internet marketing

Pinterest For Real Estate – Some Pinterest Basics For the Beginners

May 18, 2012 By Megan E. Barber

Lately you cannot seem to go anywhere without people talking about Pinterest, how fun it is and how awesome it is for business. I’ve touched on the subject on using Pinterest for real estate a few times already. In previous posts, I talked about having the right expectation of it for your business (and what not to do), and gave some examples of how to use Pinterest to tie into your real estate business. I realized that some of my readers are still newbies, so today I am talking the basics.

First, Why Pinterest Matters?

Pinterest has become the fastest growing social network as of late. According to Compete, unique visitors jumped 155% from December 2011 to January 2012. Mashable reported recently that Pinterest is now the #3 ranked social network in the US. The point is, it gets HUGE traffic, and chances are there are many of your potential clients that use it regularly. Can you use it for marketing? You can, but as I pointed out before, it is important to do it authentically and in a smart way.

Another reason Pinterest matters? The potential to drive traffic back to your sites and blogs. I will delve into this more in an upcoming post, but Pinterest can potential have a huge impact in the incoming traffic to your site/blog if you post interesting and relevant images sourced from your own site. More to come on that later.

Who Uses Pinterest?

According to stats analysis sites such as Alexa and Infographic, Pinterest has about a 70% female user base. This group also reveals a higher than average percentage of college-educated users, with most being between 25-34 years of age. Certainly this is a growing sector of the homebuying world as well.

Basic Pinterest Lingo

Pin: An image posted to Pinterest

Pinboard: A themed collection of pins

Repin: Reposting someone else’s pin

Grab The “Pin It” Button for Your Browser

One fabulous goodie that Pinterest provides is a button for your browsers bookmark bar. Once installed on your browser, you can then Pin images on any website you are browsing and add it to one of your pinboards. It is quite convenient and makes pinning easy. Go find it HERE.

Still Need An Invite?

Pinterest is still running on an invite only system. You can go to the site and fill in your info to request an invite. If you want to get in on the Pinterest fun sooner, have a current Pinterest user to send you an invite (like me).

So those are some basics. As you can tell, this is one of my favorite topics to talk about. Coming up next in future posts, I’ll be talking about the traffic driving force of Pinterest, some Pinterest etiquette, and ways to build your following.

Pinterest For Real Estate Some Pinterest Basics For the Beginners

Megan 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.

Filed Under: Pinterest, Recent Posts, Social Networking Tagged With: Facebook, internet marketing, Marketing, Online Marketing, Pinboard, Pinterest, Pinterest for real estate, Real Estate - General, Social media, Social network

What is the ROI of Pinterest?

February 1, 2012 By Megan E. Barber

Facepalm - Image via Wikipedia

“How do I leverage Pinterest for my real estate business?”

The title of this post, as well as the above question is starting to get asked a lot around the real estate marketing circles and social networks I follow. And I must tell you, it makes me cringe to hear it. Many agents are joining this relatively new network, looking increase their marketing reach and hoping it’s the holy grail of lead generation. Frankly I think they are missing the point and purpose of Pinterest, and may be sorely disappointed in the lack of “ROI”.

Just what is Pinterest, some of you may you be asking? Pinterest is an new-ish social network where users can Pin images, putting together a visual collection of things they love, their interests and inspiration, etc., on pin boards users create in their accounts. These pin boards can be related to anything from food to crafts, fashion to home decor. The possibilities are endless.

Personally, I LOVE Pinterest. For me it is a great source of creative inspiration, craft and DIY project ideas, home decor ideas, recipe ideas, and a place that I can daydream by pining images of my dream home or dream vacation spots. For me Pinterest has been a place I found fun and and inspirational.

Where I believe that people are really going wrong, especially those that want to “leverage Pinterest for their business,” is that marketing and self promotion is not in the spirit of what Pinterest was designed for. ~~Just simply look at #3 on their list of the Pinterest etiquette guidelines:~~

~~Avoid Self Promotion~~

~~Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.~~

When embarking on any new social networks, Pinterest or otherwise, my advice is to first explore it and really observe. Get an idea of what this community really is about. Observe how other users are utilizing the network. Then go have fun with it. On Pinterest, you may find that you can create new connections and meet like minded people you never knew before. But don’t have high expectations that it will be a magical source of lead generation.

If you are looking into to Pinterest purely as a way to promote yourselves, your listings and generate business, then frankly I think you should move along. Pinterest is not exactly the place for you, and I think you will find very little ROI, if that is your main goal. Your time may be best spent elsewhere.

There are certainly ways to use Pinterest and relate it to your real estate business, and you can do so without shameless self promotion. Coming up in a follow-up post, I will show you come creative ways to use Pinterest as it relates to real estate, and show you some examples of those in the real estate industry who are doing it right. Stay tuned!

And if you want to follow me on Pinterest, find me here. You will see that I am definitely not all business all the time.

The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Pinterest for Marketing (hubspot.com)
What Is Pinterest and Why Is Everyone Talking About It? (accesscomptech.wordpress.com)

Filed Under: Misc., Online Marketing, Recent Posts, Social Networking Tagged With: Business, DIY, Facebook, internet marketing, Online Communities, Online Marketing, Pinterest, Pinterest for real estate, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Mistakes, roi, roi of Pinterest, Social network

Rich Real Estate Agent, Poor Real Estate Agent

November 11, 2011 By Megan E. Barber

via activerain.com

What separates Rich Real Estate Agents from the Poor Real Estate Agents? Check out this awesome infographic and survey from Active Rain. Lots of striking information in this, definitely worth checking out.

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

Rich Real Estate Agent, Poor Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Blogging, Direct Marketing, Facebook, Misc., Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate News, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Twitter, Websites Tagged With: ActiveRain, Blog, Business, Business and Economy, Direct Marketing, Facebook, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Marketing plan, Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate - General, Real estate broker/agent, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate News, Real Estate Technology, real estate virtual assistant, Social media

Social Media vs. Traditional Marketing – There Is No Magic Bullet

May 25, 2011 By Megan E. Barber

Old school vs. the new school. Traditional marketing methods vs. Social media marketing. Ways of the past vs. the wave of the future. Around the online real estate world, a small debate was going on about the different schools of thought on real estate marketing methods such as social media and online marketing, and the more traditional routes such as cold calling, door knocking, and direct mail.

Some have quickly taken one side over the other, dismissing the validity of the other point. The “old school” folks cheer on the statement that social media is a total waste of time. The “new school” people think the ones who deny the potential of social media are dinosaurs of the industry that should step aside. I think the the bigger picture here in this debate is that a balanced approach using both old and new methods is necessary to succeed in this market.

Is social media a complete waste of time? I don’t certainly think so. If you know me, you know that I am a big social media fan, and use things like Facebook and Twitter quite often personally and for my business. I have even signed new clients that I’ve met via social media.

Social networking can certainly have potential to be a time waster, with the virtual farms, virtual mafia, and the penchant to announce what one had for breakfast. Certainly if you spend too much of your time living on Facebook and Twitter, you are not going to get much done in general, or be able to effectively work with your clients. But if you handle your social networking activities correctly (strategically), you can get potentially attract new business through your social media engagement.

It is also necessary to have the right mindset and expectation about the potential business social media marketing can bring you. Connections that you attract through social media can take a long time for them to convert to actual business, much like other internet leads. But if you look at the bigger picture, social networks are a great tool to foster new relationships with prospects by engaging with them and repeatedly be out in front of them.

Through some of the more traditional methods of cold calling, and door knocking, most of the “old school” gurus direct agents to go through their database, sphere or lists looking for buyers and sellers that are ready to make their move RIGHT NOW. And then they’ll instruct them to cross the prospect off the list and move on the the next if the are not ready to do business in the immediate. Where this differs from social media marketing is that you are spending little time incubating those warm or cold leads, and going directly for the hot ones. While this approach may be successful for some, it is not for everyone, and even some prospects find this type of communication a total turn off (Hello Gen Y?).

Both social media marketing and more traditional prospecting methods both have their place in today’s marketing plans. Cold calling for hot leads can help you generate business that is ready to move right now, while social media marketing can help fill that pipeline of incoming leads that can eventually warm up to actual business too. I believe a balanced approach in your marketing plan is best.

There is no one marketing method that is the magic bullet. But use any combination of them with the right approach and mindset, and they will bring you new business.

What side of the debate do you stand on? Or what marketing methods have yielded the best results for you? I want to hear from you, so please comment below!

Social Media vs. Traditional Marketing There Is No Magic Bullet

Filed Under: Direct Marketing, Facebook, Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Mistakes, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Social Networking, Twitter, Websites Tagged With: Cold calling, Facebook, Generation Y, internet leads, internet marketing, Marketing, real estate video, Social media, social media marketing, Social network, twitter

Online Biz Insiders Podcast – Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Megan E Barber

April 25, 2011 By Megan E. Barber

The Online Biz Insiders Podcast

via onlinebizinsiders.com

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the creators of Online Biz Insiders, Carla Wilson and Mary Motz, for their potcast. It was much fun, and we talked about the tasks that we typically handle for REALTORS, the value of our services, and much more. Click on the link above and check it out!

Be sure to check out all the other episodes of their fabulous Online Biz Insiders podcast as well, where you will find great tips and tools for online marketing, productivity and more!

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

Online Biz Insiders Podcast – Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Megan E Barber

Filed Under: Blogging, BVAS News, gratitude, Online Marketing, Recent Posts, VA News, Virtual Assistant Tagged With: Business, bvas, BVAS News, internet marketing, Market, Marketing and Advertising, online biz insiders, podcast, Real Estate Marketing, real estate virtual assistant, Virtual Assistant, virtual assistant news

The Power of Information – New video from RISMedia

March 28, 2011 By Megan E. Barber

RISMedia just released this fantastic new video today about the impact of social media and mobile internet on the future of real estate. It is evident that they worked hard on this. This video has some good stuff to get you thinking in case you are on the fence.

This is a great video that illustrates what is coming in the future. But I don’t think social media is THE magic bullet. I have a post upcoming that talks about this more, so stay tuned!

Let me know your thoughts on the video. Leave me a comment below!

The Power of Information New video from RISMedia

Filed Under: Facebook, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Technology, Recommended Reading, Social Networking, Twitter, video Tagged With: Facebook, facebook business pages, facebook pages, Faceboook for real estate, internet marketing, mobile, mobile for real estate, mobile marketing, Mobile Web, Online Marketing, Real Estate - General, Real Estate Marketing, real estate video, RISMedia, Social media, social media marketing, Social Networking, twitter, twitter for real estate, video, video blogging, web 2.0

You’re Doing it Wrong

March 2, 2011 By Megan E. Barber

Are you frustrated with not getting a steady stream of quality prospects from your real estate website? Suffering from too many visitors leaving your website and never coming back? If you are having a tough time getting new leads and visitors to sign up for your list and contact you, take a long hard look at your site. Chances are, you are probably doing it wrong.

You Are Doing It Wrong if…

1. Your site is a stale static site that does not have regularly updated content like a blog.

If you are not updating your site regularly with new content, like blogging, your site stays stale, uninteresting and totally irrelevant. And blogging doesn’t have to be strictly written articles. You can regularly post videos and pictures relevant to your market area that will provide content that people will come back to see.

2. You have pictures of palm trees and beaches all over your header and pages, but your local market is in Denver Colorado.

If your site does not reflect you and your local market, what is the point? How would anyone know if you are the local market expert when your site displays a complete disconnect?

3. You have a forced sign-up immediately just to be able to start a property search or to view IDX listings.

I know this is a common tactic to garner leads, so some may disagree with me here. But from my own experience as a consumer… when I am looking for homes and you make me sign up just to search or view them, I will bounce out of there and go where I can view homes unimpeded. It’s a personal annoyance of mine, but I know many consumers share the same experience.

4. It is too hard to find the top THREE things visitors to your site want most: Home Search, “What is my home worth”, “How is the Market”

If those top three things are not above the fold or in a most obvious place on your site for buyers and sellers to find, you are missing the mark. Your site will lose credibility with visitors right away if they have to search too hard to find the information they want the most. So they will bounce out and find it elsewhere.

5. Your website is all about you and nothing much about your local market and what your visitors want (see the top 3 items above).

Truth is, consumers don’t much care about the agents when they start their home search. When you go car shopping, do you first start by searching for the best car salesman you can find? My guess is that you don’t. The same goes for home buyers. They start searching for HOMES not for Realtors. So drop the ego and make sure your site is geared towards the consumer. Answer the question, “What’s in it for them?”.

6. You’re not offering buyers and sellers something of actual value to them for signing up for your list or updates.

Those cheesy, canned “free reports” provided by template sites don’t count. (does anybody really sign up for those?) Try something like the Market Snapshot system, a special buyers guide, offer IDX listings to their inbox, or free foreclosure lists.

7. Your site has no links or way to connect with you on social media.

Social media gives web visitors the opportunity to observe your activity, a bit of your personality, and build up that trust factor over time. And since many visitors are not usually ready right then to make contact with you, provide them links to your Facebook business page or Twitter feed for them to get to know you from a distance. This is especially appealing to Gen Y’ers since they are way more likely to reach out via Facebook than pick up the phone or send an email.

8. There’s no clear call to action on your site.

If you don’t have clear consistent calls to action to tell your users what you want them to do with the information you provide them, you’re doing it wrong. Tell them to call or email you for more info. Tell them to leave you a comment about their own experiences or questions. Tell them to sign up on your form to receive market reports on recent solds in the area.

9. You have no contact forms on your site for visitors to actually contact you when they are ready.

Only having your phone number or links to email you may be hurting your site’s ability to capture leads. Having no (or very few) contact forms on your site, you’re not making it easy for visitors. It can be especially difficult for those who primarily use a web based email client like gmail or they happen to be at work. In fact, it is important to have some sort of contact form on every page. Make it easy on your users to contact you!

10. You say you are different from the rest, yet you are using a templated website that looks identical to 50,000 other agents’ sites.

Using a template site that is provided to you by your broker or from from some other web vendor, does you no favors. Those template sites hardly reflect your local market or your own brand and you can get easily lost in the shuffle. How can you stand out from the rest if your site looks exactly the same as the next guy and does nothing to set you apart.

If you took a good look at your site and saw that your are doing one, all or any combination of the above, it is probably time for a new approach. Your website should be your hub, your engine for delivering exactly what consumers want when they search for real estate info. If you are not making it easy, not making it all about them, you are losing them. Stop doing it wrong.

Consider utilizing a Real Estate Virtual Assistant to help you do it right.

Seen other ways people are doing it wrong? Have any questions on how to do it right? We want to hear from you! Leave us a comment below and let us know.

Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Mistakes, Real Estate Technology, Recent Posts, Websites Tagged With: internet leads, internet marketing, lead conversion, real estate leads, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Mistakes, real estate website, Social media, Web Design and Development, Website, websites

10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part IV

September 24, 2010 By Megan E. Barber

Today brings you two more video content ideas in part 4 of my series,10 Ideas For Real Estate Video. Catch up on previous installments: part one, part two and part three here.

number 1 realtor 300x224 10 Ideas For Real Estate Video Part IV

7. Hello, My name is… (a.k.a. Personal Intro Video)

Seeing only someone’s written word can make it hard to get an idea of their total personality. But seeing someone on video, you get a face and a voice to the name. So great way to introduce yourself web visitors, blog readers, and viewers is by doing a personal intro video. The video can show you, sitting at your desk or some other fabulous location, telling the viewer about yourself, your company, how you work, and whatever else you want people to know about you. You can be creative and and have clips clips showing you at work, in your favorite neighborhood, and maybe show people what you like to do when you don’t have your real estate hat on.

Show your personality in the video and keep it fun. But avoid making it like a cheesy 80′s infomercial. Also, try to keep your video down to 3-5 minutes. Most people love to talk about themselves but have a tendency to go on too long.

8. Share Market Stats, and Real Estate News

Make informative videos sharing the latest real estate news and your interpretation of local market trends to let your audience know what is going on in their market. Share your opinions on the latest market trends affecting buyers and sellers in your area. Giving your visitors and prospects this useful real estate info they are looking for helps showcase your knowledge of the market and strengthens your position as a trusted expert. This can also be a consistent source of video content as there is often breaking news in the real estate world, and market trends and statistics are ever changing.

The fifth and final installment of this series is coming up, so stay tuned. Want to share your personal intro video, or have more ideas for real estate video? I want know about it! Just leave me a comment below.

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

10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part II

July 23, 2010 By Megan E. Barber

: 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.

10 Ideas For Real Estate Video – Part II

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

A Day Away From the Office at REBCPHL

June 1, 2010 By Megan E. Barber

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

Online Biz Insiders Podcast – Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Megan E Barber

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