Can Your Fan Page be Doing you More Harm than Good…

Is having a fan page a must for your business? If you answered yes, then how can you maximizing your leverage on Facebook using this incredible tool without going over the top? How much is too much…let’s take a look.

Must Have’s…

1. Banner Logo - Certainly one of the first impressions you have will be your banner logo. Here is an opportunity to add engagement, contact info and a call to action piece on your fan page. 

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Create an Online Marketing Platform that Works!

If you’re blogging consistently and have been reaping the rewards of your labor…please don’t read this! However, for the other 90% of you out there still wondering How & Why this whole crazy blogging thing works…take a look at this!

Along with the other actions on your Online Marketing Platform, syndicating your blog post to other networks is an effective way to create a constant flow of traffic to your blogsite. It’s also a fantastic way to get your message to a larger audience…essentially increasing your online footprint in the process. Let’s take a quick look at how you can get on the radar of folks that may not even know you or your business exists!

1. Facebook Fan Page & News Feed  -  Although there are very good services that will automatically add your blog to your fan page, I choose to do it manually.  A simple copy & paste of your blog post’s shortlink on to your fan page will automatically syndicate your blog post to your news feed and the news feed of every fan or like(r) of your fan page…

2. Twitter  -  By a simple measure of going to www.facebook.com/twitter or going to the dashboard of your fan page, Edit Page>Resource>Link Page to Twitter, you can syndicate your blog post via your fan page directly onto Twitter without ever going to Twitter.  Remember, since this is an auto-syndication process, your title and the link back to your blog site is the only thing that will show up…and that is more than enough to drive traffic back to your blog site from Twitter.

3. LinkedIn  -  The action of linking your Twitter account to your LinkedIn account is very simple and effective.  Now you have a Online Marketing Platform that will circumvent Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and drive traffic back to your blog site to get “The Rest of the Story”! NOTE: Make sure you uncheck the middle box that only allows tweets to go to Linkedin if you use the #in!

4. Other Blogs & Websites  -  As your Blog posts become more coveted, you will find others out there posting you content.  You know you’re heading in the right direction when this starts happening.

5. World Wide Web  -  Along with the attention of other bloggers, your content will become more attractive to the Search Engines like Google and Bing.  We all talk about being on the first page of Google…this is what this whole exercise is all about!

It’s that simple gang…now you have an online marketing platform that reaches hundreds if not thousands of potential customers. And, along with your other social media efforts, should get you more business!

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A Great Catch is Often the Result of a Bad Pass!

Even if you’re not a fan of Football, you should understand that most if not all the spectacular receptions throughout the history of the game of Football where the result of a poorly thrown pass.
For the more avid fans like myself, glued to Sportscenter watching the days highlights, the emphasis of these memorable moments are on the skill and ability of the receiver to take an under or over thrown pass and make the catch. What we don’t often see in these highlights are the dozens if not hundreds of times that same receiver has ran a route and not had the ball thrown to him at all.

REAL ESTATE LEADS AND LEAD GENERATION ARE EXACTLY LIKE THAT!

Football receivers run all those routes because if they don’t…they don’t get the ball thrown their way! And when they do get a pass sent in their direction…even if that ball is poorly thrown, they exert all their effort to take that pass…be it good or bad…and turn it into an opportunity to score! 

Moral of the story: There are no bad leads, just bad attempts to get them!

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You think…you write…you blog! Sometimes it ain’t that simple.

Even though we are sentient and often times filled to the brim with knowledge and ideas, posting an intelligible blog can be an undertaking.

Taking a birds-eye view of all this, you can begin to break down what your blog should and could look like and how you can garner a community of viewers with your information.

Let’s take a look at some ideas on avoiding bloggers block:

1. Be Clear On Your Brand-In the real estate profession, I’ve figured out there are really only 3 avenues here…Your brand is either your Name, Your Specific Location or Neighborhood you Work or Your Service Provided i.e., Short Sales, Foreclosure or Luxury Homes. Concentrate on focusing your blog on one of these 3 areas for best results. HINT: Don’t always blog about real estate specifically! Expand on ideas around your brand…i.e., Architecture, Specific neighborhood events or the History of a particular property.

2. Be Willing to Educate-It’s clear to me some of the more popular blogs and bloggers out there do little else but offer great information. Many of the post you see here are intended to teach and educate with the hopes you will take this and use it for your own success.

3. Talk WITH your community-Ask questions that spark a response! The whole idea here is engagement so make it a point to have a conversation.

4. Subscribe to other Blogs-Just like me, I’m certain many of the bloggers out there are very happy to share their information. Thusly, why not edify and recognize those who think and act the way you do and use that as content for your blog. I’m not advocating stealing…what I’m saying is “Blogging makes you smarter” by forcing you to know what you previously didn’t! Read others blogs and then offer what you learned to your community…AND ALWAYS LET THEM KNOW WHERE YOU LEARNED IT!

5. Share, Repost and Retweet-There are extreme cases where your Bloggers Block is so bad that you may not want to blog that day. In this instance, finding an article or two and simply recycling it may be your only option. I don’t think your community is going to jump ship if you don’t have something original every single day. Hell, there are millions of bloggers out there who have posted multiple articles that must be shared…so do it and give your brain a day off!

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Convert the Atheists and Enlighten the Agnostics…

Are you looking to get business online and wonder how to do that using Social Media!

Don’t let these ‘issues’ be the REASONS not to embrace Social Media but rather seek to find RESULTS in doing what it takes to learn, understand and succeed with Social Media!

These are the Top 5 Issues I’ve heard in my years of teaching holding Real Estate Agents Back!!!

1. I’m afraid of losing my privacy. We are in a business where we must find new clients and customers all the time! Think about it…every single deal you ever did came from someone who was once a stranger!

2. I don’t have the time. There are two types of marketers out there…the ones who DO…and the ones that MAKE DO! If you are killing it and you have more business than you know what to do with AND you don’t use Social Media to get that business…YOU DON’T NEED SOCIAL MEDIA! For the other 98.9% of us that are starving…YOU BETTER MAKE THE TIME!

3. I’m not a ‘Techy’. Um, do you know how to type? Do you know how to form a sentence? If you answered yes to both these questions…YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA.

4. I don’t know what to write about. Well, do you know what your clients and customers want to talk about? If you answered yes, then you know what to write about. However, if you answered no, then you are in the wrong business!

5. I don’t understand all this Facebook and Twitter Stuff! Well Ladies and Gentlemen, you had better learn quickly…because there are 2 people ahead of you who do understand this Stuff…Your Competition and Your Clients!!!

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Many of us have heard variations on how long it takes to form a habit…

Something that becomes natural or even instinctual after being done repeatedly for a period of time is a habit. I’ve often heard that doing something everyday for 21-30 days can be enough to be the basis to form these habits. So, I lay down this gauntlet to anyone in the real estate industry who is willing to accept this challenge. In concert with whatever else you are doing to promote and market your wares…

• I want you to blog daily (you can take your normal day(s) off of course)  
• I want you to post at minimum 1 item on your news feed and or fan page daily…
• I want you to make a positive comment on someones post or blog daily… 
• I want you to tweet something and retweet someones tweet daily…ALL THIS FOR 21 DAYS WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT…NO EXCUSES!

It Isn’t Hard Once It Becomes a Habit!

Think about it…If you could reach a Community of thousands daily, Communicate with them daily, create and convey your Credibility with your message daily, Cost effectively do this so as to actually stay in business and ultimately see a Conversion of loyal friends, fans and follows into a dollar productive business…daily, why wouldn’t you absolutely want this to become a habit?

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Create a larger footprint for your Blog!

Getting your content out on to the various Social Media Platforms is a powerful way to create an online marketing platform and drive more permission marketing based clients right to your front door…let me show you how!

1. Simply click the “Get Shortlink” tab. Once you’ve published your blog post, grab the shortlink provide for your specific post and you’re off! (It will appear just below the Title)

2. Copy and Paste your WordPress generated Shortlink to your Fan Page.  (If you don’t have a Fan Page, you can paste to your Profile or Newsfeed)

3. Link your Fan Page to Twitter by simply going to your fan page and clicking on the edit page tab>go to resource>click the add you page to twitter link or go to www.facebook.com/twitter and following the instructions. Once done, your Blog post will automatically syndicate from your Fan Page to Twitter along with a Shortlink to direct readers back to your Blogsite.

4. Link your Twitter to LinkedIn…again, simply go to your LinkedIn account and click edit account and go to the bottom of your profile window to add your Twitter username.

Viola, you’re marketing to more people!

At this point, you’ve effectively created a marketing platform that allows your Blog post to go from your Blogsite, to your Fan Page with a single copy and paste, then it automatically goes on to the facebook news feed of all your fans or likers, then on to Twitter and then off to Linkedin…no fuss, no muss! This also helps the search engines get your post on the World Wide Web for all to see!

Now you have the potential of reaching thousands of viewers with a single Blog post…give it a try and enjoy the results!!!

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How to Blog? I say…Start by starting! 

Is the idea of Blogging a mystery to you? Once on the right path, do you know you could create a great blog? So do I! Let’s look at these 5 simple steps to developing your next great blog… 

1. Create a Good Title-One of the first things people are going to see is your title…and in the case of Twitter and LinkedIn, it’s the only thing they’ll see! So your title had better give me a reason to want to read your entire blog! Also, add the name of your blog in the title to identify who you are. If your blog gets picked up by someone who is re-broadcasting your post, you want your blog title staring your NEW viewers right in the face!

2. Content, Content and um…oh ya, Content-There are several ways to go about writing a blog. But if you’re trying to attract a community of readers with your first couple of posts, brevity is the rule! As you get more readers, you can get more wordy! Also, consider who you’re trying to speak with in your blog and ask questions of your community! Lastly, consider using the 3 H’s

Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

as well as Bold and Colored fonts throughout your post to keep your readers eyes moving and engaged with your message.

3. Back Links-This is a great way to get more information about a particular subject to your readers as well as edify and recognize someone or something for their information. Use as many back links as possible but always remember to give attributes to another author if you’re going to re-broadcast their exact article. All you need to do when backlinking is highlight the word or words and us the link icon in your tool bar that looks like this. 

4. Add Pictures-Certainly the human being is a visual creature and so adding a picture (or two) to your post will help engage your viewer. Nothing captures the message of your blog like a great pic. Be creative…add something unique…something fun! Also it’s a good idea to keep a folder on your computers desktop that has nothing but pictures you plan to use for your blog posts. Of course, be mindful of whose pictures you’re using as copyright issues can arise! Simply click just to the right of the Upload/Insert on the Add Image icon to find the picture you wish to add.   

5. Last step…Post tags and Categories-On the right hand side of your dashboard you will see a series of widgets. Down the list you will find Post Tags which are a list of words you will use to help identify what your article is about. Simply put, Post Tags are keywords that allow people to find your post when they are ‘Googling’ for something. Hint: Your Post Tags don’t necessarily have to be about your blog post. They can also be used to help viewers find you and your business! Also, creating categories can help you define what your article is about. Using a series of categories can essentially sort out your posts so they’re more easily found. This can also help you locate a past post for a reader who is looking for a specific topic you’ve written about.

Nothing really more to it than that my friends. Contact me if you need further instructions on how to create and post your own blog…always happy to help!

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Just Blog Baby!

there are only 2 real differences in your Online Marketing efforts today compared to say, 10 years ago when we got our first website.

1. Your Website just sits there while your Blog is always moving and changing.

2. Because of #1, you actually have to do something to your Blog!

Sadly, the biggest curse for many real estate professionals was when they first got a website, they were told they didn’t have to do anything! Someone would build it, maintain it and even load it up with regurgitated, cookie-cutter content. And even worse, most of us became O.K. with the fact that we never got a single speck of business from our Static Sites! Just having a website was all we thought we needed.

The reality a decade ago was no one knew a single thing about how to maintain a site or even why we needed one. Fast forward 10 or so years later and I think ‘some’ of us have realized the need to engage, communicate and convert online conversations into offline relationships is the cornerstone of our business…simply put, OUR BLOG IS OUR BUSINESS!

Today, we all now have the option to offer relevant subject matter, consistently updated information and interactive content in which to engage with their community…IF WE ELECT TO MAKE OUR BLOG PART OF OUR BUSINESS PLAN!

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Certainly one could lament about a great many things when it comes to being a real estate professional in today’s unstable market. We are all in the same boat so why do some do so well…hell, even prosper in this climate while others are clearly struggling? My opinion is there are those real estate professionals that see the opportunity rather than the obstacles and make every effort to be in BUSINESS…not BUSYNESS!

Case in point. The other day, I was taking a quick run through the office and was literally floored to see an agent playing Solitaire on his computer. If that ain’t the definition of apathy, I don’t know what is! It was very clear at that moment what sets some folks apart and makes one reach for REASONS WHY instead of RESULTS FOR their station in life! Harsh words but this is a harsh business and today’s real estate market demands results…not reasons! Here are (in my humble opinion) 3 simple rules to follow to be successful in today’s real estate:

1. Treat Real Estate Like a Job!-We have all been lured by the quest for easy money or worse, the old tag line, “Be your own boss and make your own hours.” Here’s the issue for some…you are your own boss and you have one unruly employee that doesn’t want to work! Ask yourself this question, “Would your work ethic get you fired in a “9 to 5 gig?” GET IN THE OFFICE!! Very few agents and Brokers can discipline themselves to work a productive day in a home office environment!

2. Get treatment for ‘Victimitis’-An affliction that hits so many and spreads like wildfire through an office. If this is happening in your office…find a new office! There is no place in this market for folks who want to dwell on the negative!!! Those who have this dreaded disease can literally suck the life out of you! Keep your eyes on the prize and don’t let anything…or anyone effect your desire to succeed!

3. Give More and then Give Back-There is ZERO doubt in my mind those who not only walk the walk, but talk the talk are more apt to see their business excel. What I mean is those agents and Brokers who are willing to be a part of a bigger picture and teach those willing to learn, are simply more successful. Look around your office, generally if you see a hard-working successful agent, you see someone who goes beyond the confines of simply doing their job…they give back! Not only do they do what it takes to know and master their craft but they teach or coach others…They offer encouragement and advice…They make a difference!

If I missed something here, please comment and let me know what you think makes a successful real estate professional in this market…phone lines are open!

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