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.

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.

Social media is fast becoming a huge component to an agent’s online marketing strategy, and using Facebook is a major part of that strategy. If you STILL haven’t taken the Facebook plunge and started enjoying the additional reach and marketing opportunities, then it is time. Time to just suck it up and embrace the Facebook.

Facebook is not just another place for you to market, but a place to share and ENGAGE with your clients and prospects. It is another opportunity to become a trusted expert in your local market or among your friends and colleagues. Facebook claims to have 250 million active users, so think of how many of those users may be within your reach. What are you waiting for?

You better not be using lack of time as an excuse. Being active on Facebook doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. So if that is the excuse you are still using, drop it. With a few applications and tools you can automate much of your Facebook updates and such that it will really only take you a few minutes a day to communicate, comment and engage with your Facebook friends.

In case you didn’t know already here are a few things that you can be doing in Facebook to help increase your online presence:

• Advertise your listings and use Postlets which can help you syndicate to Facebook as well as dozens of other places (DO NOT do nothing but promote your listings. Nothing is more annoying than a friend that does nothing but advertise)
• Add an RSS feed from your blog. It will automatically update when you have a new blog post.
• Connect your status updates with Twitter or Ping.fm. Make all your status updates in one place that will update Facebook automatically
• Talk about the latest open house or how excited you are about your first time buyers new home find.
• Converse directly with clients, friends and prospects and add a personality to the “brand”. Become someone they know and trust. (you don’t have to be all business all the time)
• Create a Business page that can include all of your business happenings, blog postings, newsletter sign up, and so much more. Then invite everyone to become fans so you can easily broadcast your important info to them.

There is a lot you can be doing in Facebook and you are running out of excused to not be on there. So if you are still a stranger to Facebook, stop what you are doing right now (I really mean it!) and get started by doing the following:

1. Sign up for Facebook
2. Set up your profile and don’t forget to add a picture
3. Find some of your friends and colleagues
4. Engage with people
5. Set up a Business Page – or ask your real estate virtual assistant to help
6. Become a Fan of BVAS!

And here are a few awesome places to get more tips and advice on how to use Facebook effectively for your business:

Using Facebook to Sell with Soul – A few dos and don’ts

6 Facebook Apps Every Realtor Needs

3 New Facebook Strategies For Building Your Personal Brand

Facebook – Genius Drip Marketing & Free

InsideFacebook.com

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Lately I have been exploring the uses of video for my own business as well as how to best help my agent clients use real estate video for their own business.  While doing this, I ran across Coldwell Banker’s very cool YouTube channel, Coldwell Banker On Location^SM. It launched in May of this year, and though my own area doesn’t have as much activity, I am quite impressed with the look of it and it’s potential.

On the consumer end, I think the page itself is very cool with an interactive map a the top with your selected location, and all videos uploaded from Coldwell Banker agents from the selected radius. This includes listing videos, agent promotional videos, etc.

For Coldwell Banker and their agents, I think this channel and its setup is incredibly smart. This benefits their agents by allowing them to upload their own videos of their listings, personal promotion, or community videos, and it helps increase the agent’s exposure. It is also great for Coldwell Banker to help increase their brand exposure and possibly making it the go-to channel on YouTube for real estate.

Social media has become an increasingly valuable real estate marketing tool, and with their presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more, Coldwell Banker seems to be a step ahead of most of the other big brokers right now. I have a few of their lucky agents as clients, and as their Real Estate Virtual Assistant I am eager to help them utilize these awesome tools their broker has provided them.

If you are not a Coldwell Banker agent, that’s not a problem. You can still have a kick butt YouTube channel on your own. Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can not only help with your video marketing strategy, but help you develop and implement your overall social network marketing strategy as well.

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, LLC,  and runs blogs, The BVAS Connection and The Virtual Perception. Megan has been in a Virtual Assistant for 4+ years and has spent 10+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.

via activerain.com

Kate Wheeler says "Step Up Or Step Aside", and SHE IS RIGHT! If you are an agent that is not getting active in Active Rain (and Localism), what are you waiting for?

Kate’s post is a great example on why you should be on there. It is a great platform writing to your target market and making yourself a trusted authority in your local world. Not to mention it’s an awesome place to network and learn from you real estate peers.

If you are still unsure what to do with Active Rain, or how to get set up, contact a Real Estate Virtual Assistant to help!

Posted via web from megbarberva’s posterous

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

Real estate websites have become one of the mainstays of a Realtor’s marketing plan. And one of the first things one needs when starting a new real estate website is a great domain name. A common thing that I notice is that many agents decide to choose their own name as their domain name. But what I don’t think many agents realize, is that choosing their own name as a domain, is a big mistake. Picking your own name as a domain is easy, but is it right? From one of my favorite real estate marketing books, Real Estate Rainmaker Guide to Online Marketing, author Dan Gooder Richard mentions as one of the "New Rules" – Your brand should never be your name. Let’s think about the big picture here. When building an internet presence or an overall marketing presence, you are building a brand.  Building your brand can take a significant amount of time an money to promote and make successful. Well after a time running a successful real estate business, someday you may wish to retire. Can you see where I am going here yet? Essentially you want a brand that is attractive and "saleable" to potential buyers that may want to take on your business once you decide to retire. And if your brand is something that can be easily transferred to a new buyer, that obviously makes it worth a lot more money. Well if you are using your name as your brand, or as your domain name, how easily transferable or attractive would it be should you decide to sell the business you worked so hard on? I don’t believe many agents haven’t give this much thought when developing thier websites. How attractive would a brand that was by some other person’s name be to you? So how should you go about choosing a great domain name for your site? Take the ego out of it. Your real estate site is not about all about you but about the consumer. Think about the areas you serve and the consumers you want to reach and what they may be interested in. Think of a geographical area or specific property type that you specialize in. Have you already chosen your own name as your domain name? Don’t fret! Landing pages can be your answer! Without having to completely change to a new site or completely change the domain over to something new, you can still use great targeted domain names while still keeping the main website. You can buy several domains like (and these are just for the sake of example) YourTownHomeBuying.com, YourTownCodos.com to target certain property types or market segments, and take them to landing pages that correspond to that item. Same with domains that target certain geographical areas and landing pages in your site to go with. Good luck and happy naming!

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, LLC,  and runs blogs, The BVAS Connection and The Virtual Perception. Megan has been in a Virtual Assistant for 4+ years and has spent 10+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.

Ever get fed up chasing down showing agents by phone trying to get showing feedback for your listings? Playing phone tag, or dealing with a fellow agent who is annoyed with the fact you called to bother them is never fun. (Been there, done that.) Then some of the online feedback systems can cost too much but offer just too little.

Well a client of mind found a free online showing feedback solution solution recently, we tried it out, and it is working great. So today I wanted to share this great tool to help you get your showing feedback results in an easy and automatic fashion. And best of all is that it’s FREE! The program is www.ShowingFeedback.com, and my agent client and I had recently stumbled upon it when looking for cost effective online showing feedback solutions.

ShowingFeedback.com allows you to track the feedback on your listings by creating and sending short surveys to agents that show your listings, and then give access to your sellers to review the reports and comments that have been left by the agents.

To use is, you simply enter your listings and seller’s information into the system, and when there is a new showing, add the showing agent’s information and a showing feedback survey is sent. The feedback survey will be sent automatically up to 3 times until the showing agent responds. When they do respond, they you AND your seller will receive email notification of the showing feedback that was just left. It is that simple.

So far in using it the past few weeks we have seen about a 90% response rate from the showing agents and we are very impressed. And of course, the sellers really appreciate getting direct email notification of their showing activity and feedback.

And did I mention that this was free? So go give it a try, you have nothing to lose!

Attention all bloggers, young and old, newbie and experienced. I stumbled upon a great contest today that you may want to check out.  The prizes are the coolest (at least to geeky bloggers like me) and they would be of tremendous value to whoever wins. Plus,  I think it is impressive that he is using this as a great way way to snag list subscribers, and get great traffic. Kudos to him!

Check out The Blog Boost Giveaway at Miguel Alvarez’s Marketing Factor.

On the blog earlier in the week I started the conversation about the social networking tool, Twitter and a few tips for the beginner. Twitter can be a great real estate marketing tool and is easy and fun. Today I have more tweet tips about applications to make Twitter easier to use and integrate it with all blog and other social networking platforms. There are hundreds of Twitter apps out there, but here are some choices that are popular with myself and many of my colleagues.

Don’t want to have to go to twitter.com each time to send and receive your tweets? Some applications that make posting easier:

• Twhirl – This is a free download that allows you to use Twitter from your desktop. Receive notification of new messages.
• Tweetdeck – Thought still in beta, it is another desktop application for Twitter use. It also includes some organization functionality that allows one keep track of twitter threads a little easier.
• OutTwit – This application allows you to tweet and follow right from your Outlook.
• TwitBin – For Firefox users, with TwitBin you can use twitter right in your Firefox internet browser.
• Twitter2Go – Check and update Twitter from your Palm, Blackberry, or practically any mobile phone or pda device. No download required.

Want to announce a new blog post, pictures, etc, to your twitter followers? Check out these apps:

• TwitterFeed – This application takes the feed from any of your blogs, (Blogger, Active Rain, etc), or anything with an RSS feeds, and it will periodically check for updates and post them for you.
• Twitter Tools – A WordPress plugin that automatically notifies twitter of new blog posts.
• Twit Pic – A great tool to share your photos on Twitter.

Want to search tweets for keywords, be alerted when someone is talking about you, or follow conversations easier? Use these apps:

• Quotably – Want to find the original tweet that sparked a twitter conversation? Use this app by inputing the twitter name to help you find the thread of conversation.
• TweetScan – This app is a real time Twitter search to search for keywords, find replies and you can sign up for email alerts.
• TweetBeep – It’s like Google Alerts for twitter. Find out who’s twittering about you, your business, comany, services, etc.

A Few more fun Twitter apps:

• TweetBurner – Allows you to track the links you share or links shared by others and what happens to them.
• Tweet Clouds – Make word a cloud of a public twitter stream.
• StrawPoll – Create your own straw polls to gather opinions of your twitter friends, or settle a long standing debate.
• Tweet Ahead – Schedule your tweets ahead of time to be posted later.
• Post Like a Pirate – Have a little fun and turn your twitter post into “pirate speak” <– LOVE IT (I’ve got a great story about pirate speak)

As I had said, there are 100′s of Twitter apps out there and new ones are popping up all the time. To view a great list of several apps available, check out this cool site, Twitter Fan Wiki.

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, and publisher of The REAL Advantage E-Zine. Megan has spent 9+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.