Online Marketing

10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part V

December 9, 2010 By Megan E. Barber 1 Comment

In previous postings I have mentioned that as a real estate virtual assistant, I often get asked by agents how to incorporate different technologies like video into their real estate marketing. The biggest obstacle for them seems to be ideas on what to make videos about. In this installment of 10 Ideas for Real Estate Video, I am bring you two more video content ideas.

(Click the following to see Parts 1, Part 2, Part 3 or Part 4)

: Image by roarofthefour via Flickr

9. Demonstrate a Quick Home Improvement or Staging Tip

Homeowners could definitely appreciate some how-to’s on simple fixes or decorating and staging ideas. A great way to to capture your homeowner audience’s attention is to make a video demonstrating just that. Create some videos that shows a quick way to improve curb appeal, tips on how to winterize your home for the cold weather, or great furniture placement techniques for staging.

Videos with home tips can be extremely useful to homeowners and when developing content for your blogs and websites, providing tips they can use will capture their attention and garner their trust in you.

Not the tool-savvy type or a staging expert? Enlist the help of a handy-man colleague, or a local home stager you work with to create these demonstration videos.

10. Videos with Good-Natured Humor

Comedy 10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part V

Image via Wikipedia

Some of the most “viral” videos out there are the ones that make people laugh. You can create videos that parody the life and times of a REALTOR, poke fun at yourself, or do a silly skit addressing common issues and troubles that come up in a real estate transactions. Come up with something like “Reason #126 You Need to Use a REALTOR”, and illustrate

in a simple skit a humorous problem that could befall a buyer or a seller, and how an agent can come to the rescue.

If you create some videos that are meant to entertain and make people laugh, it shows that you are not a “real estate robot”, gives a glimpse of your personality, and shows you have a sense of humor (which is relate-able to so many people) Keep it light, keep it fun, and remember to keep it clean and good natured.

So there you have it in this final installment of 10 Ideas for Real Estate Video. I hope you were able to get some creative juices flowing when coming up with content for your new videos. Of course, you can probably find way more than just 10 content ideas, and I will periodically add new content ideas as I run across them.

Iff you need help with creating and promoting your videos, consider using the BVAS Real Estate Virtual Assistant team to help with you with your video marketing needs.

And feel free to leave me a comment with more content ideas, or links to your own real estate videos. I would love to see them.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, video Tagged With: 10 ideas for real estate video, Home Improvement, Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, real estate video, video, video blogging, Virtual Assistant, YouTube

Market Your Real Estate Listings QR Codes

November 19, 2010 By Megan E. Barber 3 Comments

In this previous post, Technology Fun for Real Estate – QR Codes , I gave an introduction into the world of QR codes, what they are, how to get them, and what you can do with them. Today I want to dig into them a little more and talk about some ways to spice up your listing marketing by using QR codes and using them effectively.

Don’t know what they are yet? Check out my previous post

So you have a new listing, and want to enlist the technology of these curious looking codes to promote to mobile users. how do you do it? First of all, you will need decide on the destination you want to direct your mobile users to. It helps to have a mobile friendly page to direct them to that can convey all the listing info easily. Here are my 3 favorite uses:

Most single property websites are also mobile ready. Simply use a generator like Goo.gl (which I love for it’s tracking ability) to turn your single property site url into a QR code. Some single property website providers, like Real Bird, have even added the ability to generate QR codes for you to use in their services.
If you are not a user of single property websites, another option you can use something called vyoo.it. From the samepeople that brought you Postlets, vyoo.it allows you to create a fabulous looking mobile ready page, packed with all the details of your listing including pictures and your contact info. And if you are a current Postlet user, you can save yourself a step since you can automatically import the Postlet url to populate the vyoo.it page for you. Super simple!
Another great destination to direct your QR code to is to a video or virtual our. YouTube, for example, is already
goo.gl/Qt0qI

optimized for mobile viewing, so sending your mobile visitors right to the video tour on YouTube is a perfect match. Imagine a potential buyer standing outside your listing and scanning the code off the sign to be taken to the virtual tour instantly. And if they’re holding a flyer in their hands with a majority of the property information, it makes little sense to direct them to a site that rehashes the same information. So why not send them to the video tour? Just use a generator like Goo.gl to make the QR code.

Now where should you put these codes to market your listing? Naturally, some of the best palces to put these codes are on your property flyers, “Just Listed” card, or on signs and sign riders. Anywhere that you can reach potential buyers that would be interested in your property.

A couple more quick tips before I go: I recommend when using QR codes in your marketing, is to add in small print instructing users to scan the code with their phone’s reader. And just so you don’t completely alienate non-smartphone users (or those that still can’t figure out this scanning thing), provide the short url that can take mobile and non-mobile users to the same destination.

If you know of some creative spots to add your QR codes for marketing your listings, I would love to hear them in my comments down below. and coming up soon, I tell you how to utilize these things on your signs, business cards, and more. Plus I’ll include various QR code vendors who provide great products and solutions using QR codes. Stay tuned!

Market Your Real Estate Listings QR Codes

Megan E. Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 10 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan and her team Virtual Assistants provide top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. Megan E Barber is also the creator and author of The BVAS Connection and VA Mommy.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, QR Codes, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking, Uncategorized Tagged With: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, real estate tools, Social Networking, tools, video, YouTube

Technology Fun for Real Estate – QR Codes

November 17, 2010 By Megan E. Barber 6 Comments

Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr

Have you seen these fantastic little things called QR codes everyone seems to be raving about in the social media and real estate worlds? You may have seen these curious little square images while browsing print advertisements, signs on windows, stickers, business cards, etc. They seem to be popping up everywhere for smartphone users find information on the go. So today I’m going to go over what they are, how to get them, and lightly go over how you can use them in your real estate business.

What are QR codes? From those who are not aware, this Wikipedia entry explains them well:

A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the acronym for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

Quite simply, they are barcodes that you can use to direct mobile/smartphone users to links, websites, text information, a youtube video, a virtual business card, or a ready-to-send text message. And they are being put on everything from print advertising, to store displays, to billboards, and t-shirts. All phone users have to do is simply scan the code with their barcode reader (more on that below) and they are then taken to the link or information encoded in the QR code image.

How do You Read QR Codes?

In order to read these codes, must have a smartphone, such as a Droid, iPhone, or Blackberry, that has a reader or barcode scanner app that can decode them for you. Many Android phones already have a QR code reader built into them. The Droid Market and iPhone Apps Store also has many free apps for scanning and decoding QR codes. And Those with Blackberry phones with BBM also have the ability to scan QR codes.

How do you Create a QR Code?

You can Google “QR code Generator” and come up with numerous sites out there that can make you QR codes for simple url’s, or more in-depth information like virtual business cards. But here are some great QR code generators to get you started.

Goo.gl – This is Google’s url shortener that not only creates a short url, but a QR code to direct to it. This is great if you are simply going to direct people to a landing page of your creation (or link to a single property site). You can also track stats.
The 2 Code – This is a great QR code generator that creates codes for anything you need, plus you can designate the size you want the image to be.
QR Stuff - Not only can you create QR codes for anything you may need, you may also print or email them, download a high-res version (for a fee), and have them printed on t-shirts, mugs, etc.
Likify – With Likify, you can generate Facebook Page likes with the use of their QR codes. It creates a mobile landing page with the Facebook like button for you to acquire new fans that you can then take and print on anything.

Make sure your url you use for your code is short, or use a url shortener (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc) for long links. This makes your QR code more simple and a cleaner image.

How can you use these QR codes?

There are many ways you can use these QR codes to enhance your marketing and make a splash. Create QR codes that lead to your website, single property sites, a special landing page, a virtual business card, or your Facebook and Twitter profiles. You can take your codes and put them on your property flyers , brochures, business cards, Facebook pages, car magnets, and yard signs. There are so many possibilities for using these in your marketing.

There is a key to utilizing QR codes the right way. For example, it doesn’t make sense to put a QR code on your business card that leads to a webpage with your same contact info on it. Instead direct it to one of your social media profiles or a landing page in your site offering a special report or coupon.

So there you have it. In future postings here on the BVAS Connection, I’ll be breaking down the various ways to use this fun technology to enhance your real estate marketing and some pointers on the best ways to use it. In the meantime, let me know what you think about these QR codes in the comments section below. If you have some of your own creative ideas on how to use them, I would love to hear it.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, QR Codes, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking Tagged With: Facebook, Google, mobile leads, mobile marketing, mobile phone, Online Marketing, QR Code, Real Estate Technology, URL shortening

My Rules For Twitter Engagement

September 8, 2010 By Megan E. Barber Leave a Comment

If you couldn’t tell, I Love Twitter. For 3 years it has been my source of much breaking news, the source of shared ideas and articles with my colleagues, and I discovered who this Justin Beiber kid is (and still don’t care). Twitter can be a fantastic resource and marketing engine if you use it right, or a total time suck if you don’t. It is all about who you engage with and how you go about doing it.

My time is limited enough as a small business owner/work-at-home mom. I have to keep my Twitter stream clean and not full of cluttered nonsense, so I am relatively selective when following other Twitter users. Inspired by Janie Coffee and her post on her rules of who she does and does not follow, I decided to come up with my own rules of engagement when it comes to my Twitter followers.

Do’s and Don’ts If you Want Me to Follow You Back on Twitter

Don’t

Don’t have nothing in your profile description, or no image uploaded. Besides seeing what is in your stream, how would I know who and what you are and know any reason to follow you.
Don’t post links to porn, look like a pornbot, post links to your private video show, etc. Not interested in engaging.
Don’t post nothing but quotes. The occasional quote is nice, but if that is all you’ve got and nothing else interesting to say, you are not worth my time.
Don’t put in your description the words MLM, marketing expert, ninja, guru, jedi master(yes, I’ve really seen that), MLM, wealth, “make money on Twitter”, etc. I really don’t believe you and you probably can’t back it up.
Don’t have endless tweets in your stream that look like “spammy” marketing and are nothing but links back to your crappy marketing website.
Don’t tell me how you made 6 figures on Twitter, Facebook, etc by using your “proven” system that you want to sell to me.
Don’t have a blank twitter stream. If you have nothing to day, why would I follow you.
Don’t follow me, then unfollow, then follow, then unfollow, then follow again. That is so annoying.

Do

Do tweet about things that are interesting and engaging. Such things that interest me are: real estate, real estate marketing, virtual assistant industry, entrepreneurs, small business issues, motherhood, new jersey, wine, coffee, chocolate, jokes, and Simpsons trivia.
Do have a picture uploaded. The picture doesn’t necessarily have to be of you, but at least I know that you took the time to personalize your profile.
Do have @ replies to other people. That lets me know that you interact and engage with others. You’re not just a shameless self promoter or totally self involved.
Do have a somewhat balanced Following/Follower ratio. If you follow thousands more than those following you, is looks fishy to me.
Do follow others that I know and respect.
Do reach out to me by DM with an actual personal message. Auto-DMs with links to your site turn me off.

Not following me yet on Twitter? Well go ahead and find me there - @MegBarberVA

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking Tagged With: Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social network, Social Networking, twitter, Website

10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part III

September 7, 2010 By Megan E. Barber Leave a Comment

In part 3 of my series on the 10 ideas for real estate video, I give you two more content ideas for your real estate videos. Make sure you didn’t miss Part 1 and Part 2.

5. Real Estate Q&A

Create videos of the Q & A variety. Have some frequently ask questions that you want to address? Create a video that can answer those. You can also create call to action on your blog or website and invite your viewers and readers to ask you questions about real estate, the market, about your local area, anything. Then, create a video to take the opportunity to answer each of those questions to broadcast on your blog and YouTube channel. It is a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise about your business and local market. If you are not an expert when it comes to a particular question, or they happen to be of a legal nature, enlist some of your professional friends and colleagues (attorneys, loan officers, etc) to speak on your video to answer those questions.

(As in your offline life, be sure that you make videos answering questions that you truly know the answer to. Make sure not dispense legal advice or give definitive answers to subjects you truly are not trained or experienced in.)

6. Interview Your Happy Buyer and Seller Clients

Ask your past and present clients to let you interview them a little bit and share their personal experience in buying or selling a home. Invite them to tell their personal story about the buying/selling process, their fears, their excitement, and what they had learned. With your buyers, you can try doing this immediately after the closing table while clutching their new house keys and filled with excitement about moving in to their new home.

You can ask your clients to add a little testimonial for you and the end, but it’s not totally necessary. Just showing real people that are happy with the outcome of their real estate transaction, and that you were the one behind helping them could be testimonial enough without actually saying it.

If you do one of these kind of videos, be sure to have a video release form getting the right to use the image/video of them with permission to use in your blog, YouTube channel and other marketing purposes. It’s good to have all of your bases covered.

Good luck and happy video recording! There are four more real estate video ideas to come, so stay tuned.

10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part III

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, video Tagged With: 10 ideas for real estate video, Blogging, Marketing and Advertising, Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Technology, real estate video, video, video blogging, YouTube

Choose Your Social Media Friends Carefully

August 13, 2010 By Megan E. Barber 1 Comment

So there’s enough talk about Social Media being the latest and greatest marketing tool and why it’s necessary to have in your marketing arsenal. It’s starting to be overkill, so I’m sure by now you are getting the idea. I want to dig in a little deeper and to talk about adding “friends” and connections that can be beneficial to your overall marketing strategy.

So you’ve set up your social media profiles, Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts. Now what? Now it’s time to add your “friends”. You can accomplish very little in social media without friends, or connections. Who is going to see your posts, videos, or updates if you are not connected to anyone? It’s like shouting out to an empty room.

The great place to start out is by adding your own family, your friends, current and past clients that you regularly keep in touch with. But it is a good idea to be strategic about the kinds of friends and connections you make on your social networks. You want to make connections with people that will bring you business or have the potential to bring you business. And though this may be controversial to some, I am of the opinion that agents should not be spending too much of their social media time connecting with just a bunch of other real estate agents.

When some agents just start out in their social networks, they get caught in the trap of spending a lot of time adding, and friending only other agents, and ignoring the potential client base they can find from their sphere of influence and local area. Networking primarily with other agents may be fun, may generate an occasional referral, but other agents are not the people that a majority of your business will come from. In some cases, they are your direct competition (but not always). You want to connect with real potential sellers and buyers in your area, people that would want to use your services.

Say you opened a new business selling widgets. You wouldn’t necessarily want to connect primarily with other makers of the same widgets. You want to connect with people that are interested in buying your widgets. You want to get front of mind awareness with THOSE people because they are the meat and potatoes of your business.

Now I am not saying that you should ignore and not connect and network other agents on social media completely. You should spend some of your time networking with other agents. You can find some great agents out there to inspire you, to learn from, to joke with, commiserate with. Heck, in my own business, I network with a ton of other Virtual Assistants on Facebook, Twitter, etc. But it is a good idea to balance it out and strategically build your friends lists with clients and those potential buyers and sellers.

So choose your friends and connections on your social networks carefully. Be sure to spend your time networking with a good mix of potential business and other agents. And don’t forget to provide that great content! Entice people to network with you. Provide them great information in a friendly way. Do that, and you will eventually have people clamoring to be connected to YOU.

Choose Your Social Media Friends Carefully

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Mistakes, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking Tagged With: Facebook, Marketing, Online Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social media, Social network, twitter

Put property listings in a lot of places | Inman News

July 30, 2010 By Megan E. Barber Leave a Comment

media httpwwwinmancom evkop.jpg.scaled500 Put property listings in a lot of places | Inman News

via inman.com

It’s quite obvious. The more places your listings show up, the more exposure your listings get. And when partnering with a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, it is our job to make sure your listings get posted everywhere without you having to think about it.

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

Put property listings in a lot of places | Inman News

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Virtual Assistant Tagged With: Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, websites

10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part II

July 23, 2010 By Megan E. Barber Leave a Comment

: Image via Wikipedia

Needing more ideas for your real estate video? Video is a great way to build your “trusted advisor” status, so here are a few more ideas to help you do just that. As a continuation of my series 10 Ideas for Real Estate Video, here we go with Part II which includes two more content ideas for your real estate video.

3. Featured Business

Do a video featuring a favorite local business in your market area. You can do this by simply taking your camera to local restaurant, shop, or service provider in your town. Take shots of the scenery place of business, interview the owners or workers, and make mention why this is a favorite spot to do visit or do business. It is a great cross promotion tool, a great way to show off your neighborhoods to outsiders, and another way to show your area expertise. you can even consult with the business for them to offer special discounts and offers to your viewers.

4. Highlight a Community Event

Show off a different side of yourself and your community. Highlight a special community charity you are involved in, or a special community event that speaks to you. If you are involved in something like Relay for Life, take along your camera and show highlights of the event, interview organizers and participants on why they are involved and show why it is important to you.

You could also take your camera along to special or unique festivals or parties that go on in your community. Whether it is a fall festival with pumpkin patches and scarecrows, or something that is unique to your community, show it off. It is another way to show how you are involved in your community, show off why it is a great place to live, and again it helps to build your “trusted advisor” status.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, video Tagged With: 10 ideas for real estate video, internet marketing, Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, real estate video, video, video blogging, YouTube

10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part I

July 9, 2010 By Megan E. Barber 2 Comments

Image via Wikipedia

Video is becoming a popular tool in the real estate agent’s marketing plan. And why not? YouTube happens to be the worlds second most popular search engine. That is why it is a great idea to incorporate video into your real estate business. Not only do you get exposure on YouTube, videos make great content for your blog, real estate website, Facebook Pages, and more.

Many agents really want to start using video, but draw a blank as to what kind of topics to do real estate videos on. So here is my first installment of my 10 Ideas For Real Estate Video.

1. Video Tour of Homes

One of the most obvious ways to use video for real estate is to do video tours of your listings. As a form of a virtual tour, simply take a video walk-through of the home. Take shots of the front and the surroundings on the street, then walk through the front door and take viewer through the home as if they were walking through it in person. This is something that can easily be done with your own camcorder if you have the right tools (a decent camcorder, a tripod, and simple editing software). If you are marketing a “high end” or luxury listing, or you just don’t have the time, then I recommend hiring a professional to make the video tours.

(No camcorder or budget for a professional? You can also make a video tour by stringing together still photos using such software as RealEstateShows, Animoto, and more.)

This is a great tool to use for buyers too! Take along your camera on showings to record the homes your buyers are viewing. Then you can email your videos afterward to remind your buyers about exactly what they have seen. Or you can send the videos to their far-away spouses or family members to take a look.

2. Tour of Neighborhoods/Towns

66347561 ef7fc30461 m 10 Ideas For Real Estate Video Part I

Image by cobalt123 via Flickr

Build your trusted “local expert” status by taking a video tour of the neighborhoods and towns you serve. Show off the great neighborhood features, the local parks, favorite local hot spots and shopping. Highlight everything that makes that neighborhood unique and a great place to live. It is a great way to show those thinking of relocating to the area why they should move there.

Do you serve a selling area comprised of several distinct neighborhoods? Do a separate video for each of them. The more content you can provide, the better.

For an excellent way to do a call to action: Invite your viewers and current residents to request that you highlight their favorite neighborhoods or parts of the area.

Did those help get your creative juices flowing? Stay tuned for eight more ideas coming up in future installments of 10 Ideas For Real Estate Video.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking, video Tagged With: 10 ideas for real estate video, Real Estate - General, real estate video, video, Virtual tour, YouTube

A Day Away From the Office at REBCPHL

June 1, 2010 By Megan E. Barber Leave a Comment

I am a real estate virtual assistant, and it is no secret that I run the business from my home office. Occasionally, my husband and young son let me venture outside of the home office for a day. So when I saw that the RE BarCamp Philadelphia was happening May 27th, I jumped at the chance to fit it into my schedule. I was really looking forward to it. Heck, just getting out for a day sans diaper bag, is thrill in and of itself. So, last Thursday, I dropped the munchkin off at Grandma’s and headed to Philadelphia for a day to attend the RE BarCamp Philadelphia (or #rebcphl).

I was way excited to listen and learn, and to get the opportunity to meet many awesome real estate folks I see on my social media streams on a daily basis. And REBCPHL didn’t disappoint.

First of all, the venue, World Cafe Live, had to be the coolest I’ve ever been to for an event like this. It was a great atmosphere, a great casual setup, the music in between was fun, and lunch was great. Not a bad location at all. Since I’m little new to the area I didn’t know this place was there, but now it’s on my radar and I may be back for their many great musical acts.

I spent my time there observing, listening, learning and contributing where I could. Many of the sessions were on social media related topics, which of course has been the hottest topic over the last couple years. A couple of the most intriguing topics to me included discussion on “taking it offline” (which almost turned into a smartphone addicts anonymous meeting). Then the Raise the Bar (or “RTB”) discussion had me very interested even though I’m not an active REALTOR. It shocks me that some in the industry seem so resistant to raising the bar on professionalism and holding themselves (and each other) to a higher standard.

All in all it was a great event. I met some great people that I’ve networked with online, and made a few new friends. I am looking forward to the next RE BarCamp that comes to my neck of the woods. Next time, I might even present at a session.

Lastly, let me ask you to take a moment and help out a great friend of the RE.net, Joe Ferrara. He was diagnosed with an aggressive malignant brain tumor and he and his family need all the prayers, love, and support they could get. And check out the Friends of Joe Ferrara group started up on Facebook.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Social Networking Tagged With: BarCamp, internet marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Technology, REBC, Social media, Social Networking

10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part V

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10 Ideas for Real Estate Video – Part III

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Put property listings in a lot of places | Inman News

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10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part II

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