Look Who’s Talking - Part III: Communicate Passively With A Measurable Strategy
June 10th, 2010
This is Part III of a 6 part blog campaign to help you with ideas on HOW to engage and listen to your online audience, WHY you should listen to them first before creating your own content and WHAT to do in response to their voice. In PART I of “Look Who’s Talking”, we outlined five key benefits to forming relationships with online readers by first researching and posting existing content to social media. Part IiI of “Look Who’s Talking” will cover the second of these five key benefits.
When researching what information has already saturated the internet and posting links to your resources on social media via Hootsuite, you will not only learn what content your audience has already been reading, but you will also receive feedback from your audience without them ever contacting you. How? Hootsuite allows you to view the number of clicks per post, per social media account. So, by analyzing the subject matter of what links were more popular, you learn more about your audience’s interest. It is important to post your links around the same time, however. Otherwise, you will have to consider the time of your post when conducting analytics when there is no need to complicate things.
It’s commonly known that people spend most of their time on the internet at work and the best time to post material is during or right after lunch. Some people take breaks at their desk and surf the net, while others go away to lunch to return to their computer and surf before going back to work. You probably have heard this. What you may not have heard or considered is paying attention to time zone differences if you are marketing nationally or internationally.
If you are in the Pacific Time Zone, it may be better to post in the morning, so you can reach your audience on the East Coast during lunch and your readers on the West Coast when they get to work. The main thing is not to post during hours where people are most focused on their work or not even in front of the computer. Most people are ready to go home at the end of the day.
You may want to experiment, however, and post the same article in the morning one month and then int the evening another month to gage when your readers are clicking on your posts most often. You want to give it a good month though, so you have a good set of numbers to compare. One week vs. one month is obviously less data. Once you figure out what works through analytics, go with it and be consistent–but continue to measure your strategy.
Look Who’s Talking - Part 2: Learn What Existing Content Is Redundant First
June 10th, 2010
This is Part II of a 6 part blog campaign to help you with ideas on how to engage and listen to your online audience, WHY you should listen to them first before creating your own content and WHAT to do in response to their voice. In PART I of “Look Who’s Talking”, we outlined five key benefits to forming relationships with online readers by first researching and posting existing content to social media. Part II of “Look Who’s Talking” will cover the first of these five key benefits.
Learn what existing content is redundant.
While you are sifting through existing content to share with and build your audience, you not only learn more about your industry, but you also learn more about what content has already saturated the internet. If you find the same subject matter in many blogs, chances are your readers have already read it—and that tells you what your readers don’t want to read.
I have read too many articles that tell you to keep your content original in order to create and retain an audience. Well, first of all, that has been said by many people, on many blogs. So, how "original" is that concept really? Fact is, there is more to writing your own content than writing it yourself. Original content, in my opinion is offering a unique and original perspective and key points, if not overall context.
Sure, much like clichés, the same things are said often because they are usually true. The point of this post is not simply criticize other authors. The point of this post is to establish the reason why I suggest beginning with research and posting links to articles. Research is HOW you find out what content is truly original. Posting links is how you establish yourself as a resource for a VARIETY of relevant information. Using a tool such as Hootsuite is what allows you to listen to an audience. Then, you can be certain your content is not only original, but what your readers want to read.
Look Who’s Talking - Part 1: How To Develop And Speak To Your Audience Using Social Media
June 10th, 2010
Are you sick of reading the same things that are said virtually the same way? Are you sick of being sold the wrong information? Internet police should start performing redundancy checks and handing out citations for redundancy. Hopefully, you readers will get the humor in the structure of that sentence!
If you want to retain readers, your material must be comprehensive and original. The reader must take away something from your piece that speaks to them repeatedly and in a way few others do. In fact, if I spend too much more time talking about original content, I will be a hypocrite posting evidence for the world to see by offering you little more than many other blogs, social media posts and email newsletters have offered me and you.
So, let us get to the meat of how you form a good understanding of what content is interesting to your reader. There are some very good points made by Allan Dalton, President of Top 5 Marketing, in this video about face to face conversation. I agree with Allan that face to face conversation, and the way you handle it, is invaluable, but so is your conversation trough technology. Think about it. Conversation through technology often ends up fact-to-face covnersation with many people. That is a huge benefit of properly utilizing technology among many others.
Yes, technology is more than a form of fishing. It is a means for communication—and to be a good communicator, you have to be a good listener. To be a good listener using technology, you have to create a platform that enables you to build an audience, to measure actions of that audience and to directly contact that audience. I suggest beginning with social media and research. If you are just starting to build your audience and learn their interest levels, coming out of the gate and writing a blog seems counterproductive doesn’t it? So,a good start is to post links to your research on your Facebook Business Page, for example, through Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows you to conduct analytics by providing you information on how many clicks each post received. It is a free tool that generates simple, yet powerful information. They offer a lite (free) and full (paid) version of the iPhone application too.
The key benefits to forming relationships with the reader by first researching and posting existing content to social media are that this process allows you to:
- Learn what existing content is redundant.
- Begin effectively communicating with a passive, yet measurable strategy.
- Post links to relevant material on social media to increase efficiency.
- Establish a following for your original material.
- Establish a following for you to directly contact.
The above benefits will be covered in more detail in future posts throughout this week, as this is Part I of a 6 part blog campaign to help you with ideas on how to engage and listen to your online audience, WHY you should listen to them before creating your own content and WHAT to do in response to their voice. But to summarize PART 1… look who is talking when you begin engaging people online. If you are trying to learn about your audience, it shouldn’t be you.
Useful Real Estate Technology Links
June 10th, 2010
Below is a compilation of real estate and technology links. Follow us on Facebook for access to an updated and larger list of links.
EXCELLENT realistic take on expectations of blogging and social media:
http://ht.ly/1HVQi
Interesting statistics showing Real Estate Agents Are Becoming More Tech Savvy:
http://ht.ly/1HUFo
Some interesting tips for Realtors:
http://ht.ly/1HNPt
This article paints a contrast between styles of developing online business.Thought that comes to mind are, why not both?
http://ht.ly/1Hp3v
If you are serious about Social Media, definitely watch this video which outlines some helpful social media tools:
http://ht.ly/1HjQb
A few very useful features for promoting your web site on Facebook. The first two I think are going to be most common:
http://ht.ly/1EX0U
Very interesting facts regarding Facebook. Who knows what they will do next.
http://ht.ly/1Ermv
Find the most active real estate agents? Not so sure this is a good tool, but it’s going down in Houston:
http://ht.ly/1EqPQ
What Facebook’s Open Graph means for real estate marketing:
http://ht.ly/1DInK
Not a bad article on the dos and dont’s of social media:
http://ow.ly/1CrQz
A few very useful features for promoting your web site on Facebook. The first two I think are going to be most common:
http://ht.ly/1EX0U
Become A Fan Very interesting facts regarding Facebook. Who knows what they will do next.
http://ht.ly/1Ermv
Find the most active real estate agents? Not so sure this is a good tool, but it’s going down in Houston:
http://ht.ly/1EqPQ
What Facebook’s Open Graph means for real estate marketing:
http://ht.ly/1DInK
Not a bad article on the dos and dont’s of social media:
http://ow.ly/1CrQz
The Future of Real Estate Marketing: Read it for yourself –>
http://ow.ly/1BZ92
Small Brokerage Thinks Big Part II:
http://ow.ly/1BqeQ
Writing emails that won’t end up in spam.
http://ow.ly/1BoQ8
An excellent video on effectively implementing a business blog:
http://ow.ly/1BjxG
"The main idea behind video submission is that search engines assign more weightage to pages containing videos"…
http://ow.ly/1AZcq
"You don’t need a social media strategy — you need a strategy that includes social media" Couldn’t be more dead on.Read:
http://ow.ly/1AYQW
Adapting to Generation X & Y Real Estate Clients:
http://ow.ly/1AYkZ
Trulia goes rental:
http://ow.ly/1AYeV
Excellent, in depth article regarding social media at Inman News:
http://ow.ly/1AQ2Q
Facebook replaces the "Become a fan" button with the "like button" for Business pages:
http://ow.ly/1Auqm
EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!! Reinventing Real Estate Agents!!!
http://ow.ly/1yBE6
And a tool to check your site’s page rank here:
http://ow.ly/1yBdg
Great article for small brokerages trying to get an angle on their market:
http://ow.ly/1yAhS
Great article that paints the picture of the changes in the experience of being a Real Estate Professional :
http://ow.ly/1yzRl
Decent informative article on internet growth rates:
http://ow.ly/1xXr0
EXCELLENT ARTICLE ABOUT AGENTS AND THEIR MINDSETS:
http://ow.ly/1xEDB
VERY interesting article on the future of Real Estate:
http://ow.ly/1xEp6
Top ten lending markets to home owners:
http://ow.ly/1xEjk
Judge for yourself. I’m still not very sold on Linked In, personally.
http://ow.ly/1xDZ3
Not a bad article. A few weak points, but some solid ones as well on the proper usage of Facebook:
http://ow.ly/1xDS6
Internet marketer? Watch this. But it applies to all industries, as we have demonstrated Social Media is a must!
http://ow.ly/1wIUu
This is all true, although I am not sure they are my top five: Still, good information:
http://ow.ly/1wIKU
Well, this will speed up transactions! E-signatures allowed for real estate transactions?!? Yikes!!!
http://ow.ly/1wIDa
Minor good news, but I wonder if there is always this amount of increase in the median sale this time of year:
http://ow.ly/1wIBW
Excellent outlay: How you can generate business that generates capital to generate more business using electronic media:
http://ow.ly/1wIoE
Interest rates back down:
http://ow.ly/1wFKy
realistiQ customers, see our newly designed youtube channel which is populated weekly with video tutorials.
http://ow.ly/1wyfs
Interesting video on how videos are changing the marketing & advertising industry
http://ow.ly/1wxEi
Recently rolled out the new www.lasvegashomes.com: Check it out and let us know your thoughts.
http://ow.ly/1wxx3
Excellent video with internet marketing tips:
http://ow.ly/1wb1e
Real Estate & Technology Professionals: Join us on Twitter for networking and daily hand picked informative links
http://ow.ly/1w5cT
If you are a real estate or technology professional, check out our Facebook page for an abundance of links relative info:
http://ow.ly/1w52f
This is simply one of the best and coolest internet marketing tools I have seen to date:
http://ow.ly/1vEiM
My friend and respected colleague wrote this: Own a web site? You must integrate and use this free tool:
http://ow.ly/1vE5D
Interesting interview regarding social media and real estate brought to you by: Real Estate Agent Resume
http://ow.ly/1vjht
Jesse Olive: Director of Customer Relations-realistiQ: Honored to connect with many Real Estate master minds on Facebook:
http://ow.ly/1viQG
I HIGHLY recommend this tool.
http://ow.ly/1ve3e
A little Twitter education for your convenience:
http://ow.ly/1vdx7
Automate Twitter Promotion & Marketing with tweet adder: This has been featured by many reputable sources:
http://ow.ly/1vccu
If you liked Flowtown and are considering using it, you may want to read this article:
http://ow.ly/1vc7d
This site is the BOMB:
http://ow.ly/1vbQn
WOW, If you are serious about drip marketing and social media, you may want to check out Flowtown:
http://ow.ly/1vbMD
I highly recommend Brokers and Real Estate agents going to this… I certainly hope I can:
http://ow.ly/1vaul
Some of the tips in here are obvious, but some good info regarding the real estate industry exists in here as well:
http://ow.ly/1uUHL
Excited to have this in our pipeline for development:
http://ow.ly/1uUzR
More interesting information on Real Estate Marketing
http://ow.ly/1uUz4
Interesting Real Estate marketing information:
http://ow.ly/1uU4w
I recently posted a link about property portal web sites. Here’s one on stealth web sites. Another effective method:
http://ow.ly/1udXw
An good article that talks about the inevitable role switch of Real Estate Agents due to technology advancements:
http://ow.ly/1udWz
Important technological article/stats/information to many industries, including the Real Estate Industry:
http://ow.ly/1udPq
This is good news for the real estate industry… hopefully this will reflect on other markets:
http://ow.ly/1udDW
This was published in 2008. If you aren’t on board as of now, you may want to talk to me after watching:
http://ow.ly/1ubwC (no sales)
YouTube - What Are Google’s Plans for Real Estate?
http://ow.ly/1tRwx
I want to tweet in 3D because This sounds fun and highly interactive! #HootSuite3D
http://hootsuite.com/hs3d
A link to "Tweet Adder" An incredibly useful tool for tracking and automating your Twitter efforts:
http://ow.ly/1tI6H
These tools are personal favorites for social networking:
http://ow.ly/1tI3a … add Ping.FM to the list.
Visit http://ow.ly/1dnAw to read sellsmarter2009.pdf. Great read from rising author and accomplished sales person.
A quick and plain English intro the micro-blogging service Twitter. http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter
Great article called "Death of The Hard Sell"
http://goo.gl/fb/psq5
Another great video with important stats regarding Social Media:
http://ow.ly/1smhe
Interesting article pertaining to the internet and MLS:
http://ow.ly/1slS1
This video on YouTube is a bit scary, but important: http://ow.ly/1sjb9
If you’re a real estate professional and desire a resource for valid hand selected material, become a fan of our page:
http://ow.ly/1siz4
This is a valuable real estate marketing article:
http://ow.ly/1shbV
A very interesting article:
http://ow.ly/1sgYr
Maybe this will happen in other real estate markets:
http://ow.ly/1sgVe
Top 10 Cities with Climbing Home Prices - eRealEstate Social www.erealestatesocial.com Home prices aren’t tanking everywhere. In some cities they have bounced pretty high off the bottom, according to a report in Forbes magazine.Altos Research examined data for every U.S. city with at least 100 homes on the market – about 8,000 cities.
No sales jargon, just results. Visit this link if interested in boosting retention and increasing production.
The Real Recruiter :: Complete Agent Recruiting Solution By Jon Cheplak & Santosh Kompalwar therealrecruiter.com The Real Recruiter a leading provider of complete recruiting solution to real estate industry. To know more visit http://www.therealrecruiter.com/
Real Estate Agent or Broker? Know one? This site should come in handy.
http://ow.ly/1rrzK
An interesting tool. I have a feeling this site/app will grow tremendously.
http://ow.ly/1iDrb
Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Brokers and Investors | Inman News -
http://ow.ly/1iDrb
If you are in real estate and looking to utilize Facebook to increase exposure, you may find this web site helpful.
http://ping.fm/QJJba
This is an incredibly important report for brokers and agents, as it provides insight on what their customers and potential customers are looking for:
Hyperlocalism: Specializing In Marketing Homes In Specific Neighborhoods The Trend For Success
June 10th, 2010
A pretty short blog post. Literature seems to have flooded the internet today regarding the concept of niche marketing, AKA, hyperlocalism. The key point is that as a Real Estate Agent or team, specializing in marketing certain neighborhoods or city areas seems to be the trend many are following and achieving success. With that said, how do YOU do this successfully as an Real Estate Agent or Team? How do you do this as a company that covers many areas?
There are many ways to do this, but our suggestion at the top of the list is blogging. If you are an agent, ask your Owner/Broker if you can contribute content to the company blog as well as your own. Find out as much information as possible about the area and continue to share it with the community. Make sure you use keywords, but there is a balance. You can actually be penalized for overusing them.
If you are an Owner/Broker… create categories within your company wide blog with the name of the community and allow your blog managers to post content specifically pertaining to the corresponding area. You can get creative with these blog posts and, depending on how your company is set up, promote the Real Estate Agents in your company that specialize in that area. They sky is the limit here, but your blog can be the foundation of how you begin creating content that generates followers and establishes yourself or your Agents’ as specialists in specific areas.
Now What? Solutions To The Most Common & Current Technological Challenges In The Real Estate Industry Today.
June 10th, 2010
For years, the internet has served as the front door to the real estate transaction process. As the percentage of internet home searches has increased over the years, advancements in real estate technology and the buying process has changed.
- Justyn Howard reported in his publication Sell Smarter 2009 that “82% oers consider email their most important advertising tactic” as it generates “3x the ROI of traditional marketing efforts”
- Realtor.Org reports “The NAR is aware of the demands the industry has for improved technology”.
- Social Media has outgrown mega sites such as Google.com for number of daily visits.
Today, prospects often want to remain anonymous until they are ready for human to human contact. How do you get and remain in front of prospects without being invasive? By passively engaging them with educational information. Information technology, such as blogs, call capture systems and social media are ever increasingly popular technology tools that real estate professionals are using to establish passive relationships and credibility in prospects via the provision of information as the first step of the buying process. Such tools allow prospects to gage your level of knowledge, your approach and your work ethic long before you contact them or they contact you.
But wait, information technology is supposed to make your life easier, right? How does one manage so many accounts and tools with efficiency? How does a technologically challenged, person-to-person type real estate professionals manage technology and marketing effectively?
These are the questions arising in the real estate industry as technology becomes more and more a part of the engaging phase of the buying and selling process. There are many options for agents out there, but they typically are not comprehensive and there are other solutions available to real estate agents through their brokers that are even more helpful, yet they can still be challenging and cumbersome. These facts present a new set of issues for real estate agents and brokers to solve. And there will be different problems from agent to agent and company to company.
So, what you need is a technology provider that has a comprehensive answer for your particular problem. Such a company should focus on the following to provide solutions to the problems listed above:
- Additional technical support for your agents will make their lives easier, as many agents are technologically challenged.
- Marketing services that will free agents’ time up and allow them to focus on what they were trained to do.
- An intranet that allows you to manage as much of your business as possible within one account.
- Technology built for professionals in your specific industry.
What does the job description of the future Real Estate Agent look like?
May 5th, 2010
here are many questions regarding the future of the Real Estate Industry. One of these questions is, "What does the job description of the future Real Estate Agent look like?" There is speculation that Real Estate Agents will soon be technologically savvy employees as home owners and buyers are beginning to do delve deeper into the buying and selling process theirselves, needing less assistance from the Realtors. Tools such as Craig’s list are growing in popularity. Mega web sites and large brokerage web sites are offering more features. The list of reasons for alternatives to running traditional brokerages goes on and is continuing to grow. What is the major underlying cause? Technology. Sure, the economy has much to do with change in the Real Estate Industry, but in reality, that has simply forced many Real Estate Company Owners to take a harder look at their business model, which in turn, has typically spawned a harder look at their investment in Real Estate Technology.
Technology’s increased role in changes to the Real Estate Profession should not come as a surprise. It has been a well known fact that over 80% oreal estate searches have begun online for years. Now, the figure is around 90%. ;technology has only eased into the nurturing and management of the prospects technology has generated for years. Even today, the average Real Estate Agent, Broker, or Business Owner for that matter still has yet to become technologically savvy. Having a web site built that provides listings, that ranks high on the search engines and that produces some leads is a start, but that is a start to a race that began a LONG time ago. The technologically savvy Real Estate Professional understands the ins and outs of Social Media, Blogging, Email Drip Marketing and Video at the least. Some understand deeper levels of Real Estate Marketing & Technology such as social graphics and conversion rates. There is no question, the technologically savvy Real Estate Agent has its presence, and that presence is growing throughout the National Association of Realtors.
This wave of the present and the future Real Estate Agent has its positive and negative effects on Real Estate Companies. For starters, it is increasing the necessity for a technology budget, or an increase IN a technology budget, during a tough time in the economy. But even if the economy was booming, there still would be some major Real Estate challenges for Real Estate Companies that still have or are trying to adjust their traditional business models. Depending on how you look at it, one could say these challenges go even DEEPER than budget. No, not deeper than "the bottom line". There is a reason they call it that. But consider an aspect beyond budget that affects the bottom line of a business; Organizational Strategy.
Accenture states, "The correct business strategy is the essential first step to achieving high performance, but it is not enough. To execute the strategy effectively and achieve the high-octane results you require, organizational structure must be aligned with business goals. This is not easy: in a recent Accenture survey, four of the top five business issues identified by senior executives were related to organizational, people and leadership issues."
As a Real Estate Company Owner, the agent classification process and the action based upon it is essential to your Organizational Strategy, and in turn. During this time of change, some Owners may prefer to stick with or form a more traditional Real Estate Business model and recruit only those agents that fit that mold. Others may want to lean towards an unconventional business model. It may make sense for some to choose a hybrid–especially the larger companies.
What does this mean? Well, let’s look at what it DOESN’T mean first. What it DOESN’T mean is to throw out technology regardless of the scenario. Technology is here to stay. But how it plays a role in your business is the key. It should serve as a compliment. Not an obstacle. For example, it is important to realize, it is less effective to implement a standard training program that includes classes on Social Media or Email Drip Marketing. These are classes that should be part of a training program geared toward the nontraditional Real Estate Agents. It also doesn’t make sense to involve your traditional Real Estate Agents in your Lead Distribution program as they are most likely not going to follow up on half of the tasks your business rules require them to perform. The right Lead Distribution System should allow you to have that control.
What DOES make sense is to invest in a call capture system and train all of your Realtors on how to use the system. Using a Call Capture System is typically as easy as paying a bill via phone, and there are many benefits to such a system. Call Capture technology increases the amount of calls on properties, stores caller data into an intranet, allows well rehearsed, effective custom greetings and property descriptions and it saves all users of the system an immense amount of time answering the same questions repeatedly. Typically, the callers that are interested in a property will opt to connect to the Real Estate Agent and that is a wealth of knowledge in just knowing the caller is interested enough to contact you about a property.
The points above demonstrate a business should have different training programs per Real Estate Agent Type to cultivate their unique skill sets and meet their preferences. Don’t train all agents together where answers to questions do not relate to the majority in the class. As an owner, demonstrate genuine care and dedication to your Agents and prospects by outlining a well designed and tailored developmental training program that fits their mold. Invest in the right minds to head up these programs. If you are an owner or executive with a track record of success as a traditional Broker/Agent, get involved in the development of that training program or appoint a qualified partner, executive or manager with a similar background while assigning a technologically savvy leader to head up the training program for your nontraditional Agent training program. Work together to understand where technology will work for the traditional Agent and where it will not. In the end, it will increase efficiency of your agents and increase your bottom line by giving your agents and your company more focus and direction.
A Guide To Using Social Media and Other Tools With Minimal Effort
April 21st, 2010
Social media networking and other technology tools necessary for helping your business stay in front are abundant. So, you need to create an automation platform. Sure, it takes time to learn the tools to help you do so (the general excuse most use to avoid doing so), but the facts are these tools can automate your sales process and generate much more business if utilized effectively.
WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING TOOLS SHOULD I USE AND HOW DO I MINIMIZE MY EFFORT?
Minimizing your effort while producing the greatest value to your customers is key. Yes, it is hard to keep up with every social media networking tool and to do so while utilizing them all correctly, but the key is for your users to keep up with you while you focus on continually generating useful content, again, with minimal effort. There are many tools out there that can help you manage the major Social Media Networks simultaneously as well as many of the smaller ones. These are tools that are less heard of, but they are becoming more popular. Some may require minimal investment, but if you use them, they are well worth the money.
As most people are aware of, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In are the most widely known Social Media Networks used for generating business today. I have abandoned MySpace altogether, and I put Facebook & Twitter ahead of the pack, with Facebook being the front runner (If your business is music, throw in MySpace at the top of that list.). Again, there are many others out there that will take too long to type into this blog, but you can get a list of them at Ping.FM which is a tool that will make your Social Media Networking and your life much easier when it comes to updating your status, A.K.A. tweeting.
Ping.FM is a technology that enables you to sign up for dozens of Social Media Networking Tools and to populate them in the click of a button. The downside is, there are no analytics tools, but there is an API if you wish to program around this technology, as Hootsuite has. Hootsuite allows you to connect to Ping.FM, Linked In, Your Facebook profile and business pages, Twitter and even WordPress. Hootsuite also offers analytics, but you must use the Owly truncating tool within the interface in order to do so. Additionally, there is a Firefox plugin that provides an easy method for sharing links as well as an iPhone application. The free version of the iPhone Hootsuite app only populates Twitter, however.
Even though you can add for Facebook profiles and business pages, Twitter, Linked In and WordPress through Ping.fm, don’t. Use Ping.fm to sign up for all of the other Social Networking Tools. Why? Because you will want to link your Hootsuite account to these tools, so that you can utilize the analytics tools that let you know which tweets were popular and begin strategizing. Signing up on both will create duplicate posts on your Social Networks and be careful–some of the other Social Networking Tools you sign up for through Ping.fm will post to your other Social Networks as well, creating multiple duplicate posts.
For more information on how to utilize Hootsuite to manage your social networks, click here.
OK, SO NOW I KNOW HOW TO MANAGE MY SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS, WHAT NEXT?
I’m sure you have heard content is king. Well it is, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be YOUR content. Now, stop for a second, of course I am not saying to plagiarize other people’s content. But it is perfectly acceptable to post links to interesting articles relative to the context of your blog on your own blog if the source does not prevent you from doing so. You can even post the entire blog posts from other blogs, if they are correctly cited. Blog users typically appreciate it as you are stroking their egos often as well as driving traffic to them by posting their links. Just be careful.
Now, you may ask, why would I want to post links to other resources on my blog? There are several reasons. For one, it demonstrates your sense of duty to educate your audience while creating trust between the reader, as you are not afraid to send them in other directions to find the information they seek. Two, it helps to establish you as an expert by demonstrating your commitment to staying informed. Last it creates convenience and variety for your audience by providing one outlet to many other valuable resources for relevant information.
Notice I used the words, "helps to establish" you as an expert earlier. I used the word "helps" because, yes, you are going to need to create some original content to establish yourself as an expert. The good news is, if you go over 500 words, you better be writing some fantastic and highly useful material, or you will lose your audience. Here is a link that shows 5 secrets to writing a blog post in 15 minutes. This blog post is much larger of course, but that is because we are covering a very broad topic, and lengthy keyword rich and relative blog posts are great for search engines. So, it won’t hurt to have a few long posts either. Just make sure the content is valuable.
So now that you have content in your blog and you have simplified the management of your social networking platform, it is time to tie the two together. You do this by copying the link to your blog post, developing a catchy tweet to announce the post and pasting it in the Owly truncating tool within Hootsuite. Hit the "shrinki it" button and it will paste the link at the end of the status update / tweeting field above it. Check the networks you wish to send to, including Ping.fm to send to all of the other social networking tools you have signed up for, and click on the send button. Now you have notified every follower or friend on every social networking tool that you have posted new material to your blog, and created a link to that blog that is trackable through Hootsuite’s analytics tool.
A FEW OTHER TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFORTS EFFECTIVELY
Drip Marketing
Use drip marketing to create interest in your blog and to notify current subscribers of new posts. Include links to the major social networks on these emails as well as the title, short summary and link to each blog posts.
Establish a schedule for research and writing.
Most of your posts will not take more than an hour to write. And if you have gone ahead an bookmarked your favorite resources for relative information to your blog readers, it shouldn’t take you very long to read their most recent articles and to decipher which content you would like to share or borrow. So, establish a good time each day to spend an hour or two creating content for your blog.
Timing is Everything
You DON’T want to send out your content at the end of the day. Sad but true, most people spend their time on the Internet while they are at work and if it is work/industry related, they are much more likely to read your content during work hours. So, if you are on the West Coast, don’t tweet your fresh blog content at the end of the day. In fact, it may be necessary to do it in the AM, so that people on the East Coast read your tweets, drip emails, etc. upon arriving back from lunch, which is an excellent time to reach people via such communication efforts.
HERE ARE A COUPLE TOOLS THAT WILL HELP YOU DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS:
- Only Wire (www.onlywire.com)
Auto-Syndicate Your Content to Millions of Readers with One Button.
- Tweet Adder (www.trakim.com)
Automate Twitter Promotion & Marketing
- Nearby Tweets (www.nearbytweets.com)
Identifies Active Tweeters In Your Local Area
- Social Too (www.socialtoo.com)
Assesses & Automates Your And Other User Follow/Unfollow Actions
- TwitterHolic (http://twitterholic.com/)
Allows You To Compare Yourself To Other Twitter Users
- Monitter (http://monitter.com/)
Allows You To Follow Realtime Conversations By Topic
Does Technology Have A Place In Sales?
January 18th, 2010
Does technology have a place in sales? The answer? Yes, but it’s place in YOUR sales efforts depends on you. In essence, you get what you put in.
I cannot tell you how many people have considered me to be a “computer person” since I was twelve. The truth is that while I have been using computers to perform better at my job throughout my career, I have yet to build a computer or program one element of software.
True, my experience has helped me to learn software for web site design, graphic design and Flash animation. And yes, I have learned how to utilize tools that help with internet marketing, usability and drafting technology solutions, but I still had to learn to use the more available tools that have helped me to generate business and increase exposure the same as anyone else.
I know, it can be overwhelming to learn the ins and outs of all of these different technological sales tools. I can relate and believe I will never stop learning. But I can tell you that it is worth it. After learning how to utilize a blog, build an online network using social media, create and implement an email marketing program and configure a customer relationship management software to help me stay on top of my sales efforts, I can say I have generated sales I would otherwise not have generated, created a much larger audience than I ever could have in person and have landed a position with Realistiq out of Las Vegas, marketing and selling a comprehensive set of technological sales tools for Real Estate Professionals. The proof is in the pudding.
I understand that sometimes a certain tool may not fit into your approach due to industry specifics or some other obstacle may prevent you from utilizing a certain tool, but generally a company or individual must look at the capital and time invested into these tools as an investment that will yield large benefits in the long run–and often (as in my case) various levels of benefit in the short run. You will not learn all of the available tools overnight. You certainly won’t master them. But good luck even keeping up with your competitors without learning them at all. And better luck staying in front of your competitors without a holistic approach to utilizing technology in your sales efforts.
You don’t have to take MY word for it. Visit www.passivepipeline.com and download sellsmarter2009.pdf from there. I am completely independent from this publication and hope you will find it useful as a second reference. Of course, if you are in the real estate industry and would like to learn more about how our tools can better help your or your agents’ sales efforts, please feel free to contact me. Either way, while technology cannot replace a handshake, it plays an integral role in the success of many sales professionals today and will do the same for even more sales professionals in the future. The same goes for most industries. Don’t get left behind.
Computer Maintenance - How Computer Performance Effects It Has In The Work Place
July 9th, 2009
Many of you know that I am now managing business development for Geeks For Less. My experience with Geeks For Less as well as my own personal experience has forced me to look in the mirror. It’s time for me to upgrade my system for many reasons.
Yeah, it would be less frustrating for my windows to snap up while working with high end web design and development programs, photo and illustration programs meanwhile social networking on Facebook and working with my email client to communicate via the internet—all at the same time. But performance is more than a luxury. It’s an investment that you and your clients will appreciate collectively.
I typically work on fixed quotes when providing web design and internet marketing oriented services, because most people prefer to know what they are going to pay. Yeah, I base those quotes on an hourly rate, but the less efficient I am the less I make per hour. Well, I am self employed. But if you are an employer, you should listen to what I am saying. Regardless of your type of business, production is costing instead of making you money by not keeping your systems upgraded, and the more employees you have using insufficient systems the more money you are losing.
The good news is that you can invest in a little computer repair or maintenance, do not necessarily have to go and buy a new system for every employee in order to operate more efficiently and can have less frustration in the work place. A PC tuneup is a very small fraction of the price and will typically increase a system’s performance dramatically and can be completed within an hour. A good technician should know what I am speaking of and will most likely agree unless they have an agenda that differs from yours or are not as good as you think they are. There are bells and whistles that can be turned on and off, hard drives that can be defragmented, spyware and viruses detected, software installed or uninstalled and much more to help a computer run more efficiently.
So, if you are an employee and work on a slow computer, or you are an employer and know you haven’t addressed your technological standards in a while, I suggest looking at computer repair as a business investment as opposed to a cost. Mention it to your boss or make the investment yourself and start making more money. It makes sense and that’s all it does.
Geeks For Less is in Nashville, TN (615.202.1544), Knoxville, TN (865.805.3051) and soon will be coming to Buffalo, NY and Chattanooga, TN. For more information, please contact info@geeks-forless.com.
