Social Networking for real estate explained

How to leverage social network & media sites to improve your Real Estate Business

“Social media commonly refers to various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, videos and pictures.” Just what is out there, is any of it dangerous, what can you do to interact in the virtual world?

This article is meant for people just like you looking for guidance. We will show you exactly how to put social network/media and Web 2.0 sites to work for you. You will find information and advice as to which pieces apply to your niche. 

To use Social Networking effectively ..

.. you should understand that it is a process of connecting, then communicating and finally building a community. You need to connect with other people so you can tell your story.

Remember, don’t get overwhelmed, use what you need. Learn here how to:

• Get found by future clients
• Establish a brand that you can later sell if you choose
• Get your enthusiasts to spread your information virally
• Build increased brand loyalty through an interactive online experience resulting in massive increase in leads
• Convert your customers into advocates
• Convert consumers into new customers

Step One: Choose Your Core Social Networks carefully.

It is actually easier than you might think. You only need to pick 1 or 2 to begin, otherwise you will get frustrated and quit. Pick the sites that you feel will have the most activity / target consumers in your market. Most people begin with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and Youtube.

If you were only to do one thing our advice is to start with Facebook.

A very clever entrepreneur told me 18 months ago that Facebook would become the "White Pages" of the Internet. Well guess what - his prediction is coming true, 480,000 new users are signing up every day.

Step Two: If you use social networks the way they were meant to be used …

… you will decrease your outbound marketing & advertising expense and increase your income exponentially. But wait, what do I put on my profile? Here are our suggestions: If you meet someone in the offline world, you might ask "Tell me about yourself (or your business") using Social Networks you will accopmlish this with your cleverly crafted bio. This bio will be a desciptive biography of you and your real estate business – the sole purpose of which is to get the conversation going in the right direction.

• Think of online conversation as a web based "water cooler"
• A digital platform to get your message out in words, images, video and more ..
• The conversations do not replace what you might be doing now, if it's working; it compliments it.
• Online conversations allow you to connect with more people, more often, mow who wouldn't want that?

Your story. Everyone has a story to tell, so tell it and make it interesting, make it funny, get excited, tell others about something nobody has told us about yet. In other words lighten up! Show the real person behind the words, be authentic and real. Take action right now; go set up your profile on Facebook. Great job! Congratulations on taking the first step in establishing your online brand.

Step Three: Change your message daily on Facebook …

… maybe even 2-3 per day.Peter was telling me the other day that his page said “Peter is looking out his window at the pacific ocean, appreciating the deep blue color” and within an hour of changing it a past client commented on his profile. Peter hadn’t heard from this client in over a year; as it turns out, the client is ready to buy a new property. Way to go Peter!

Identify your influencers and connect with them by inviting them join your network. One of the best ways to establish rapport with your influencers is to comment on their posts and link to their blog. Proceed with a little caution as many people use these sites as primary way of connecting with their real-world family and friends. So no hard sell OK?

However, I have found great success on Facebook by searching for groups that I have an interest in: ie.> San Diego Realtor, San Diego Real Estate, etc… Once you are a member of these groups it is easy to request to be friends with the other group members. At the time of writing this, I invited over 150 San Diego Realtors to be my friend. Within the first 30 minutes I had 24 new friends.

Other Social networking sites to consider:

Twitter on the other hand is really a micro-blogging site. Once you have set up your profile page you can easily follow anyone and reply to their tweets. People love it when you comment or retweet their posts. 

Myspace is a little too teen and music band oriented for our tastes, but it may just fit your niche (remember the niche you chose?) so don't discount it totally.

LinkedIn is geared more toward B2B (business to business) but would be more appropriate to connect with referal sources (out of area real estate agents) and to create your professional team (escow officers, title reps, home inspectors etc).

Stumbleapon and Digg are other examples of social networking, they work on recommendation and "votes" on what consumers found interesting on the web. A great post will get o ton of traffic if it's faetured on either of these sites.

As these social network sites mature it is becoming much more efficient to update all of them at one. For example; when I update my twitter it automatically updates my Facebook profile. I have been amazed at how many people comment on this.

Conclusion

You might be looking at this medium to establish a new identity or maybe to rejuvinate your brand and thats OK to. You might for instance want to brand yourself as a "green" Realtor, or an expert in one particular neighborhood.

Creating your social network presence is only one part of your “success puzzle”. This alone won’t do much for you. If you want to take real advantage of the traffic you attract on your social networks you need a Web 2.0 internet presence.

What is a Web 2.0 Blog? If people can submit links, content and make comments thus affecting the amount of traffic your content generates it’s most likely Web 2.0.

This site is built using WordPress – the only blog/website platform really worth considering.

We show you step by step how to set up a blog from scratch!

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