Real Estate Marketing Tools &Tips from Real Estate Virtual Assistant, Megan E Barber
![media httpsocialcomme gGElv.png.scaled500 1 in 11 humans Are on Facebook [infographic]](http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/megbarberva/tlqsEEnjJEIfsyfnukoBvyzJeiFoxjfeEwyhsihECwuuHqDCBfEvclpBcaxe/media_httpsocialcomme_gGElv.png.scaled1000.png "1 in 11 humans Are on Facebook [infographic]")
I ran across a few great infographics on Social Commerce Today, including the above illustrating the growth of Facebook over 2010, top brands, and demograhpics. Click the image above to read the great post.
Anyone out there still unsure about the importance of building a presence for your business on Facebook?
![1 in 11 humans Are on Facebook [infographic]](http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=ad979a21-5c6a-42f4-b552-5f20332391fa "1 in 11 humans Are on Facebook [infographic]")
Facebook 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.
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.
What stays the same?
Your 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.
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.
A new web comedy series titled “The Agent”, is coming to a computer near you. Created by David Winans, and his marketing team at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, David Winans & Associates, “The Agent”, showcases a young man who stumbles into the world of becoming a REALTOR, and hilarity ensues.
The series pokes fun a the industry featuring some of the trials and tribulations of an agent’s daily life in the field, which at times can be quite funny. Like David Winans says in the above article, a little self-depreciating humor is always healthy.
You can check out The Agent at http://theagent.tv and be sure to watch the rap song and video used to kick off the series “Makin’ Money”. Funny stuff! And a fun use of video.
Check out the great post above from geekestateblog.com about a great content idea for your real estate blog. If you’re looking for some great local community content for your real estate blog, why not create a post listing and reviewing all the various free WiFi spots in your area. This will definitely appeal to the virtual workers (like me), telecommuters, outside sales people and more who are looking for a WiFi hotspot in your community.
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
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.
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 the
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 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:
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.
Now 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!
Clickbrix Screenshot
QR codes are a very cool little piece of tech that agents are starting to use all over the place. I’ve previously gone over what exactly QR codes are and how to use QR codes to market your listings. Today I want to touch on the best uses of QR codes on your real estate yard signs.
A few recommended resources:
I mentioned in my previous post about listing marketing that vyoo.it is a great source for creating mobile enabled single property sites. Sign riders from them are also in the works (as of this date they’re “coming soon”).
A company called Clickbrix is taking the real estate QR code world by storm and they have solution that creates fantastic looking mobile property sites that include pictures, maps and more. They also provide great looking mobile agent profile sites. I think the best feature is that they provide realtime tracking and reporting for your QR code traffic, which is awesome. Agent plans run $25/month.
If you need stickers or yard signs printed with your QR codes, you should try a company called StickerScan.com. They give you the ability to print 3″x4″ stickers for several of your you listings at once with them. You can take a code you generated from elsewhere or have them generate it for you. Their pricing starts at $19 for 20 stickers (2 for each sign).
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)
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
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.
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.
I’m a happy Real Estate Virtual Assistant. My new business cards arrived last week and I decided to snap a picture and show them off. Here’s a picture of the front and back. Notice anything interesting?
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