DriveBuy Blog

"Twitter's of no value to REALTORS®". Really? Try THIS.

2009-12-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

It sounds like an odd thing to say, but in a way, Twitter is a lot like real estate itself in two ways:

Many will try; fewer will "succeed" (and will give up prematurely).
The relative few are lowering the reputation of both.

The fact that most agents and offices do not use twitter as productively as they should does not therefore imply that it is a waste of time! Such logic would lead us to believe that practicing real estate in the first place is of no professional value.

I am willing to bet that the rabble-rousing Twitter malcontents, and even those who understandably see no value in Twitter, have not seen it used in the way I am about to demonstrate. I have written about this before, but it didn't get much traction apparently, and I feel that few took note. Keep in mind that this is one of the easier ways to show just one way that Twitter can aide in effective REALTOR® marketing, but it is by no means the only way. I'll also add that I received the following results on my first try yesterday.

Before I show you, I'd like to invite you to try something similar in your own community and then to share the following with us here in the comments section:

Your search results. Were they impressive? Totally lame? Were you surprised?
Have you ever considered or been shown this technique before?

Your strategies about how to approach these prospective clients! On this point, I'd particularly like your thoughts. I have my ideas, but I'd love others!

Does this in any way change your mind about the value of Twitter to REALTORS®? And by extension, why do you think this technique isn't often discussed around the RE.net?
Whatever else you think is germane to the conversation!

Without further ado, Twitter's Prospecting Power!

Step 1: In my browser, I went to search.twitter.com

Step 2: I entered the following into the search box exactly as pictured (making sure "OR" is capitalized):

Step 3: You guessed it, click search.

Results: I've taken the liberty of blurring out the handles and including only relevant results.

From page one:

From page two:

From page three:

I could keep going, but I'm sure you get the point!

Good luck in your Twitter endeavors, and please share your answers to the questions posed above.

Design Your Facebook Page Like a Pro - Image Maps Tutorial

2009-11-19T16:15:00.000-08:00

I was recently wowed by the Facebook page of eXp Realty. I'm not exagerrating when I say, in terms of design and branding coherency, eXp is the best brokerage FB page I've seen thus far. This must have cost extra, I thought. I was convinced that eXp must have paid FB something extra to enable such a page. Totally kosher, in my book. Just not something that was on our radar yet here at DriveBuy.

What was so special about the landing page?

Nearly the entire page was custom: Almost every element in some way represented eXp in a brand-consistent user experience.
In a technical sense, I simply couldn't figure out how eXp seemed to place several images on the same page while also having each link to a different area of their website.

Now, I'm not the most technical here at DriveBuy. Not even close. So, I asked the others how it could have been done and they told me about image maps. Image maps are actually a single image with overlayed coordinates that tell your browser where on the image it can find links, and where each link should go. I'm not entirely certain that this is how eXp went about it, but this is what we attempted and it worked.

The thing is, upon digging around, I was discouraged from doing anything like what eXp was doing. I gathered that image maps were a) difficult to create b) somewhat outdated and c) not compatible with Facebook in the first place! But, because I'm me, I didn't let logic or reason deter me. Here's how I did it.

I created the above JPEG image using Photoshop. That's a guide unto its self, but there are many ways to create an image or pull one from an existing website. You'll notice that the buttons above aren't actually buttons at this stage; they don't link anywhere, yet...
I Googled around, until I found this amazing site: http://www.image-maps.com/. Amazing, because not only is it free, but it's incredibly user-friendly. Plus, you are not required to promote the site with any kind of watermark attached to your image. It's 100% yours after you make it.
I uploaded my JPEG and continued to the next step. Then, I mapped out the buttons using the rectangle drag-and-expand boxes, making sure to correctly insert the desired links in each field. Upon completing this step for each of the five buttons above, I clicked "Get Your Code".
The site outputs code of two types: HTML or CSS. Facebook will only accept image maps encoded in CSS. Copy this code to Notepad or a Google Doc.
Upload your JPEG to a publicly-accessible location, either on your website or a place like Flickr. Copy the unique URL of this location.
Look at the generated CSS code you copied in step 4. You'll only need to make one change. Look for "background:url" on the second line. In the parentheses that follows immediately, swap the existing URL with the URL of your hosted image.
Go to your Facebook page. If you are promoting a business, it need a page, rather than a profile. You can be booted from FB if you don't do this. Now, you'll need to search for FBML in Facebook's search box on the right upper corner. Your first result should be an application called "Static FBML". Click on "View Application". Then, click "Add to My Page".
Go back to your your business's Facebook home page. Click the + sign next to the other light blue tabs. From the drop down, select "FBML". You've now created the tab that your visitors will land on.
On the menu to your left, click "Edit Page". Go down to "FBML" and click "Edit".
Choose a name for this page. We chose the name of our company, DriveBuy. Simple, right?
Paste the CSS code directly in to the "FBML" box. Save changes.
By default, this new tab will be the landing page for someone that is not a fan of yours yet. That's how you should want it.

That's it! What do you think?

Ian S. Greenleigh, Director - Sales & New Media, DriveBuy Technologies

DriveBuy Service Announcement - New Site & Improved Tools!

2009-11-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

DriveBuy Service Announcement - New Site & Improved Tools!

Note from the founder:

I'd like to thank you for your support and suggestions over the last few years.

Since 2007, consumers have raised their expectations of immediate access to relevant information. During that time our customers have been able to follow up on inquiries armed with the information they need to have Accelerated Conversations. Take a look at the release notes below. Make sure you're getting the most value you can from the platform.

We all look forward to helping you grow your business and finding new ways to leverage mobile technologies in the coming months.

Best,

Dylan Schleppe

Founder, DriveBuy Technologies

Your mobile marketing platform just got better.

While you were sleeping, the DriveBuy engineering team was busy upgrading your software. Several exciting improvements were added including:

Updated and improved website - We've updated the look and feel of our website, improved navigation and added more information about the DriveBuy platform. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Improved SMS formatting and preview - Every message now contains a call to action, "PICS+MORE @", to ensure maximum click-throughs. The formatting of each message is also much improved. You now get a more accurate preview of what the prospect will see.
Referral and Affiliate program- We now make it easy for our customers to refer others! Our best customers are your referrals. In the coming weeks we'll reveal affiliate commissions so you can use DriveBuy to generate cash! Just click on the "Refer a Friend" button to try it out. There are three ways to share the DriveBuy platform with others:
- Affiliate Badge - just copy and paste the code to your webpages, and credits will be added to your account whenever someone signs up via the link in your Affiliate Badge.
- Email - just cut and paste email addresses into the system and we'll handle the rest
- Twitter - click "Post a Referral to Twitter" and "tweet" a referral. Again, any new customers you send our way via twitter will be sourced to you.
Mobile Website Improvements -The industry's best mobile websites just got better! Users are now able to select from several pre-branded templates for common brands, in addition to a few other eye-catching color schemes. We've also updated our color picker to give you easier control and more choices.
Help System Improvements - Getting answers to common questions is easier than ever. Just run your mouse over the question mark near any part of the user interface to get its corresponding help documentation.

Featured Customer

Dale Irwin with House Hunter Realty in Dallas, Texas.

"The week we started using DriveBuy we got a lead on a very beat up house but my agent followed up anyway. Client was interested. Made a cash offer and closed 11 days later. We use DriveBuy on all of our properties no matter how big or small. They generate leads."

Thanks,

The DriveBuy Team

2121 S. Lamar Suite 204,
Austin, Texas 78704

Toll Free: (877) 848-4045
Email: support@drivebuytech.com
SMS: DBT@88000

Green Marketing for Property Managers

2009-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

This post courtesy of Michael Monteiro, CEO of Buildium LLC, maker of online property management software for landlords, professional property managers, condos and homeowner associations (HOAs) and is author of the The Buildium Property Management Blog.

Attention Property Managers and Landlords: Are you seeking new ways to appeal to prospective tenants? Look no further than your local grocery store to see two trends that can be incorporated into a successful property marketing program: environmental awareness and economical living. Take a look at the check stands around you and it’s abundantly clear that the days of plastic bagging are gone—reusable canvas totes are rapidly becoming the norm as people increasingly turn toward incorporating sustainable measures into their everyday lives. Stroll through the aisles and you’ll also likely see many shoppers pausing to compare prices. For obvious reasons, economical choices and cost-cutting measures are clearly far more prevalent than they were a few years ago.

Sure, the grocery business and property management are two completely separate industries, but these general consumer trends toward (environmental sustainability and more economical living) are long-term shifts extending to all sectors. Adapting your property’s marketing strategy to cater to these interests is just good business, plain and simple. And exercising a few green marketing strategies is the perfect way to cater to customers’ increasing desire to go green and save money in one fell swoop.

Going Green

Before you actually market your property as eco-friendly, you have to ensure that you are environmentally friendly. Taking steps toward going green can be as big or as small as your budget allows. Following are a few tweaks—some large and some small—that can increase your property’s green quotient:

Set up a comprehensive recycling program that goes above-and-beyond local laws and ordinances that can be easily utilized by all tenants.
Use green building materials such as bamboo flooring and recycled glass countertops.
Install solar or tankless water heaters.
Use energy efficient or fluorescent lights.
Incorporate daylighting with windows and skylights.
Install energy efficient heating that doesn’t use electricity.
Replace outdated appliances (such as refrigerators and dishwashers) with ones designated Energy Star.

Now that you’ve greened up your act, it’s time to let prospective tenants know about it; when advertising vacant units highlight your property’s green features. Remember, a good green property marketing strategy lists more than just green features—it appeals to prospective tenants on two levels: logistical and emotional.

Logistical Green Marketing

Begin by letting prospective tenants know about your property’s environmentally friendly practices and exactly how these measures will save them money. After all, going green makes good monetary sense. Because many green measures involve energy efficiency, there is a direct correlation between saving the environment and saving cash. Make sure, for example, that prospective tenants know that the property’s lighting fixtures are fluorescent or otherwise energy efficient, which translates into less energy used and subsequently lower electric bills. Have you installed energy efficient appliances? If so, explain how less electricity or water translates into direct savings.

These may sound like small things, but for many tenants right now, every last dollar counts. According to green-energy-efficient-homes.com, an energy efficient residence can cost as little as a quarter of the price to heat, cool, and light as the average home. Clearly layout the potential savings by doing the math for prospective tenants. Calculate the amount a “green” unit’s monthly utility bill is compared to a unit with regular non-efficient features. Take the difference and multiply it by 12 to demonstrate exactly how much money your tenants stand to save on bills.

Emotional Green Marketing

Now that you’ve explained why your property offers prospective renters a more cost effective living option, it’s time to tap into the more esoteric realm of green marketing. While going green makes good fiscal sense, it’s not the only reason people are cleaning up their act. Things like social responsibility, making a difference, and the ability to feel better about the way we live are increasingly important to people. Point out that your property affords prospective renters with all these options. And, make no mistake, for as important as economical living is these days, people still want to incorporate green living into their lifestyles. According to Reuters, a full 82 percent of U.S. consumers are buying at least some green products even during the current economic crisis.

According to eco-innovations.com, when it comes to housing, Green Appeal is a legitimate draw for consumers. “Similar to ‘curb appeal,’ Green Appeal leaves a lasting impression on buyers by distinguishing a property with noticeable green features such as high performance windows, energy efficient appliances, water-conserving fixtures and clean indoor air. In contrast to curb appeal's simply aesthetic value, Green Appeal increases property value with long-lasting economic, environmental and family health benefits.” And if that doesn’t convince you, consider this: Even REALTORS® have begun seeking out green certifications to cater to this emerging market.

During this time when vacancies are more difficult to fill than they have been in recent memory, consumers’ demonstrated interest in all things green offers property managers the perfect way to set themselves apart from the pack. Best of all, not only will green marketing open your properties up to a new demographic, but it will likely generate more loyal, long-term tenants. After all, people who feel good about the way they live—and are living more cost-effectively to boot—are likely to stay right where they are.

It All Began With a Tweet: The Social Media Snowball That Changed My Life

2009-09-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve always liked to believe that my social media adventuring would eventually pay off for myself and my employer, but, until recently, it was a matter of faith. Indeed, I felt not unlike a cult member might feel while waiting for their prophet, or Haley’s Comet, or the Mayan apocalypse to arrive. Just you wait, I told my self (and my boss), all this tweeting and blogging and commenting will pay off.

Like any believer from time to time, my faith began to wane, my patience grew thin. I had terrible nightmares about cold calling every REALTOR® with a published phone number (I’m sure you all would just love that), about my job being outsourced to India, about my girlfriend leaving me for a sleazier salesman that could pay the bills. The first two weeks of August were not among my finest, in terms of revenue generation—and I’m including here every sales job I’ve ever had. I wondered if the agents I spoke with would tell their colleagues about the sales hack that sounded like a depressed Vincent Price with the articulation of a drunk toddler. Then came along an innocent, unassuming little tweet from the incomparable Jessica Horton:

Reading: Social Media’s Dirty Secret: It’s Not About You, It’s Not About Marketing http://bit.ly/bMoA3

And so I clicked. I was led to Chris Johnson’s post on Blood Hound Blog, and it was excellent. What resonated with me was Chris’ assertion, that:

“Your social media is not selling. It’s broadcasting, spamming, looking cool, but NOT SELLING.”

I began to think that, subconsciously, many of us use social media as an excuse not to engage in the nitty-gritty of sales, a way to avoid the sting of rejection, of the phone work that is truly needed in every sales job I can think of, including real state. As Chris points out, it can start the conversation, but to close, you need to call. In my experience, most people don’t mind getting the right type of call from the right type of salesperson, especially when they’ve already expressed interest in whatever you’re selling in some way. Well, this made me feel good. I left the following comment:

They “don’t wanna be sold to” by a moron.

You pretty much sum it up there, Chris. I’ve been the moron and I’ve also been on the other end. But more often, I am the guy that provides answers about a product I know they’re interested in. They thank me for it. Salespeople aren’t used to getting thanked, but when someone is reminded of a product or service that they had looked at seriously at one point, or when they are educated as to the value of this product/service, they see the sales call (if done correctly) as having value in of itself. It’s all about the approach, being consultative, being honest, treating them as an individual. It’s never easy, but making money and doing anything well never is.

I didn’t need to leave this comment. With my level of ADD, a bird could have flown by my window and I would have forgotten all about it. Thank you, bird, for not flying by! That comment, however, left by a momentarily uplifted salesman (salesboy, really), prompted by a single tweet and an excellent post, led to some amazing things for me. Here’s what happened next:

On the same day, I received an email from Greg Swann. Greg is the creator of Blood Hound Blog, and he personally approves comments from first time comment-leavers like me. He had been curious as to what exactly I was selling, and he had this to say:

Oh, wonderful! This was next for us. Do you sell the product? Feel free to phone me if you do. We believe SMS will kill IVR, hence we want it now.

As you might expect, it’s not often that someone emails me saying “we want it now” and already sees the value of SMS over call-capture systems. I would be the worst salesboy in the history of the universe if I didn’t drop everything and call this man immediately. I nearly forgot to swallow the last bite of my lunch before I picked up the phone. The call went the way it might if it were in an unrealistic training film where the prospective customer asks all the right questions, says he’s excited to get started and tells you he’s going to let the real estate blogosphere know about it. Turns out he wasn’t exaggerating.

After I made a branded demo for him that captured the look and feel of bloodhoundrealty.com (something I'll do for any interested agent or firm), he let the world know in a series of posts, starting with the following unbelievable personal shout-out (mind you, this is just the title of the post):

Ian Greenleigh of DriveBuy Technologies used the Bawldguy technique to promote SMS marketing by social media — and sold his product to the biggest-nosed sneezer in the RE.net

He emailed me right away to let me know what he had written. Already, his public praise of me and the platform I sell was generating interest all over America. I was almost embarrassed that I didn’t know who Greg Swann is, or how influential he is in the RE.net. But, I was too busy to be embarrassed—I was inundated. Greg had told everyone to try the demo out—his demo—and, naturally they did. More leads came in that day than any other I can remember.

Meanwhile, back on Twitter, people were re-tweeting his post, and a search for my name showed just how much of an echo chamber the twitterverse can be. I searched Blood Hound Blog to see if Greg had written anything similar about anyone else, or any other product, and the answer was no. He even had to put a disclaimer at the bottom of his post:

(As a matter of disclosure, I have no financial stake in promoting DriveBuy. But they’re doing a job I want done, so I want to help them and Ian make more money. If you bristle at the term “vendorslut,” you might reflect on what BloodhoundBlog can do for you, should you focus your attention on delivering value to respected clients instead of quarrying for more boobs to hustle out of their money — and more stooges to bribe for phony endorsements.)

I have other great products that I’ve been meaning to write about, but DriveBuy is going to be an important tool for us, so I’m delighted to talk about it today.

A broker that had followed Greg’s writing since the beginning sent me the following text while I was still following up on inquiries at 10:30 PM:

An endorsement from G Swann is priceless. He does not gush easily.

And so it was that my faith in the power of social media finally came to fruition. I was happy. My employer was happy. Greg was happy. So were all the agents that signed up after reading his blog. Our presence on Google increased significantly. Greg wrote several other posts that mentioned our platform (here and here), and this generated yet more interest. Inquiries are still coming in.

It’s tempting to rest on my laurels, but I know better. If this experience truly demonstrated anything, it was that social media starts the conversation, but phone calls close sales. I’m commenting and tweeting more, yes, but my phone work has picked up just as much. I’m not sure if I’ve found the right balance yet. I’ve seen what can be done, however, and I’ll never forget it.

I hope that someday, after years of hard work, I’ll be able to help out a young salesboy just by telling others he’s doing a good job and selling a great product. I know I will remember Jessica, Chris, and Greg for the rest of my life.

It all began with a tweet—but it hasn’t ended yet.

Dimdim & The New School of Green Marketing

2009-08-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Dimdim has figured it out. The popular online meeting platform is free to the average consumer and offers an incredibly stable and user-friendly solution. I had been using Dimdim for slightly over a month when I was struck by a particular piece of copy that I read over and over:

Every Dimdim web conference saves money, time, energy and CO2 emissions.

"That’s it,” I thought. The perfect example of the “new” green marketing. I decided to give them a call.

According to Dimdim’s Community Manager, Kevin Micalizzi, “the green marketing theme has been there since the start.” Helping to conserve natural resources fit perfectly with other lofty ambitions, like the “democratization of communication”. Such ideals have given the Dimdim team focus, but they have helped to generate accelerated rates of adoption and customer loyalty.

How?

“People feel better if they feel like they are doing something good with the choice that they made,” Kevin tells me. I can certainly relate. In fact, as I told him, the environment had nothing to do with my initial attraction to his platform. I wanted to save money, and nothing beats free. It was only after I had used the product that I started to notice the green "angle". The true power of Dimdim’s green marketing strategy lies in its ability to connect going green with saving money. It’s the association game played perfectly. More importantly, it’s the truth. Take another example from dimdim.com:

Dimdim makes it easy to save some green while being green. Feel good, save money and the planet all at once.

Sounds good, but where are the numbers? Right here:

In fact, a typical 30 minute virtual Dimdim web meeting with 5 attendees can eliminate about 1.3 metric tons of CO and save $810 in expenses required to attend face-to-face. Feel great about saving some green while being green.

Kevin and I discussed how easy it was to actually quantify these savings. Data abounds with regard to average miles traveled for business trips, average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and typical costs associated with such travel. It was just a matter of connecting the dots. If you are thinking about marketing your business as green, back it up with numbers.

How many trees do you save by using mobile flyers?

What is the combined average carbon footprint of the homes you sold this year as compared to the average American home?

If you can find numbers to relate these green savings to monetary savings, you’re ahead of the pack. All you have to do is dig a little. If you don’t find anything, maybe it’s time to think about taking steps toward less impactful business practices.

This is the New School of Green Marketing. Now more than ever, according to Kevin, “There are so many situations out there now where the green approach makes sense.”

I’m willing to bet yours is one of them.

Green Business: Are You Behind WalMart?

2009-07-24T10:17:00.001-07:00

We’ve entered the post-political era of environmentally-friendly products, services and businesses. Green has moved on. It’s no longer a code word for “lefty elite”, and it’s about time.

Let’s be cold and calculating here (it feels good, just try it). As far as this post is concerned, I’m not interested in the actual environmental benefits of going green. In fact, I rather dislike the word “green”. It’s too much of a catchall, and it’s slapped on too many things that have little or negligible positive impact. Notwithstanding my preferences, America seems to have decided on this particular label, and so be it. Bandwagon or no, going green makes sense for businesses in almost every locale and vertical, and this has only become true of late. So, should you hop on or hold out?

Just a few years ago, it wouldn’t make sense for most small businesses to green their images. Unless your customers were willing to pay a premium for environmental peace of mind, you’d almost be crazy to do so. Granted, in some areas, in some industries, letting customers know the pains you’ve taken to reduce waste and the like actually paid off. Markets like Portland, San Francisco and Austin have long had customer bases that respond positively to such efforts. In most large cities, for instance, home builders could find enough of a niche to specialize in green construction if the field wasn’t too crowded.

There is another reason that going green didn’t make sense for most small businesses until recently. Environmentalism has always been associated with the political left wing. It may not have been entirely fair, but attitudes regarding the environment were a remarkably accurate predictor of political orientation. Businesses understood, quite correctly, that such steps might alienate the right-leaning members of their customer base, especially when such changes required passing on a premium to customers. In most communities within “red” states, it made little financial sense to go green.

This is not the case anymore. For a variety of reasons, many green products and services no longer carry prohibitive premiums. Consumers are starting to understand that more sustainable, less impactful choices also tend to save them money in the long run. This is due in part to an overdue shift in the marketing paradigm that has finally begun to associate “green” with “savings”. Sacrifice is no longer necessary. Enter mainstream America.

Green has transcended our political dichotomy because it finally makes sense to consumers. Things that make sense to consumers make sense to businesses. Still, an April 2009 Gallup Poll found that only 37% of small business owners say they are “taking steps to show their customers they are environmentally friendly.”

Even WalMart is going green—at least partially. Hate them if you must, but the über-retailer never takes a dip without testing the waters, and now they just took the plunge.

From Slate’s Marc Gunther:

The giant retailer ($406 billion in revenues in 2008) is developing an ambitious, comprehensive, and fiendishly complex plan to measure the sustainability of every product it sells. Wal-Mart has been working quietly on what it calls a "sustainability index" for more than a year, and it will take another year or two for labels to appear on products.

WalMart isn’t exactly known as progressive, and neither are its shoppers. They simply responded to their own data, which was compiled by “tracking consumers' decisions to purchase five key eco-friendly products since April 2007,” according to a 2008 press release. The outside data tell the same story.

From Chicago Business:

The number of U.S. consumers who regularly buy green products tripled in 2008, to 36%, according to London-based market research firm Mintel International Group Ltd. That number has held this year despite the recession. That's consistent with another finding from a 2008 Boston Consulting Group survey: 82% of U.S. consumers are willing to pay a premium for green products, as long as those products provide added benefits. To command the premium, green products need to be healthier, higher quality or of greater efficiency.

Your business, of course, is not WalMart. You may still have valid reasons for not going green or marketing your products as such. It’s clear, however, that if you can manage to make changes that help the environment at little cost to you or your customers, you can safely tout your efforts without fear of losing business.

Next week, I interview Kevin Micalizzi of DimDim, regarding green savings and cost reductions. I’ll also be talking about “retroactive green marketing”.

Nice review of DriveBuy's platform

2009-06-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

The folks over at Second Self Virtual Assistance have a nice review up about DriveBuy. We love that :)

DriveBuy Featured on Larry Easto's Real Estate Marketing Link!

2009-06-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Real estate marketing expert Larry Easto has recently written about DriveBuy Tech on both his website and ActiveRain blog.

Larry sees the a bright future in mobile marketing for the real estate space, and we're excited that he chose us to highlight such technologies.

While you're there, be sure to browse his other pages; he has tons of great free info about RE-specific marketing. I especially like what he says about branding here.

We're off to a great start today!

Begging the Answers: Twitter Search - Apartments.

2009-06-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Twitter search is one of the coolest features of the now-ubiquitous social media site. We've already discussed how sales agents might discover opportunities using twitter search here and here.

But we thought it might be good to expand upon that somewhat and offer some more suggestions about how to reach out to users on Twitter who are seeking information from apt. marketers.

A group of apartment marketers, many of whom are members of the Multifamily Insiders Group, hold a chat on Fridays (#AptChat) where they share their ideas. Last Friday, I decided to play with some search terms specific to apartments. The best one I found was the first one that popped into my head "looking for apt." My second favorite search term is "moving to".

While there will be some unrelated results - apt is a real word that doesn't mean apartment" - a majority will be from people who are truly looking to re-locate. They're begging for your help.

Will you help them?

If there is any advice we could impart of value to Twitter users, perhaps this is the most important: treat those seeking your help with respect and dignity.

When and if you respond to a person you've found through a search, introduce yourself and give them quality information. Treat them as if they were a member of your own family. Check out their tweets and their profiles and then respond with something of value.

As businesses we tend to apply terms such as prospect, customer and lead to real human beings (we have been guilty of this ourselves). It is best to abandon those terms for one more apt, relationship. You are trying to build a relationship with a human being. If that person decides to spend his money with your establishment, it will be a reflection on how well you can relate, not how well you can "sell."

Business Relationships are Changing

Remember Lending Tree? Lending tree took what was once a very difficult proposition - shopping for a loan - and made it easier while giving more power to the consumer. Twitter and social media in general can positively effect markets in a similar way.

For instance, if I am seeking something I need, and post it to Twitter, I expect people to respond with pertinent information. It's a public forum and I as the consumer am hoping to reach as many information providers as possible when I ask for help.

It's is the equivalent of posting a "wanted" classified. Personally, I'm "lazy". I don't want to hit the google search and look at customer reviews for everything. Besides, people buy from people. You can't talk to a logo. Brand affiliation will have more to do with personal relationships in the future than mere name recognition if we can trust the trends we're seeing on the social media sites.

We see this in our own interactions with customers here at DriveBuy. Follow up and personalization do more to solidify our own customer relationships than our advertising alone. People do business with us because we build a personal relationship with them in the process of soliciting their businesses.

Give

So what would that look like for an apartment marketer? First take a look at the result of my favorite search term - "looking for apt".

You need to give it up. Give up the info. Some people are interested in price alone, others location - ie; how close is it to work and others might be persuaded to pay more for amenities such as fitness centers and concierge services. But you won't know that until you give something and indicate that you are actually concerned with their needs first rather than yours.

@aptseeker - hi, saw your tweet, here's some of the floorplans we have available and some pictures. When's your move date? http://tinyurl.pointing-to-real-pics-of-floorplans-and-actual-pictures.com

.....

@aptseeker - hello - we have several locations around town and a few vacancies. Do you have a favorite neighborhood in Anytown? http://tinyurl.pointing-to-list-of-complexes-by-neighborhood

....

@aptseeker - hi - we just happen to have 3 vacancies on the first floor at this location - http://tinyurl.pointing-to-location-site - a 1br, studio, 2br.

These are few possibilities. The content you provide needs to be relevant and useful. If it isn't, you're wasting your time and theirs. By offering useful content you indicate your level of sincerity. The more sincere you are, the more likely you will build a relationship with that person and do business together in the future.

Marketing to the Small Screen

2009-06-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Brian Boero at the 1000Watt Consulting blog has a very interesting post about mobile and real estate.

The inherent “limitations” of the small screen are in fact liberating for the people who count: End users. These are the folks too often forced to slog through a chopped salad of links, footers and gratuitous content served up by SEO-obsessed product teams. The small screen concentrates the developer mind and compels a better experience.

And, for now, the mobile platform is relatively free from ads. This is changing fast, but even when mobile advertising matures it is likely to be less disruptive than what users have come to expect on the big screen. Early data suggest they may even be more effective.

Most importantly, the experience is portable, which is perfectly suited to real estate.

Excellent points. We have believed for years that the small screen is where its at. Brian's focus is on specific applications, but it will be a while before there is a preponderance of application-capable phones in user's hands for them to compete with SMS or the phone's browser.

This is why we've focused on SMS and the mobile flier/website. SMS is ubiquitous and the number of devices which have a browser is growing.

Google Loves Twitter: Using DriveBuy's Twitter Integration is an SEO Bonanza

2009-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

When the DriveBuy team decided to add an integration to Twitter, we envisioned something that would just make it easier for our customers to give their followers a view of available properties from their twitter stream. If you're a regular user of Twitter, you realize that the web interface to twitter is serviceable, but can be difficult when posting the shortened urls that are so popular and save valuable character space.

So people often turn to tools like TweetDeck and Twhirl which integrate with url shortening services like tinyurl and bit.ly. We wanted to add this same convenience within the DriveBuy application so that posting a listing wouldn't require anything more than the push of a button.

What we didn't realize at the time were the feature's amazing SEO possibilities for our customers. Simply put: Google Loves Twitter.

About three weeks ago, I decided to use the DriveBuy app for personal reasons. I have a 1954 Chevrolet 210 coupe I have owned since 1993. I used to drive it to work every day and believed that one day I would make it into a custom fashioned in the style so popular in the 50's and 60's.

But alas, family and work have relegated this old machine into a fixture of the driveway. It was time to sell my baby and make room in the driveway. So, I created a listing in the DriveBuy app, added pictures and tweeted that it was available via twitter.

What happened next was unexpected. Within a week, searching on the title of my listing, I found it had climbed to the top of google's search results for "54 Chevy for sale in Austin".

When I examined the link traffic for this listing, I noticed that it was a matter of seconds before the Google "bots" were all over the listing's url.

Why did this happen?

More importantly, can this be replicated?

We think so, but you have to consider long-tail theory. Most real estate professionals involved in SEO know that it is nigh on impossible to compete with the major players for search traffic for generic search terms like "real estate" or "real estate listings" due to competition and just sheer volume of real estate listings available on the web.

The long tail theory suggests that higher conversion rates occur when the search term is more specific. For instance, "real estate Barton Creek, Austin" as opposed to "real estate".

The title I put in my listing was specific to a location. You probably won't find it by merely searching "54 Chevy for sale". Thus, agents who use our service, will want to consider this when creating the title for their listing before tweeting it.

Around 3 Days

Typically we're seeing that it takes around 3 days for the google bots to fully index the listings so that they crawl up the ranks. There is no guarantee that you will have the same results I had (we have seen customers achieve similar results) and there are some things you can do to get better results.

Include the address in your listing title - this also makes it easier when people browse your listings from their mobile device.

Make sure the address info is filled out

Make sure that your website address is enabled in your template settings.

Check the "Enable Item List" in your mobile template settings.

That's about it. Most importantly though experiment. We will also and intend to bring what we find into the app so that all of our customers enjoy the benefits of our research.

Too Much Information? Social Media Has Blurred The Line

2009-06-01T10:30:00.001-07:00

You have probably heard the acronym “TMI” before—Too Much Information. It’s usually said when someone shares something a little too personal. Context and audience have always been the keys to knowing what is or is not appropriate in behavior and speech at any given moment. This has not changed. Almost everything else has.

To frame the discussion, I asked my father to summarize an experience he had once related to me.

“I had a new client, an ad agency, who sent a young producer to our photoshoot. She was about 25. She was a freelance producer, so her business card was not an official one from the ad agency, it was her own. It had her own website address on it. I went to her website just out of interest, and it had a link to personal pages of journals, photos, etc. One journal had a sentence talking about how she was not really happy working at the agency (the one she was working with currently on this photo project) and that she is looking for other work, moving back to the Bay Area, etc. Being from another generation – I found this disturbing.

First, that she doesn’t think that this may come back to haunt her, and second – that she feels no need to keep her personal and professional lives separate. In my years of working in my business starting in the early 80s, you only mixed personal and professional if you had developed a personal relationship with the client – maybe you’ve worked with them for years, had them over to the house for a party, etc. I’m not saying you don’t socialize with new clients– you go to dinner and drinks after the shoot and learn more about each others’ personal lives, but this was different. The photos and journals took it way further.”

A serious case of TMI! It also lost this young woman further business from my father.

Let’s focus on the two factors we’ve already hit on: context and audience.

How has context changed in the age of digital communication and Social Media? Think of it like setting, in the most general sense. Am I in an office setting? A casual lunch? An after hours business function? How we behave changes depending on social norms attributed to each setting. If I’m making a sales presentation to potential clients, my mannerisms and vernacular will reflect as much—I will try to comport with their expected behavior, avoiding unnecessary friction. If I’m at a casual lunch with a coworker or friend, I might open up a little. Context has changed at the rapid pace of modern social networks. The rules are blurry and hard to keep up with, if rules still exist. If I update my status on Twitter or Facebook, am I doing so as a professional or a private individual? Is such a distinction even valid? Should I be reticent about sharing my thoughts on thorny issues on the website I built for my real estate business?

What about audience? It’s pretty obvious that everyone with access to Social Media has an ever-widening audience. We now have unprecedented access to people we may never even meet, people with whom we often have little in common. This is because it is now so easy to cultivate these networks. One click of the mouse, and you and I are now “friends”. Some people are extremely selective about who they link up with, while some go to great lengths to make their audience as wide as possible. Either way, we are connected to more people than ever before. Add to this the fact that the Internet creates a permanent record of the things we say and do, and one thing is clear:

Our voices carry like never before.

Should we hold back for fear of offending a potential client or business contact? Should we avoid boring our non-industry friends with shop talk? Should I keep my mouth shut because it might reflect poorly on my superiors? No one can make this decision for you.

One option is to create different personas. I have a personal Twitter account as well as a professional Twitter account. With the former, I probably share too much, but I’m not anxious about it harming my business. With the latter, I try to develop connections that are professionally relevant, while sticking to updates that pertain to my professional sphere. So far, so good.

Another option is to embrace the synthesis of the personal and professional and throw caution to the wind. I am reminded of branded commercial vehicles with political bumper stickers. I always wondered if those people thought about the business they might be losing by wearing their heart on their bumper, as it were. This new era mentality can be seen in almost every corner of the web. Nancy is your “Austin-area Buddhist REALTOR®.” Paul has a “Support Proposition 122” web badge on the website of his business. Danesh posts a controversial piece about immigration on his ActiveRain blog. Is there a line being crossed, or is there even a line at all? By acting in such way, have they hurt or enhanced their professional prospects? In either case, such effects are not easily measurable.

I liken our Social Media presence to attending a work-related cocktail function. We have a little more leeway in terms of how we behave or what we say. We don’t need to necessarily walk on egg shells. At the same time, we will most likely interact with these people in the future, in a setting that is more professional. How we interact and what we say should reflect the shades of gray inherent in our current context. It’s probably best to avoid either extreme, but that is just my personal opinion.

What are your thoughts?

The Twittocalypse: Twitter & Terrible Tech Predictions

2009-05-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

by Ian Greenleigh, Account Executive, DriveBuy Technologies

“Twitter is a fad.”

- Burt Helm, Business Week, April 2009

“Twitter is a fad that will slowly fade away.”

– 51% of Internet Evolution poll respondents, November 2008

“Twitter is next. The paradox is obvious: to grow, you need to remove friction from the medium. If it’s not easy and free to use, people won’t. But then it gets big and it becomes profitable, so people use it too much.”

– Seth Godin, May 2009

Foretelling the fall of Twitter has lately become a meme du jour. Some of this is a contrarian knee-jerk reaction; some of this is the refrain of people that “just don’t get it” or have a luddite-like predisposition. These self-styled Cassandras are quickly gaining ground.

It is no longer just the uninitiated and tech-wary that are predicting Twitter’s demise (whether gradual or spectacular). Industry sages have joined the chorus of late, lending credibility to the notion and convincing more and more to follow suit. The reasons cited for this supposed Twittocalypse are too numerous to list, and their relative merits are beyond the scope of this post (and my patience).

Personally, I see a slow tapering off, but sustained popularity. I am no guru, however, and thus my opinion matters not. But what if I were a tech luminary? Such figures, though often correct, are not infallible. Many times they are so far off the mark, we are tempted to call their supposed genius in to question.

With Twitter in mind, let me say this: gurus, sages, prophets—whatever you term them—can be woefully, laughably wrong. Don’t let them convince you that Twitter is a sham, fad, or useless time-waster. Only you can make that decision for yourself, based on your experience, intellect and usage. Almost as important; remember that even if they are wrong about this, they can still remain influential and successful. They can still be deserving of “expert” status; they can even go on to change the world.

No better an illustration of this fact can be found than PC World’s The 7 Worst Tech Predictions of All Time. All of these people were heavy hitters at the time they uttered the following nonsense. Some faded in to obscurity and some continued to move up the industrial ladder. One is the richest man in the world.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

- Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943

"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."

-Darryl Zanuck, executive at 20th Century Fox, 1946

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within 10 years."

-Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum manufacturer Lewyt Corp., 1955

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

-Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"Almost all of the many predictions now being made about 1996 hinge on the Internet's continuing exponential growth. But I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."

-Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, 1995

"Apple is already dead."

-Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft chief technology officer, 1997

"Two years from now, spam will be solved."

-Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, 2004

Found 8 Prospects In 2 Minutes Using Twitter - Here's How

2009-05-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

by Ian Greenleigh, Account Exectutive, DriveBuy Technologies

In our previous posts, we explored how to use Twitter's advanced search features to find two types of prospects:

Those already in your area
Those looking to move to your area

In revisiting the latter group, I just wanted to offer some proof of how easy it is to find these individuals.

This is what I did, but you can customize it and refine it to your heart's content:

Went to Twitter's advanced search page: http://search.twitter.com/advanced
In the "All of These Words" field, typed in Austin (that's where we are)
In the "Any of These Words" field, typed in "moving relocating relocation transfer " (this searches for any tweets containing Austin and any of the words you query

In the first two pages of results, I found 8 viable prospects. Want proof? Click the screen shots below:

Try it yourself and link back to your screen shots!

Real Estate Twitter Search - who's moving to your neighborhood?

2009-05-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, Ian gave an example of GeoCode searches in twitter and how they could be useful in building a Real Estate professional's network. I have been playing with Twitter search to see if there are searches that net results beyond our own neighborhood to find people interested in moving to our neighborhood.

As Ian said, your goal is not to just immediately start following a stranger merely because they are a potential customer. In a down market, good customer service is a commodity of which you must possess a large stockpile.

When you search and find people interested in your location or who have solid plans on moving there, you want to offer them resources to make their move as smooth as possible. The main thing you want to convey is sincerity and service. If you can do this, you just might win their business. If you see dollar signs rather than another human who could use some help, you are far less likely to gain a customer.

With that in mind, take a look at some search terms that net some very interesting results.

DriveBuy is headquartered in Austin, TX. So I set out to see how an agent or broker in our fair city might find prospects relocating here.

The first search term I tried was 'moving to Austin'. A very interesting set of results were delivered.

Keep in mind that Twitter's search results are far different than what you might find from any other traditional search engine because they are also relevant to a recent timeline. The same search on Google or Yahoo will find results years old whereas the above search will return tweets from the last two days.

Now try something similar for your town.

Finding Local Buyers, Sellers, and Renters Using Twitter

2009-05-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

If you’re not already a Twitter addict, you’ve at least considered hopping on the “buzziest” web bandwagon since MySpace. You probably also know that folks out there are using this form of microblogging to market their goods and services. Doing so easily and effectively, however, is another story. The good news is that real estate professionals don’t need to use third-party software or have a degree in computer science to find prospective clients via Twitter. The in-house advanced search page does the trick well, as long as you follow some basic rules. It’s all about targeting, folks—here’s how:

Step by Step:

Sign up if you haven’t. http://twitter.com/
Visit http://search.twitter.com/ .
Click on “Advanced Search”.
Scroll down to “Places”. Enter your zip in the “Near This Place” field. In “Within This Distance,” put your preferred range.
Think about who you want to target. Avoid the term “real estate,” or you will likely find others in the business rather than customers. Terms like “Realtor” might net you some people looking for a Realtor or at least at some point in the home-searching or selling process. Depending on your professional focus, terms like “apartment,” “lease,” “foreclosure,” “REO,” “loft,” “townhome”, etc., should target your search to people that fall into your preferred customer base. Write these terms down.
In the third field down, “Any of these words,” type in these terms separated by spaces (no commas). If a term is two words, put it in quotations or else your results will be wildly off-target.
Click “Search”.

Your results will vary, but you can hone your search words and find conversations which are relevant to your business.

How you approach these leads is up to you, but it is probably best to avoid simply “following” that user without any other communication. Try replying to their tweet with specific information or a link that is relevant to whatever they are in the market for. They may realize that you are a Realtor as soon as you contact them, or you may have to follow up and let them know. If you follow them and they follow you back, you can then message them directly, and you’ll be able to see if they say anything else that you may be able to help with. This too will take some trial and error to perfect. Be persistent without being pushy, practice your approach, and sooner or later, you’ll realize the power of the tweet!

Next up: Finding clients before they move to your area using Twitter

Twitter and Real Estate: Providing Valuable Info Key

2009-05-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Interesting news story on Fox Memphis about how Real Estate Agents are using twitter. The agent interviewed for this piece makes a very good point about social marketing in general. Providing useful information to followers and contacts is the key to success:

"You want to post about how the overall market is doing here, how the overall market is doing in the country. Maybe some aspects of the $8,000 credit, that first time homebuyer are getting," says Spake.

Spake says this social medium has been great for reaching people who are very internet savvy. He also says it's easier to reach people, and they can easily ask questions about an agent's background in the market.

"All these folks that follow me on Twitter and all my Facebook friends when they get ready to buy a house they'll say that guy put out some pretty good info," says Spake.

Interview with the Inventor of SMS.

2009-05-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

This interview is really interesting and talks about the decision by the inventors to settle on 160 characters.

Why SMS/text marketing IS Social Media Marketing

2009-05-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

If you are active in social media, you probably recognize that we have advanced beyond 'web 2.0' to some other version entirely as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites have gained critical mass. You have also probably noticed that 'Mobile Marketing' is mentioned as a trending topic.

Social Media has begun to mature as its users figure out how to best use it. In fact, social media has completely changed the way we use the web and our devices to interact. It used to be that software and device developers had their own visions for how their product should be used and then informed users how to use them.

But with social media that has changed. In spite of the developer's best intentions, users find ways to use their software in ways that weren't necessarily intended. Consider Twitter. I am convinced that Twitter's core group had no idea how their product would be used over the long term. Truly great products are like that. Because they capture the imaginations of the early adopters and evangelists, they grow a life of their own.

Boiled down to the most basic, social media is merely a way to connect with people of similar interests and interact with them. Most social media apps provide the means of opening a dialogue and provide other tools to continue that conversation using text, video, weblinks and email.

That's essentially the definition of any successful marketing campaign - to begin a dialogue and pursue an ongoing conversation. Social media has revolutionized marketing because for decades, the conversation was totally one-sided. Marketers tried to guess, by way of demographic information, what groups of people might be interested in their side of the conversation.

With social media, we begin the effort immediately as a two-way communication by offering something of value.

SMS/text message marketing is the ultimate social media platform.

The consumer already has the device in his hand to open a dialogue with you. The main difference between the social media apps discussed here and the hand-held device is that the invitation to connect is not limited to the on-line world. The invitation is time/place relevant, or should be for a campaign to be successful.

Prior to SMS/text interaction, the way to interact with a customer or prospect, apart from face-to-face, was to publish a phone number and staff yourself with inside sales and customer support personnel. Some companies even made it pretty hard (and still do) to talk to a representative. SMS and the applications which support SMS marketing provide you some automation around the initial contact - allowing you to respond immediately without inundating what support staff you employ - or yourself - with easily answered questions or requests. It also can, in the case of a well-designed platform, automate the capture of contact information so you can continue a dialogue. And it can do this while you sleep.

A segment of the mobile marketing crowd is still stuck in the old one-way paradigm. Rather than invite the consumer to opt-in by offering something of value and interest, they are employing old methods which attempt to start a dialogue by shouting at the consumer and invading his mobile device without consent. For instance, you are walking past a store and technology installed near the door detects that your Bluetooth™ enabled phone is within distance, and sends an MMS or SMS message about the product offered inside the store.

Perhaps, if they can reach enough devices, they will gain a customer. But in the process, they are undermining their own brand, the Bluetooth&trade brand - once touted to be the most secure wireless network ever produced - and the prospect's confidence. (How secure is it if any yay-hoo can use it to send an un-solicited marketing message?)

Time/place relevance is the key to a successful social media marketing effort. This does not have to be off-line. Many successful SMS campaigns present their invitation to connect on-line as well as off. The key is to have an invite that promises a passer-by something of value to them, whether that be a piece of relevant information, a discount on a product you offer, entry to an event or repeating updates about the services you offer. Whatever offered, it has to be something of value. This is exactly the advice you are given by social media experts to build your social networks through Twitter, Facebook and other sites.

Beyond this initial contact, it behooves the marketer to also offer other avenues of communication. This is where you offer your social media site contacts, email and phone number(s) so that the user can interact further using whatever means they are most comfortable using. But do follow up and do so with timely relevance escalating only when it makes sense to do so. Do not seek immediate conversions. You are building a relationship which may or may not lead to a sale. You are gaining a person's trust, a thing which should be respected and treated with all due seriousness.

The point being made here is that mobile/SMS/text marketing is in fact social media marketing. It provides a way to initiate a conversation and find like-interested people as do social media applications. However SMS/text includes the added benefit of time/place relevance. SMS/text marketing reaches far beyond the on-line world while retaining all of the other important features of social media.

SMS/text marketing is social media marketing.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Marketing Tools of Real Estate Industry

2009-04-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Real Estate market is embracing social media with open arms.

Networking is also helping the real estate industry during the current housing slump. Murray said many “buyers prefer the convenience of developing a relationship with one party to guide them through everything given they have choices in the process” through affiliated businesses during the home-buying process.

Twitter Spam - Following the Dollars

2009-03-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

We love Twitter here at DriveBuy! So much so that we integrated our software with the Twitter api. It lets our customers post listings directly to Twitter with a SmartLink that's mobile friendly. Very useful and the search engines love it.

When we were considering building the integration there was a healthy debate about whether or not posting property listings to Twitter was considered SPAM. In the end we concluded that if one of our customers wants to post to their account then it's not Spam. We did forgo any automation that would be ripe for misuse and limited posts to a user's timeline rather than as replies or direct messages.

Which brings us to the crux of a hot topic on twitter lately, SPAM!

Everyone at DriveBuy uses Twitter daily and we all have gotten sick of the SPAM ourselves. You know, "free laptop!", "I'm getting rich with google!", "I'm the world's greatest SEO expert!" Many with similar tag lines in their profile or tweets are fairly obvious. They follow 1500 people but only managed to attract 12 followers. They're obviously spammer/scammers. However, there are the less obvious spammers. They post little of value but might have a pretty awesome follower/following ratio. Question is, how do they do it?

It seems, much like Dell did with customer service, the spammers are outsourcing big time. Recently I was perusing a freelancer site and noticed a disturbing pattern. Here's a perfect example:

I need someone to get me more followers.

I want people mainly based in the USA and the UK. Ideally they are looking to buy a property in France.

I need 5000 followers, Keep my account to under 200 people I am following.

Please quote for getting 5000 more followers.

Here's another:

03/07/2009 at 14:13 EST:
Your current project description is...

I need someone to get me more followers.

I want mlm, home based business, internet marketing followers.

I need 6000 followers, Keep my account to under 200 people I am following.

Please quote for getting 6000 more followers.

Bids on the project above are between $250 and $1000. Each of them has multiple bids.

There are many similar project proposals for Facebook also like this beauty:

We need 5k Facebook friends
Hello we need 5k facebook frieds in 4 weeks.

You can find similar proposals to build LinkedIn accounts as well.

We just wanted folks to have an idea of where all the noise is coming from.

We follow lots of folks involved in all facets of Real Estate and Advertising in general. We've shied away from automating DMs and follow-backs though. When someone follows DriveBuy we look at their tweets and make a judgment call. Yes, a real person actually does this. It's not the most efficient way to build the biggest network the fastest, but the network is real.

Will their content scrolling across our screens makes sense?

Here's our relevancy checklist:

Is it a real person or is there a real person behind the alias? Profile has website link and/or location.

Are they active? Have their been any tweets in the last month? Do they actually interact (@reply) with their followers?

Is their content relevant to DriveBuy?

There are lots of folks we follow that don't really meet requirement 3, but that's ok. 1 and 2 are golden.

Cheers

SMS: Social, Mobile, Seamless

2009-03-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

As a REALTOR® you are inundated with requests to part with your marketing dollars for a plethora of great ideas. Mobile marketing may be on your radar but perhaps are hesitant to jump in, especially in this economic climate. Why should you consider marketing your properties (and yourself) via SMS?

SMS is Social

You've probably seen the numbers - some 3.3 billion subscribers were predicted to be on-line by end of year 2008. Roughly half of the world's population have a cell phone.

Text messaging has been growing by leaps and bounds in the U.S. The fastest growing demographic, as reported by the Washington Post are those aged 45-54. Driven by desires to stay connected to their children, parents and grandparents are learning how to text.

Parents frequently follow their children into technology, setting up pages on MySpace and Facebook social-networking sites, for example, in a bid to become their "friends." Parental text messaging is outstripping the growth rate among younger generations. In the past two years, use of the technology by those ages 45 to 54 increased 130 percent, according to M:Metrics, a market-research firm. By comparison, those ages 13 to 17 increased their text messaging by far less, 41 percent.

The WP article also points out that SMS is not considered "intrusive" by users according to Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility.

Most phones can send and receive text messages and a large number can forward test messages not only to other phones but to email addresses as well. This means that the first contact who receives property information is a potential marketing channel and each of his/her friends are also potential marketing channels.

SMS is Mobile

The traditional flier possesses some of the same social properties as SMS. Prospects can pick up a flier and pass it on to a friend or relative, but the nature of a hard-copy limits the ability of the initial contact to forward it to more than just one person. SMS, by its electronic nature requires nothing special for a message to be duplicated and passed on to others. The time-place relevance of SMS delivery can't be understated.

The flier requires far more resources and time, and there is a delay factor that just isn't present with SMS. Because people carry their phones with them everywhere, the chance that your information will travel with them is far more likely than the flier you spend hours creating and delivering.

SMS is Seamless

A real benefit to the SMS channel for the REALTOR® is its ease of use and seamless integration into mobile devices. It is available wherever there is cell coverage. This is a good opportunity also for us to plug DriveBuy's features. Adding your listings to the DriveBuy service allows you to:

Create a mobile-friendly web-site dynamically formatted to the prospect's device

Receive notifications on your cell phone and/or email account when prospects request property info.

Export your leads in real-time to your Top Producer account or Outlook (vCard)

Post listings to Twitter. Listings are formatted to fit and include a link to your mobile-friendly web site.

Marketing properties and your own personal brand is a perfect fit for text messaging. As a REALTOR® you not only have a valuable service and products to offer, you possess information that your prospects seek. SMS provides a perfect delivery vehicle that is Social, Mobile and Seamless.

Useful Real Estate Trend Information

2009-03-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

Some interesting articles and publications on trends around the country.

Miami (via Trulia)

Househunt News (Pick a State) Real Estate Market Trends

WABC Video: New York City succumbs to trend.

CNN Real Estate News

Chicago Tribune 8 Real Estate Trends for 2009

RETrends - Swanepoel Trends Report 2009 (fee-based e-book)

Obama Sticking with Mobile Marketing

2009-01-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

Most have heard about President-elect Obama's text message about his VP selection.
The administration seems to be sticking with mobile post-election.
Just received this message:

Help President-elect Obama renew America w/ service projects around the Inauguration. Txt SERVE to 56333 for info. For Inauguration updates txt HISTORY to 56333

Impressed that they're sticking with it! At DriveBuy we're subscribed to pretty much every mobile campaign we see just to keep up with the good, the great and the mmmm maybe not.

The interesting thing is the multiple calls to action. We've tried this approach before and it works pretty well. The short code (56333) is also different than the one that sent the message. After I received the message I sent in SERVE and waited.... and waited.... NADA it's been about 45 minutes now. Same thing with HISTORY.

The administration has a great opportunity with a captive real-time audience. They seem committed to the mobile space. I really hope they get the implementation details worked out.