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Facebook Timeline: A Quick How-To

December 19, 2011 By

1 Megan BarberFB 300x160 Facebook Timeline: A Quick How ToYou may have heard about the new Facebook profile interface, the Facebook Timeline. (If you haven’t yet Check out this complete guide from Mashable) It is quite a radical change to the overall look and function the Facebook profile that they started previewing to users back in September. Now they are rolling it out for everyone to have access too, and should become the default profile setting for all users in a upcoming months.

Want to go ahead and change and play around with the new Facebook Timeline now? They’ve made it easy!  Here is now:
(tips courtesy of Mashable)

  1. Login & Click - Log out of your Facebook account, then go to this About Timeline page.
  2. Get Timeline - At the bottom right of the page, click on “Get Timeline.” If you like what you see and don’t want to edit anything,  publish it right away by scrolling back to the top of that page and click “Publish Now” and you’re done. If you’d like to edit, go to the next step.
  3. Scroll Down and Edit - Scroll down on your timeline and edit or remove any items you don’t want shown. Do that by holding your cursor over the upper right of an item you want to edit, and then click on the icon that looks like a pencil — it will have a label that reads Edit or Remove.
  4. Make Changes - From the resulting drop-down list, you can change the date of the item, add a location, hide it from the timeline, delete the post altogether, or report it/mark it as spam.
  5. Highlight and Expand your favorite posts - If you’d like to “feature” any of your posts, click on the star icon to the left of that pencil icon. Then that item will be expanded all the way across the page, made larger for all your friends to see. Cool huh?
  6. Publish Now – Or wait until Dec 22nd - Once you’re satisfied with all of your edits, either scroll back to the top of your Timeline and click “Publish Now,” or do nothing and it’ll be automatically published on December 22, 2011.
Facebook Timeline: A Quick How To
Facebook Timeline: A Quick How ToMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video

February 23, 2011 By
Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video

Image via Wikipedia

Building your real estate business with video is nothing new. Last year, real estate coaches and consultants had merely introduced video as a great option that you should consider to start incorporating into your real estate business. Now in 2011, video has become a NECESSARY tool for building your real estate business online. With YouTube being the 2nd most popular search engine in the world (2nd to Google), people are consuming video content online day in and day out. And let’s face it, pictures and video capture attention a little better as most people would rather watch a video than read big long articles and posts.

So as part of my Getting Down to Basics series, if you have yet to get started with video and want to know how, here I will share with you the tools you need to get started with creating videos.

Tools You Need to Get Started

  • Camera – First you need a camera to capture your videos. A hand-held camcorder can do the trick, or even your smartphone with video camera can work. You can find great deals for them on Amazon Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video, or on Kodak. My recommendations:112 ULTRA3 U32120PZ 1 300x300 Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video
    • Flip Video – Offers 3 different HD handheld camcorders, with fun colors and design options. I personally use the HD Ultra.
    • Kodak Playtouch – A new version of Kodak’s handheld camera came out (formerly the Zi8) and has gained much popularity since it came out. Unlike the flip, it has the option to use an external microphone, which allows you to capture video in slightly noisy places and still be heard clearly.
    • iPhone, Motorola DroidX, etc. – Most all of the latest smartphones include decent cameras that can be enhanced with some simple accessories.
  • Tripod- The Tripod is your friend! Even if you have the most steady hand, the tripod will really help improve the quality of your videos while helping you create them from a steady, level surface.  You can find very simple, portable tripods to ones with fancy features. Start your search at Amazon Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video.
    • Another option is a Stabilizer Bar. If you are touring a home with your camera, these really help with the quality of your videos by helping reduce the side to side twist in your videos. Check out the one on HDhat.com.

      • iphone4case 227x300 Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video

      iPhone Wide Angle Case

  • Wide Angle Lens – A wide angle lens is especially important when you are filming home tours with your camera. The regular view of a camcorder can be limited and can be hard to show a room, especiall from a doorway. A wide angle lens gives you a much better view of the entire room.  You can find some great wide angle lens options that can magnetically attach to your camera model (or phone) via Amazon Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video, or check out these awesome snap-on cases from HDhat.com that are made for the Kodak PlayTouch or the iPhone4.
  • Editing Software – You might not get every video perfect in one take. So most likely, your raw video footage will need some editing, some title additions, etc. There are many editing options out there and you don’t need to be a total pro to use most of them.
    • Most computers will come with easy-to-use video and movie creation software installed right on, like Windows Movie Maker for PCs and iMovie for Macs.
    • For more robust video editing options, you can try something like Camtasia or what I personally use, Pinnacle Studio.
  • YouTube Channel – Not only is it valuable to put your videos on your blog or website, it is absolutely necessary that you have a YouTube channel. As mentioned above, YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine and uploading them to YouTube will help gain exposure for them as well as add additional promotion and embedding opportunities on your social networks and blogs. Your YouTube channel background can also be customized to go with your personal branding. (And if you don’t know how, your Virtual Assistant can definitely help with this)

So there are the essential tools you need to get started with using video for your real estate marketing.  If you have any questions tools you need for real estate videos, or have some favorite tools of your own, we would love to hear about it. Please leave us a comment below and let us know about it!

Next up, I will be going over some tips and and best practices for creating and using video to build your business.

Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video
Tools You Need to Build Your Business with VideoMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Filed Under: Getting Down To Basics, Online Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Social Networking, video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Update on the New Facebook Pages

February 11, 2011 By

old new fbpages 300x182 Update on the New Facebook PagesFacebook has changed once again, though this time we were expecting it. Facebook pages now have a new look and some awesome new features.  In the midday hours yesterday, the much buzzed about preview of the new Facebook Pages was rolled out. The official switch date for all Facebook pages is March 10, 2011, but yesterday Facebook gave many the option to upgrade their pages early (which of course I did).

So what in new with Facebook Pages?  Let me give you an overview.

New Look

The new Facebook pages now closely resembles the new Facebook profiles that were rolled out in December 2010. Now they feature the addition of the 5 image banner at the top of the page and tabs have been removed and moved to the section beneath the page’s Avatar. So now any of your custom FBML tabs, or applications you’ve added to your page have been moved to this new spot.fbscreenchange 300x122 Update on the New Facebook Pages

Another change to the look, albeit small, is they’ve added an “Edit Page” button in the upper right hand corner of your page, instead of a link below the page avatar.

New Features

Now here is the best part. Facebook has added a bunch of fantastic new features that make managing your page and your page’s content so much better.

  • You can now receive immediate email notifications when people post, comment or interact with your business page. Beforehand it was difficult to track people posting on your page unless you were regularly monitoring it.
  • You now have the option to post, comment, update or like, as yourself or as your business page. It is a great opportunity for you to be able to promote your brand/business on other page while commenting or other interactions using your Page.
  • You have the ability to change the category your page appears under. So if you want to switch from a Local Business or Place, to a Company or Organization, you can.
  • You have the option to change the arrangement of the posts on your wall to be either the order of the most recent postings or order them by the most popular or “relevant” posts on your wall.
  • You can feature your self or your business partners as the page owners of your business page. Prior to this, it was difficult to tell who owned or ran a particular page, but now you have that option.featuredFB copy Update on the New Facebook Pages
  • You can feature up to 5 of your favorite liked pages over on your left hand sidebar. So feature other business pages of yours, or your favorites.
  • Just like in the new Facebook profile layout, there is now the banner of 5 images across the top. You can use this area to feature your listings, or you can get creative and carry your branding message across.

What stays the same?

  • You still have the ability to designate one of your other tabs as default landing tab. So if you would like your custom welcome tab to be the first thing a user sees, you still can. If you had done this previously on the old version of your page, there is a chance that you will need to redo it after you upgrade, so it is best to double check.
  • FB permissions copy Update on the New Facebook PagesYour custom landing tabs have remained the same width as before at 520 pixels wide. So no need to fear making your costom tabs you worked so hard on even narrower.

What else?

The location of the tabs has moved to a much less conspicuous place (as noted above). They are small links directly under the page avatar. So this means if you want to draw attention to your custom page tabs that you (or your assistant) have worked so hard to create, then you will need to get creative and perhaps draw attention to them using your page avatar.

Also, rumor has it that Static FBML will also be going away after March 10, 2011. Pages that are currently using custom tabs with FBML, can still remain. But it has been rumored that one will not be able to create new tabs using FBML. What will take it’s place?  We shall see.

Overall, I think the changes that Facebook has made to the are pretty great for those using Facebook pages for real estate, or any other industry. It gives many more options on how you can display yourself and your content, and it is a fresh new look.

What are your thoughts about the new Facebook Pages?  I would love to hear it, so please leave a comment below to state your thoughts or your questions about the new pages setup.

Coming soon: A full video review for my Getting Down to Basis series displaying layout and giving the lowdown how-to on set up the new Facebook Page.

Update on the New Facebook Pages
Update on the New Facebook PagesMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Filed Under: Facebook, Getting Down To Basics, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Social Networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Changes in How to Create a Facebook Page – Video

February 11, 2011 By

FacebookPageCreation 300x221 Changes in How to Create a Facebook Page VideoJust a week ago I posted a “How to Create a Facebook Page” video tutorial in my Getting Down to Basics series.  Just when I show you one way, Facebook changes the game a little bit.

Facebook has rolled out some changes this week that slightly augments the way you create a Facebook page, as well as a whole new look to Facebook pages. So in my latest videos, More on Facebook Pages, Part 1  below will show you the changes they made to the create a page screen. Check it out!

Stay tuned Part 2 where I cover the new Facebook Pages layout and the cool new features they added!

Have any questions or a request for a tutorial on Facebook or any other tech tool?  I would like to hear about it!  Please leave me a comment below with your questions or suggestions.

Changes in How to Create a Facebook Page Video
Changes in How to Create a Facebook Page VideoMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Filed Under: Facebook, Getting Down To Basics, Recent Posts, Social Networking, video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How To Create a Facebook Page – Video

February 4, 2011 By

In this latest installment in the Getting Down To Basics series, I created a video tutorial for how to create a Facebook Page for your real estate business. In a recent post I went over the differences between a Facebook Profile and Facebook Page, so here I am going one step further.

I have encountered many agents that knew they needed a Facebook page for their business, just didn’t know how to actually make one. So in the following video I made, I show you just exactly where to go to create a new page and some basic page setup. Enjoy!

I want to hear from you! Have anything to add, or a request for future tutorials? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you want to hear.

How To Create a Facebook Page Video
How To Create a Facebook Page VideoMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Filed Under: Getting Down To Basics, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Social Networking, video Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs Page

January 28, 2011 By

On this first post on my Getting Down to Basics series, I am going to touch on some fundamentals of Facebook. One of the most common misconceptions I have found among many Realtors that have not fully delved into Facebook, is the difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page.

It is easy to confuse the difference between Facebook profiles and pages (often called “business pages” or “fan pages”) because they look very similar. But they couldn’t be more different than one another as they have separate terms of service and serve different purposes.

Different Looks

FB differences Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs Page

The Facebook profile has a slightly different look from the official page especially since the dawn of the “new” Facebook profile that came out in December 2010.  The most distinct differences would be the personal information listed at the top, and below that, the banner of 5 photos across the top above your wall.

and the lack of “tabs” on the profile page is also a big difference (though with Facebook changing all of the time, who knows how long tabs will still be there in the future).

*Facebook takes your first 5 tagged photos and puts them in that spot above your wall. So be sure that you like and approve of photos you’re tagged in as they’re the first thing people will see on your profile.

Different Verbiage

Facebook uses different terms for those connected to your profile and official page, friends vs. like.

FB Friends button Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs Page

For Facebook profiles you will see the “Add as Friend” button to add the profile of others to connect with your profile, and the term “friends” when referring to your profile connections.

Facebook pages, you will see the “Like” button when stumbling upon a new page, and theFB like button Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs Page connections to the page are referred to as “People Who Like This”.

Different Terms of Service

In the past few years where Facebook has become a popular business tool, this question has come up from a few of my agents: “I want a Facebook page for their business, so do I have to sign up for a whole separate Facebook account?” The answer is a resounding NO.

In Facebook’s terms of service, they specifically state that you cannot have more than one personal profile, so that is a major no-no.  They also say that you may not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain. Your profile is supposed to represent an actual person, not a brand. So it is advisable that as a Realtor, you should not promote your listings or directly solicit business on your Facebook profile.  The Facebook official page is your answer to this.

That being said, that does not mean you can’t use your profile to foster relationships with your sphere. You should definitely engage with your friends on Facebook, show your personality, share your activities outside of your business life, just not blatantly promoting your real estate listings all the time. Think of Facebook as a giant online cocktail party. You wouldn’t go from person to person just telling them about your listings all the time would you?

Some additional points about your Facebook profile:

  • Facebook profile has a maximum friend limit of 5,000
  • Only those that you have mutually chosen to become friends with can see our full profile (unless you changed your privacy settings)

Facebook Pages on the other hand are specifically meant for commercial use. So your Facebook page or “Business Page” as I usually call it, is the appropriate place to post your listings, promote your real estate business, etc.  Some additional info on Facebook official pages:

  • Facebook pages are indexed by Google
  • There are no limits to how many people can choose to like your page
  • You can track visitor stats via Insights
  • You can have as many Facebook pages as you wish

So that’s your basic overview of the difference between Facebook profiles and official pages.  Here are some other great places to check out that explain this really well.

If you have any questions about some basics in Facebook , or any other social media or tech tool out there, we would love to hear about them, so please leave a comment below!

Next up in Getting Down to Basics, a video tutorial on how to create a Facebook page for your business.

Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs Page
Getting Down to Basics: Facebook Profile vs PageMegan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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Getting Down to Basics

January 14, 2011 By

teaching 300x199 Getting Down to BasicsNow that we have launched into 2011, I am starting a new regular series here at the BVAS Connection called “Getting Down to Basics”. In this series, I intend to explain the basics on using social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, various platforms such as HootSuite, Google, or any other technology plaform.

On this blog, as well as many other real estate marketing and real estate technology blogs, we review and talk about various technologies and platforms meant to improve your real estate business. For the tech-savvy among us who work in these platforms all the time, they are like second nature to us. But over the years of working with clients for whom technology may not always come easy, I realized that quite a few people didn’t really know how to actually create an Facebook page  (or the difference between a profile and an official page), how to sign up for Twitter, how use HootSuite, or other tasks. So I saw a need for some easy to understand tutorials to bring agents into the tech savvy arena.

I’m creating this series of based on the frequently asked questions I have run into on various things from Facebook to Google. It will include some instructional blog postings, as well as video demonstrating exactly how to do various tasks.  Now, of course I am not an expert in everything (shocking, isn’t it?), so I will occasionally be inviting other experts to guest post on the BVAS Connections with their tutorials.

Have a question about how to use Facebook, your CRM, or any other technology that has you stumped? I want to hear from you! I invite you to please leave me a comment below with any questions or requests for basic how-to’s for anything social media related,  technology tools, what have you. And if I don’t have the answer, my team of experts will!

First up, Facebook pages and more, so stay tuned!

Getting Down to Basics

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