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Official Page: Official Pages: Official pages are an important Facebook tool for the real estate professional. Setting up an official page is a little like setting up a public website for your business within Facebook. Official pages look very similar to profiles in that they have a wall, and tabs, just like profiles do. However, official pages are a very different marketing tool than profiles are, and the Facebook terms of service. Official pages are designed to be for commercial use (in other words, it is not a terms of service violation to post real estate listings on your page). You must be the authorized representative of the business in order to create a Facebook page (most real estate agents are independent contractors and therefore the authorized representative of their real estate practice so this criteria isn’t a problem).

They are totally public - people can see the content on your official page without having to be connected to it (whereas your profile requires acceptance by both parties to view the full profile). On pages, visitors can choose to “like” a page and this is not “approved” by page administrators. Once they like the page, they are connected to it. By liking your page, a visitor has become a fan of your page and given you permission to market to them in their news feed.

There are no privacy settings can be applied to pages and pages are indexed by search engines. This is a great benefit to the pages product as page administrators can benefit from the SEO, or search engine optimization, that results from their page being indexed.

Pages also allow for a centralized brand voice. Since you can have multiple administrators, this feature allows for each of the administrators to post on behalf of the brand, vs, as themselves. None of the other Facebook marketing tools has this functionality.

Places Pages: Places pages are nearly identical to official pages except for two differences:

1.    Places pages are for businesses that have a physical office address.

2.    Places pages allow business owners to offer “Facebook Deals”.

Facebook Deals: Having a Facebook places page allows you to offer Facebook Deals to people who visit your physical location. You can offer a coupon to Facebook users who check into your location on their cell phone in order to encourage check-ins and repeat business, and gain visibility in Facebook when those check-ins and deals are publicized to the users news feed.

For real estate offices, or Realtors who have a physical office location, Facebook places pages is a marketing product to investigate. Having a Facebook places page allows for Facebook users to find out where your office is located, your business hours, and other relevant items about your business. It also allows for Facebook users to “check-in” when they are at your location using the geo-location tagging functionality on many cell phones. When they check in, their check in at your place is posted on their wall which can increase the visibility of your business.

Community Pages: Community pages are pages people go to share their interest in the topic of the page. Much like an official page, Facebook users “like” community pages as well. Other ways to connect to community pages include providing “likes and interests” in your personal profile (you’ll notice a link to likes and interests that you add to the info tab of your personal profile - often that goes to a community page). A key difference between community pages and official pages is that community pages aren’t tied to an official entity. There are community pages for cooking and boating, for example. There is no administrator of a community page. The page is administered by the “community” of people who “like” it.

From a marketer’s standpoint, the lack of administrator control is the key difference between community pages and official/places pages. As a Facebook marketer, what you should know about community pages is that your goal is to not get demoted from an “Official page” to a “Community page”. This can happen if you violate the terms of service of an official page…mainly, you aren’t the authorized representative of the page you created. If you are unable to prove to Facebook that you are the authorized representative of your page (they have a form and a process), then you can be stripped of your administrator privileges and your page will be “managed by the community”.

Technology Strategist, Speaker, Trainer

The Internet has increased the expectation among consumers that your business will have a credible online presence. Prospects you’ve never met are forming opinions about your business at the click of a mouse.

Internet first impressions are not just influenced by how your website looks, but also by how often your business appears in searches on their key words and if you have a presence on the more popular real estate sites. Establishing a good reputation, offline and online, is the only way to be truly successful in business.

Online networking is just like networking in person; being social - meeting people. Create, build and develop relationships.  Starting and “getting out there” is no different than conversations about real estate (sometimes bringing it up intentionally) while at the PTA meeting.

Understanding the way business has shifted with the internet age can help you market your business in the virtual world. You do that by:

• establishing a powerful online reputation and presence
• being available where the consumer is, so they will contact you
• providing content that reflects the specific key words consumers look for
• and using social media and the deep content you create to build and develop relationships with potential clients.

The Hub & Spoke Principle

Real estate professionals often approach online marketing in a disjointed fashion.

They have a website and then decide to create a presence on social networks, not utilizing the power of integrating them. The agent spends a lot of time visiting these various sites to communicate information, reducing their effectiveness.

Like the hub on a bicycle wheel, a website facilitates resource sharing and communications (via the “spokes” in the wheel) to every Web 2.0 tool the sales agent decides to incorporate into their business.

While you want a presence in other places (on and off line) your website should be the place to return as the foundation. It is the hub, your central spot, your foundation that will have searches, information and most importantly, ways for the consumer to get in touch with you when is they are ready to buy or sell.

Whatever other social media or online activities you participate in are the spokes. This is where you establish your reputation and begin to build relationships as consumers get to see bits and pieces of who you are.

The more search traffic you can drive, coupled with the social media traffic you move from your spokes (like Facebook) the more you will be found.

Amy Chorew is a national technology speaker and coach. She is founder of TheTechByte which offers a variety of technology coaching and training programs.

Rich Levin

For some reason this is working better right now than ever in the past.

Agents that I coach all over the country are using this and literally everywhere it is generating listing leads.

You have a Buyer who you have shown everything on the market and they can’t find what they want.  So, you send what I call a “Property Need Letter.”

You drive the Buyer around the area and select the specific homes and or the specific blocks of streets that truly have what they are looking for.

Then you send a letter to those specific houses.  The letter has to have a specific structure and language so that it is credible.  In fact, don’t do this unless it is real.  The letter gives some details about the Buyer, what they are looking for and what they are not finding.  It offers a confidential one time showing request.

My coaching Clients have been doing this for many years.  Right now it seems to be more effective than ever.  Perhaps because there are so many Sellers who are waiting for the market to improve but given the opportunity they would like to sell and move.

If you would like a copy of the property need letters, e-mail me.  Although they are one of hundreds of documents exclusively for our coaching Clients, I’ll offer them to you to encourage you to listen to our free webinars www.FreeCoachingWebinars.com and to introduce you to a bit of our Success work.

As I write this I’m looking outside my window - amazed at how our wet Washington winters and springs, followed by a burst of warm weather, create landscaping that seems to appear almost “overnight”.

The reality, of course, is that it doesn’t happen overnight. I am already beginning to plan my landscaping projects.  It started with a vision of where I wanted my yard to be … and from there I work backwards to figure out what I need to do then to end up with the landscaping that I have envisioned.

One thing is for sure.  If I don’t start “planting” now, I will be looking at bare dirt (or a patch of scabby weeds!)

Lead generation is no different.

Trust your business to the equivalent of seeds blowing in the wind, praying for rain, and hoping that someone will come along to help you cull the “good” possibilities from the ‘bad” and you’ll end up with the business equivalent of a patch of bare dirt - few or no clients.  And that means little or no income, and lots of stress.  About 99% of the agents who come to me for help are struggling because they aren’t actively and consciously involved in lead generation.

In the years from 2002 through 2006, most parts of the country went through an extraordinary period in terms of real estate.  Fog a mirror and you could get a loan.  Put a house on the market, and the chances were pretty good you would get multiple offers.  Buyers and sellers wanted to take advantage of good times, and most of them wanted to use a real estate agent.  It was a heyday for our industry, and it made us lazy.

Yes, lazy!  We got out of the habit of generating leads, and into the habit of taking orders for our customers.  The pace of the market was such that business dropped in our laps.  Lead generation?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Who had the time?

I track activity in many different fields, and at that time our industry was almost unique in this lack of need to generate leads.  Think about it - in what other industry could you be a “salesperson” without putting time into prospecting and closing?  Although you may prefer to think of yourself as a consultant (many of us hate the “sales” word), the fact is that your daily work life must have a “sales” component.

Do you want to stay in the business?  Better yet, do you want to have a business that thrives … not just survives?  If so, you must spend some significant time on lead generation. Today, lead generation is a non-negotiable activity.

What I love about lead generation is the wide variety of options available.  You can generate leads in person, on the phone, in print, or online.  Because everyone is a little different in their personality, their pace of work, their budget, and the time they are willing to devote to it, no one lead generation activity is “the best”.  And many types of lead generation simply aren’t a fit for some agents.  Stop fighting your natural and authentic self, and instead stop working with what you have.

But whether you choose to generate leads at a networking group, an open house, by geographical farming, or by using your MLS to uncover opportunities in the market, you must start lead generation now … and continue it on a consistent basis.

Still not sure why I’m making such a big deal about lead generation?  Sometimes when an agent questions my point of view on this topic, I’ll explain it this way: lead generation is to real estate what an “open” sign and a menu is to a restaurant.  Without a sign and a menu at the door (or an online menu), customers don’t know if the restaurant can serve them, or whether it offers what they’re hungry for.  Yes, some people will walk in and investigate the place.  They may even order a meal.  But the restaurant owner is missing lots of opportunities by not taking a few simple steps.

Same thing in real estate.  If you’re not letting people know about your services (that you’re open and what you’re “serving”) you’re going to substantially decrease the likelihood of working with that “hungry” client. A potential client is far more likely to reach out if they know who you are, what you offer, and how you can help them solve their problem.

Make the commitment today to take the frustration and uncertainty out of your business. Look at your strengths, your natural style, and resources at your disposal.  Determine which lead generation activity is right for you.  And here’s a tip:  the “right” lead generation for you is one that suits your natural style, and the one you’ll do consistently - so it waters and fertilizes your business.

Who isn’t curious about photos of themselves?  Everyone is!  Therefore, it isn’t surprising that the most engaging type of content on Facebook is photos.  Posting photos can be a great tip for getting people to look at, like, and interact with your Facebook page.  Anytime you are at an event which supports your business objective - a conference, a community block party, an Association mixer, a 10K that is being held in your community - take lots of pictures, include lots of people, post an album to your Facebook page, and tag your friends.

Photos can also be tagged and you should tag your Facebook friends in the photos you upload.  They will receive a Facebook notification that they have been tagged in the photo and go to see it.  If this photo lives on your business page, they will be taken there.  And, since photos solicit the highest degree of engagement on Facebook, they will be likely to want to give some of the photos a thumbs up, or leave a comment.  Here is the kicker - they can’t leave a comment or like a photo without first liking your page.  So, people will like your page in order to leave a comment or interact with the photos you posted.  It’s a great way to build the number of people who like your page.

In addition, you should encourage people to tag their friends in the photos.  Since you can only tag people that you are friends with and at a community event where there are lots of people, you may not be Facebook friends with all the people that are in your photos.  But, some of your friends will be Facebook friends with people in the photos, and if you encourage them to tag their friends, they likely will, which will bring more people to your page.

Important detail - Confirm that fans have the ability to post to your page wall by checking that in your page manager, the checkbox next to “Users can write or post content on the wall” is selected. If they can’t write on your wall, you have no opportunity for engagement!

Technology Strategist, Speaker, Trainer

Offline marketing and online marketing media together can result in even higher returns on your marketing investments (ROI).

The goal is to have all your marketing efforts support each other, working together to promote your business.

Take a look at your offline marketing; see
how you can leverage new technologies and consumer preferences to drive down your costs while giving consumers what they want.

Traditionally we marketed to the consumer what we felt they wanted but
Today’s consumers are creating their own online experience. Combining the best of offline and online marketing results in many benefits.

• Referral business - people trust friends, family and business associates and become an advocate for what they endorse.
• Better tracking ensures better investment of marketing dollars.
• Momentum of combined strategy increases your ROI.
• Conversational social media marketing increases word of mouth marketing.

You don’t have to stop what your currently doing simply add to it. Integrate the hub and spokes theory to have a very comprehensive marketing campaign. In the next post I will explain the Hub and Spoke theory of marketing. Till then…

Everyone at Broker Agents Speakers would like to wish you a safe and happy New Year.

Looking for a speaker for 2012? Look no further! We have all the top trainers from around the country. Take a peek and why not look at our video showcase. Topics include everything from assistants to websites.

We have events for every budget, topic or event. Book now.

Happy New Year!

Rich Levin

My recent blog about listings got a lot of positive comment, thank you.

Let’s be clear on another thing. If listings are the name of the game, Buyers are the rest of the game. You don’t make a commission with a Buyer. In fact, a qualified, motivated Buyer with an urgent need is as good as the average listing (particularly in today’s market) any day; in fact, the better the listing, the more of those valuable Buyers it will attract.

So, as I said in the previous blog, keep taking listings. At the same time, keep searching for qualified Buyers who are eager and ready to buy. The key is to be rigorous in asking the Buyer questions about their financial qualification, motivation and urgency as early as possible in the relationship (with complete respect for Agency and Agency laws).

Yes, I saw the statistics on how much more money is made by Agents who focus on listings. And I completely agree that consistent success is based on a listing focus. I coach Agents every day to extraordinary listing success. But the statistics are flawed. Here’s why.

Most, possibly all, Agents with a team focus on listings. On their team are Agents who focus on Buyers. In fact in many those ‘Buyer Specialists’ refer all of their listing leads to the Primary Agent. The team leader (I call them the Primary Agent, thank you Patrick Daily) gets a portion of all the Buyer sale commissions. This enormously skews the statistics. The more accurate measure would be individual Agents who focus on Listings versus the ones who focuses on Buyers. The problem with that is that the vast majority of individual Agents necessarily focus on both.

The point is that focusing on Buyers in a smart way is necessary for Agents with or without a team. For the teams it would be a waste to get all those listings and not benefit from the Buyers they would attract. For an individual Agent it is also most often a matter of survival.

Buyers or Listings there is opportunity in this market. It absolutely takes more talent and effort to find it and close it in this market. Those who tough it out and learn to succeed in this market will be the top Agents and the leaders as a healthy market re-emerges. And with a bit of blessing, it will.

I’ve been flooded with questions and comments about real estate logos and branding in the last 30 days.  We had such positive response to our recent “before and after” contest … and it made me realize that I need to talk about the power of branding more regularly.

I’m a proponent of branding because it works.  Branding your business will increase the success of your business.  That’s why my company offers branding and design services to our clients.

I want to be very clear on my next statement.  I don’t talk about branding because my company offers branding … I made the decision long ago to have branding as one of my company’s core services because branding works.

I’m going to be talking a lot about branding in the coming months so I can share my thoughts about why branding – coupled with ongoing training – could be the most important commitment you make to your business.

So just why am I so keen on branding?  Why do I encourage agents to invest in their business via branding?

Let’s start with this basic premise: a brand is a blueprint for, or a “promise” of, the experience your client will have when using your products and/or services.

If you think about nationally known brand you’ll know this is true.  Think about the following companies:

When you see these brands, you instantly have an expectation of your experience.

These companies have all developed a strong corporate identity through their brand – one which quickly communicates to past, present, and potential clients exactly what they can expect from the company.

Take a peek at the last two examples here – Budweiser, and Guinness.

Budweiser has incorporated several taglines over the decades (“The King of Beers”, “This Buds for You”, “When You Say Budweiser, You’ve Said it All”).  However, what hasn’t changed are the brand colors – a strongly American palette of red, white, and blue.  Budweiser positions itself as a beer for the patriotic masses.  It’s relatively inexpensive, and it’s American-made.  When you see the Budweiser brand, there’s absolutely no question it’s an American beer.  Like many successful companies, Budweiser directs its brand message at a relatively young market, hoping to build brand loyalty and develop long-term relationships.

Contrast this with Guinness – an Irish beer known for its stout (think of it as very dark beer).  Their brand reinforces this, with a dark, murky color palette.  Guinness has cleverly introduced an image associated with Ireland – a harp – into their brand, and they call attention to their country of origin by referencing “Dublin”.  They’ve also been very strategic in positioning the length of time their brewery has been in business – their date of establishment (1759) is clearly referenced in their brand.  Like Budweiser, Guinness has changed their taglines over time (“Good Things Come to Those Who Wait”, “Bring it to Life”, “My Goodness, My Guinness”, “Guinness is Good for You”, “Out of the Darkness Comes Light”, “The Most Natural Thing in the World”) but has kept their brand elements consistent.

Your brand should be the foundation of all your marketing efforts.  Not a piece of marketing – whether online or offline – should be seen by the public unless it showcases your branding.

Develop a brand, use your brand consistently in your marketing, and you’ll create an identity that resonates with clients.

Here are five easy ways to identify if branding is for you.  It’s time for you to brand if:

1. You need to differentiate yourself in your marketplace.  Do you appear just like every other agent to potential clients?  If so, how will they find you … or, if they find you, how will they know they would want to work with you?
2. You want to eliminate your competition. When you are the agent with a point of differentiation, there’s a reason for a client to work with you, not your competitor.
3. You want to gain focus on your core values. Nothing brings clarity more quickly to what is unique about you than the work of creating a brand.  Branding forces you to discover – then articulate – your value.
4. You want to shorten the time it takes to build trust with clients.  With a brand, you’ve differentiated yourself from competitors, and you’ve articulated your core values.  A brand allows you to deliver that message to your clients quickly, thus decreasing the time you must spend convincing clients that you are their agent of choice.
5. You want to start marketing yourself, not just the company you work with.  Too many agents rely on their company’s marketing materials.  This is a huge mistake.  Yes, if you work with a well-respected company you should leverage their name.  However, you must also brand yourself so clients have clarity around your value as an agent, and to provide a reason for a client to work with you … not your co-worker in the next cubicle over!

Do any of these five reasons resonate with you?  If even one of them does, it’s time to get to work on creating your business brand.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be talking about branding regularly in the coming months.  Can’t wait?  Download a copy of my free white paper on branding; Jump Start Your Business: Branding Ideas for Small Business and Entrepreneurs.