The big story in the blogosphere this week is that Facebook has released Timeline for business pages. Blogs will be written, tweets will be made, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few webinars in the works. All of this is great. But just remember one thing;
I wrote that post two years ago when the latest shiny object was that everyone needed to have a custom landing tab for their Facebook business page. Since then, many crazes have come and gone. Quora, QR Codes, Empire Avenue … the list goes on. Some of these shiny objects are just plain fun, and it’s okay to play, just don’t call it work. But too often, I see real estate agents spending way to much time chasing the latest shiny object for their business.
This week we are obsessed with Facebook again. The question at the heart of all the chatter: How are we going to take advantage of all these new features? If you have a business page, you probably should take a look at what has changed. But just like two years ago, the real issue is the business strategy behind your online efforts. Have you been spending your time trying to learn how to master the latest shiny object before you’ve even determined why you need to? Are you focused on pinning or winning?
Don’t get caught up in the hype. Here are five tips for avoiding social media syndrome. It’s a good list. Remember to focus on the proven stuff that already works and let others chase the latest shiny objects.
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
REALTOR.com’s iOS apps received a significant upgrade this week. Chief among the changes is the ability to identify foreclosed listings and price reductions. In addition, the app features a new “Nearby Recently Sold” search on the home page. After testing a beta of the app over the last week, I see this as a great new feature. Consumers want to know what homes in an area might be worth, and this is a great alternative to providing a “guestimate” of value. Sold data is available on the app as soon as 24 hours after a final sale.
REALTOR.com also made two significant user experience improvements to the new app. The Area Scout feature is more prominent in the navigation. This function updates a map with new listings as you travel — perfect for a client to view as you drive them around a neighborhood. The Area Highlighter has also been promoted to the home screen. This function allows the user to draw a border around a specific area on the map to isolate listings within that specific boundary. This is an incredibly useful feature that many of REALTOR.com’s competitors are now trying to replicate.
Mobile traffic to sites like REALTOR.com is suggesting that apps are becoming many consumers’ preferred method of searching for real estate. Even regional MLSs like Metrolist are adopting these technologies. It’s more important than ever for real estate professionals to consider how their listings are being viewed on these apps. Do you have a mobile marketing strategy for your listings? Maybe it’s time to consider one.
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
I wrote my first blog post about the real estate and mortgage industries on Jan. 27, 2005. Much has changed, but several truths about blogging have remained pretty constant:
1. Knowledge is learned, expertise is imparted.
Take all the training you want. Read every book. Learn from a lifetime of experience. Nobody will really care until you share that knowledge. Until I started my blog, I was just a good account executive for a lender. After I started it, I became an industry expert that other news organizations wanted to quote. People don’t want you to tell them you are an expert. They want you to prove it.
2. Have a business purpose behind every blog post you write.
I’ve written about this before. Beyond proving your own expertise to a reader, a great blog posts also serves additional business purposes. They could be designed to help you network with local businesses, or win in the search engines, or to build a library of FAQs you can reference later. Whatever it is, try to establish a business purpose for your posts before you write them.
3. Social networks come and go, but your Web site is forever.
There’s only one place on the Internet where you get to make all the rules. You get to decide when to ask for the sale. You get to decide if others can advertise next to your content. You get to decide who else gets to comment on your work. Where the platform’s very existence is assured. That’s your own Web site or blog. If you have put all your eggs in a basket where you don’t get to make the rules, what are you going to do when the rules get changed for you? A Web site or blog has to be the hub of all of your digital communications. Continue reading »
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
With nearly half of all REALTORS® using social media in 2011, it’s safe to say that it’s no fad. But will further adoption of social media be a driving force of change for the real estate industry in 2012, or will other trends prove more disruptive? I asked several social-media-savvy real estate professionals, “What new tools or trends will have the biggest impact on the real estate industry in 2012?” Here’s what they had to say.
Social Becomes Normal
“In 2002, we stopped calling it ‘e-business.’ In 2012, ‘social marketing’ meets a similar fate. Going forward, this is just ‘business,’” says Dan Green, loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage in Cincinnati and author of The Mortgage Reports. In some ways, social media’s mass adoption now makes it less disruptive. But as this form of marketing hits critical mass with the agent population, the companies they work for will try to leverage it. Green predicts that, “brands/brokers will begin actively amplifying their individual agents’ marketing messages. Expect top-down ‘messaging’ within a brokerage for agent Web sites, blogs, and social network presence.” Derek Overbey, senior social media manager at VerticalResponse, has a similar view, “In 2012, we will see deeper social integration into every aspect of business, including e-mail, promotions, advertising, and public relations.”
Ines Hegedus-Garcia, a Miami REALTOR® with Majestic Properties, thinks competence in technology will need to become the norm for real estate professionals: “2012 will not be about the best and newest shiny objects, but instead about how we, in the industry, are able to stay atop technology and able to integrate it into our daily business in a way that is useful. The consumer has learned to ask the right questions, and agents will have to show proof of successful business practices which incorporate technology. Continue reading »
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
I had the opportunity to speak last week at the Social Media Club Chicago’s holiday party. Talking to a group of your peers is always great, but the best part is the opportunity to network before and after the presentation. The event went well, but I came away thinking about the dynamics of networking events and how they relate online.
During the event, I talked with seven people I already knew well. It’s always good to bolster the relationships you already have, and frankly, it’s the easiest networking you can do. Six people came up to introduce themselves to me. A benefit to speaking is that everyone in the room knows who you are. Obviously, having people come up and introduce themselves is also pretty easy. What’s hard is being the one who approaches someone else. I introduced myself to three people. Out of those three, one turned into a real connection that could lead to future opportunities.
Looking back, I don’t really remember the people who introduced themselves to me. I know I met them because I have their card. If a relationship grows from the event, it will probably be because they put in the effort. The same is true for the one good connection I made by introducing myself: I will need to make the effort. So, out of an opportunity to meet lots of great people, I only met one. I felt like I was doing a good job networking, but now that I look at it, I’m kind of disappointed. Networking is hard.
Online social networks aren’t really all that different. Just because someone follows me or want to friend me doesn’t mean I will make the same investment in them. I know this applies to me as well. I need to work to develop the relationships that can help me the most. Continue reading »
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
A friend of mine came to me yesterday asking if I thought it was a good idea to write for a high profile blog/site in the real estate industry. My answer was, “It depends.” You need to ask yourself what you hope to get out of it, and ask that blogger if he can deliver on the return you are working for. Here are some motivations to blog for someone else:
Blogging for pay: I get paid to blog here. It’s part of my job duties at NAR. This isn’t new: I was paid to be a blogger all the way back in 2006. It’s more common than you might imagine. If bloggers want your contributions enough, they may be willing to pay you for your efforts. Don’t buy into the idea that they are doing you some kind of favor. You are more than making up for their generosity with your content. It’s worth asking if they are willing to pay you for your work.
Blogging for your résumé: I wrote for the Inman News blog for a year. The main reason I did it was to be able to put it on my résumé. In this case, Inman paid me in social capital. Depending on your long-term goals, it might be worth it for you to blog to boost your professional credentials. Of course, once you can put it on your résumé and the returns on your efforts start to diminish, you may find that it’s time to move on. Don’t worry about letting that blogger down. If they are paying writers in social capital, they should be used to the turnover. Continue reading »
There’s no better way to learn about new trends, strategies and tools then to immerse yourself in a live conference. Like many of you, I learned a lot at this month’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo. But learning and implementing are two different things and the longer you wait to implement what you’ve learned, the less likely you ever will. Here are some of the things I implemented this week after learning about them at the conference:
- I subscribed to Which Test Won. This site was referenced by Kelley Koehler as a great resource for learning more about A/B testing and what makes a web surfer more likely to convert into a client.
- I downloaded DocuSign Ink. A great new free app that allows me to digitally sign almost any contract. Thanks to Shannon King for presenting this app.
- I downloaded and started experimenting with Twenty Eleven. I learned about this free theme for WordPress during Steve Zehngut’s presentation on responsive web design. The theme reconfigures itself as the screen size shrinks, making it far easier to read and navigate via a mobile phone. I think this would be a great theme for for building cheap single property websites.
- I signed up for Local Mind. Hat tip to Chris Smith for this one. It ties in your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to allow you to find out what’s happening at local venues. I’m still experimenting with it, but I think it has some cool potential for real estate agents.
I still have more stuff I want to implement in my Wunderlist app. With the holiday weekend approaching, I plan to check at least a few more things off that list. How about you? What do you plan to implement this weekend?
By Todd Carpenter, Director of Digital Engagement, National Association of REALTORS®
Facebook recently overhauled their page insights tools to help page administrators better measure engagement on their business pages. The new tools let users measure how viral a post is, the number of people talking about a page, and the cumulative total reach of a page — in other words, a bunch of stuff most real estate pros really don’t need to know.
A lot of importance has been placed on engagement. Opening and maintaining lines of communication with clients is tried and true, so of course this makes sense. But ask yourself — do I want my clients to:
- Like me on Facebook?
- Follow me back on Twitter?
- Comment on my blog?
- Buy a house?
When measuring a return on your investment, be sure to count the stuff that helps you attain your goals. If having more friends on Facebook is the goal, so be it. But most agents are trying to sell houses. Their engagement strategy should be to build real, lasting relationships with people who are likely to refer them business. Facebook likes, Twitter retweets, or the number of times someone clicked on a QR code may not reflect anything more than a shallow layer of casual and even lazy engagement on the part of their sphere of influence. Measure the stuff that really matters.
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