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A Quick Start Guide<br />
to Social Media<br />
3 Everyday Tech<br />
Tools that Can<br />
Grow Your Real<br />
Estate Brand<br />
Tools You<br />
Can Use<br />
to Create<br />
Professional<br />
Video Tours<br />
How Real Estate<br />
Agents Use<br />
Facebook, Twitter<br />
and LinkedIn to<br />
Network<br />
Launch Your<br />
Own YouTube<br />
Channel to<br />
Promote Your<br />
Listings<br />
The Law Office of David R Rocheford, Jr, P.C. 100 Erdman Way Suite 101 Leominster, MA 01453 www.TheBestClosings.com 1
Editor’s Note<br />
Generating property sales and listings using online marketing is<br />
nothing new.<br />
According to the National Association of Realtors, 12 percent of<br />
its member agents surveyed said they got from 11 percent to 25<br />
percent of their business from online marketing. Eight percent said<br />
they got from 26 percent to 50 percent of their business from online<br />
marketing, while 4 percent of the agents said they generated more<br />
than 50 percent of their business directly from online prospecting.<br />
Tools and Methods for Online Marketing Multiplying<br />
Although these statistics seem pretty incredible, the agents surveyed<br />
were only talking about marketing online through their individual Web<br />
sites. They were not talking about additional business that will come<br />
as a result of social networking and video marketing! The fact is that<br />
these methods of generating online sales are in their embryonic stage.<br />
Most agents simply don’t understand them -- never mind actually use<br />
them.<br />
Latest Online Marketing Trends Reviewed<br />
It is our goal to crack open the door to the mysterious subjects of<br />
using social media to grow your business and brand. We will examine<br />
how you can use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to differentiate<br />
yourself from your competitors. We will also take a closer look at<br />
video marketing and how the YouTube video portal can get your<br />
properties indexed pronto into Google’s search engine.<br />
Finally, we will examine some effective and inexpensive ways even<br />
a novice real estate agent can use to produce professional video<br />
property tours, even if he or she has very little technical acumen. We<br />
hope you find this edition helpful and informative. Please email us any<br />
suggestions, comments or questions you may have.<br />
2
CONTENTS<br />
4. 3 Everyday Tech Tools that<br />
Can Grow Your Real<br />
Estate Brand<br />
6. How Real Estate Agents<br />
Use Facebook, Twitter<br />
and LinkedIn to Network<br />
10. Launch Your Own<br />
YouTube Channel to Promote<br />
Your Listings<br />
12. Tools You Can Use to<br />
Create Professional Video<br />
Tours<br />
14. Video Marketing Under<br />
Utilized in Selling Real Estate<br />
16. A Quick Start Guide to<br />
Social Media<br />
3
3 Everyday Tech Tools<br />
That Can Grow Your<br />
Real Estate Brand<br />
Selling real estate has always been<br />
a highly competitive game, but in<br />
today’s slowly recovering economy<br />
- novice and veteran agents alike<br />
need an edge.<br />
That’s where standing out from the<br />
rest, or branding, comes into play.<br />
I know that branding may sound<br />
like a daunting and expensive<br />
task, involving a formidable<br />
advertising budget and time, but<br />
I’ll show you how by investing<br />
a few dollars, using everyday<br />
technology and dedicating a few<br />
hours of work a week, you can<br />
launch and build your own brand<br />
– quickly differentiating from your<br />
competitors.<br />
Smart Phone<br />
If you haven’t done so already,<br />
you should consider purchasing<br />
a “smart phone.” A smart phone<br />
is a phone that for all practical<br />
purposes is a mini computer that is<br />
connected to the Internet and can<br />
be used as a virtual office.<br />
They are either made by Apple or<br />
other manufacturers like Samsung<br />
or HTC. Telephone service<br />
providers such as Verizon and<br />
AT&T often run promos where you<br />
can pick one up for under $100, if<br />
you commit to a cellphone service<br />
contact.<br />
Why a smart phone? The savvy real<br />
estate agent uses a smartphone<br />
as her direct phone line and sets<br />
it up so all business emails are<br />
automatically forwarded from<br />
the office to this dedicated tool.<br />
This gives you instant access to<br />
your clients, or potential clients,<br />
and ensures that no matter where<br />
you are or what you’re doing -<br />
you’ll never miss a listing or sales<br />
opportunity.<br />
Web Site<br />
While you will certainly get leads<br />
from your office’s website when<br />
it’s your turn, there is no substitute<br />
for launching your own site, where<br />
you can tout your experience,<br />
listings and contact info. This<br />
is true whether you are just<br />
beginning or are an established<br />
agent.<br />
If you are tech savvy, you can<br />
launch your own site with a<br />
hosting company such as Bluehost<br />
or Hostgater for as little as $100<br />
a year. Or, if technology isn’t your<br />
strong suit, then consider using a<br />
service such as Point2, where you<br />
can launch an individually-branded<br />
real estate agent site with pointand-click<br />
templates for as little as<br />
$199 per year. The company also<br />
offers a free, two-week trial.<br />
No matter which method you use<br />
to create your own branded site, it<br />
is a necessity in today’s real estate<br />
marketplace. It is the first place<br />
you have the opportunity to show<br />
the world you are the agent they<br />
should choose to use.<br />
4
Blog<br />
Even marketers sometimes<br />
confuse the difference between a<br />
real estate agent’s website and a<br />
real estate agent’s blog. They are<br />
not the same.<br />
For example, your website is<br />
more formal and is focused on<br />
presenting your credentials and<br />
your listings, while a blog, which<br />
stands for Web log, is really a<br />
personal platform where you<br />
let potential clients get to know<br />
you and your sales and business<br />
philosophies.<br />
to say this is that the formal real<br />
estate website is more a hard sell,<br />
where a real estate blog is a soft<br />
sell. On your blog you can post real<br />
estate advice, talk about different<br />
market trends and financing<br />
options in a warm, neighborly<br />
fashion.<br />
If this all sound complicated and<br />
over your head, don’t worry. The<br />
goal is to just get you thinking<br />
about how you can use everyday<br />
technology to build, enhance and<br />
grow your brand, which is you, in<br />
the real estate marketplace.<br />
In subsequent issues, I will give<br />
you specific blueprints for building<br />
your blog and keeping it filled with<br />
quality content. However, in this<br />
issue we will explore how you can<br />
use social media such as Facebook,<br />
Twitter and LinkedIn to build your<br />
brand. In addition, we’ll talk about<br />
the technology and developing<br />
the skills needed to build the most<br />
effective virtual tours for your<br />
listings. Finally, we’ll touch on how<br />
to use YouTube and other video<br />
marketing platforms to promote<br />
the virtual tours of the listings you<br />
created.<br />
You can do this in a more informal<br />
and friendly manner. Another way<br />
5
How Real Estate Agents Use<br />
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn<br />
to Network<br />
Social media has become a<br />
buzzword in real estate selling<br />
circles and for a good reason.<br />
The concept of finding a way<br />
to multiply an agent’s ability to<br />
network to an unlimited number of<br />
prospects with little or no upfront<br />
outlay by just investing a few hours<br />
a week on Facebook, Twitter or<br />
LinkedIn is a dream come true.<br />
That’s because even if you have<br />
a modest hard-copy networking<br />
plan in place that consists of<br />
mailing a few hundred brochures,<br />
business cards or promotional gifts<br />
to potential clients, the cost can<br />
quickly add up to several hundred<br />
dollars a month.<br />
However, before your prospecting<br />
expectations exceed the reality<br />
of what social-media marketing<br />
can do for you and your brand, it’s<br />
important to first examine how<br />
these three mighty platforms work<br />
and how you can incorporate them<br />
into your long-term sales strategy.<br />
Agents Quickly Adopting<br />
Social Media<br />
According to a recent analysis<br />
of its customers by Postling,<br />
a company that offers social<br />
networking management services,<br />
84 percent of its 7,000 real estate<br />
professionals are using social<br />
media as part of their marketing<br />
strategy.<br />
6
The 900-Pound Marketing<br />
Gorilla<br />
It goes without saying that if you<br />
haven’t already created a Facebook<br />
account, now is the time. We will<br />
touch on whether you should<br />
create a personal account and a<br />
business account later.<br />
The first thing you need to do after<br />
you create your Facebook account<br />
is to connect with your existing<br />
clients, potential clients and<br />
friends, which can be contacted<br />
instantly from your email account<br />
in one click as you sign up.<br />
Some agents say they find<br />
approaching people this way is<br />
less aggressive and more socially<br />
acceptable than contacting them<br />
by email or by phone. No one can<br />
argue that it is easier, but whether<br />
this method is more effective than<br />
direct contact remains to be seen.<br />
Personal or Business Page?<br />
Some agents prefer creating a<br />
personal and a separate business<br />
page on Facebook. It’s free and<br />
some feel by launching a second<br />
business page they can more<br />
effectively target their particular<br />
real estate niche. Or course, the<br />
downside to this strategy is that<br />
you must develop a fan base in<br />
order to generate any traffic to<br />
such pages.<br />
This means you will have to invite<br />
all of your contacts to become<br />
a fan at least twice a year. Some<br />
agents make such invitations<br />
quarterly. In addition, it takes more<br />
time to run two pages.<br />
If you find that the majority of<br />
material you post to Facebook<br />
is business related then it might<br />
make more sense to create a<br />
business page and spend most of<br />
your time using it to promote your<br />
real estate business. But if you<br />
discover that most of your sales<br />
are generated by your friends or<br />
relatives -- then you might forget<br />
about creating a business page<br />
altogether and simply concentrate<br />
on marketing via your personal<br />
page.<br />
Agents’ Actual Usage by<br />
Network<br />
29%<br />
LinkedIn<br />
48%<br />
Twitter<br />
79%<br />
Facebook<br />
7
Integrate Your Efforts<br />
If you have real estate blog, it’s a<br />
good move to add a plug-in that<br />
allows your readers to follow you<br />
on Facebook and add another<br />
plug-in that allows them to like or<br />
share your posts with their friends.<br />
You should post a link to all of<br />
your blog entries on Facebook and<br />
commit to posting tidbits either<br />
written by you or someone else at<br />
least twice a week.<br />
Also, if you use an email marketing<br />
program such as Constant Contact<br />
or MailChimp and you send out<br />
a monthly newsletter, you can<br />
post the newsletter on Facebook<br />
by using specific Facebook<br />
distribution apps designed and<br />
made freely available by these<br />
companies. This way you avoid<br />
your clients’ and prospects’ spam<br />
filters and increase the likelihood<br />
they will read your newsletter.<br />
Experiment with Facebook Ads<br />
Protect Your Image<br />
Finally, it is critical that you never<br />
let your guard down when you<br />
are posting, communicating or<br />
commenting on Facebook. A<br />
seemingly innocent opinion or joke<br />
can hurt your image and therefore<br />
your brand. While I firmly believe<br />
in the freedom of expression<br />
and speech, it never makes good<br />
business sense to alienate a<br />
potential client. As difficult as it<br />
may be, it is always best to adhere<br />
to the adage taught to many of<br />
us by our parents when we were<br />
children: “When in public, don’t<br />
discuss religion or politics.”<br />
This is especially true when it<br />
comes to Facebook or any social<br />
media. You must remember that<br />
Google indexes Facebook faithfully<br />
into its search engine. The worst<br />
thing that can happen to you is<br />
to lose a potential client who is<br />
searching for your name online,<br />
only to find a comment or opinion<br />
that offends them.<br />
In addition, it’s important to be<br />
just as vigilant, maybe even more<br />
vigilant, when it comes to posting<br />
photos of yourself, others or<br />
objects. Be careful to only present<br />
yourself in the most positive and<br />
non-offending images. Images of<br />
clowning around, or worse, can<br />
only diminish your professional<br />
persona. If you have already posted<br />
what might be considered by some<br />
as offensive comments or images,<br />
why not remove them? Save your<br />
personal thoughts and images for<br />
those close to you. Again, it’s good<br />
business to keep them offline.<br />
Now, let’s take a look at Twitter.<br />
Increase Your Web Traffic and<br />
Brand with Twitter<br />
The main difference between<br />
Twitter and Facebook is that<br />
Twitter is less a place to schmooze,<br />
and more a place to champion<br />
your interests, causes, opinions –<br />
or promote your business. That’s<br />
If you happen to have some<br />
money in your marketing<br />
budget, you should also consider<br />
experimenting by running a<br />
Facebook ad. The advantage of<br />
doing so, instead of using other<br />
media, is that you can work with a<br />
small budget and really hone in on<br />
a specific demographic you want<br />
to market to.<br />
Advertising experts advise that<br />
rather than running a general ad on<br />
Facebook showcasing yourself as<br />
a real estate agent with a glamor<br />
headshot, you would get far more<br />
bang for your buck by running an<br />
ad showcasing a specific property<br />
with an accompanying quality<br />
image.<br />
8
ecause tweets from Twitter are<br />
picked up often in real time by<br />
Google, Bing and Yahoo. Many<br />
real estate agents who generate<br />
substantial leads from their own<br />
websites credit their tweets with<br />
generating as much as half of<br />
their new traffic! With such stats,<br />
you can easily see why Twitter<br />
stock prices shot through the roof<br />
the day its initial public offering<br />
debuted.<br />
But before you get delirious about<br />
Twitter, successful agents who<br />
have used it to generate quality<br />
prospects caution that it will take<br />
some patience and perseverance<br />
for your tweets to turn into gold.<br />
Watch Your Mix of Tweets<br />
It’s free and easy to create a<br />
Twitter account. Marketing experts<br />
say to stand out from the pack<br />
of other real estate agents you<br />
should invest in a quality logo<br />
and a polished and grammatically<br />
flawless description of you and<br />
your business. Also take the time<br />
to design your page and make sure<br />
its colors and images are pleasing,<br />
professional and make visitors<br />
want to stay and return.<br />
Finally, it’s important not to overdo<br />
the selling of yourself and your<br />
services on Twitter or any socialmedia<br />
platform. Most successful<br />
agents tweet links to interesting<br />
real estate related articles 80<br />
percent of the time, and salesrelated<br />
tweets 20 percent of the<br />
time. The danger is that potential<br />
clients will be turned off and<br />
stop reading your tweets if they<br />
perceive you are only interested<br />
in hawking real estate and not<br />
providing much useful information<br />
to the Twitter community.<br />
LinkedIn Used Less but<br />
Potentially the Best<br />
As I mentioned earlier in this<br />
article, only 29 percent of real<br />
estate agents use LinkedIn. While<br />
this is understandable considering<br />
the popularity of Facebook and<br />
Twitter, it might one day be<br />
considered a serious oversight for<br />
agents who<br />
didn’t get in on LinkedIn’s ground<br />
floor.<br />
That’s because out of the three<br />
social networks we explored in this<br />
article, LinkedIn is by far the one<br />
with the highest demographics<br />
of professionals from various<br />
industries. What differentiates<br />
LinkedIn from Facebook and<br />
Twitter is that members of LinkedIn<br />
join to improve and grow their<br />
careers and businesses. While this<br />
means that LinkedIn is treasure<br />
chest of quality prospects, it also<br />
means you’re apt to face some stiff<br />
competition to earn their business.<br />
Opening an account with<br />
LinkedIn is free, but there is also<br />
a paid professional account that<br />
costs $39.95 a month, if you pay<br />
annually. Many real estate agents<br />
end up utilizing this account<br />
because it gives them a much<br />
wider search range of profiles,<br />
allows them to email any of the<br />
members directly and shows<br />
them who is visiting their profile,<br />
including all of the visitors’<br />
demographics. I suggest you start<br />
with the free account, carefully<br />
complete your profile, join some<br />
groups and then monitor them for<br />
a while before signing up for the<br />
paid membership.<br />
Grab Your<br />
Free Copy!<br />
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LinkedIn?<br />
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David@thebestclosings.com<br />
9
Launch Your Own YouTube Channel<br />
to Promote Your Listings<br />
In previous articles, we pointed<br />
out that although 90 percent of<br />
consumers seek videos of real<br />
estate listings when they are<br />
searching online for properties,<br />
we found that only 4 percent of<br />
real estate agents actually post<br />
videos of their properties on their<br />
websites.<br />
The reason for this is probably that<br />
most agents fear that producing<br />
videos of their listings is way<br />
beyond their technical expertise<br />
and many of them are not ready to<br />
invest the time, money and effort<br />
they believe it will take to build a<br />
video presence.<br />
However, they might want to<br />
reconsider.<br />
Minimal Investment in<br />
Equipment and Time<br />
Today, you can purchase a stateof-the-art<br />
Digital Single Lens<br />
Reflex (DSLR) Camera for as<br />
little as $380, or a quality pointand-shoot<br />
model for under<br />
$100. In addition, Smart Phone<br />
cameras on the latest Android and<br />
iPhone models keep improving<br />
exponentially. So getting<br />
your hands on the necessary<br />
technology to take good stills or<br />
videos is no longer the financial<br />
hurdle it once was.<br />
10
Still, the fear of new technology<br />
isn’t easily overcome. Many agents<br />
know how to take photos and<br />
video and download them to their<br />
computers, but when it comes to<br />
uploading them to their website or<br />
blog, they are mystified.<br />
Create a YouTube Channel<br />
That’s where YouTube comes in.<br />
Not only does opening an account<br />
on YouTube make it possible for<br />
you to upload and host as many<br />
videos as you can create for free,<br />
it also gives you the opportunity<br />
to brand yourself by creating a<br />
YouTube Channel, which is also<br />
free of charge.<br />
It only takes a few minutes to<br />
create your own channel after you<br />
open your account. Just go to<br />
the top right hand corner of your<br />
panel and follow the instructions,<br />
using the provided links. This is<br />
the first step in branding yourself<br />
via videos. It is also a smart move<br />
in promoting yourself online<br />
because Google quickly indexes<br />
new content on YouTube – which<br />
it owns – into its search engine.<br />
And once Google indexes a video,<br />
it isn’t long before Yahoo and Bing<br />
search engines do the same. So,<br />
besides getting your brand and<br />
listings hosted and broadcasted<br />
on YouTube for all to view, you<br />
have also ensured that your<br />
name and brand will show up<br />
more frequently in regular online<br />
searches for real estate agents.<br />
Moreover, you can now easily cut<br />
and paste the code at the bottom<br />
of your YouTube videos where it<br />
says share, and embed them on<br />
your own Website. You should<br />
also post a link to the videos you<br />
created on Facebook, Twitter,<br />
LinkedIn and any other social<br />
media you use for promoting your<br />
brand. At this point, you may have<br />
all of the necessary equipment to<br />
create a video and have opened<br />
your own YouTube channel, but<br />
you are still not a technical wiz.<br />
You may know how to take fairly<br />
good photos and videos, but you<br />
have no idea on how to take these<br />
disparate pieces of media and craft<br />
them into an entertaining and<br />
informative presentation about real<br />
estate trends or listings.<br />
Tips for YouTube Newbies<br />
Here are some tips for optimizing<br />
the real estate videos you upload<br />
to YouTube:<br />
Make sure you prime Google’s<br />
search engines by adding<br />
keywords in your video file that<br />
include your name, your location<br />
and your company.<br />
Create a catchy title for each<br />
of your videos, making sure<br />
you include relevant keywords,<br />
but don’t overdo it by keyword<br />
stuffing.<br />
Include a link to your website<br />
or blog at the beginning of the<br />
description of each video you add<br />
to your channel.<br />
Become active in the YouTube<br />
community by subscribing to<br />
channels that interest you and<br />
adding comments when you feel<br />
moved to do so.<br />
Answer comments made regarding<br />
your own videos promptly and<br />
politely.<br />
11
Tools To Create Professional<br />
Video Tours<br />
If you’re a real estate agent that<br />
has decided to commit some time<br />
and effort to video marketing using<br />
YouTube, your own website and<br />
social networks, then you have<br />
already begun taking photos and<br />
videos of your property listings.<br />
Getting them organized on your<br />
computer is the next step. But<br />
unless you went to film-making<br />
school, chances are you have<br />
no idea how to transform this<br />
hodgepodge of video clips and<br />
photos into a professional-looking<br />
video tour.<br />
Easy-To-Use Video Editors<br />
You could post to the Craigslist<br />
classifieds and hope to find a<br />
professional videographer that<br />
doesn’t charge higher fees than<br />
you can handle at this stage of<br />
your real estate career, which<br />
might be difficult. Or you could<br />
take advantage of an out-of-the<br />
box and easy-to-use video editor<br />
such as Sony’s Movie Studio, which<br />
you can try by downloading a free<br />
trial version. If you like it, you<br />
can purchase for just $49.95. I<br />
recommend this product because<br />
hundreds of customers have<br />
given an overall 4.9 stars out of a<br />
possible 5-star rating.<br />
The other reason is that if you<br />
find you have a knack for creating<br />
these videos, you will have many<br />
more options using a video editor<br />
program like Movie Studio than<br />
you will have using one of the<br />
automatic, self-service editing sites<br />
such as Animoto.<br />
Animoto for Those Who Want<br />
Editing On Automatic Pilot<br />
However, if you haven’t the time,<br />
interest or technological savvy to<br />
sit down and edit your own video<br />
tours using a video editor, then<br />
Animoto is the way to go. This<br />
service is extremely easy to use.<br />
In fact, with a few clicks of your<br />
mouse you can take the photos<br />
you’ve shot of a property and<br />
transform them into a professional<br />
video presentation with special<br />
effects and even with royalty-free<br />
musical background.<br />
But this comes at a price of about<br />
$20 a month, which is well worth<br />
the investment considering how<br />
it can elevate you and your brand.<br />
Animoto also offers instructive<br />
examples of how real estate agents<br />
use its product by showcasing<br />
the following type of promotional<br />
videos:<br />
An Agent Video Selfie<br />
This is a short but cogent video<br />
where the agent briefly introduces<br />
herself and mentions her awards,<br />
includes customer testimonials<br />
and ends by giving her contact<br />
information.<br />
Tours of Properties<br />
The hook in this video is the mixing<br />
of quality video and photos with<br />
upbeat music and special effects<br />
provided by Animoto. It is designed<br />
to whet the appetites of potential<br />
homebuyers and make them want<br />
to see more.<br />
12
Neighborhood Tours<br />
In this video the agent, who<br />
represents a number of properties<br />
in the same neighborhood,<br />
highlights some of the parks,<br />
businesses, schools and listings in<br />
the area intertwining all of this with<br />
the latest relevant statistics about<br />
the area.<br />
How-To Home Buying And<br />
Selling Basics<br />
The agent uses this video to cover<br />
some of the basics of buying<br />
or selling a home in easy-tounderstand<br />
terms. It’s the classic<br />
educate-to-sell strategy.<br />
While we have only skimmed the<br />
surface of options a real estate<br />
agent can exercise to create<br />
a strong video presence, the<br />
purpose of this article is to get you<br />
motivated enough to explore and<br />
put into place your own videomarketing<br />
plan.<br />
Here are some of Movie<br />
Studio’s features:<br />
You can add special effects like<br />
slow motion, and the program<br />
even has a green screen for<br />
superimposing yourself or your<br />
properties on various backgrounds,<br />
such as your logo.<br />
The editor also allows you to<br />
manipulate images such as rotating<br />
them, or panning still images.<br />
In addition, Movie Studio lets you<br />
easily drag and drop photos and<br />
videos across timelines, allowing<br />
you to arrange your presentation<br />
in the most effective and appealing<br />
manner.<br />
In future issues, we will cover more<br />
options and trends of this growing<br />
method of transforming prospects<br />
into clients.<br />
13
Video Marketing Under Utilized<br />
in Selling Homes<br />
Every real estate agent I know<br />
is looking for an edge over the<br />
competition and a way to multiply<br />
her presence, so she can show<br />
more prospects the latest listings<br />
in the most favorable light.<br />
Video marketing is that edge.<br />
But using video, which offers much<br />
more functionality and depth than<br />
many other strategies, surprisingly,<br />
has not gained much traction<br />
among agents.<br />
According to the latest survey<br />
by the National Association of<br />
Realtors (NAR), while about 66<br />
percent of the agents surveyed<br />
have a personal website to<br />
promote their listings, only 4<br />
percent of agents post videos<br />
of their listings on their sites<br />
and major video portals such as<br />
YouTube.<br />
Even on official listing or company<br />
sites, only 14 percent of agents are<br />
using video to sell their properties.<br />
Yet, 90 percent of the buyers who<br />
are searching for a home online<br />
say they seek out video listings<br />
first, a spokesman for the NAR told<br />
the Chicago Tribune.<br />
Ground-Floor Opportunity for<br />
Video-Savvy Agents<br />
You don’t have to be a genius<br />
to see that these statistics<br />
have uncovered a great selling<br />
14
opportunity for any real estate<br />
agent that makes a commitment to<br />
learn how to use video to promote<br />
his or her listings and brand!<br />
Let’s talk a little bit about what<br />
type of video themes successful<br />
agents are creating to market<br />
themselves and their listings.<br />
Here are three themes that have<br />
yielded great results for innovative<br />
agents, according to various real<br />
estate experts.<br />
1. The Informational Video<br />
When you think of this model,<br />
think of an info commercial you<br />
see running late at night or on a<br />
Sunday morning. It’s a soft sell all<br />
the way. But it offers the real estate<br />
prospect tons of basic information<br />
about buying or selling a house<br />
in simple English, which helps<br />
the prospect trust the agent. The<br />
narrator is the agent and the length<br />
of the video usually runs from<br />
three to four minutes. This is long<br />
for a video. Most of the themes are<br />
shorter.<br />
2. The Testimonial Video<br />
This is a very popular and effective<br />
video marketing theme. It is easy to<br />
put together and can be naturally<br />
scripted with a few notes. It<br />
comprises of an agent introducing<br />
one of her satisfied clients inside<br />
or in front of their new home.<br />
The focus then goes to the happy<br />
buyer who tells about his buying<br />
experience and often recounts the<br />
entire process - praising the agent<br />
along the way. You may think that<br />
such unabashed cheerleading is a<br />
bit too much, but some agents say<br />
that such video testimonials are<br />
golden! The length should be no<br />
longer than three minutes.<br />
3. The Data-Driven Video<br />
On the face of it, this video may<br />
seem a little dry. But when done<br />
properly, it is very effective. In<br />
the video, the agent focuses on<br />
recent property sales in the area<br />
and neighborhoods where she<br />
operates. An agent can also use it<br />
to showcase current interest-rate<br />
lending trends, using this data for<br />
a strong call to action. Real estate<br />
jargon should be avoided at all<br />
costs in such video presentations,<br />
and if you must use it, be sure to<br />
translate it into plain English your<br />
prospect can easily understand.<br />
15
A Quick Start Guide to Social Media<br />
Unless you’ve been in suspended<br />
animation for the last decade,<br />
you’ve heard a lot of buzz about<br />
Tweets, friending, Facebook,<br />
Linkedin, Twitter and likes.<br />
As a real estate agent, you are also<br />
hearing that unless you become an<br />
active user of social media you’re<br />
missing out on a huge opportunity<br />
to automatically produce a large<br />
number of referrals for your<br />
business. Still, if you are like<br />
most of us, you’re somewhat<br />
overwhelmed with the sheer<br />
volume of information out there<br />
about these tools, and you’re not<br />
quite sure where or how to start<br />
building your very own socialmedia<br />
machine.<br />
This quick-start guide is for the<br />
top-three social-media tools --<br />
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.<br />
The goal is to make it easy for you<br />
to find a starting point so you can<br />
take action now!<br />
16<br />
LinkedIn: Most Effective for<br />
Business Referrals<br />
Unlike the other two social<br />
networks we are going to explore,<br />
LinkedIn is a bit more formal and<br />
focuses on creating business-tobusiness<br />
relationships. It’s free and<br />
easy to sign up for an account and<br />
the first step is to upload a profile,<br />
i.e., resume. This, in my opinion, is<br />
the most important step of utilizing<br />
Linkedin’s powerful set of tools.<br />
It’s important to take your time,<br />
use a professional photo and/or a<br />
company logo and upload a wellwritten,<br />
interesting profile that<br />
highlights both your professional<br />
skills and accomplishments.<br />
Important: Make sure there are no<br />
misspellings or grammatical errors<br />
in your profile, even if you have<br />
to hire a professional copyeditor<br />
to proof read it. Remember, first<br />
impressions are lasting, especially<br />
on LinkedIn.<br />
Once your profile is completed,<br />
you are ready to take the second<br />
step that will immediately set you<br />
on a road to unlimited referrals<br />
by authorizing the social network<br />
to scan your email contacts. This<br />
automated process will link you<br />
to the profiles of everyone you<br />
know or have done business with.<br />
But here’s the added benefit that<br />
could eventually grow your base<br />
of qualified referrals: When you<br />
visit the connection pages of your<br />
contacts, you are allowed to see<br />
everyone they know! You can then<br />
carefully cull through them and<br />
send requests to connect with<br />
the ones you’ve chosen. This is<br />
an important step in developing<br />
new business relationships and the<br />
key to building a treasure chest of<br />
quality referrals.
Twitter : Tool for Building<br />
Credibility and Attracting New<br />
Clients<br />
Think of Twitter as a way to blog to<br />
a targeted audience without all the<br />
heavy lifting. In geek speak: Twitter<br />
is really what’s known as a microblog,<br />
because it lets you send<br />
short messages to your network of<br />
“followers.” Followers are earned<br />
by posting pithy, informative and<br />
relevant “tweets” that engage<br />
fellow members on a specific<br />
subject, such as politics, music or<br />
real estate. When someone likes<br />
your tweet, they give it a “like,”<br />
which means more people will<br />
read it.<br />
It’s easy and free to sign-up for<br />
Twitter and the whole point of<br />
doing so for a real estate agent is<br />
to share some of your local listings<br />
and insights about real estate to<br />
potential clients, who will find you<br />
because they are searching the<br />
Internet looking for properties in<br />
your area.<br />
Avoid Being Labeled a<br />
Spammer<br />
However, it’s really important<br />
to mention that some new<br />
members of Twitter kill their<br />
chances of developing a following<br />
by immediately posting every<br />
property they have listed. If you do<br />
this, you risk turning off potential<br />
followers and being classified as<br />
a spammer. The penalty for this<br />
is that your tweets are ignored.<br />
Also, you shouldn’t use Twitter to<br />
constantly toot your own horn or<br />
beg for referrals. This will ensure<br />
that members won’t want to follow<br />
you and those who do will stop.<br />
To avoid this from happening,<br />
pick and choose what you post.<br />
Tweeting about a true real estate<br />
bargain is good, just as tweeting<br />
about some local real estate<br />
statistics will be well received.<br />
Facebook: Informal<br />
Networking with Friends,<br />
Relatives and Clients<br />
Since 2004, Facebook has been<br />
a universal online community<br />
that allows more than a billion<br />
human beings to share personal<br />
information with their friends,<br />
relatives and people they haven’t<br />
yet met. It is a must for any real<br />
estate agent, but it’s a less formal<br />
venue where you can relax a little,<br />
but always remember to do so<br />
without putting your professional<br />
standing in jeopardy. It’s a great<br />
place to keep in contact with your<br />
past, present and potential clients<br />
– and it’s free.<br />
Again, it is an ideal place to<br />
promote your best properties and<br />
to obtain referrals as long as you<br />
don’t begin spamming. If you do,<br />
expect to lose friends. Case in<br />
point, I had a friend on Facebook<br />
that began sending me emails<br />
every day about different shows<br />
he was promoting. Needless to<br />
say, I soon blocked him and his<br />
messages.<br />
Follow this rule of thumb and<br />
you’ll never have a problem on any<br />
social media network: Only tweet<br />
and post the kind of items that<br />
you would want read if you were<br />
searching for a property.<br />
17