Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach

Facebook Movie Preview - Social Network

"The Social Network" Movie is due out this fall and is based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Mezrich wrote the story of how Facebook started without any input from Zuckerberg. His primary source was Facebook's co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who was the company's original business manager but later had a legal dispute with Zuckerberg. The book is a great read and tells a compelling and fascinating story of the origin of Facebook.

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Building Your Social Media Profile Panel at RISMedia Social Media Summit

I had the opportunity to be a part of a dynamic panel on Social Media Profiles at the RISMedia Leadership Conference/Social Media Summit in Rye, New York (June 9-10).

The panel was facilitated by Krisstina Wise, Broker-Owner of The Good Life Team in Austin, TX.  Krisstina has (in just over a year) dominated in her market place with her web presence through blogging and integration of other key social networks like Facebook and Twitter. More than 50% of her business is generated through social media. 

The panel included:

1. Pat Wattam, Broker/Associate, Re/Max First in Baton Rouge, LA
2. Anthony Crecco, Broker/Owner Crecco Real Estate
3. Craig Donato, CEO. Oodle
   
4. Rebecca Chandler, Director of Marketing, The Real Estate Book  

I discussed the importance of knowing your goals (purpose, outcomes) before embarking on your social media marketing journey.  Here are the key questions to consider:

What do we want to accomplish with our social media strategy? Be specific.

• Do we want to communicate and build more relationships online?
• Build brand awareness?
• Visitors complete a form, sign up for something, calls or emails for more information, become a prospect for our business or service?

Who is our target audience? Our perfect customer?

• What social media and networking sites are they using?
• How do we know or how can we find out?

Who is going to maintain our social media presence?

• Write and upload the blog posts?
• Status updates? 
• Do we have the resources to sustain our strategy?

How do we measure success?

• Are we measuring views, traffic, comments, subscribers, leads, sales?

I also reviewed some strategies for managing your online brand (name reputation). 

1parkplace has a free report The 5 P's of Social Marketing which includes a checklist for building your social network profiles and a list of sites to monitor your brand online.

Request your Free copy of this report as well as several others at:

http://rissummit.1parkplace.com/

Short Sale Professional Network - Free Social Network for Real Estate Professionals

Since March 2009, Steve Kitnick and I have certified over 500 Nevada licensees and other real estate industry professionals through the Certified Short Sale Professional designation.

We created the Short Sale Professional Network initially for CSP graduates only.  We recently opened up the membership to anyone who is working in the short sale market and wants to participate.

Purpose of the Network:

This social network was established in support of all Real Estate Professionals working in our current real estate market of short sales, foreclosures and traditional sales.  We encourage all members to actively participate by joining the conversation, adding your own comments, experiences, questions, answers, feedback as it relates to the real estate industry and of course, short sales.

Membership Benefits include:

• Your own blog to share information, resources, educate, inform, comment
  
• An active forum to ask or pose questions and receive feedback and answers
• Ability to upload photos and videos that promote/support the purpose of the network
• Stay informed with updated resources links, downloads, and industry news
• Download documents and materials to support your short sale business
• And of course... network with other professionals!

Ways to participate:

• Start a discussion or ask a question in the forum
• Add your comments or answers to a forum discussion already started
• Add a blog post
• Upload photos or videos related to real estate or short sales
• Contribute your short sale knowledge
• Make friends - Help others
• Visit the Document center, Resources, Training, Industry News Areas
• Grow our site, the more information you add, the better all of us will become
• Learn, Know and Grow

The Education Continues.... Learn, Share, Grow...Join the Short Sale Professional Network Today!

2009 Best Blog Posts & Resources on Social Media Marketing, SEO, Social Networks

Tamar Weinberg of Techipedia compiled an unbelievably comprehensive and well-researched “Best of 2009″ summary of the best blog posts on social media, social networks, reputation management, branding, seo and more. This post is a must bookmark for reference and reading.

Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2009

Attention Las Vegas Real Estate Agents & Business Professionals!

Don't miss the Blogging & Social Networking for Business Workshop

Next Class Date: Friday, February 12, 2010, 1:00 to 4:00 pm
Download the class flyer:  Blog Class Flyer Feb 12, 2010

Location: Robb & Stucky Community Room, (Town Square Las Vegas • At I-15 and the 215 Beltway )

Address: 6521 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89119
View Mapquest

Approved by the Nevada Real Estate Commission

3 Hours Continuing Education (PD) CE.3706000-RE

$45 in advance; $55 at the door
Register online at: http://business-blog-consultant.com/register/

FREE Virtual RE BarCamp is 1-4-10; Social Media & Tech All Day Mega-Webinar

I attended the first amazing REBarcamp in San Francisco, August 2008 - held prior to the Inman Connect.  REBarcamp is now Virtual and still FREE and it's TOMORROW - January 4, 2010.

If you want to seriously get a jump start on how to integrate Social Media into your Real Estate Business --- sign up now!

Educating Real Estate Agents On How To Use Modern Technologies To Better Their Business Will Never Be The Same!

On January 4th, 2010 dozens of the most respected educators in the real estate industry converge to host most exciting event of its kind, the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is a 1-Day Learning Extravaganza.
From 9am until 4pm PST, three concurrent webinar "rooms" will each host 7 different sessions, for a total of 28 different presentations.
There is something for everyone and everything for someone, and best of all, IT IS FREE and attendance is unlimited!

Click below to:
Register.
Learn more.
See who is coming.
Check out the Session Calendar.
Get sponsorship info.

Attendance is projected to be at least 1000 agents, nationwide.
Do not miss out on being part of this ground-breaking event.

Potential Session Topics Include:

Facebook for Real Estate
Twitter 101
Driving Quality Traffic to Your Website
Beginning Search Engine Optimization
Advanced SEO
Getting Started with WordPress
Advanced WordPress Techniques
Using Flickr for Real Estate
Using YouTube for Real Estate
LinkedIn Business & Referral Strategies
Selecting an IDX Company
Single Property Websites
Getting the Most Out Of Your Mobile Devices
The iPhone and Real Estate
Photoshop for Real Estate
Video Blogging
Video Listings
Advanced Twitter Tips
Preparing to Start a Real Estate Blog
Google Analytics and Traffic Statistics

...and much more, with new sessions being added every day.

And if that wasn't cool enough, individuals from around the country are volunteering to host In-Real-Life MeetUps for after the event.
Learn all day, and then meet to have a beer with local participants. This is going to be a blast!

We hope to see you there!

Blogworld Expo '09 - Insights from Laura Fitton on Awesomeness, Connecting and Twitter

Laura Fitton (@pistachio, oneforty.com) delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking opening keynote at the Blogworld Expo 2009. 

I have to admit, my internal struggle with Twitter and blogging in general has been to surrender to the process, let go of my own fears and truly be transparent, less technical, more remarkable and interesting. I am in awe of the people who brilliantly tweet, blog or post a Facebook status in a succinct, intriguing, thoughtful, entertaining, funny and compelling way. 

Laura's talk had several nuggets to share - here is a summary:

• Fear is a terrible motivator - don't make decisions from Fear
• What is your superpower?
• How to be remarkable - cash in on your passion?
• • Luck
  • Believe
  • Connect
• Twitter is overcoming human isolation
• You have to embrace randomness to really get Twitter
• The real influencer is the message - not you!
• Be useful - turn it inside out.  Don't just retweet or post a link - Ask a question, produce value, make a connection, set it up, add something
• How to become Awesome on Twitter
  
  • Listen
  • Learn
  • Care
  • Serve
• Influence was attracting attention to yourself - Influence IS providing attention and value to others
• Be uniquely you -
• Resources/books to check out:
• • Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton. et al
  • Think Big Manifesto
  • Awesomeness Manifesto - Umair Haque 
  • Crush it - Cash in on your passion

Ready to get real...

Real Estate Widgets for Your Blog or Web Site

Are you a real estate agent and BLOGGER?  Are you searching for ways to add interesting and compelling content to your blog or web site?  How about adding a widget or two to your sidebar?

In case you are not yet familiar with the term “widget”…

What is a Widget?

According to Wordpress.com…
A Widget is a fancy word for tools or content that you can add, arrange, and remove from the sidebars of your blog. Widgets make it easy to customize the content of your blog sidebar – the part of your blog to the left, right or sometimes top or bottom of your main content. So long as you’re running a widget enabled theme, you can customize what goes into those sidebars.

Here are the best real estate-related widgets I have come across…so far:  (Do you know of a great RE widget to add to this list?  Tell us about it in the comments.)

Zillow

• New Local Market Explorer Wordpress Plugin – Creates “City Pages” based on a mashup of these services -  Zillow market stats and info, Yelp, Walk Score, Flickr, School Data from Education.com. The plugin does not support neighborhoods or ZIP codes – Zillow is working on that for next version.

• Here’s the LME widget in action – I just installed it on my Business Blog Consultant  Wordpress blog:
  
  

• Real Estate & Mortgage Widgets – Make sure you have a Zillow Profile and you can Co-Brand these widgets for your site.  Zillow has a myriad of widgets to choose from including:  Mortgage Calculators and rates, Your Listings, Recently Solds, and some new ones for Home Buyer Tax Credit and Loan Modification qualifiers.

vFlyer

• vFlyer has the best options for displaying your listings on your site. Slideshows, Galleries, Flyers and More

Trulia

• Trulia has several widgets to incorporate into your blog or website. Click here for the page with all the Trulia widgets, screenshots and downloads.

Or here they are listed individually:

• TruliaCarousel Add real estate listings to your web site in an interactive and easy to use property carousel.

• TruliaMap The TruliaMap widget shows listings from you, the real estate professional, on a colorful, interactive and easy-to-use map.

• Trulia Snapshot With the TruliaSnapshot widget, you can show off Snapshot on your own website for free.

• TruliaVoices Broadcast your real estate expertise with the TruliaVoices Q&A widget – an easy way to show off your answers from Trulia Voices on your own blog or website.

• TruliaCalculator. This mortgage calculator widget adds great real estate content to your own web site or blog.

• TruliaHomeroll The TruliaHomeroll widget shows the latest properties for sale on Trulia in your local area.

• TruliaMinistats The TruliaMinistats Widget is a great way to keep your website visitors up to date on how prices are trending in your market.

• TruliaStats This widget is a custom chart of the average listing price and available inventory for any city or neighborhood in the US.

• TruliaSearchbox Now you can give your users the ability to search homes for sale on Trulia directly from your website or blog.

• TruliaChart The TruliaChart widget is a free chart for your website or blog that gives your users helpful market trends for your local real estate market. You can show listing price, sales price, number of properties sold or number of properties for sale for any US city.

The Power of Social Media for Business

If you haven't seen this video - take a look...Very powerful and compelling stats and facts about how social media is impacting us on all levels. 

Are you ready to learn more about Business Blogging & Social Media?  Don't miss our next CE training Class:

Real Estate Blogging 101

Wednesday, September 23rd, 1:00 to 4:00 pm
First United Mortgage Building Do not mapquest - The street does not exist!
(215 - between S. Buffalo and S. Durango - off W. Sunset)  Here is a MAP

$45 in advance; $55 at the door
Register online at http://www.careerrealty.com/contact_training.htm

President Obama stays connected through blogs, websites and social media

I really love how President Obama continues to use social media outlets to stay connected to the people!  The latest addition to the mix is www.Recovery.gov  where you can stay informed about how and where the money is being distributed from the recently passes American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Visit the site for timelines, graphics, charts and updates  The President has promised Accountability and Transparency...

 

"This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be carried out with full transparency and accountability -- and Recovery.gov is the centerpiece of that effort. "

 

The White House website and blog:

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

Obama HQ Blog

Besides the frequently updated blog, you will find links to President Obama's profiles and accounts on a variety of social networking sites:

Steps for Internet and eMarketing Success

A succesful eMarketing strategy must have:

• Compelling reason(s) for prospect to contact you over other agents
• Benefits for prospect
• Specific offers, reports
• Calls to action
• Lead capture ability
• Measuring & Tracking capability

Steps for Internet  & eMarketing Success

1.    Create & Maintain a great “Destination” Website

• Customer-Centric not Agent-Centric - "Image style branding is out"
• People don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped and get information
  • Internet = access, information, instant
  • Offer what the consumer wants
    • Easy & accessible Search for listings (IDX)
    • Photos & virtual tours
    • Reports, local market data
    • Neighborhood, community, school information
    • Foreclosure, short sale, loan modification information
• Compelling content - in addition to the list above, consider
  • Buyer/Seller process & tips
  • Relocation info, guides
  • Testimonials
  • Your niche, target markets, specialties
• A Good domain name (Consider keyword terms vs. your name)

2.    Effective Lead Generation & Lead Capture

• Calls to Action that lead to capturing prospect info

• IDX search – allow access to a point and then a sign-up form
• Property Watch – email alerts – allows the consumer to receive the listing information they want when it becomes available
• Free, compelling reports – consumer completes a contact form to receive the report or offer
• Home Market Valuation

• Offline Marketing Plan

• Energize Your Database to Search for Homes - Import or add your SOI, past client database and send them a VIP welcome letter with a strong Call to Action - "Search over 30,000 Las Vegas Properties for Sale!"
• Add contacts daily – use your website to close prospects for their information and set them up as A VIP on your site for full access
  • Open House prospects; Ad & Sign Calls
• Change Your Voice Mail message to include a CTA to visit your site and Search homes for sale
• Add compelling call to action on everything:

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Marketing Flyers
• Email signature
• Postcards
• Print advertising
• Car signs
• Yard & Open House sign

• Online Marketing Plan
  
  
  • Direct
    • Build your FREE Profile on (recommended):
      
      • Realtor.com
      • Trulia.com
      • Zillow.com
      • ActiveRain.com
      • LinkedIn.com
      • Facebook.com
  •         And if you are into it...

• MySpace.com
• YouTube.com – for video tours and consumer videos
• Twitter.com – micro-blogging
• Paid Advertising on other websites
  
  • Realtor.com
  • Trulia Pro
  • Zillow
  • Local online magazine & newspapers
  • Your niche market
• Strategic Linking

• Comment on blogs (you can add a link back to your website)
• Business vendors, partners

• Search Engines
  
  
  • Optimizing your website and pages for search engines
    • Title tags
    • Keywords & Description
    • Keyword research Tools
  • Write quality content that matches your selected keywords
  • Submit Your site to directories and search engines
  • Consider adding a blog to maximize SEO
  • Pay Per Click – Paid Advertising
    • Google Ad Words

3.    Converting the Lead (From Click to Close)

• Connect
  • Immediate response (less than 20 mins) increases your chances of converting that lead – text and email alerts for leads
  • Initial welcome (VIP) letter
• Cultivate
  • Automated, drip email campaigns
  • CTAs in the email (Search properties now!)
  • Phone calls = qualify, build rapport
• Close
  • Use the visitor search profile information
  • Refine searches – use property watch
  • Close for appointments  
• Build Referrals 
  • Client for life email campaigns – Ask for referral CTA
    • eNewsletters
    • Holiday letters
    • Market condition reports

P.S. - To all Prudential Americana Group Sales Executives - your FREE Americana Deluxe Website Solution powered by www.1parkplace.com is already set-up and working for you!  This solution already incorporates the key elements to internet and emarketing success.

P.P.S. - Remember, it's a process!  Set aside time each week to improve your overall website and emarketing solution for your business.  Find the balance bewteen working IN your business and ON Your Business!!