Has anyone had any success with MYSPACE for real estate. I think you may be able to get a referal or two from it, but it seems like a waste of time.

your thoughts.

Some people on this message board think blogs are a waste of time too, but I have at least three active buyers and two sellers as a direct result of my blog. Not only that but my blog gets my name out on the internet quite a bit and boosts my website ranking.

As to MySpace,I have heard some agents say they have gotten leads. I don't know. I don't often see MySpace blogs come up often in search results.

But at any rate, someone may tell you it's a waste of time....but if you want to do it, you have the time to do it, then do it. Go for it. You'll never know until you try it out.

If you have the time and its free, why not? I have profiles on a bunch of similar sites.

I would have to disagree that MySpace is a waste of time. Granted it does take a little time to set up, but I have had some pretty good results with it. Another thing you can do with MySpace is connect with other realtors from other states. They usually are nice enough to send people your way if they know of anyone moving down to your area. Now whether or not they follow up on that is another story, but at least they will openly tell you about trying to help you out.

Using socializing tools like MYSpace or even Facebook, especially in real estate business is gaining grounds. They are free and they offer a whole world of possible clients. However, I must also confess that the number of leads are not so high still with time you can build a reputation. This will slowly help you improve your lead generation. I would suggest as agents we must have profile on these social networks.

Since I am pretty young, I am very familiar with the internet as I grew up with it, but I *am* new to the real estate world. I am very interested in using the power of the internet to gain clients and also meet other real estate professionals.

I would think that, while these social networking are relatively new, they could be a really great way to get your name out there since so many people are using them.

Yes Gloria the internet has tons of useful things for Realtors. Have you contacted anyone to help set up your website for SEO purposes?

Myspace is an awesome resource if used correctly. Think about how many of your buyers or sellers came as a result of friends/family referrals. Myspace and Facebook opens that opportunity to "network" with people in your area and get to know them. That way, when it is time for them to buy/sell, your name will pop in their heads immediately... great mindshare and branding.

I think I am really going to build a professional presence on these social networking websites. I already have personal profiles on myspace, but I want to keep my personal stuff separate from my professional world.

I found realestate.konnects.com and it seems like it is focused on real estate professionals. Has anybody used this website? It looks like it might be good for meeting other real estate professionals online.

I agree, Myspace is great for networking. I have a personal account on Myspace, but many times when I see a friend request from someone I don't know (especially if it's someone soliciting business), I usually decline it.
So, my question is, how do you (those of you who are successful with Myspace) get people to accept you as "friends"? Do you e-mail them as well as send friend requests?

Some realtors make the mistake of looking at social network sites like Myspace as a link injection opportunity instead of a networking/branding medium. I've gained thousands of links from participating in social networks and becoming known in my vertical. Those links may not exactly help with ranking due to the fact that many of the anchor text are untargetted, but they boost my website authority and that in turn have resulted in higher Google rankings.

I have a personal page on myspace. Everyone on my friends list knows I'm an agent. Every few friends that are added, I'll post a bulletin or whatnot to remind everyone.

Last year I actually had created a myspace page specifically for my real estate work. I did what many other individuals did - searched and added as many people as possible. After several emails basically telling me to go hell (and several friends adds too!) I can only assume people flagged my profile because one day I woke up, and it was gone...just vanished. And I highly doubt I was hacked. Just my two cents on the issue.

I believe that it can't hurt to have a MySpace page and to take advantage of every type of site like this that you can. They may not produce outstanding results by themselves, but they might each get you a little success which can add up. Take advantage of all of the social networking sites and have a blog and a website, while putting serious money into marketing, and you will see that it is all worth it.

The trick, imo, to successful social networking is being social. Myspace isn't meant to be a business networking site - that's what WannaNetwork is for.

Live this, learn it, love it: "People hate spam and they hate the spammers who do it to them even more."

By being me and choosing people I'd like to have over for dinner to be my friends, I have gotten referrals and even more, like meeting my husband

Yes its Spam.

I guess you can get good links with high PR cause myspace has a high PR.

But basically your spamming.

MySpace alone will not get you very good results unless you are on there a lot and you are active in finding new friends and posting comments on their page. I think it can be part of a good strategy if you include other sites like Facebook and LinkedIn and are somewhat active in all of them.

I have been doing some stuff with my social networks growing my presence and I agree that myspace is not where it is at. It is great to seeing my friends latest antics at the bars, but as far professional, it is not.

I have been playing around with that social network site, realestate.konnects.com I found and I really like it. They have a cool method of joining different communities, so I am a part of the Real Estate community and part of the Las Vegas community.

The fact that Konnects is business focused means that you won't get your profile deleted like myspace.

You do have to put in the time to make your social networking work. As others have said it is a social thing, you have to be social.

Face book is a great or have you tried http://www.trulia.com/

I would have to agree with the need to being active on social networks. After all, that's probably why the word "social" is in social networks :). I know of someone who pretty much just went around getting friend requests and rarely sent out a comment or message to a couple of people. In short, his account got banned. Now if it was because of the lack of socializing or something else, I don't know. I'm just saying that not communicating with others probably set a red flag off in enough people's minds to flag the account as spam.

Exactly. I have a plumber "friend" who doesn't do anything except send out bi-monthly bulletin advertisements. Screw that - he's off my friends list today and off my referral list cuz he's obviously clueless and selfish.

If, OTOH, he had sent out informational/helpful bulletins that are related to plumbing or home maintenance, that'd be fine with me - shows that he's knowledgeable, willing to share free advice and he cares. I do that - send out market reports and such - I occasionally close with a little Buffini thang at the end. But most times it's videos, surveys and funny pictures/jokes.

Being subtle is key. Be a friend, act like a friend and give them non-spammy gentle reminders that you're available to help.

YESSSS

I would choose facebook though, facebook lets you have extra pages for business purposes, myspace does not, join facebook put heeps of valuable content and tips on your page and then join every real estate group under the sun

It all depends on your targeted customer base. If you are attracting retires (as Hernando County is mostly) then it may not be very effective. But you never know when the kids or grandkids are going to research for a property for Mom or Grandma.

Of course if you going after first-time homebuyers in their 20s. You MUST go where this generation spends its time.

You should check out http://activerain.com/ Its a social site that can get you network with other real estate agents across the country. From what I see so far it does very good in the search engines as well. You can also have a blog and talk about the area that you work.

Good Luck!

Jason Ryback

Linking to your site on myspace will do NOTHING for your page rank. The reason is that when you put a link on your myspace page, they (myspace) converts your link (EX: http://www.RealPro.info) to a redirect script with an encrypted hash for the URL (ex: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOiQcm8uaW5mbw== this will not work as it only accepts traffic directly from myspace.com)

I have tried using myspace, I think the only way you can benefit is if you spend hours and hours chatting and someone remembers that your a realtor. Your return on investment is really poor.

Myspace is one of many social networking websites out there that you could use to market your services, how you go about it is another story. You could customize your profile and use it as your own website, or you could send out links to all of your listings on random profiles of unsuspecting 'friends'.

A new trend referred to as industry specific social networking or vertical search is something you may be interested in. It allows you to network with people interested in a specific topic, as opposed to Myspace which is 'everything'.

You may want to check out websites such as Realtown.com, Propertyqube.com. You can also get a free profile on Trulia.com which would likely be more useful than on MySpace, or you can get a free real estate webpage on GoGlobe.org in Fall '08.

Realestate.Konnects.com is a good way to connect with other realtors but it seems to be very poorly subscribed to. Although, filling out your profile there with drops like "Orange County Real Estate Agent" or using a list of specific zip codes and the term "buy homes in <insert zip code list here>" as well as listing specific cities you make sales in will certainly not hurt your SEO efforts. These types of social networking listings do score well in Search Engines so it is a good thing to play around with adding as many keywords as possible to your profile.

Hope this is helpful.

Jim Lillig
www.jimlillig.com

MySpace can work if you guys have your pages set up properly. Remember that it is a social networking site. People go there to socialize, not to buy or sell a home. Please don't go on there and start spamming everyone about your business. I wouldn't load the page up with company logo's either or listings. You need to use the "My Story Marketing" technique. Let people get to know "YOU". Yes it does take time but I've gotten leads off MySpace. You can't rely totally on MySpace to generata you leads. You have to join various sites in combination with blogging and V-Logging too.

Honestly, I don’t think promoting your site on myspace is a waste of time. Even if you only get 1 response, it’s 1 response more than if you hadn’t done it. Especially if that 1 response pays out with a huge commission. ;)

IF you have a good network (lots of friends and family), open up a group and get them to join. It'll get larger and you don't even need to spend much time with it. Great way to get started in Myspace Marketing