Open House Tips: 3 Steps To Marketing On Sundays

Courtesy RealtySignXpress.comF

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article 9-24-09

How many of you Realtors are guilty of arriving at your open house, spending 30 minutes setting up flyers and marketing materials, and then sitting back and reading the paper? Making phone calls to friends? Feeling bored with nothing to do? Be honest and don’t lie to yourself. If that is the scenario for any of you, I have an alternative activity that will help your business.

Step 1: The Laptop

• Display an open laptop, online, with pages open to your Facebook Business page
• Display a second tab with your Twitter account
• Call to action by asking Open House attendees to “fan” your Facebook page and follow you on Twitter

Step 2: List Building

• Provide your standard Sign-in sheet but place it next to the Laptop(s)
• Display a third tab that allows Open House attendees to sign up for your “newsletter” online giving them the option to join you in the “real world” or online

Step 3: Your Blog

• Display your blog in a fourth tab
• Call to action by asking Open House attendees to RSS subscribe to your blog
• Write a blog article about your open house and describe the city, neighborhood, and the property-your online sales pitch

Conclusion: Benefit-Takeaways

1. If Open House attendees do not know anything about blogging, facebook, twitter or social media-this is an Opportunity to provide them with a nice introduction to social media-tutor them (on the spot) if they are willing

2. The Laptop becomes your “coffee table book” a point of curiousity and a conversation starter.

Children’s Tip: Kids hate Open Houses and parents drag them into open houses all the time. If you are bold and want to keep the children inline, set up (with client permission) a non violent playstation game for the kids to play while the parents stroll the property

Top 10 Twitter Strategies for Realtors, Entrepreneurs, and Corporations

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article April 17, 2009

The Top 10 Twitter.com articles providing tips, strategies, and ideas for deansguide have garnered attention from the twitterverse, networking partners, and most notably Google. We rank #1 or #2 for the keywords “Twitter Strategies” and for the new robust Twitter search engine tool “Twazzup Strategies.” This is a guide for Realtors, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and corporate directors of any department to utilize in understanding the power of Twitter.

Top 10 Twitter Articles

• “Twitter Strategies: 6 Reasons to Use Twazzup.com Twitter Search Engine”
• “Twitter Strategies and Tips for Beginning Twitterers”
• “Twitter Signal to Noise Ratio Strategies: Many Fail Whale Efforts”
• “Twitter: Web 2.0 Definition of Architecture of Participation”
• “Twist: Twitter Tool Identifies Trends, Conversations, ROI”
• “Twitter’s Conversational Search: The Search Google and Facebook Seek to Emulate?”
• “Twitter’s Practical Uses for Today’s Business: Health Care Industry”
• “Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Twitter Guide to Applications”
• “Realtors Do You Understand the 5 Levels of Twitter Acceptance?”
• “National Association of Realtors’ Twitter Strategy: Update”

Social Media Decision Tree Tips for Realtors and Brokers

Chris Brogan President New Marketing Labs

Chris Brogan one of the best social media experts inspired me to write this article aimed at helping  Realtors and Brokers understand the social media decision tree. In Chris’s article “Social Media Decision Tree” he makes two very important points:

1. “Coming up with a one-size fits all strategy for dragging companies into social media is just goofy.”
2. “It’s not all about the conversation. It’s not a matter of whether you get it or don’t. Like all things, it’s finding what works, building from a foundation, measuring progress, and adapting to new situations.”

Takeaways:

• There is NO one right way to utilize social media networks and tools. There is only what’s right for you
• Experiment and find what works best for you. Experiment by listening first

Realtor-Broker Social Media Decision Tree: Yes or No

Q: Should you or your company blog?

A: Yes! I believe that all Realtors and Brokers should blog considering the fact that anywhere from 60%+ of consumers begin their search for real estate or real estate related service online by searching on Google.

A: No! If you do not have a plan and strategy then blogging is useless and in some cases detrimental.

Q: Should you be on Activerain.com?

A: Yes! ActiveRain.com is the most robust social media site specifically built for the real estate community. If you are not networking, communicating, collaborating, and educating your peers and consumers on Active Rain you are missing a huge opportunity.

A: No! If you are a superstar like Olivia Hsu Decker or you are so busy writing offers that you would neglect your work in establishing your brand on this social site then don’t bother to try to fake it.

Q: Should you be using Twitter?

A: Yes! Major global companies, brands, entrepreneurs, and mass media agencies are flocking to Twitter to engage, move information, collaborate, and network. If you want to learn it is also an incredible research resource.

A: No! If you plan on hammering your audience with listing notices, sales pitches, and a constant stream of me-me-me do NOT join Twitter. Many Realtors and Brokers think that the strategy behind Twitter is that of a “job board” where they slam their property listing up like a resume with absolutely no value attached.

Conclusion:

Facebook, Plaxo, and all the rest of the social media networks or Web 2.0 tools are only worth the time investment and hard work if you are passionate, believe in their effectiveness, and you are willing to be patient. Understanding the strategy of “giving first” is the very pillar that will determine success or failure.

National Association of Realtors’ Twitter Strategy: Update

A few weeks ago, I wrote an open letter to NAR asking them what their Twitter strategy delivers to their constituency. My point was to highlight the fact that NAR dubs itself “The Voice of Real Estate” yet they did not give Realtors a voice when on the social media site Twitter.com.My original post “National Association of Realtors’ Twitter Strategy” shows the following screen shot of NAR’s Twitter account:

The date of this shot above was February 17, 2009 and it shows that NAR was follow 0 as in zero Realtors on Twitter.

Strategy for NAR:

The best strategy for NAR would be to follow what well known pundits like Guy Kawasaki and companies like Starbucks do with their Twitter strategy: follow everyone. On Twitter the best method to recognize your audience, and that is the main focus or should be for NAR, is to follow them when they follow you. Here is an example provided by Starbucks Coffee:

Starbucks follows all the people and companies that follow them. They engage their audience and provide their audience, consumers, and evangelists the opportunity to directly communicate with them.

3 Benefits For Following Everyone Who Follows You on Twitter:

You can’t receive DM aka direct messages from your audience of Realtors UNLESS you follow them back. Simply put when a Realtor follows you, the ettiquette and strategy of following them back immediately opens the lines of communication. This allows you 3 advantages:

1. You can receive feedback on your products and services
2. You can measure your marketing and social media campaigns
3. You can open a direct dialogue with the audience you claim to serve

Update on the “New Strategy” at NAR

Apparently somebody is listening but not really understanding. Whoever is in charge of the NAR Twitter strategy decided to follow roughly 6% of the Realtors and professionals who follow them. Here is the NAR Twitter page as of March 3, 2009:

A Step in the Right Direction

Although this is a step toward the strategy they should consider, following 42 out of the 743 followers that are your direct audience and constituency seems a tepid effort at best. At least NAR is making progress in the right direction.

Realtors Do You Support Promotions that Create Goodwill for Your Business?

Imagine a real estate business model where the customer names their price. Call it a“Pay-what-you-want-house” and you might have an interesting idea. That is the idea behind the new Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen. Check out this promotion merely to see the cool website.

Why Do People Love Promotions?

1. Added Value: is it such a bad idea to create promotions in a such dreary economic times? Even if you can’t give away the store, isn’t there an item or service you can give away? Now more than ever, bartering one of your services in some fashion would be a welcome relief to some people who need help. People want and need added value in anything they buy, more than ever today, whether it is a service or a product.

2. Consumers Remember: more economic pressure, job loss, and belt tightening is in store for 2009. Now more than ever, if you help someone by providing a promotional “prize” or service that gesture is often remembered and past forward via word of mouth. When people give under the toughest circumstances (economy), that is truly the measure of our willingness to help.

Trulia vs Realtor.com: Is There Really Any Comparison?

The Chicago Sun-Times published this deansguide article on my birthday!

FoxBusiness published this deansguide article on my birthday!

The following is a brief look at a comparison between the NAR site Realtor.com and innovative blogosphere favorite Trulia.com. If I were a Realtor I would take a close look at the graphic below, click through to Trulia Challenge, and consider your options. My opinion is that Trulia is the better deal, the better site, and the far more advanced social media-Web 2.0 entity. But that is just my opinion. Take a look at the comparison and let me know what you think.

Do you remember the Pepsi challenge? Do you remember how they were making those commercials as a method to overturn popular opinion that Coke was the better soft drink? And do you remember when they made the Pepsi Challenge reference in Pulp Fiction? It seems that advertisement had staying power. The question of whether the product, Pepsi, was better than Coke did not seem to change. At the time, Coke continued to rule the soft drink world. Today I received, in my Google Reader, this Trulia message: “Trulia vs Realtor.com: Take the Challenge.”

So you be the judge and take the Pepsi like Trulia challenge. The following is a matrix provided by Trulia. I am not a paid employee of either Trulia or Realtor.com. You be the judge and come back and tell me which service do you prefer?

WordPress App For Linkedin: Blogging Legitimized As Powerful Tool To Employment

The partnership between WordPress and Linkedin on a WordPress Application for Linkedin signals another turning point for the adoption of blogging in America. Linkedin is the #1 business networking site in the world right now with 28 million registered users and counting. The fact that Linkedin now supports a WordPress application places WordPress, and blogging, at the forefront in the public eye.

WordPress-Linkedin App

This tool allows you “to sync your WordPress.com blog posts with your LinkedIn profile, keeping everyone you know in the know.” Your blog articles have a place in your public profile and provide you a delivery system for your value.

The Benefits

1. Deliver your value directly to 28+million Linkedin.com Membership

2. Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise directly to consumers, investors, and competitors

3. Create your writing platform and branding campaign that supports your business

4. Differentiate yourself from Realtors competing for the same limited customer base

U.S. Trustee McHale “Continuation of Bankruptcy-Criminal Proceedings Collectively Serving The Interests of Justice”

United States Trustee Gerald McHale recently brought suit against Wachovia Bank, and affiliates, for the recovery of “$43 million of conveyances allegedly made to Wachovia in the form of cash and mortgage liens, and the imposition of equitable liens and constructive trusts on several properties in which Wachovia continues to hold liens, or the proceeds therefrom.” Allegations abound that Wachovia not only helped Ed Okun in his scheme but perpetuated it’s continuation despite their (Wachovia’s) knowledge that Okun was violating many banking laws in his business practices.

Today Gerald McHale announced that he has filed a “Statement of Position and Response” to judge Payne’s order in the Ed Okun criminal case. The statement was filed in regards “to the effect of the pending bankruptcy cases of the 1031 Debtors on the likely availability of funds for the purpose of restitution in the criminal case.” The statement was filed October 15, 2008.

3 Key Points

1. McHale agrees “concurs” with the presentation set forth in the Government Statement filed September 12, 2008. See US vs Okun (Government Position) pdf bottom of article.

2. McHale submits that the continuation of the bankruptcy proceedings and the criminal proceedings “are collectively serving the interests of justice and judiciary effciency.”

3. McHale asserts that “Victims of the criminal case are better served by the bankruptcy process which is well underway and has already resulted in the liquidation of many tangible assets and other recoveries.”

Sad But True

The saddest but most likely true statement is the one McHale uttered at the end of his announcement:

“Victims could see some recovery through the bankruptcy process sooner than the time that would be required for the defendant’s convictions in the criminal case will be final.”

Realtor’s #1 Tool: Twitter The Social Media Broadcasting Tool With Power

Reuters.com published this deansguide article October 21, 2008

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article October 21, 2008

The newest and most exciting strategy for Realtors who do not want to blog, refuse to blog, or feel they will never be able to handle the work schedule of a blogger have an alternative: leveraging Social Media sites. The #1 tool for exposure in Web 2.0 and for your business is establishing your writing platform via a blog. Yet the barrier to entry is often too high for people who don’t wish to keep up with the technology curve, research curve, avalanche of reading, and writing articles.

Social Media sites provide Realtors with the ability to create a strategy where you connect your profiles, writing, and media together within the system. This method provides added exposure, helps to create a persona, produces lead generation opportunities, and allows you to network on a global scale.

Strategies for twitter.com

This is one of the best site to utilize in my personal branding, my system of delivering my message, and my quest to create my differentiating factor:

1. Create: A succinct profile aka bio. This is your billboard and what attracts people to follow you if they have never read one of your “tweets.”

2. Follow people: Go to your most trusted twitter connection and “mine” their “following” list located on the right sidebar. This is exactly like mining a blogroll on a popular blog

3. People Search: Perform a people search and follow people in your industry

4. Company Search: Perform a company search and follow companies that are in your industry, competitors, niches that work with your niche

5. Direct Message: Send a direct message to someone you wish to connect with on twitter. Offer value, ask for feedback, provide your feedback, interact and collaborate

6. twitter Blog: Read the twitter blog for more tips and strategies

Free, sound bite sized at 140 characters, broadcasting messages sent real time with impact. In addition twitter is fast becoming one of the most powerful search engine optimized sites on the internet. Utilize twitter as one site to help defend your reputation while locking up the top 20 positions on a Google search of your name.

Lie Detector For Bloggers or Another Guesstimate: urlmetrix.com

Courtesy Looney Tunes Wiki

Chicago Sun-Times published this deansguide article September 23, 2008

The challenge: finding a traffic measurement tool that will allow a person to accurately analyze a blogger’s traffic or company website’s traffic.

The reason: Bloggers and companies make outlandish, blatant, and false claims of traffic (page views and uniques) that just do not pass the smell test. When a person is attempting to control their budgetary expenses when attending networking events, one of the best methods is to perform due diligence on a blogger, SEO expert, or someone claiming to have lots of traffic.

Urlmetrix.com is a fun and handy tool, powered by Google App engine, that provides measurement for many statistics for your blog. By simply placing your url into the search box, urlmetrix.com retreives 15 site statistics that provide a blogger with information vital to their efforts.

Warning

Many of the sites in this measurement tool utilize statistics derived from toolbar downloads, extrapilated projections, and statistical sampling. No tool to my knowledge gives precise statistical information on blogs. If anyone has a set of better tools please let us know. One of the most difficult problems is verifying a sites traffic when they make claims of page views and uniques that seem far from realistic.

urlmetrix.com’s Returned Results (for my outside blog) deansguide:

1. Title: deansguide

2. Alexa Rank: 346,275

3. Compete Rank: 38

4. Quantcast Rank: 266,768

5. Technorati Rank: 433,097 Authority 16/ Google 80

6. Google Indexed: 991

7. Yahoo Indexed: 1,720

8. Google Back Links: 132

9. Yahoo Back Links: 4,100

10. delicious book marks: 2

11. Wikipedia External Links: 1

12. DMOZ Links: 0

13. Google Blog Search Links: 80

14. Technorati Blog Reactions: 72

Analysis

urlmetrix is a quick tool that gives a blogger measurement, pinpoints areas that need work, helps bloggers discover their strengths and weaknesses, and it allows bloggers to compile this information in seconds without having to download any one toolbar for access.