annoying us on TV, the radio and in print media. The consumer is sick of being SOLD. They want to connect with a trusted advisor they find personally or comes recommended to them. I can see your point about having the widget on the profile. Of course since FB is a walled garden, only your friends can see your widget. Tell me this, what is the point? If it doesn't get traffic why bother? I prefer not to risk being put in the same class as spammers and that is what it is to me when you put ads on a social networking site.
  • I agree with Xxxxxx, FB is not for listings. You can go ahead and post them there, but I will remove anyone from my "favorite" friends list and move them to the "other" list that I rarely if ever review. If you would like to post an interesting article, with a link to your listing, then that would be much better. For example, I posted regarding investment property. I posted it to FB and got quite a few visits back to my site. An alternative is to set up a business FB page, then let people that want those ads to become a fan. When Realtors complain about your postings, that is a good sign to back off on sending those. Use an email broadcast, much better.
  • I am glad that I will never see your advertising because I will never visit your profile.
    Facebook is for social-media and not for your listings, but I believe that has been mentioned to you on the above posts.

Now, I actually respect the commentator who made the first two comments. However, I fundamentally disagree with her position. Here are a few points to consider:

  • Opt-In Procedures: Unlike e-mail marketing suggested by one of the commentators above, most social networking sites (including Facebook and LinkedIn) are opt-in, permission based sites. That is, your connections or friends on these sites have to accept you before they receive any communications(status updates or other items) from you. If you overstep the bound or unwritten rules of the sites, people will simply opt-out.
  • Passive Nature of Profiles: Unlike status updates, posting listings using the listing widget on your Facebook profile or using Slideshare.net or Box.net on your LinkedIn profile doesn't post or send any announcement to your connections or friends. It is passive in nature and is accessed only by someone who is looking at or reading your profile.
  • Distinctions between Permission Based Advertising and Spam: Use of the listing widget isn't "spamming." By definition, "spam" is an unsolicited, commercial communication. In the case of the listing widget, it isn't unsolicited because the friend or connection has opt-ed into your network. In addition, it isn't even a communication. There is no e-mail, notification, etc. sent or posted. That said, the person must actually go to your profile to take a look at your listings.
  • Uses of Listing Widget: The listing widget is an important tool. The ability to show potential clients your current listings can bolster your expertise and credibility. If you sell a particular neighborhood or have a narrow field of expertise, the listing widget allows friends and connections who are potential clients to see the number of listings, price ranges, types of housing, etc. which can be effectively used to enhance your status as a neighborhood expert or specialist.

Some members of social networks want to preserve social networks as a pristine, commercial-free playground of thought and discussion. In reality, LinkedIn and Facebook are or at least can be powerful marketing tools when used right. The fact that businesses are actively promoting their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is a pretty good sign of the marketing potential held by these sites.

Oddly, I don't disagree with the underlying premise of the comments above - that is, ad and marketing machines on social networking sites aren't effective. However, I don't view a listing widget on your Facebook page as contaminating or fundamentally changing the social nature of sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. When I look at most profiles on Facebook, I often see a link to one's website. The website is typically their company website or personal business website. My question is: Is using a listing widget on one's Facebook profile really any different than having a Facebook profile with a link to a person's business website?

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Stop Annoying Your Facebook Connections - Use SeeMyListings.com to Place Your Listings on Your Profile Page

11-02-09
Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

The Marketing Machine - Annoying your Friends, Family and Other Members of Your Social Network

Social networking sites such as Facebook can be great tools for keeping in touch with members of your sphere of influence. Keeping your friends and family informed of your professional interests is an appropriate use of social networking sites. However, there is a fine line between sharing your professional insights and experiences on social networking sites and using social networking sites as an advertising and marketing machine. For those new to social networking sites, it is easy to take the wrong approach to social networking by blasting your listing information repeatedly to your connections. SeeMyListings.com Widget

Use SeeMyListings.com Widget to Place Your Listings on Your Facebook Profile

For Facebook users, there is now a simple solution. Use the listing widget provided by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com to place your listings on your Facebook profile. Here are the steps:

Step 1 - Go to www.SeeMyListings.com.

Step 2 - Click on "Add My Listings.

Step 3 - Log on to your Facebook account.

Step 4 - Enter your MLS provider and user name.

Step 5 - Click on "Add to Profile" or "Update Listings."

In a few simple steps, you are able to automate the addition of your listings to your Facebook profile. Given the number of Realtors who I am connected to on Facebook who aren't using this feature, I thought I would post this this short how-to post to get them motivated. Five easy steps to get your listings on Facebook without annoying your friends, family and even colleagues.

127 Comments
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Butler's Pantry and Gilded Age Announce the Grand Opening of Palladium Saint Louis

11-01-09
Ryan Shaughnessy, Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

Gilded Age, a Lafayette Square real estate development company, and Butler's Pantry, a local catering company, jointly announced the grand opening of the state of the art event facility known as "Palladium Saint Louis" in the former Laundry Building of City Hospital No. 1.  The opening of Palladium Saint Louis marks the the completion of the first phase of the City Hospital - Carroll North Project with construction of corporate apartments set for Spring, 2010.

Butlers Pantry - Paladium St Louis

Located just South of Downtown St. Louis, Palladium Saint Louis is now open with the ability to accommodate 400 guests for dinner or over 700 people for cocktail style events.  Some features of the new venue include:

  • 3-story State of the Art Chef's Kitchen
  • Mezzanine Floor Overlooking the Event Space
  • Expansive 2-story Windows Offering Stunning City Lights Views
  • Artistic "petals" for Personalized room Designs
  • Dramatic Lighting
  • State of the Art Audio and Visual Capability
  • Valet and On-site Parking  

Take a glimpse at this great venue space:

 

Development Team Credits:

  • Developer - Gilded Age
  • Architect - The Lawrence Group
  • General Contractor - BSI Constructors

Interested in relocating your business to Lafayette Square or in obtaining additional information on the City Hospital - Carroll North Project?  Contact Ryan Shaughnessy at PREA Signature Realty at 314-971-4381 or send an e-mail to Ryan@PREASignatureRealty.com.  Or, visit our website at www.PREASignatureRealty.com. 

Prior Blog Post:  Palladium St. Louis - First Event

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