The Socially Networked Neighborhood

By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

If you want to become recognized as your neighborhood’s real estate expert, you should create a fan page for it on Facebook, advises Max Pigman, vice president and national speaker at REALTOR.com®. Pigman talked about how to get some marketing traction via social media in a Friday morning session at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego.

He said that real estate pros can “take over” their neighborhoods if they create a fan page, invite residents to join it, and post updates regularly about community events and local real estate and development trends.

“This becomes the perfect place to assert that you’re the real estate expert for your area,” he said. “Every time you send an update, everyone can see it. If you get strategic with this, you can connect with your sphere at an unbelievable level.” Read more

Social Media Best Practices

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor REALTOR® Magazine

Social media should be used to create communities and not to push listings out. You wouldn’t go to church to hand out your listings, and therefore, you shouldn’t do it through your Facebook page.

That was one of the main arguments presented by Ginger Wilcox, GRI, Kelley Koehler, and Mariana Wagner—all experts with the Social Media Marketing Institute—at the Introduction to Social Media session at the 2009 REALTORS® Convention & Expo this morning.

The panel advised real estate pros to think about using social media to connect with people to build relationships that will eventually lead to communities.  Read more

Social Networking Gains Traction in Real Estate Tech Survey

By Erica Christoffer, Contributing Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

More REALTORS® are using social networking for their business than ever before, according to data in a recent report released by the Center for REALTOR® Technology (CRT).

The study, conducted in June, found that 84 percent of 1,189 respondents use some sort of social networking tools, a significant increase from 33 percent in 2008. Twenty-eight percent say they are comfortable with it and another 27 percent are somewhat comfortable.

The most popular Web site was Facebook, with 76 percent saying they use the site, followed by LinkedIn with 58 percent. Other popular sites include Twitter, ActiveRain, RealTown, Flickr and Talk.REALTOR.com.

The vast majority –76 percent of those surveyed — say they are looking to engage with consumers through social media sites. The report also shows that REALTORS® use social networking to connect with other REALTORS®, REALTOR® organizations, real estate vendors, and family and friends. Read more

Facebook TMI

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

A friend sent me this article from The Washington Post, which basically outlines how Facebook plans to overhaul its privacy settings. They want to make our information less private and more searchable by Google in order to compete with Twitter and other social networking tools.

Even though I was one of the earlier Facebook users, I’ve been slow to adopt new applications when they launch a new version of the social networking site. In the earliest iterations of Facebook back in 2004, there were no status updates, let alone pictures, or information about my interests and hobbies.

Back in the Mesozoic Age of Facebook history, it was simply a virtual address book. Over time it seemed the Web site wanted more information about me: my hometown, my occupation, who I’m dating, and so forth. I played along, and updated my information when it was only for my close friends. Then more people began to sign up and request my friendship (my parents and co-workers) and I began cautiously updating my page. Read more

Facebook Fan Pages: The Difference Between Asking and Earning.

By Todd Carpenter, Social Media Manager, National Association of REALTORS®

I’m getting a lot of these e-mails lately:

“XXXXXX became a fan of YYYYYY on Facebook and suggested you become a fan too.”

With the advent of fan pages, savvy real estate agents are adopting Facebook as a marketing tool and using these pages to promote their business. I think this is a great idea. However, asking me to become a fan of your page puts the cart before the horse.

What have you done to earn me as a fan? You asked? That’s not enough. I don’t think I’ve ever responded to one of those e-mails. Read more

Using Social Media to Get Ahead in the Business

How can you use social media to reach out to your clients in the real estate business? More than 100 real estate pros met today in Chicago for the RE Bar Camp to brainstorm ways to better leverage social media for their business. Watch the video below to hear how some attendees are using social media. Also, check out the article Smart Ideas for Better Social Networking to glean more ideas from the conference.

Trying to Sell Through Social Media? Not So Fast…

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Knowledge Networks, a company that produces social research, recently released a report that shows more than 83 percent of the online population between the ages 13-54 use social media, but less than 5 percent of social media users turn to these sites for suggestions about purchasing decisions.

The study, which can be found here, broke down the things people are more likely to use social media to assess, such as travel services and clothes, and the items users are less likely to seek online advice on, such as groceries. While real estate was not specifically queried, the survey did offer data on other large purchases, including cars and financial services. One could infer that most users wouldn’t make many important decisions about home ownership through social networking. Read more

Me, Myself, & Facebook.

Recently, a real estate agent I hardly knew asked me, “Don’t you think your Facebook page is unprofessional?” My reply was, “Don’t you think yours is a little too professional?”

Both of us are right, or wrong. It depends on how you look at it. Read more