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“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 is 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 your 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.

Related articles

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

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

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.

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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

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!

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

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

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

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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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