There is nothing like the forums on AO to learn and pass along wisdom and advice as it becomes germane and proven.

This should be part of every real estate business plan now - you can't hardly buy what you can get for free and learning and utilizing the social networks is how the people with money are going to find you. Stay on the porch, if you can't run with the big dogs.

Even though this 'can' involve the internet, it probably should be handled with smart phones until you can sit down with your iPad, laptop or PC, at least daily.

We're not talking about 'just' a website anymore - we need to learn and embrace Facebook, Twitter. Linkedin, and incorporate and coordinate our blogs and websites to enhance each other and not confuse our viewers in doing so.

As a group here on AO - we can, if you're not afraid to reveal yourselves, help each other immeasurably.

If you have reasons not to reveal, as some members subscribe to - I would suggest a cloaked presence and an open presence - using your open presence to be the nice supportive and agreeable agents and brokers I know you are in your daily activities - outside of AO.

Here is my Facebook page. please send me a friend request and let me know who you are here on AO and you'll be my friend. I'll make a special friend folder for AO friends - along with my other folders.

I'll post more advice and techniques and edit this post to my twitter later.

Also - remember to start an up-to-date discussion on how to use these properly. I'll help guide where I can - others here are good at it also - and perhaps I can get an instructor or two to join us along the way.

Remember for now, friend me, and make a new identity here if you feel you need to remain hidden - just to take advantage of how we can help each other along the way.

Thanks

Pine

This is so vital to all, I hope everyone agrees this should be left here and made sticky to get as many brokers, agents, and real estate pros on board as possible.

Update: Until we discuss it further - let's not post "AO" or "AgentsOnline" on the walls of friends from AO - I have started using the term - ranch - to refer to here.

OK - I think this is me on twitter

Got my thumbs up. I've sold 2 high end properties (well, high end for MY area, lol) thanks to Facebook. I'll be glad to be friends!

It didn't let me add a note, but you'll recognize my picture.

I'm here My Facebook Page

PLUS, I have a FAN PAGE Lake Wallenpaupack Real Estate

AND I'm on Twitter: Perky on Twitter

AND I'm on LinkedIN....just about everywhere!

Not sure how you all did that link, but I friended Pine and you too Perky. Ya'll know me.

Doin' - do this:

[url=http://www.putlinkhere.com then close it off w/ a bracket ] after the "m" then [b]your text[ /b][ /url] (only no space between the [ and the /.

If you're a real estate professional that just lurks - I know you're there - you too can send me a message on my FB page my FB page and send me a friend request and I'll friend you too.

It is never acceptable to post anything that resembles advertisement, profanity, off color remarks, porn, crude jokes, links, etc on my wall or others - unless you get their permission first. follow proper Social media manners - don't barge in like everyone's long lost cousin. Start by 'like' ing remarks every now and then - then move to a comment when you have something in common to add or good info. Relax - and know the difference between a personal FB page and a fan page.

Update: Until we discuss it further - let's not post "AO" or "AgentsOnline" on the walls of friends from AO - I have started using the term - ranch - to refer to here.

OK - I think this is me on twitter

I am on Facebook and on Twitter and I am sending friend requests or following on twitter to everyone. I look forward to annoying you in a new way.....

I do some twittering, no deals out of it yet, but I'm surprised by how easy it is to get followers.

I just thought of something - it would probably be better for 'us' not to mention AO when posting on our new friends walls. I know a lot of members here guard their knowledge source. For now at least, I would prefer not to have AO mentioned - as I am very exposed - lol

I mean I am all for helping others, Admin at AO and all, but I found this place and stuck with it - we can't 'hand' everyone our toolbox.

What do you guys think?


OK - I think this is me on twitter

Oops, my bad!

LOL - not a problem at all - we each moderate our own FB walls - and there is really nothing wrong with AO or being honest. I'm thinking it may behove us at times not to be so forthcoming with info.

I know others will feel different and that's fine too, but for now I'm most comfortable not having it on my wall.

I do see a time in the near future - months - year - that it will not make a difference.




OK - I think this is me on twitter

I have been using social networks for years.Just in the past few years has it gravitated toward business.

I post to about 40 social network sites.

Social network sites just like video sites hop on the train all the time.They offer free services to try and grow the network.Once they grow to an acceptable level they sell of for cash or what happens to many is they die out.

So I send little snippets of info for back linking out to all sites but do not put time into each one.

With Facebook once you hit 1,000 friends they start taking over the site. The goal is to to use these social networks to draw traffic TO YOUR SITES. Many miss the point of this. If you have traffic your sites become more valuable today and in the future.

With Facebook many of my friends work 9 to 5 jobs.So when they go on Facebook they play Farmville,open fortune cookies,and ask me to play 100 games I simply don't have time for.

I still need to do more with it.I am going to separate a small group of closer friends to the broader audience of my network.

Hey Don,

I just friend requested you on facebook. My name is Adam and I've been a member of this site for about a month now. I really love reading and partaking in this forum. I just recently started to get my facebook page going, as well as a fan page. Also just opened linkedin, twitter and youtube accounts. It's a lot of work! I'm going to friend request the rest of you as well. If anyone wants to add me, search Adam Benedict and also search it to become a "fan" of my page as well.

I look forward to seeing your pages!!

I added you to my fb and twitter as well Perky!

If anyone wants to follow me on twitter, please search: Agent Benedict

If you want to be friends on facebook or become a fan of my page, then please private message me or search my name.

Thanks!

Could you explain this further. How do they take over your site?

Well that is not exactly true - but yes it can happen. There are ways to handle it and even make money - but that is another purpose and use.

More on this later - trust me. We're on a trip and we'll all look out for each other.

Super - I hope you're friending people here.



OK - I think this is me on twitter

As a newer agent (on second year) all I've heard is about social media. Well as a former IT person it's easy for me to embrace and enhance. So I've done so but haven't really seen the results yet. I look at is as part of my overall marketing that as new agents we have to do a lot of. The best part I've seen so far for us newer agents is not many older established agents are into social media so it's a market I hope we can work from to (hopefully) earn a living. Funny thing is that I have established agents who find out about what I'm doing come and ask me for advice...

I'm too new to post links here yet but if you search FB and the web for [i][b]The Derrick Team[/b][/i] you should find us. I'm looking forward to this topic from agents with more experience. Great topic! And I don't tell anyone else in my office about this forum. ;)

Dennis Derrick

ROFL

I know I'm "supposed" to do facebook and twitter but quite frankly FB drives me bananas. It seems so time consuming to me. Now Twitter! ..that's another story. Absolutely love it and easy to use..

Pine and Perky, I sent you friend requests. I agree that these social networks are and will continue to be important to growing our business. I do NO print advertising anymore, with the exception of postcards when I sell or list a home. I just got a lead off of Yelp. I joined that site earlier this year, so I am thrilled to get a lead based on my online prescence! I am trying to get more of my clients to leave comments but it has been a struggle.

I have a new list too, titled "The Ranch."

Great idea Pine.

I need to now go follow my new Twitterers.

Question Are most of you all friending all of Pine's new friends? I have just friended he and Perky. I am not certain of the ettiquate. Don't want to over friend. But I think I gather the point is to link us all up as a large network.

I'm not - I figure if someone reads this thread, and befriends Pine but not me there's a reason (i.e., they hate me...lol).

I will befriend anyone from here who friends me though. I'll follow you on Twitter too though I warn...I only use twitter sparingly because I often forget about it.

I just downloaded and installed Tweetdeck which may help keep me on my Twitter-toes.

I'm already causing trouble w/ Tweet Deck. Uh oh.

I don't think you need to worry about etiquette Doin', and the only thing I know is that FB puts restrictions on you if you have several friend requests out not answered, or you add to many in a day - something like 25 - 35 - I can't remember.

I ran into the problem when I set up an alumni group on FB - then for awhile I had a captcha every time I wanted to message, etc.

As not to disturb the mood or personality of my new friends FB page, I usually post something innocuous like - 'looks like you're staying busy Perky, I'll see you at the ranch".

Some people still don't let friends post - so I comment in the same manner.

I just want to confirm the friendship, and hint as to where I came from. Of course - you guys know me.

We'll soon start doing something with this exercise - but let's get as many in the initial group as possible before we start.

You can join in anytime - but it may come to a point that new members will have to read and follow what we are doing and perform tasks we already have - to catch up.

Also - if you have any insight - please share it.

OK - I think this is me on twitter

Now I have to find out what tweet deck is

Hint - don't make us work - we're lazy

I think it is a good idea to refer to AO as the ranch since I am FB friends with my local competition LOL.

I wouldn't, but I don't know how to do all the fancy linking into the forum here. I'm still new. I tried, no luck. Can I just paste my website link in from facebook?

Adam, you need a few more posts then you can do links. I think the threshold is 30 posts. That's to prevent drive by spam postings actually benefiting the spammer. They may post a URL but google wont' see it as hyperlink.

Adam can still learn now - use the 'Switch to Full Reply Screen'

When you want to insert a link - click the link icon, second from left. (you may need to approve it) and a field box opens up - copy and paste into it and click OK, then another box will open if you want to add text as a link.

All other functions are intuitive and typical.

You can always do what you suggested, copy & paste your url into the post. you'll figure it out quickly. Not all posts look beautiful - look at mine.

Anyone else have two FB pages? I have a fan page for business and personal page. The fan page is where I post RE activities and links. My office mates have had many discussions about seperating these activities. Some of my fellow agents are very "fun loving" and those activities should not be shared with all their friends and followers.

I have SEVERAL FB pages. I have a personal one, a fan page of my own, plus I admin a fan page for my office, and I have several fan pages for listings. (Realbird makes them automatically and I don't do anything with them other than send them to the seller and post price changes or new pics on them occasionally.)

I have my personal profile OPEN to the public. My whole point in doing it is to eventually attract business. Which I have. Several current, past, and hopefully future clients and customers interact w/ me on my PERSONAL page - hardly ANYONE does ANYTHING on my fan page other than to occasionally "like" something.

I conduct myself on FB the same way I would behave in public. I never behave poorly in real life in such a way that would offend future clients(my mamma taught me good, plus for years I attended a super-fundamental Baptist church so I'm kinda doomed as a "party girl.") I do admit that some people are rubbed the wrong way by my personality and that's ok - if I irritate them then I don't want to work with them either.

While in real life I do occasionally swear I do not do that on FB. I hide profane posts from others. I also keep my politics and controversial topics to a minimum though sometimes it sneaks in with the occasional religious post.

My goal to to show people WHO I AM through Facebook. That I am a living, breathing human being with parts of my life that are different from FB but to show myself in such a way that people can relate to me. The biggest compliment I get from customers comes when they tell me that I'm just as they imagined I'd be when we finally meet.

I post the occasional real estate stuff on my personal page (just yesterday that sparked interest from a long time personal friend who is thinking about selling her house and she sent me a private message asking me for advice.) I have several listings and two deals closed thanks to Facebook - the closed deals total over $500,000 - and the average sale price in my area is $173,000 or so.

I do not agree with those who say the Personal should be scrubbed of business. It should not be devoid of business nor should it be dominated by business. Just enough to show you're busy, you're working, and you're ready to help....and then the personal fun stuff that shows you're a human, not a selling machine.

That was WAY more than my 2 cents worth, sheesh, that was like, $10 worth. haha

Also I make sure I interact on others walls. I need to do it MORE than I do.

Facebook Personal Page
Facebook fan page
My Twitter Account

Thanks Pine! I hope this works

So, for everyone else, please feel free to add me!

If you get 3 more posts I think those will automatically become hyperlinks.

Perky, I hadn't heard of RealBird before and I just looked it up. Do you use the free account or premium? How do you like it?

Also, I use my facebook personal and fan page the same as you. I post all my current listings on my fan page as well as information in my "niche" area that people might find interesting. Or just link worth reading, usually related to real estate some how.

So many of us have a FB personal page and fan page, but do you post your homes for sale in the marketplace on Facebook? I haven't yet, but am looking into it later today. If you do, how is that working for you?

Perky, I do the same on FB as you. Personal with a little RE and a dedicated fan page. I like the idea of the listing fan page.

You mention RealBird, something I had never heard of and earlier Yelp was mentioned, again never heard of it before.

My question to everyone is how many different sites do you have?

We have Facebook, Twitter, dedicated web site, broker provided web site, blog, Linkedin, Myspace (hardly touched) that are all also fed by Feedburn. Google business, Orkut, Trulia, Zillow, Active Rain, Realtor, and just signed up for Yelp and Naymz. Occasionally use Craigslist. Whew, hard to track all that eh? Made me tired just typing that all in..

Dennis

I pay for Realbird.com - it's a great way to get single listing websites.

Adam et al - when you copy your twitter url - remove the extra #!/ . Also - when you paste in your url - be sure the 'http://' already there is not duplicated.

Perky you mention Realbird.com - are the costs and extras they do for you help sell the property or more to appease the seller?

I you have unlimited pages for your website - couldn't you build a page for each, purchase the url, and do a 301 to that page??

I also agree with Perky right down the line on what she stated in her 2¢.

You can also create community pages for areas of your market so neighbors can interact with each other about anything they want. Of course you can let them know about the listing you just took there and invite them to your open house.

Sure I could but Realbird costs me $89 a year and it integrates all sorts of things in a pleasing format that would take much longer for me to do. Additionally, Realbird pulls a listing map of all other available properties in the area and brands them w/ my name so any customer searching those other properties for sale in the area off of my realbird site will get my info. I've also integrated the listing map from realbird into my website Click here. My MLS does not provide such a widget YET, to my knowledge. When/if it does, then I will consider not using Realbird. Again, all those listings that come up will have my branding on them.

Realbird is more of a time saver. Plus it DOES syndicate the listings online in my name. The websites it makes are REALLY quite nice, user friendly, etc. I COULD do it myself...but the $89 year, unlimited, is worth it to me....

I will be collecting a nice commission check tomorrow thanks to my realbird site for a lakefront home - a listing that was due to be taken off the market at the end of October, and chances are relisted w/ someone else in the spring, was found by the person who ended up buying it. So that $89 fee brought me a $7000+ commission and it's worth it to me. It also automatically creates the Facebook pages (time saver) and creates nice looking flyers for Craigslist (again, a time saver and different from Postlets and Real Estate Shows.)

So your answer is yes - it helps sell homes - lol

Oh - I agree about the low cost if that is all you pay - that is cool too.

I don't know Realbird.com from Rainbird.com - well actually I know Rainbird better. Thanks for the info and be sure I'll take your advice on it seriously.

LOL It took a lot of words to say that. ROFL

Perky,
I, also, am very conservative in what I post on my personal page. You will not find the latest party pictures. I do want to urge agents to scrub the content if you are marketing your site to current and future clients otherwise it should be a private site. Make your fan page open to the public. I agree that some RE is on my personal and some personal on my fan page, it all naturally spills over.

Yelp is a website to leave reviews for local business. I joined earlier this year and have one lead from the site. The challenge is getting my clients to leave comments. Let's see if I can add the link Yelp

Thanks for the Yelp link. I just joined.

you're welcome and thanks for the song in my head today......King of the Road!! Dang it!

ROFLMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yelp - that sounds ominous - thanks I'll check that out too. When I was very young I remember being told I made sounds that resembled a Yelp - you know one of those character building things - lol

There is a sign a few miles down the road that says 'Trailers for Sale or Rent". Of course there are a few truck trailers there - but sometimes it looks like just a sign in the middles of nowhere. Luckily I like that old song -

btw - I agree with being conservative on facebook - but my wild side isn't all that 'out there' anymore.

But on facebook you do have the option of who can see what pics, as well as posts to your wall, or posts to your wall at all.

The hardest thing for me will be redoing it all so my family feels I am protecting them while I open up for everyone just a little more.

Fanpage - I have a long way to go - long, long way. but the first step has been taken.

So Yelp is basically a site to post and read reviews on local businesses?

Yelp. Er, I mean, yep.

I've never had a sale off facebook, but then again, I haven't really tried.

I want to be added to ...

twitter
http://twitter.com/firsttimers1


and on Facebook
ken.beaton@sympatico.ca

Thanks!

Ken, am going to add you now.

I get quite a lot of business from my Facebook. It's all about branding. It can be hard to quantify how affective it is until either someone replies to a post of a new listing you have or just keeps you in mind from seeing that your in the business.ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND: THE MORE YOU SAY THE LESS PEOPLE REMEMBER! By that, I mean DON'T BE THAT GAL/GUY that annoys everyone with nothing but RE. Here is a good blog I wrote that might be useful
http://www.novanida.com/and-these-are-the-days-of-our-lives-brets-5-rules-for-facebook-in-life-and-in-business.html



If you like it, let's be fans..."WHY CAN"T WE BE FANS....WHY CAN WE BE FANS!!( Sing Along) :-)
Here's my facebook fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/NOVAREALTOR

Here are a couple of tips on getting full leverage on Facebook and Twitter:

1. Semi-automate your accounts with tools like www.Hootsuite.com. Pump an RSS feed in from your favorite real estate news wire (such as www.HousingWire.com/RSS) and trip it to check for news updates once every 12 hours. Do yourself and your audience a favor and only do this with 1-2 news feeds per 12 hour period. Anything more and it's obvious you're not typing in your tweets. This will really boost your followers and will have a positive effect on search engines.

2. Learn how to create a Facebook Fan Page for your company and then customize it to look really unique. I really like the Go Homebuyer.com profile and modeled our company's FB fan page after it. http://www.facebook.com/GoHomebuyer?v=app_4949752878.

Here is how you can do the Facebook Fan Page: http://mashable.com/2010/02/22/build-facebook-landing-page/

Hi all just ran across this, and would like to be added and I'll go though and add the ones I miss.

www.twitter.com/PaRealEstateAgt

and I don't know how to add the face book link but it's

www.facebook.com/LutherWormack

just followed you Luther. I am markbrian on twitter.

As I have told other agents within my company who are social media non believers. This is not some magic bullett. Much like regular farming, you need to give this time to work, don't expect to have a lead in a week and if you don't assume that this doesnt' work. Got a blog, download the app for it so that it posts everytime you writ one, got a Posterous, link it so that the photos and posts pop up, no youtube channel? get one, link that on there. As always make sure you are following the protocols of both your broker and NAR should they apply.

I've had my initial page since the Summer, I have one SOLID lead from it, but my database has increased quite a bit and people do come there and read what I post (the insights are a GREAT tool to help you see who is REALLY reading and viewing your page) and it's FREE, why wouldn't you at least give it 6 months??? I;m going to move to the pay per click soon...

With Facebook, so far I have only maintained a personal private version. However, that has lead to one EXCELLENT lead. It is someone who learned that I became a real estate agent from Facebook, and called me to help her and her husband make an offer on the new house they want. The only snag is that the deal is conditional on the sale of their home, (they wanted to do it that way). But, I have the listing for their home too, and it shows well, and is priced well, and has only been on the market for a week.

Anyhoo, before I had doubted the power of a public Facebook fan page or group. Why fan page instead of group? Who are the strangers that will join? However, after reading this thread, and a bunch of other related comments, I am going to give it a go. May incorporate Perky's ideas with Real Bird, since I already signed up for that. Didn't know it had Facebook app. Hope it's low maintenance though, cuz I already manually input my listings in 3 different places.

Thank you to NFSTI for the unique ideas. Now I just need to find a good local feed!

I just started my social media and SEO campaigns. I don't have much time to manage the social media myself. How much should I pay someone to handle facebook, twitter, and any of the other large ones?

Don't pay anyone to do it. If you can't do your own social media there is no point. The idea of social media is to be social w/ your friends & followers.

Agree 100%. The whole point is to show YOUR social side. Just imagine someone says "Great post yesterday". You don't have a clue what YOU said....

The people I've seen met that are really effective post like 4+ posts a day on facebook and twitter. I just don't have the time to do all of that but I want the same effectivness.

They are helping me schedule out each month with interesting and informative info and then I chime in with personalized stuff ever couple of days. It may not be necessary, but I'll find out in the coming months after my contract is up...

the idea of facebook is to interact with people. really. if all you do is pay somoene robo post your listings or other advert type postings you'll just be throwing your money away as your followers will soon just ignore you.

you can just do a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes in the evening - going on your friend's walls and responding to them on your wall. It can be as time consuming as you let it.

you would be better off just paying for PPC ads on Facebook and having people end up on your website.

I can't stress enough how much you all must get into MICRO-LOCAL and make sure that whatever page or community you start is focused on just that! I just noticed yet another new thing Facebook did this week. Going to one of my business/community pages it populated EVERYTHING in the search/dropdown. This is GREAT, it's going to only help us and get more people looking at our pages and then hopefully going to the "like" option. Working with very little money and can't afford the ad or pay per click? No problem, there so many ways to make this work to your advantage! All you need from there are the right apps and some GREAT content!

Email me at SoldInThecityDC@gmail.com to discuss or ask questions!


Later!

Becky, if you can only make the time to post ONCE a day, then once is all you need. It's all about what you are giving and what content you are providing...

Thanks for the feedback. I will discuss your input with the company I hired and see what they say as well as start personalizing the posts more

Hello My name is Susan and I'm a new agent in Maryland looking to meet fellow agents. Here is my facebook page

[url=http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=9348800][b]My Facebook Page[/b][/url]

Where in heavens should I start with this FB thing? I went online to the site and it's just confusing. Must one start a personal page before they can start a business page? Does a business page exist?

Anyone know where I can find a full set of instructions? I don't want to just jump into the water without knowing where the rocks are.

I feel the same way! You should do this in mind with the understanding that there is a method to it, that you need to give it time, and that you must market on a hyper/micro local scale. Not to shamelessly promote, but to get an idea, check out my pages on Facebook:

Petworth Home Values
sold In the City DC
Property Values Around the Beltway

That makes sense. It's very easy to get distracted by wanted to reach the entire market because there is so much money being exchanged. I need to re-adjust my approach

If you don't have a killer web site with an awesome IDX you really have no need for social media yet any way.

There is a ton of hype out there about how you need social media and need to do X amounts of post a day. Well most of it is Bull....

In my opinion the reason you need to understand face book, twitter and text messaging is because it is the new form of communication. Note I am not saying marketing I am saying communication. this is how the clients of today and of tomorrow want to communicate not be marketed too. Face book is more like an email/data base to me and my business. 90% of all my business is generated online and 95% of that is from Google if my site gets 8,000 visitors a month (and it usually does) only about 110 of those are from face book or any social media that I do.

I know I know we all hear about the guy or girl who is closing 100 deals this year from social media and that may all be fine and true, but that agent most likely has a team in place to actually work the business while they focus on the social aspect of the business. Also make sure you fully understand the difference between traffic and leads and ask those questions because a ton of traffic will not always equal a ton of leads. My best lead sources are lower traffic long tail key words.

With all that said Social media is important and trust me it is not the end all solution to your lead generation needs just a very small piece of it. So use it for what it is meant for, being social and market in places that are made for marketing.

P.S.
I do not agree that you have to be the one doing your social media and I do believe that if you outsource it you must use the right company. Just to clarify do not hire someone to pretend to be you. set up a company/fan page like "your name real estate team fan page" and have them post relevant content and actually respond and engage people as the rep for your company, not as you.

Good luck and remember there is no magic bullet for Real Estate success, just hard work and persistence.

I need to learn more about IDX. I understand the basics of it but not how to incorporate it into my marketing

Also, that was a helpful post Jim

Do any of you know about FBML code and how to change your Facebook Landing page to spice it up?

http://www.pagerage.com/?affid=2&s1=...p;s5=&cid=3
Here is a place with some free downloads. I have absolutely no affiliation with them. I do know there are tons of free and cheap options out there. on this one they do have you opt in and try to up-sell you later but you can just unsubscribe if you want. this company has actually sent me other really cool and valuable stuff so I am still on the mailing list. Please let me know if this helped or if you found some other killer option.
P.S. Moderator
if I am not supposed to post links in here please PM me and I will never do it again I love AO and never want to break the rules.

[quote=Don Price (Pine)]

Here is [url=http://www.facebook.com/Mr.DonPrice][b]my Facebook page[/b][/url]. please send me a friend request and let me know who you are here on AO and you'll be my friend. I'll make a special friend folder for AO friends - along with my other folders.


Pine
[/quote]

How do I set up special folders on Facebook?

You don't set up folders but you can set up friends lists. I think that's what he meant.

MVegasrealtor,

Typically we will offer some type of free report, tips or links to a property search engine, but only getting this information after the person clicks "like." This seems to work effectively and increase chances of building a relationship with both buyers and sellers.

you also may wanna try involver.com

I got a good app for youtube from there to put onto my community page, because for some reason setting up through the app via facebook just wasn't successful!

You're supposed to do what you feel you're able to work into your marketing and time management. While FB and twitter have the best optimization, what yeilds you the best results are how you engage and how much time you put into it. If time is your biggest concern, stick with Twitter and Posterous...

I've liked your page be sure to like mine back Angela Loughnan Sales Representative Homelife Bayside Realty Ltd.
Also who created your fanpage for you, its awesome I would love to be able to have something like that

Done!
I made it myself, and need to fix it cause I think FB changed sizes or something since I made it, and I think FB is also disabling FBML markup, and I dont' know what that means. LOL.

...at this point, FB is being KILLED by Google+

It is however, a keeper if you have a community page or a busiess page(much more suitable for sales teams)

Wow is Facebook really getting killed? Do tell!

Is there actual numbers showing how many new usurers have jumped on +1? I am looking and not finding anything great yet, I found a few sites and they don't really seem legit.

I still like FB.

Google + is still behind Facebook in number terms (of course), but it's gotten some glowing reviews. This, for instance: http://www.reelseo.com/google-plus-more-invites/.

I still like FB as well Perky.

Thanks for the share clickscape.

Here is [url=http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Prop/171657962915325]First Properties[/url] my Facebook page

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Prop/171657962915325">My facebook Page</a>

Please send me the facebook request.

Hi,
I don't think that social media is nothing to improve business. I feel that after the launch of Google+, a new chapter is added in the strategy of using social media for business promotion and branding.

I think social media is overplayed in a lot of ways. Social media has largely turned into another angle for markets to try and solicit business from agents. The hype of integrating your internet presence across your FB and Twitter accounts won't beef up your SEO and will only extend as far as your current friends. A lot of talk is swirling around Google's integration of a Google+ search result, similar to Google Places, and how this is going to pave the future of searchability. However, thes Google+ results are not laid out in a way that makes me want click them. They feel more like PPC ads and I just move on.

SEOmoz did a really good review of the impact of social media on random search phrases. The gist is social media has an impact but not a major one because (and this is their conjecture) it can be spammed easily. Wading through what is legit and what is not is difficult.

Depending upon the type of business that you are promoting on social media will ultimately determine the success of a good Social Media campaign. You have to first determine the most common method someone will find information on what your business is. If you are doing a search for a house for sale or rent in a specific location, 86% of people will first search google for local website then go from there. In that case, social media wont play as large of a factor then providing relevant and up to date information on your website. Now, with the advent of google's Search plus your world, using social media will play a factor in your search results as well as organic. Now for places such as restaurants or night clubs, social media will play a much larger role as social interaction and social engagement will keep the location fresh. Yes, we want to keep people talking about your real estate company, but people are more likely to spend $30 on a meal then $300,000 on a home this weekend.

Well put Truerealestate I am always engaging in this same conversation with many people and especially agents.

I agree also with Truerealestate. Buying a home is not exactly a great fit for social media, like dining and dancing might be. I have conferred with a couple of SEO guys who think that Google+ and FB pages are going to be given a lot more authority by Google in the near future. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen. My advice is to be in all the popular places, like Google+ and FB. It certainly can't hurt. I'm now trying to figure out how to automatically post my blog posts to FB and Google+. Maybe I'll find it in another thread. I thought it would be more cut and dry. But I am finding out otherwise. It all takes so much patience. Little at a time.

I don't think that Google+ has taken off as anticipated. As far as Facebook is concerned it is still a widely used medium for marketing purposes.

with buyers, you have to connect differently when using FB. The sellers are already in the social spaces. There isn't too much work to put on to get to them. With buyers, marketing needs to be done based on how real estate is encompassed by what surrounds the property...the neighborhoods and community...it's not difficult, but the approach is different...

Google + I managed to find a GREAT use for it, I pretty much have the same people in my SOI in a circle, as well as colleagues in another one (referrals) and the hangout feature has helped me get about 20 clients, all because they were impressed with how I managed to use it to present me marketing to them...VERY useful!!

Social sites are really usefull for business. We can make our corporate accounts over there and can spread what we are doing. Yes there is nothing like forums AO. Forums are good as compare to social sites because It is never accepts the post anything that resembles advertisement,porn,crude,jokes.

Social sites are really useful for business. We can make our corporate accounts over there and can spread what we are doing. Yes there is nothing like forums AO. Forums are good as compare to social sites because It is never accepts the post anything that resembles advertisement, porn, crude jokes.

Super Realtor is right on the money here. Driving traffic to your website is the main thing here.

My opinion is that social sites are just in the beginning. Especially facebook. Zuckerberg's group is extremely talented and I'm sure that sooner or later they will figure out how to get their platform optimized for businesses.

when Facebook entered in market i join that, nut when Twitter came! I join Twitter and I like Twitter rather then Facebook.These are the social media which ll never fall down ever.

Research has shown that up to 50% of twitter accounts are fake.

It is not quite as bad on facebook, but the numbers show facebook is already on a downward spiral.

People will always work hard to figure out ways to game the system in one way or another, just like Black hat SEO with Google and people buying Facebook likes. If you work any of the social or SEO platforms consistently, with integrity and stay within the rules you will reap great benefits from them.

How much time did you devote to social media last year and how many deals did it produce?

I respectfully disagree with your contention that social media is just in the beginning. I think it's a passing fad because of the privacy issue. Once people wake up and realize that the internet is FOREVER and that their lives and reputations are ruined by posting the stupid, overly personal crap that is getting posted on Facebook this very minute, it will be over, and the devotees will have to find new ways to hook up with high school crushes.

With the decline in the number of facebook accounts this has already started. If they allow the commercialization of these sites, it will only hasten their demise.

On every forum where the devotees come on bragging about the popularity of these sites non of them ever answer my question about the deals they produce and I think I know why.

Totally agree. People don't buy a home on internet or social media. I have yet to find the real purpose of Google+. It's just like the facebook likes, you can go to places like fiverr and purchase 100s or 1000s of them, they really don't mean much anymore.

As for your problem with posting your blog posts automatically to facebook there are several plugins that do that, you can check out this one it's free I think http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-facebook-connect/

I think a lot of your are not seeing the big picture. Yes, you are correct that people do not buy a home on the internet or on social media(there are exceptions to this). However, when used correctly, the internet and social media specifically will help you grow your business in ways that you need to see to believe. I also agree that the number of Facebook likes does not matter, but the number of targeted Facebook likes does matter.


Let me explain more in detail and show you some numbers. 94% of people start their home search online. So, being on the internet will be helpful to you. Here is the big one, 80% of buyers/sellers use the first agent they find. Knowing that, you need to be in front of everyone you can when the time comes for them to find an agent.


Enter social media. The goal with social media should not be to push properties on Facebook, that can be done, but it is an added bonus. Your goal on Facebook should be gaining targeted likes and fans, and then building relationships with those fans. That way, when a fan, or even a friend of a fan, needs an agent, you are on the top of the list. I think all agents would like to get 4 out of 5 potential customers they come in contact with.


Without dragging on, social media should be used for building relationships and conditioning potential clients. You need to be getting in front of them long before they ever think about needing a real estate agent. Once you start applying what I just said above the whole game will change for you.

I hit FB, Twitter and Linkedin hard in late 2008, carried through 2009 to build a community. You have to put in the time to build critical mass. You need to be strategic. At 1200 Twitter followers, 600 on Linkedin and 400 on FB I backed off. Today I spend about 5 minutes a day on Twitter, less on Linkedin and maybe 20 on FB. Once the ball is rolling it's easy to keep going.(actually fun)

This year I have 3 listings and 3 sales I can track directly to social media. People I would never have done business with otherwise.

Cheapest source of new business I can find.

Cheers ..... CanaDave

CanaDave,

Congrats. Yeah, success will definitely not come overnight, but if you put in the time, like it sounds like you have, success will come.

It takes a long time to become an overnight success!

How much of your time did it take to get this business?

Social media continues to be an important method of advertising any business online. However, this doesn't mean that all methods of advertising (such as buying Facebook ads) work for all businesses. GM, for example, just pulled down $10 million worth of Facebook ads.