Thinking of Using Social Media in your Business?

As I speak around the country I am finding divided camps. People are either embracing Social Media, or they sit in my audience with their hands folded across their chest, so I guess, they haven’t been convinced that it is a good use of time. So let me put my first comment in writing, nice and big . . .

If you don’t have a strong business plan or model now Social Media will not help you

You need systems or an assistant. This post is not to tell you how to do that. (soon though). This post is to give you some new stats on who is using these tools and why you need to figure out how it fits in.

Facebook experienced the largest growth. People are enjoying catching up with friends, family and clients. Their increase was the largest. Check out some of the sites you may have never even heard of on the list. Last year, this list was entirely different.

This is why we need to engage on Social Media

Older users continue showing up on Facebook and social networking sites. Facebook saw an increase in visitors who are 55 and older, a whopping 108 percent in September 2009 compared with September 2008.  Overall U.S. visits to social networking Web sites from users who are 55 and older have increased 77 percent year over year. Visits from users 18 to 24 to social networking sites have decreased 33 percent year over year.

If we don’t keep up with the trends in Social Media now, will we be ready for what tools the first time buyers of tomorrow are using?

Xobni is Inbox spelled backwards

I am still an Outlook fan. Okay shoot me. But I can sitll get more done just using this simple program to organize my day, check email and contact prospects and clients. A recently video clip explains a wonderful add-on called Xobni which you download to make Outlook work more efficiently. Check it out:

Creating a Social Media Policy Phase One

It is 10 o’clock Monday morning – do you know where your company’s reputation is? As sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook become intertwined with business uses, real estate companies need to establish guidelines and best practices.

Whether we want to admit it or not, companies are learning that social networking, used properly, can be an effective business tool. We know by experience that having your sales associates involved in the community can enhance your company’s reputation and bring in more business. We are now embracing the concept that our  sales associates can blog, tweet, and participate in forums and social sites and also increase  business — so long as it’s done right.

But how do you monitor the conversation? You need a social media policy that explicitly lays out what is and isn’t permissible, both on the company’s network and outside of it if sales associates presenting themselves as representatives of the company.

If you do decide to take the “easy” way out and just block social networking sites at the company firewall, remember that what people post from home can still affect your company’s reputation.

How to get started
Consider creating a task force with people in your company who understand policy and procedures and others who are responsibly using social media. Together they can create a company platform. As always, before you can develop a policy, you need to define the company’s overall attitude toward social networking.  A well executed social media strategy helps consumers and licensees follow an online dialogue protocol that shows promise of a successful outcome for consumers in real estate transactions. Create a statement that reflects the company’s mission statement and commitment to the consumer.

• Do you know what your agents are doing on the web?
• Do You Know Where Your Agents Are Placing Their Listings and
  What Other Listings They Are Claiming
• Copyright Dos and Don’ts
• Logos and Company Names – Who has the authority to start an
  Online Group using a Registered Trade Name?
• Q & A Platforms –  Are they generating leads in the discussion thread, or are you putting your real estate license at risk?

Social Media Tools To Monitor and Maintain Reputation Management Controls
Educate agents in the correct use of tools to avoid problems and pitfalls and  engage consumers in a fashion that will BUILD and ENHANCE a company’s reputation online.
Remember to always reward responsible interaction on line.  If you can show examples of online fires doused as well as positive examples of building reputation online your sales associates will be better informed.

Consider hiring a social media director for your association or your company.

Brokers and agents need to learn how to use tools to MONITOR their online presence.
Google or Yahoo Alerts. Set up alerts  based on your companies name, principals names, etc. These alerts will send you an email every time one of your search words is found by the search engines.

http://www.google.com/alerts
http://alerts.yahoo.com/

Twitter Search
http://search.twitter.com
http://tweetbeep.com

StepRep
http://myfrontsteps.com
Yelp
http://www.yelp.com

Here are some other reputation management tools to look at. They charge a fee but will do the time consuming work for you.
Privacy Gurus
http://www.privacygurus.com/firm.php
Quality Service Certified
http://www.qualityservice.org
Incredible Agents
http://www.incredibleagents.com
Real Estate Ratingz
http://www.realestateratingz.com

Facebook as a Prospecting Tool

Facebook is one of the most hyped web service/platforms right now. Many people have already found Facebook to be a valuable addition to their web marketing strategy. Why? Because Facebook social networking can effectively connect you with potential clients, with no cost and minimal effort.
Consider using Facebook as a tool for:
• Marketing to new clients
• Protecting your brand
• Testing out marketing ideas
• Measuring impact of your marketing

Think of it as an “addition” to your prospecting. As you connect on a consistent basis with your past customers, sphere and clients you are probably doing this with phone calls, emails and postcards. Facebook is an easy addition to your process.

Do you prospect on a regular basis? Do you try to connect with people in your sphere every day? Normally we use email, phone calls and print. Now you can find them on Facebook and make them your friend. You can write on their wall and comment on their milestones, an easy way to prospect.

It can become a regular prospecting tool.

If you update your status once day, make it a mix of fun and business. Think of it as the online cocktail party. You wouldn’t walk around a party asking everyone to list and sell, but you would network. That is what Facebook is for. People who are your friend will now see your daily updates. If you educate, and talk about real estate and have some fun you will be a connection they can count on for.

Facebook Applications – Some Useful, some you need to IGNORE!

Facebook is one of the popular web service/platforms right now. Many people have already found Facebook to be a valuable addition to their web marketing strategy. Why? Because Facebook social networking can effectively connect you with potential clients, past customers and friends, with no cost and minimal effort.

Buyers & Sellers are interested in their “Micro-market”, where they live and work. Your goal is to give them information they can’t get anywhere else and they will be hooked.

Other than your all important status updates, adding applications selectively can help your business grow. Right now, there are over 2000 apps you can add to your Facebook profile. The temptation may be to try them all.

Click on this link to see the full list of applications.

Pick apps that won’t waste your time when you visit your Facebook home page, so avoid those that involve playing games, throwing things and just plain silliness. Read the app description carefully and know exactly what you’re getting, and what the privacy settings are before you go. It helps to see how your contacts are using the app first. But remember, if you add it, you can remove it. If you don’t want to add applications that other people send to you, hit the IGNORE button. (They will never know.)

Think of your apps in two ways

1. What do you want to see (that will appear on your Facebook home page)
2. What do I want the world to see (that will appear on your profile)?

While it might seem like a small part of why you would want to set up a presence on Facebook, Applications can actually dramatically enhance your ability to manage your content and provide a compelling experience. Some examples:

Memorable Web address for Facebook – create a short easy to remember facebook link to your profile. Include it in your email signature.

Slideshare – Share your PDFs and Powerpoints with potential clients. How about a prelisting presentation? Why work with a buyer agent? The real story behind buying a foreclosure. You get the idea.

Google Calendar – Share your calendar of events

Birthday and Social Calendars – choose one to keep on tops of friends birthdays

Blognetworks – Promote other blogs that you read

Free Conference call nice and easy to use program

Facebook Video Facebook Video provides a high-quality video platform for people and pages on Facebook. With Video, you can upload video files, send video from your mobile phone, and record video messages to your friends.

Business Card With this application, you can: * create a Business Card and customize it * attach your Business Card to Facebook messages * browse other cards and read comments

RSS Reader Applications These enable you to leverage the content updates you are probably already doing on your main online presence. Why bother cutting and pasting when RSS can do the work of syndicating the content on your Facebook Page?

My 12minutetechbyte for this is: Pick one application, add, it use it see if you like it. And then selectively add others that you like.