Check out this fun video inspired by the onlineschools.org infographic about the latest Facebook stats.
The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.
The World is Obsessed With Facebook – video
February 25, 2011 By 1 Comment
1 in 11 humans Are on Facebook [infographic]
February 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
![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]")
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Getting Down to Basics
January 14, 2011 By 2 Comments
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!
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Choose Your Social Media Friends Carefully
August 13, 2010 By 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.
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5 Free Ways to Never Miss a Twitter @Reply
August 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
via mashable.com
This one hails from Mashable, my favorite social media new site. Many people who are new to Twitter, sometimes miss their @ replies or don’t know where to find them. So Mashable lists out some good free options to check out.
Go give it a read!
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A Day Away From the Office at REBCPHL
June 1, 2010 By 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.
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Online Dominance & A Fantastic Facebook Trick
April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Image of Michael Russer
After attending the awesome VREBC last week, I wanted to highlight one of my favorite speakers from it, Michael Russer. When I first started out as a Real Estate Virtual Assistant over 5 years ago, I was introduced through the REVA Network to Michael Russer and his fantastic classes and webinars. Also known as “Mr. Internet”, Michael has been speaking and coaching real estate pros for years on using the internet for their real estate business. He is also one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Virtual Assistant industry, which is another reason why I am a big fan of his.
Michael’s extensive list of accomplishments and books written can be found right here. His latest program, Online Dominance, includes a fantastic Mentoring program for agents that contains his high-energy group coaching calls, as well as the highly valuable CLICKS to CLOSES™ and ePRODUCTIVITY™ courses. This is one program where a few of my real estate friends are participants, and they all are raving fans.
The main reason I am posting this is to highlight a fantastic lead follow up resource that he shares and how he goes about sharing it with the use of his Facbook fan page. The resource Michael shares is the ingenious “Critical First Response Email Script”. It is a simple email sent to internet consumers after their initial inquiry. It is crafted in a way that is no pressure, “non-salesy”, and invites consumers to open a dialogue when they are ready to.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
How do you get this fantastic email script? Well, you must become a fan of the Online Dominance Facebook page in order to get to the download link. This Facebook tactic demonstrates a great way to generate new fans (or leads) to your Facbook fan page by enticing users to get something of value from you that they want or need. This simple trick is something you can do with your own fan page by creating a tab that only fans can access and use that tab to share valuable links, or special downloads for your fans. Then just watch your fan numbers grow.
I highly recommend that you check out Michael Russer
- Online Dominance – www.OnlineDominance.com
- The Mr. Internet News Real Estate Blog
- Online Dominance Facebook Page
Looking to spruce up your own Facebook fan page and add valuable links and information for your fans? Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can help you! Contact us today for an assessment of your real estate and social media support needs. and if your not already, come on over to Facebook and be a fan!
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If Chris Brogan Were a REALTOR
March 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
via chrisbrogan.com
If you don’t know, Chris Brogan is a major player and thought leader in the Social Media realm. When he speaks, many of us listen.
I stumbled upon this post is from a couple months ago, but I thought it was a super important one to share. If you are a REALTOR looking to use social media effectively,listen up! [now go read it!]
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Major Redesign Over at Facebook
February 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
via mashable.com
There seems to be a theme here with all this talk about Facebook lately. But her I go again. They’ve got a whole new look on their homepage now. Greater emphasis on search. Easier to instant message. I’m liking it so far.
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Avoid These Facebook Pitfalls
February 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Image by Evil Erin via Flickr
Many agents are catching on and joining in on the Facebook fun. The talk of social media and using it for real estate business have been quite the buzz around all the conferences and webinars in the past year. You will find no bigger cheerleader for this that than me, since I have been encouraging this for what seems forever now. Now that I see numerous agents embracing and using Facebook, I have been making some observations. Some that make me pull my hair out. So now I feel the need to give out some guidance on some pitfalls to avoid when using Facebook. It’s time to stop the madness.
1. Don’t incessantly use your status updates to do nothing but post your listings over and over again. Sometimes I wonder if some agents think that consumers log on to Facebook just to look for real estate. Newsflash… They don’t. Posting listings on there once in awhile is fine, as long as you also post relevant and interesting information that people may want to know. Using it to constantly post listings looks fake, inauthentic (and in my generation despise that) and will easily get you ignored by the simple push of the “Hide” button. There are subtle ways to put your listings on your profile. Here is one way I suggest to do it.
2. Keep the drunken bachelor/bachelorette party photos and the like, off of Facebook… or at least make them private. Even though you are a professional, you are probably not all business all of the time and want to project that on Facebook. Even so, be mindful of current and potential clients that may be connected to you and that certain things can turn them off and not give you their business. Yes, your friends might find that picture where you were passed out on the floor or making out with some random person funny, but your prospective clients might be downright offended and cause them to look down upon you. Get to know your privacy settings. They are your friend.
3. Try not to trash people, cities or things on your status updates, links, fan pages, etc. You never know who may be looking at your profile. Things get around, and though you may think you are safe to post how much you hate a certain person, place or thing, no matter how justified you are, it may come back to bite you. This story is a great example of this. And though that story happened through Twitter, with 350 million active Facebook users it is bound to happen there too.
4. Don’t air your dirty laundry for all to see on Facebook. There is such thing a too much information. And really, people don’t really need to know all of your personal drama, marital problems, etc. As the above points mentioned, be mindful of who is looking at your profile. It looks unprofessional. And really, does the public really need to know your very private personal drama? Your clients may look at you differently, or stop returning your calls.
5. Stop constantly posting your Farmville, Mafia Wars, CafeWorld, Fishville, etc, in your status updates. Now in fairness, I do play and participate in some of above mentioned games. They’re fun but must played in moderation Really, do you want your colleagues, prospects and clients to think you do nothing but play with a virtual farm all day? It starts to make your clients wonder if you are really spending the time marketing their home or plowing imaginary land. There are ways to play and not share every single detail of what you have done in your games. So if you’re tempted to share it, don’t. It’s annoying. And people will tend to ignore or unfriend you.
So real estate pros, please heed my above advice. Facebook is a great opportunity to engage with your clients, market yourself, your properties (subtly), and show a bit of your personality, please be mindful of everything you do on there. You never know who is looking and how it may help or hurt your business.
And while you’re at it, come on over and be a fan – www.facebook.com/barbervasolutions
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