Are you one of those people who never seems to have enough time?  Read this post to learn how you can finally fix that.

In this post you’ll learn

• About a GREAT free tool you can use to track your time
• How to take control of your time
• How to manage your time more effectively

The best time management advice I ever got

IF you’re not keeping track of your time you’ve got a problem.  The BEST time management advice I’ve ever gotten was to TRACK my time.  How could I take control of my time if I didn’t know what I was doing with it?

Your time is precious.  It’s the one thing in your life that’s truly limited, don’t give it away cheaply.

A great tool for tracking your time

I’ve tried everything from keeping a notebook, to spreadsheets, to iPhone apps and one tool stands out above the rest.

I’ve been using Klok for a couple of months now and it’s awesome.  It’s flexible, easy to customize, and easy to use.  ***WARNING: When I say it’s easy to use, you gotta be a little techie, or you might not get it***

Taking control of your time

The first step to taking control of your time is knowing exactly what you’re doing with it, that’s why I recommended using Klok.

After getting Klok set up all you have to do is track what you’re doing when you sit down at your computer for the next two weeks.  Some ideas for folders are:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogging
• Marketing

If you wanted to break each activity into sub folders you could add Two folders to Facebook, one for interacting with friends and the other for business networking.

All you want to do in this initial phase is establish tags, or folders for all the activities you do when you’re online.  After the two weeks you’ll be able to see a report that shows you exactly how you’re spending your time.

*Remember, you can make more money, you can’t make more time

Managing your time online

If you’ve done steps one and two you’re ready to analyze the results.  Some of the things you should consider are:

• Time Blocking:  Looking back at the last two weeks figure out which activities are similar.  Group those activities into time blocks of 1-2 hours to get them done.  This requires some planning, but it will be well worth it in the long run.
• Outsourcing:  When you look back on what you’re doing, are there any tasks that could easily be systemized and outsourced?  I know, as soon as I say outsource people start thinking about far off countries like India and the Philippines, but that’s not it.  Couldn’t you “outsource” your weekly Craigslist ads to your teenage son or daughter?

Once you start time blocking you’ll find tasks that once took an hour are done in mere minutes.  Heck, I used to spend 8+ hours per week on email, now I do them once per week and I can get through 200 emails in just over an hour.

A little something extra for you

Speaking of time management I want to invite you to the Real-TechGuy Radio Show tonight at 6pm EST.  Our special guest will be Social Media Maven Naomi Trower.  Naomi wrote the book on Social Media Marketing for Real Estate and Mortgage professionals.

Naomi will be sharing some of her time management strategies for using Social Media more effectively as well as some really cool Facebook and Twitter strategies right from her book.  To join us click the button below.

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Do you remember the good old days when any agent with a pulse could make a living in Real Estate?

Now a days if you’re not spending big bucks on you’re marketing you’re probably not getting any leads.  One of the first questions I ask agents when I take them on as clients is, “How much are you spending on Marketing?”

I’m never surprised when the agents with the least business say, “Nothing.”

How on earth do you expect to stay in business without any marketing?  The tougher the economy, the smarter you have to be with your marketing budget.  Back in 2007 I was spending almost $2,000 per month in marketing to get my business off the ground.

Most might find that scary, but the fact was that for every $1 I spent, I got $2 of new business.

My follow up question to new clients is

How are you spending on Marketing?

All too often agents tell me they’re still using postcards, flyers, signs, newspapers, and all sorts of other “Old School” techniques with a very limited return.  They want to know how they can cut their marketing costs while improving their ROI.

The best way to cut that marketing expense while increasing your ROI is to learn how to use Internet Marketing effectively.  Yeah, Yeah, you’re on Face Tube and Tweet Book, and every other Social Network, but guess what….

Unless you have a plan and a proven system you’re just wasting your time.

A system for marketing online

How would you like to learn a proven system to build your Real Estate business using nothing more than a few social networks and a totally new approach?

Old marketing is dead, it’s time to sink or swim.

On Thursday March 4th, 2010 I’m going to reveal the exact system that I use to build a list of qualified buyers.  I can’t let everyone in on this secret system or it’ll stop working, so I’m only sharing it with those of you who register for tomorrow’s call.

Seating is limited, so REGISTER now by clicking the button below

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A few weeks back I wrote about the importance of Surveying Your Audience. Since then I’ve done another survey and I’d like to get your opinion on the results.

Just a warning, some of these results are contradictory, so if you can help me understand what the hell these people (or you if you took the survey) are talking about, please chime in anytime in the comments section below.

So let me set this up for you…

I started using Social Media (mostly Facebook in the beginning) over 2 years ago. In January 2009 I started this blog to share what I had learned out there in the trenches. After a year of writing I realized that I need to monetize this blog or I was just wasting my time.

After trying a few different approaches I thought the smartest thing to do was survey you (my readers) to figure out what kind of stuff would help get you ahead in the world of Social media marketing for your real estate business. The following is a look at the surveys that we’ve done in an effort to create the right product for you.

Survey #1 Says…

The first survey we did was to get a better idea of the delivery of the product, so here are the results:

Clearly list building was very important to these folks

Classroom style training pulls a narrow victory

Looks like most folks prefer video training

What do the results of this First Survey Say to me?

I’m no genius, so judging by these results I’d say that most of the people who replied to this survey are interested in learning how to use Social Media to build a list of buyers and sellers.  They prefer classroom style training which is also supported by videos.

What would you say? (reply in the comments section below)

Survey #2 Says…

After the first survey I went into development phase of the product which would help agents build a list of buyers and sellers using social media (just like the survey said they wanted.)  Once I put together a rough draft I hosted another training call where I pitched the product and made some sales, but not nearly enough to make it worth my while.

I figured it was time to do another survey to get a clearer idea on what they wanted and how much they would pay for it, here are the results:

Looks like Facebook is pretty important

Hmmm..this is where things get a little confusing for me

Seriously??? Building your brand is worth less than 10 bucks???

WTF do these results mean?

After the results of the second survey I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what these results mean.  In the first survey list building was the most important, but in the second survey it was brand building???

Looking at the results of this second survey I see that building your brand using Facebook is the most important thing and you’re willing to dedicate 2 hours per week to do it.

The part that throws me for a loop is the $10.  If building your brand is so important why would it only be wroth $10?  Is that $10 per week?  $10 per 2 hour session?  or $10 total?  (help me out, share your thoughts in the comments section below.)

This is where I could really use your help understanding the results, leave your thoughts, comments, advice, or ramblings in the comments section below, Thanks!

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We’ve been talking a lot about Using Facebook Pages to Build Communities and today we’re going to show you how to do it.

On Today’s training call you’ll learn:

• How to change your approach to online marketing
• How to simplify your process to get results
• How to identify your Target market (future community members)
• How to generate community interest
• What kind of content gets attention
• Questions to ask to get the discussion started
• How to get more fans virally

The training will be TODAY- Thursday February 18th at 1 pm EST online.

We’re packing all that information and a lil more in today’s one hour training call.  Before you ask, because I know you will…the cost to attend is ZERO dollars.  Yep, you heard that right, there’s no charge to register for the event, so what are you waiting for?  Click the button below to register NOW, seating is limited.

PS- Just in case you need a bribe, I’ve got just the thing…  I will give the next 50 people who register a sneak peak at the “Social Media Blueprint” ($97 value) a new book I’m working on.  Now what are you waiting for?  It’s almost like I’m paying you to register

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How many times have you heard some “expert” talk about building communities and getting into the conversation using Social Media.  It seems like everyone is reading the same book and regurgitating the same nonsense.

To those so called “Experts” and “Guru’s” I say, “Show me the money!.”

Talk is cheap, so rather than tell you how great it is to build communities using Facebook Pages I thought it would be infinitely more interesting (not to mention believable) to SHOW you.  In this post I’m going to take you through a little sample of what a working community looks like on Facebook.

This case study started last Sunday February 14th (Yep, Valentine’s Day.)

Love was in the air and I was taking my best girl (aka my wife) out to see Valentine’s Day (how cliche’) and then to dinner.  As the lights dimmed in the theatre the announcement to turn off our phones was played.  I reached into my pocket, grabbed my iPhone and I was just about to turn it off when I thought, “Let’s just take a quick look at Facebook before I disconnect.”  To my surprise here’s what I saw:

How strange, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Referral Alert garner so much attention.  My wife was threatening to kill me if I didn’t put away my iPhone, so solving this little mystery would have to wait until later.

A few hours passed before I was finally back at my computer ready to figure out what was going on.  I signed into Facebook, opened my page and expanded the conversation to see this:

Yep, she really said that and it caused quite the little discussion amongst the people in our community.  What was interesting was so many people banned together to let our friend MTL know this was not appropriate (the majority of the 42 comments at least.)

I’d like to tell you this is where the story ends, but this is just the beginning.

On Monday we posted out normal Referral Alerts and before we knew it MTL was back and causing quite a stir in the community.  This time some of my friends were emailing me about the situation asking me what I was going to do about it.

To tell you the truth, I thought MTL was great.  Her outlandish comments brought our community together and got more eyes on our page (Thanks MTL.)  Alas, I knew they wanted me to do something, so I decided I’d shoot a video response to MTL’s comments. (To watch the video just click on the image below)

Now it’s easy to see the community was quite taken with this story when you look at the 78 *LIKES* and the 65 Comments.  While most of the comments were humorous, take a look at this one:

What’s this have to do with building communities?

Looking at Wikipedia, a community is traditionally defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and social cohesion…

Judging by what we’ve just seen I’d say the Real Estate Referral Group meets the criteria to be called a community.

With that in mind I want you to take a step back and look at your Facebook Page.  Does it meet the criteria to be considered a community?  If not I urge you to rethink your strategy, because the power in Facebook is not the page or the platform, it’s the community.

Want to learn more about Facebook Pages?

I’ll be writing more about how to use Facebook pages in your online marketing efforts. Anyone can tell you how to put together a Facebook page, but how many of them can tell you what works…from experience? Make sure you subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss a thing.

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Sometimes mistakes turn out to be the best discoveries.

Last week I was working frantically to finish the first draft of a new product. I had only two days to whip out the recordings, videos, mindmaps, and transcripts before my wife and I were leaving for our first ever snowboarding trip.

The morning of our flight I remembered what I forgot to do…

I hadn’t asked my VA to moderate my Facebook page while I was away. “Holy CRAP!” I thought, then how’s everyone gonna get their referrals???

As I boarded the plane I quickly forgot about it and enjoyed my five hour internet free flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. When we landed we hurried off to get our equipment and hit the slopes.

***Did you know that Park City Chamber offers you a free lift pass on the day you fly in? You just take your boarding pass to the Park City ticket office and they give you a lift ticket***

Needless to say I forgot about my page and all my “responsibilities” as we began to enjoy our adventure swooshing down the powdery white slopes. The next morning I woke up and posted the regular morning referrals. Shortly after I realized that I had to get my page taken care of or I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my trip. I quickly emailed my VA with instructions for moderation while I was away. That was February 5th.

Normally I post the referrals around 4 or 5 am EST. I didn’t expect my VA to do that, so I just asked him to post them daily at any time. He started posting the referrals on Feb 6th. Watching the video below you’ll see that we added 910 new fans between Sunday February 7th and Monday February 9th.

Can you guess what led to this growth? Here’s what some of the top minds (in my sphere) thought:

(In order of their replies)

Peter Liu: Kaiscapes Internet Consulting

Drew Burks: Web Real Estate Tools

Tim Moore: @TimMoore

Scott Bradley: @ScottBradley

This is how we did it…

By changing the times we were posting the referral alerts, new people saw them. They either commented or joined the group and then the viral newsfeed effect took over (as mentioned by our pros above.) This shows that something as simple as posting time can have a dramatic effect on how you connect with your network.

Want to learn more about Facebook Pages?

I’ll be writing more about how to use Facebook pages in your online marketing efforts.  Anyone can tell you how to put together a Facebook page, but how many of them can tell you what works…from experience? Make sure you  subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss a thing.

Got a happy mistake? Why not share it in the comments section below?

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Alright, it’s time to talk about something serious here.  Are you one of those people going through the motions without a clear plan to get what you want?

I’m going to ask you a very simple question which I want you to think long and hard about before you answer….

What do you want?

If the best answer you can come up with is something generic like happiness, or security then I can tell you RIGHT now why you don’t already have it.  You see, in order to get what you want you have to know exactly what it is.  In this post I’m going to show you how to figure out precisely what you want so you can start working on it immediately.

Happiness is a great goal, but it’s way too vague.  You have to take a step back and think about the things in life that bring you happiness.  For instance, my happiness comes from having more time with my wife and family.  Since I know this I am able to work on my business so it gives me more free time.

Identifying what you want

The most important thing you can figure out, not only for your business, but for your well being is your ideal life design (ILD.)  By figuring this out up front you can tailor your business to meet your needs.

Today I want to give you the questions I asked myself when I was trying to figure out my ideal life design.  I encourage you to grab a piece of paper and start answering these simple questions.

Ideal Life Design Worksheet

To determine your Ideal Life Design you have to ask yourself these questions:

1. Why am I here?
2. What is the purpose of my life?
3. What fulfills me above all other things?

Yeah, I know this is kinda “heady” stuff for a social media blog…but everything you do in business and in life should lead you to answering these questions.

I know it may be hard to answer these questions right off the bat, so here are some more supporting questions that will help you figure it all out.

• Why are you in business?

You have to be very clear on “why” you are in business.  Your “why” has to be strong enough to guide you through the tough times.

• How many hours per week would you like to work?

Please, don’t answer this question by calculating the total hours you put in each week, rather think about how many hours would be ideal for you to work while maintaining or exceeding your current lifestyle.

• What would you like your monthly income to be?

Seriously, be specific so you have a solid number to work with.  And remember, what you’re making now doesn’t play into this.  We’re identifying your Ideal Life Design, sky is the limit

• How do you want your business to look?

1. Do you want employees?
2. Would you rather have a virtual assistant?
3. Do you want an office?
4. Would you rather work from home?
5. Do you want to work with buyers?
6. Do you want to work with sellers?
7. Would you prefer to work with both?

• If you had a million dollars tomorrow…

1. What three things would you buy?
2. What three things would you do?

These answers will help you identify the most important things in your Ideal Life Design, the things you want to work towards.

• What are the top 3 things you HAVE to do before you die?

Why do you have to wait until the end of your life to do these things?  Why can’t you start working towards making them happen sooner rather than later?

If you’re always waiting to “make more money” you’ll never get what you want.  By identifying the things that are most important to you RIGHT NOW you can develop a plan to make these things happen.

What’s next?

Having the questions handy your job is to dig deep and find the answers.  Take some time to review this post and really figure out what you’re working for.  once you have the answers you’ll be in prime position to work on your Ideal Life Design.

I’ll be writing more about time management and outsourcing in future posts.  The best way to keep up with everything is by subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss a thing.

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With all the changes to Facebook I thought you’d be interested to know about today’s FREE Facebook training session.  Ross Hair from Social Media Marketing Camp has lined up 7 of the top experts in using SM tools for Real Estate.

Today you’ll learn:

• How to use Facebook to find buyers and sellers
• How to set up a local community group
• How to use Fan pages to promote your Real Estate Business
• How to convert Fan page visitors into real customers
• How to use Facebook Ads for a fraction of the price of Google Ads
• How to create a Social Media Marketing plan for this year

Here’s the breakdown of sessions and speaker….

1. Ross Hair- Welcome- 12:00 pm EST
2. Julia Kline- Social Media Marketing Strategy- 12:05 pm EST
3. Sharon McNamara- Building Local Communities using Groups- 12:55 pm EST
4. Jonathan Rivera (ME)- Building Communities using Fan Pages- 1:55 pm EST
5. Mike Mueller – Converting Visitors to Customers-  2:30 pm EST
6. Susan Lassiter Lyons- Using Facebook Ads- 3:15 pm EST
7. Dave van de Walle- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan 4:00 pm EST

Sign Up NOW by clicking the button below

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With all this HYPE about how great social media is, are you still wondering how it can help your real estate business?  Wouldn’t it be great to have some clear instructions on how these social networks fit together to help you find more buyers and sellers?

The Social Media Blue Print was created to teach you how to use the Social Networks and online marketing to turn internet traffic into qualified real estate leads to help you close more deals.

At the end of the day I think we can agree that we both want to close more deals, right?

To tell you the truth, I’d need WAY more room than I have on this blog to show you the Social Media Blueprint, so you’ll need to give me your name an email address so I can deliver the Social Media Blueprint right to your inbox.

How do I get my copy of the Social Media Blueprint?

I figured if you’ve read down this far you’re interested in knowing how to get your copy of the Blueprint.  So here’s how it works, you give me your name and email address and I’ll give you directions to the secret location where I’ve stored the first part of the Social Media Blueprint for Real Estate.

To get the first part of the Blueprint all you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below.

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If you’re not surveying your audience, how the heck are you supposed to know what they want?

More often than not what you think your audience wants and what they really want are two different things.  The only way to find out for sure is to ask them.

This week I polled my networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and email.  It’s been almost a year since my last poll and I got some very valuable feedback.  Before I share the results with you I’d like to share some numbers.

Surveying Your Audience: The Numbers

I’m not going to BS you, surveying is a numbers game.  Fortunately I was able to get some screen shots of the survey I did on Facebook to share with you.  I used the status update on my page to ask for some advice.

This was captured before Facebook removed the analytics yesterday

So the first important number we see here is the impressions.  On this particular post we got 24,587 impressions which is slightly above average for this page.  The next number (or metric) that we need to see is how many people acted on this call to action.  Using bit.ly (a link shortening and tracking service) I was able to see how many clicks I got.

24,587 impressions / 153 clicks = 1/2 of 1%

Although the post was seen almost 25,000 times only 150 people acted on it.  Guess what, these are typical results online so you’d better get used to it.  To tell you the truth, those number aren’t as important or impressive as the next set.

153 clicks / 93 completed surveys = 60%

Amazingly 60% of the people that clicked actually completed the survey which gave me valuable insight into their minds (or your mind if you already did the survey.)

Why surveying your Audience is so important

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind.  Social Networking and blogging is enough work, add surveying to the mix and you’ve got a second full time job.

The reason surveying is so important is because you get to know your audience.  You find out what they want, what they need, and most importantly what you can do for them.  By surveying you can get new content ideas that you may have never thought of.

What’s Next?

• Go to SurveyMonkey and set up a free account
• Create your first survey
• Send a link to your audience and find out what they want
• Send me a link I’ll I’ll take the survey too
• Analyze the results
• Take Action on your research

The Results: Surveying My Audience

Interestingly enough out of almost 200 completed surveys I found that the most important thing to agents (in my audience) was to learn more about building buyer and seller lists.  If I hadn’t done this survey I would have never thought of that.

So here’s the deal, if you’ve made it to this part of the post I can assume one of two things:

1. You skipped everything else just to get the results
2. You’ve read the whole thing and you’re interested in learning more

Either way, here’s my offer to you.  I’m hosting an online training Saturday January 30th 2010 at 12pm EST (that’s tomorrow.)  I’ll be teaching agents how they can get started building their list online, if that sounds interesting then you can sign up here —> http://bit.ly/RTG-Invite

But wait, there’s more….

Anyone who signs up will have the opportunity to take my survey (only if you want to) and get a special bonus training video which will set the stage for tomorrows training.  The training video is yours even if you can’t make the training, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Go to —> http://bit.ly/RTG-Invite NOW.

See you on Saturday,

JR

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Would you like to avoid looking like an a$$hole online?  Then you’d better read this post.

If you’re not clear what spamming is, or what it looks like I want you to take a good hard look at this post, especially the picture of this joker who spammed the Real Estate Referral Group yesterday.  Every mistep like this one could cost you thousands of dollars in missed opportunities.  So lets start with the first and most common type of spamming that real estate marketers use.

Yesterday I posted a a link to the “What’s the Point” article which wrapped up the New Media for REALTORs campaign.  I figured the topic would get some discussion since we’ve been talking more about SEO lately and how to be found on Google.  So here’s how it all went down…

Comment Spam:  This is defined by making comments that are completely irrelevant to the current discussion, especially when they are self promotional.

Clearly you can see that this persons comment was completely off the mark, so as a good group moderator I asked him how his post was relevant and he replied:

At first I would have guessed that he didn’t know English, but judging by his reply he really does.  Can anyone tell me how this comment is relevant?  If so leave a comment below and enlighten me.

OK, moving on.  Later on that day I found some more interesting stuff from our little friend which brings me to another kind of SPAMMY Real Estate marketing.  ”The Overpost”

Our friend really out did himself this time.  Not only did he post under eight different topics in two different countries, but he also managed to be off topic in every one.  That’s true Real Estate Marketing Spamsmanship.

Being the gentleman that I am, I gave him a chance to explain his logic.

He declined to respond and just deleted these posts from his wall.  That means he was quite aware of what he was doing and decided it was easier to just forget about it.

Examples of BAD Real Estate Marketing

Now I thought I’d open this up for discussion.  What are some examples of really bad real estate marketing that you’ve seen online?  Share them along with your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Today I want to talk to you about the New Media for REALTORs series I wrote last month, specifically What was the Point?

I’ve been telling you FOREVER that online marketing is all about the words you use, but if you’re like me you think talk is cheap.  So rather than tell you again How Important Keywords are, I thought I’d reveal exactly what I did and why I did it.

Why New Media for REALTORs?

When I started the New Media for REALTORs series I had three goals in mind

1. To inform REALTORs how to leverage New Media for their marketing
2. To take over the front page of Google for my chosen keywords
3. To show you how easily you can take over keywords in your area

Recently I noticed the buzz term “New Media” coming into play a lot.  If you’ve been around long enough you know this is the third iteration of this term.  It started out with Web 2.0, then went to Social Media.  I’m betting that by next year we’ll have forgotten the term social media and we’ll be phasing out the term New Media for something cooler….. Like just plain old “Media.”

When I started chasing after this long tail keyword I hadn’t even used it in this site at all, so this was ALL new to me.

The Plan to take Over the New Media for REALTORs Space

First I did some keyword research on the term “New Media for REALTORs” and found there wasn’t enough search volume for Google to have any data on it.  Then I went to google and typed in the phrase and found there were about 1,200,000 sites that came up with that term with only the first ten results being really relevant.

After the initial research I put together a game plane to take over which included:

• Nine blog posts with the keywords in the title
• Five Videos with the keywords in the title
• Six photos with the keywords in the title

(are you noticing a trend here?)

By the third day I was already showing up on the first page of Google because of one of my image tags.  See for your self by watching the video “How to Use New Media for REALTORs: Day 2 Photos.”

The Results of the New Media for REALTORs series

You can easily see the results of the series by typing the keyword phrase into Google, but just in case you’re lazy here’s a photo of the results at the time I’m writing this:

Google search for "New Media for REALTORs" as of 6:42 am 1-27-09

As you can see, by using a combination of videos, photos, and blog posts we’ve taken over the front page of Google for the keyword phrase.

Why should this matter to you?

I know it may seem like I’m tooting my own horn here, but the fact is that you can use these very same tactics to target keyword phrases in your market.  All you need to own is a couple of good phrases to get more traffic to your site and increase your reach into the community.

Checkout some of these results:

Using this new keyword phrase brought me an additional 68 visits

Here’s where the stats get interesting.  If you look at the number above you’ll find:

• The average visit from people using this search term was over 8 minutes (which was 200% higher than most other visitors)
• The average page views were 4 (which was 96% higher than most other visitors)
• The Average bounce rate was 54% (which was 20% lower than my site average <—a good thing)

What’s Next?

I’m hoping that sharing this data has inspired you to try it for yourself.  All you have to do is a little keyword research for long tail terms in your area.  Once you find something that works you can write a series of blog posts which feature your long tail terms and if you’re feeling really frisky you can even create some videos to go along with it.

In my next post I’m going to share the strategies I used for the videos that went along with this series, so if you want to know more I recommend subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss a thing

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I’ve been thinking about how Social Media and Real Estate come together.  All too often we get caught up in the little stuff (Facebook & Twitter) and we forget to think about what’s really important.

Why?

Do you remember WHY you started using these tools in the first place?

Over the next few posts I’m going to start connecting the dots on why I started using Social Media and how I’ve used what I learned to bring you here.  You see, the internet is all about people finding what they’re looking for with just a click of their mouse.

Your job as a marketer is to make sure they click on you.

In my next post I’m going to show you how I took over a keyword phrase which got me to the front page of Google in not just the number One spot, but 8 of the 10 spots on the page.

So here’s the deal, Click on the SUBSCRIBE button below and I’ll deliver each new post Directly to your email inbox.

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If I could offer just one piece of advice for REALTORs, it would be to Stop Sucking all the value out of every conversation and instead learn how to ADD value.

I’ve mentioned in past posts that social media is changing marketing and the first thing you need to understand is that No One Cares About You.  If you’re still working in that old school marketing mentality you’re doomed to fail online.

Everything you do online should have a clear value proposition for your network.  If you want people to listen you have to say something worth listening to.  If all you’re doing is advertising prepare to be tuned out.

Why am I writing this?

To help you STOP being lame.  Yesterday I posted a “Conversation Starter” on the Real Estate Referral Group which gave agents a chance to shine (if they said the right thing.)

Here’s how this works…  I post the question and the Fans of the page give answers in the comments section.  Pretty simple right?  What you have to keep in mind is the more replies we get the more people on Facebook will see this.  For those of you not in the “know,” that’s the real power os social media…Conversation.

Commenting on this thread does two things:

1. Gets the “thread” in front of more people.
2. Showcases a bunch of smart answers that homebuyers can use.
3. Gives REALTORs a chance to advertise (without advertising) <—more on that in another post

Here’s an example of Doing it Right:

Those are two solid pieces of advice that any buyer would be happy to read.  Now here’s an example of Doing it Wrong:

The one in the middle is good, however the ones directly above and below are LAME.  Please allow me to explain WHY these comments SUCK!

While the two comments on the first photos are adding value to the conversation the two comments on the second photos are SUCKING value from the conversation.  Do you think buyers will want to work with people who always TAKE or always GIVE?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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It looks like we’ve made it to the final day of the “How to Use New Media for REALTORs” series.  Thanks for following along.

The first 7 days we talked about:

1. Blogging
2. Using Photos
3. Using Video
4. Building Communities
5. Hosting Meetups
6. Using Twitter Lists
7. “The Secret“

Today I want to wrap the series up with some thoughts to get you going.  First I’ll share some things I think you should do to use New Media effectively and then I’ll follow with some things you shouldn’t do.

Things to Do

• Remember to be yourself online, people will always sniff out a fake.
• Budget time for New Media everyday
• Use the tools that work for you
• Write it into your marketing plan

Things NOT to Do

• Don’t try to use EVERY single network
• Work without a marketing plan
• Join a network without a purpose
• Try to do it all by yourself

New media is a team sport, so building a community online is vital to your success.  Make sure you take some time to plan out how you’re going to use it in your business and what results you expect to get.

For some final thoughts on putting it all together watch this video

Want EVEN more New Media for Realtors?

Can’t get enough New Media tips, don’t miss another post by subscribing to our feed.  You’ll get each new post delivered straight to your eMail inbox where you can read it at your leisure.

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The last couple of Days we’ve been focussing on different tools and tactics that you could use to build your online community.

But there’s one thing that makes all this work…

YOU!

Watch this video NOW to learn more about The Secret to New Media Success.

Want EVEN more New Media for Realtors?

Can’t get enough New Media tips, don’t miss another post by subscribing to our feed. You’ll get each new post delivered straight to your eMail inbox where you can read it at your leisure.

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It’s a new year and you should have already started working on your new marketing plan.  If your new marketing plan doesn’t include your activities on Facebook then you’ve got a real problem.

How are you supposed to get more business using Facebook if it’s not a part of your marketing plan?

Tomorrow we’re hosting a training call where we’ll answer your burning questions about getting more fans to your fan page, along with revealing the real secret to using Social Media to get more REAL leads.  You see, getting fans is the easy part, converting those fans into paying customers is the REAL secret.

Seating is limited for this event, Register Now using the button below.

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It’s day six of the “How to Use New Media for REALTORs” series, and today I want to talk to you about Twitter Lists. This series was inspired by Chris Brogan’s “If I Were a Realtor.” In Chris’ post he says,

“I’d encourage as many members in my community to join Twitter as possible, and then I’d bundle them into a list.”

If you’re not familiar with Twitter lists, it’s a way to segment your the people you are following into a more manageable stream of information.  Segmenting lists is nothing new, third party twitter apps have been offering this feature forever.  The main benefit to using twitter lists is that you can make them public, so they’re easy to share.

Here are a few segmenting ideas you could use:

• Office / CoWorkers
• Prospects
• Local News
• Local Events
• Local Businesses

Of course if you wanted to make the list public I would recommend replacing the word “local” with the name of the city that you work in.  If you get enough of your local businesses on twitter, it could be your new neighborhood rolodex.

Watch this video to learn how to create Twitter Lists

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number six in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 2 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

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It’s Day 5 of How to Use New Media for REALTORs, a series inspired by Chris Brogan’s “If I were a REALTOR.”

In Chris’ post he says, “I’d host Meetups and Tweetups for local residents, inviting people who were house hunting.”  I’ve found when working with folks in real estate they seem to forget the ultimate goal to their New Media marketing efforts.  Using Meetups is an excellent strategy to bring people from online into an offline environment where you have a chance to connect.

Meetups?

Meetup.com is an online network of local groups.  Although this may not seem like New Media, it’s a gateway drug.  The service allows you to either find groups that you’re interested in, or create your own.  It also allows others to join your group and even provides a system for RSVPs and messages to make communication easy.

Traditionally meetups are used to bring people from an online environment to an offline meeting, but I have a little twist for you.  Think back to day 4 of this training, you know the one about community.  In that post I quoted Chris, “I’d empower as many local businesses on the net as I could, and help them be successful.”

Using Meetups is also a soft sell way of empowering those businesses to start using New Media.

Strategy for REALTORs

One thing I’ve learned working online is that it’s hard to get people from offline to online.  I’ve found that using Meetups has been a great stepping stone to get people moving in the right direction.

For the most part people will avoid any change, that’s why it’s up to you to affect this change in your community.  The most successful strategy I’ve found for getting people to use Meetup is to do it for them (at least in the beginning.)

So here’s how you can get people to use it:

1. Start in your office:  Volunteer to post all your events and meetings.
2. Try the Chamber:  I’ve found that most Chambers have been open to new ideas, especially when they don’t have to do the work.  You offer to set them up online and they promote it with their offline marketing.
3. The Board:  If your connected with your local board (of REALTORS) you can offer to move their whole calendar to Meetup.  Again, you do the work and they promote.
4. Teach:  You can invite other REALTORs  and businesses from your area to learn how the service works and how they can use it in their business.

The idea here is to provide value to your local community, while encouraging them to use this online service.  This is the first step to breaking them in to the whole New Media world.

The great thing about Meetups is that they don’t have to be formal.  You can have them a local restaurants or coffee shop (I’ve even heard of people using local bars.)  If you talk to the managers ahead of time you may even be able to work out some discounts.  Just be sure to remind them that it’s free marketing for them.

More on Meetups

If you’re interested in learning more about Meetups and how to use them, I’ve got good news for you.  I’m going to write a series on this topic next month which will include everything from setting them up all the way to results from the campaigns I used to market.

Keep an eye out for that series in February.

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number five in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 3 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

Related posts:

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Were you at the second Virtual Real Estate Barcamp?  This one day virtual event had enough content to make your brain explode.  Although there were 28 speakers, I was only able to see a quarter of them.  Check out my 7 Can’t miss Sessions of the Virtual Real Estate Barcamp.

The next event is on the books for April.  I’ll make sure to help you get ready with some tips on how to get the most from the event.  To get those tips delivered right to your inbox be sure to subscribe to our feed.

I was debating whether I would live blog from the event creating a new post after each session, or just Live Tweet.  I opted to live tweet.

Recap of the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp

In trying to figure out the best way to deliver a recap of the Virtual Real Estate Barcamp I found this new tool.

In keeping with the —->TechGuy part of my name, I thought I’d try out a new tool to share my tweets with you.  Below is an aggregate of all my tweets for the 24 hours around the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.  I’m not sure how the feeds play into SEO, but I heard from a reliable source that the future of the web is in gadgets like the one below.

Enjoy!

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I want you to think for a second about how we met?

Chances are that it was through Facebook. Are you using Facebook to get in your prospects inbox? If not, you’re missing a golden opportunity. So here’s the deal… If you want to learn how to use Facebook to ACTUALLY generate more business I can help.

85% of buyers are starting their home search online, how will they find you?

The first step to getting more business through Facebook is understanding how it works.  A Facebook Fan Page is a great way to generate more leads and increase your sphere of influence online.  Most REALTORs are using pages wrong and wondering why it’s not working for them.

Are you one of them?

You’re in luck, because I’ve just put the finishing touches on a new training program which will teach you:

• The Five Biggest Mistakes REALTORs make on Facebook
• How to Properly Name your Facebook Fan Page
• How to build your Page (click by click)
• How to plan the launch of your page (to attract people virally)

…and you’ll get a sneak peak of the latest Facebook Training videos.

I’d love to tell you that this training is free, but there is a price to pay.  You trade me your name and email address and I’ll give you all the training that I just mentioned.

Yep, I’m trading you tons of great content to help you start 2010 off with a bang and all I’m asking for is your name and email address so I can deliver the content right to your inbox.

Sound fair?

Good, then go ahead and sign up using the form below and I’ll deliver the first module of your training.

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The next Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is less than 24 hours away.  With so many sessions on so many topics How do you know which will be the best?  Need Help?

Here’s my list of the 7 Can’t Miss sessions of the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

9:15 am PST.  Brad Innman and Jim Cronin set the stage for the day with predictions for 2010.

10:15 am PST. Mike Mueller talks about the 7 Secrets to Facebook Page Success.  I’m interested in hearing Mike’s talk.  I’m a big advocate of using Facebook pages in your marketing, so I hope to get some new ideas.

11:15 am PST. Ross Hair is going to talk about Advanced Facebook strategies.  Ross has an interesting take on using Social Media to build lists, so I’m sure there will be some good tips.

12:15 pm PST. Brad Carroll is going to show you how to add Posterous to your online marketing.  I attended his session last time and I really enjoyed it.  I think Posterous is an interesting alternative to blogging.

1:15 pm PST. Glenn Sanford takes us into the Real Estate Office of the future.  This session came highly recommended from Jim Cronin, so I’m looking forward to it.

2:15 pm PST. Well, I’m a little biased on this session… I’ll be talking about how you can leverage Social Media to generate more leads and build your brand.

3:15 pm EST. Steve Rosenbaum talks about customer follow up systems to help you close more deals.

You can see a list of all the sessions HERE

Register for the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp

You’re going to kick yourself in the butt if you don’t register for this event. Some things you need to know are:

• The fun starts at 9 am PST on January 4th, 2009
• Check out the event calendar to choose your classes
• It will cost you ZERO to attend
• You can learn from the comfort of your own computer

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This is the fourth installment of the eight part series, “How to Use New Media for REALTORs” inspired by Chris Brogan’s post, “If I Were a REALTOR.”

In Chris’ post he says, “I’d empower as many local businesses on the net as I could, and help them be successful.”  If I could sum this up in one word it would be “community.”  As a REALTOR you should have plenty of contacts with local vendors and community leaders.  The more of these folks that you inspire to get on New Media the better it is for all of you.

I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again, “New Media is a Team Sport.”  One lone agent can’t do it all.

If you’re leading the way in your community, people will look to you for advice, answers, and guidance.  It’s a great responsibility, but if you can show your community how this will benefit them (with more business) then you’ll be able to leverage each others networks to create more awareness.

Some ideas for building your New Media Community

• Write a column on for your local chamber
• Host New Media presentations at your office (for both REALTORs and businesses)
• Add some links to good articles into your newsletter
• Share GOOD info on using New Media for Business on your profiles

I could go into great detail on how to make each of these things work, but the point of this post is to get you to think about being a leader.  By getting businesses to work together you increase your reach into the community.

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number four in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 4 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

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Alright Gang, in an effort to keep the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp at the front of your mind I was able to snag an interview with the Big Daddy of the whole event, Jim Cronin.

Jim is one of the driving forces behind the VREBC. The vision he has for his company, the Real-Estate Tomato is what pushed him to create this smorgasbord of virtual real estate training. In this interview Jim and I discus the evolution of REALTOR websites, the rise of Social Media, and what you can expect to gain from attending the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

Listen to the call by hitting “Play” on the player below

Register for the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp

You’re going to kick yourself in the butt if you don’t register for this event.  Some things you need to know are:

• The fun starts at 9 am PST on January 4th, 2009
• Check out the event calendar to choose your classes
• It will cost you ZERO to attend
• You can learn from the comfort of your own computer

Related posts:

1. Psssst, Did you hear about the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp? Hey Gang, I wanted to give you the heads...
2. 7 Can’t Miss Sessions of the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp The next Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is less than...
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Follow Up on REALTORs using Photos for SEO

On day two of “How to Use New Media for REALTORs” series I wrote about using Photos for your blog and how they can help with SEO.  The very next day I did a Google Search on my keywords and I found that the photo had been indexed and got me on the front page.

Watch this video to see how Photos can help your Search Engine Ranking.

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was a follow up on installment number two in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 5 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

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Hey Gang,
I wanted to give you the heads up on an interview I just did with Steve Rosenbaum from Social Media Do’s and Dont’s.  Steve is going to be one of the speakers at the event on Monday December 4th.  You can view all the planned session and speakers HERE.

What is the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp?

Just in case you haven’t heard about the Real Estate BarCamp, let me tell you a little more.

• It’s a one Day Online Event
• There are 28 Speakers
• Event topics will include using Social Media to generate more business
• There is NO CHARGE to attend the event

As if you need even more reasons to sign up for this event, here’s a list of 40 clear reasons why you need to register for Real Estate BarCamp.

Sneak preview of the #VREBC

I know that you have  a bit of time between now and the VREBC on Monday, so why not use some of that time to get primed and ready for all the action?   Steve and I decided to give you a sneak preview of the hottest speakers coming to the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

All you have to do is visit SteveRosenbaum.com to access the 17 preview calls that Steve has recorded.

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Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number three in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 5 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

Related posts:

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This is the second installment of an eight part series inspired by Chris Brogan’s post, “If I Were a REALTOR.”

In yesterdays post we covered the importance of Blogging as a part of your overall social media plan.  The second thing that Chris suggested to REALTORs was to take lots of Photos of your area and post them on your blog.  So today I’m going to give you some tips on how photos can help your blogging.

Photos add a nice feel to your blog, that’s why it’s important to choose the best images to reinforce your story.  If you haven’t noticed, I use a photo in every post.

Why?

• Because even if my headline doesn’t draw you in, there’s a chance that the photo may be enough to get you to click.  On the web attention is precious, people make the decision whether or not they’re interested in what you have to say in a split second.  If you’ve got a good photo, you’ve just increased your chances of turning that attention into a click.
• Photos also make for easy blog post.  You can just post an image along with a small description an voila, you have today’s update.
• And last, but not least.  Photos can help with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)  If you’re not taking advantage of this little trick, you need to implement it NOW.  When you upload photos to your posts you should name them something similar to the Post Title.

For instance, you see the photo directly below?

When you move your mouse over this photo, what do you see?

You should see something that looks like this:

how-to-use-new-media-for-realtors-photo-1

That’s the name or the “tag” I gave the photo when I uploaded it.  Notice how the tag is the same as my post title which reinforces my keywords in this post?  Now you know the secret to using photos and improving your Search Engine Optimization.

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number two in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business. Get the next 6 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

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Hey Gang,
I was invited to speak at #VRBC (Virtual Real Estate BarCamp) on the topic of Facebook. Since I’ve met most of you on Facebook that makes sense.

Now they’re telling me, “We have too much Facebook, what else can you talk about?”

I call BS on this. You and I both know that I should be talking about Facebook. Now we need to let them know.  Here’s how we can do it. Look up at the right hand corner of this post, see these two buttons?

If you have a Facebook and Twitter account, then click on both buttons to let your networks know. (If you only have a Facebook account click on that button.)

That’s how easy it is to let the world know what you’re thinking in Social Media.

No related posts.

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Last week I read an interesting post by one of my favorite bloggers, Chris Brogan.  In, “If I Were a REALTOR,” Chris shares 9 ideas on How to Use New Media for REALTORs.

Over the next few posts I’m going to expand on each of Chris’ ideas and I’m even going to try to provide you with some examples.  The problem most Real Estate agents have is getting out of their own head.

It’s time to STOP thinking about you and start thinking about who you want to attract.  That means letting go of what you think you know about marketing and embracing the power of the new media to help you provide value.

NAR statistics show that 84% of home buyers begin their search online.  Are you doing everything you can to stand out from the crowd?  If you’re just sharing listings and advertising your business chances are you’ll get lost in the shuffle along with every other real estate agent doing the same.

Blogging

The first thing that Chris mentions in his post is blogging.  He recommends starting a blog about the  area where you’re selling.  Tons of REALTORs are missing this amazing opportunity to prospect on the web.

Basically you can break this down into a very targeted area which is sometimes referred to as your “farm area.”  If this task seems daunting at first, try thinking about it as a newsletter.  You don’t have to be the best writer to create good content.  Some of the things you can include in your weekly blog are:

• Local Events Calendar
• Local News
• Legislative Updates
• School Calendars
• New Restaurants and Stores opening

It’s not too hard to come up with content ideas weekly when you’re sharing neighborhood specific information.  I recommend you blog at least once a week because it helps with your search engine rankings as well as keeping your page up to date and relevant.

Blogging Tools for REALTORs

I thought I’d also include a couple of blogging tools to help you get started.  I’ll also give you my thoughts on each one of these tools.

If you want an easy to start blog which requires ZERO skill then I suggest you go with Blogger.com.  This platform is easy to use and gets indexed by Google very quickly.  The downside is that you’re limited on customization (which makes branding a problem.)

Another platform that REALTORs are using for blogging is Active Rain.  The AR community is full of smart Real Estate Agents using Blogging as a prospecting tool.  This is a great way to get ideas on how to create that “neighborhood newsletter” type of blog.  The downside to this network is that you have to pay to make your blog public (indexed by Google) and customization is limited.

My favorite platform for blogging is Wordpress.  You have two options:

1. Wordpress.com is the free hosted version.  This gives you a blog which is semi-customizable and indexed by Google immediately.
2. Wordpress.org is a free download, but you’ll have get it hosted.  There are tons of advantages to using this version including the fact that you’ll own the domain, you have an unlimited amount of plugins to customize the look and feel of your site, and it’s built to be indexed by Google quickly. (By the way, this site is running on Wordpress with a custom Thesis theme.)

Be the first to get all 8 installments of How to Use New Media for REALTORs

This was installment number one in a series of eight posts to help REALTORs leverage New Media in their Real Estate business.  Get the next 7 delivered to your email inbox by subscribing to our feed.

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With the year rapidly heading to a close I wanted to give you guys the “Best of 2009.”

Next month will be the Real-TechGuy’s first birthday.  I couldn’t have told you a year ago whether or not anyone would be interested in what I had to say, but here you are.  As a community we REALTORS are growing.  Together we’re learning how to take on this new challenge in marketing and communication.  Each day I’m inspired by your questions to create new and better content to help you succeed.

I’ve learned so much in the last year and I owe it all to you, my readers, friends, and fellow REALTORs who have given me so much great feedback.  You’ve guided me in the right direction enabling me to help you better understand this New Media.

Next year is going to be another BIG year in SM.  In fact, I’m willing to bet you that by this time next year we won’t even be calling it Social Media anymore, it’ll just be New Media, maybe even just MEDIA.

Alright, without further delay here are my top picks for 2009.

Social Media for REALTORs | Best of 2009

1. Are You Using Social Media to Listen? : In this post I challenged people to rethink how they were using SM.
2. Social Media is an Attention Economy : This post reveals the secret currency of new media.  If you want people to “pay attention” to you, you have to “pay attention” to them.
3. Do You Really Have Friends? :  This was an eye opener for some people.  What’s more important, Quality or Quantity?

Facebook for REALTORs | Best of 2009

1. You Could be Using Facebook Wrong :  I think this one turned a lot of heads, I remember people actually getting offended just because of the title.  I guess the truth hurts.
2. Facebook tips for REALTORs: Friends List and Privacy Settings :  This was one of my first video posts and the most successful with over 1,700 views to date.
3. Building Facebook Fan Pages that Stick : This was an excellent netcast where I revealed ALL the steps I took to create the Official Real Estate Referral Group.

If you think this stuff was good, wait until Next Year…

Don’t miss a single thing!  Get every helpful post, cool video, and great podcast delivered right to your mailbox by subscribing to our feed.

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I’m not sure what’s happened in the last year, but I’m noticing that there’s a new Social Media Guru popping up around every dark corner of the internet.  The next time one of them pops up on your screen you should ask them, “Are you for Real?”

There are too many people out there who are not what they claim to be.  Before you make a choice on who to listen to, who to follow, or who to hire as a social media consultant you should do a little research.

• How did you hear about them?

Was it through their endless barrage of self promotion?  Don’t get me wrong, self promotion can be OK, but if that’s the only things they’re doing chances are they don’t really get it.  Who’s more likely to list their house with you, the person that found your ad in the local Pennysaver, or the person who was referred to you by a past client?

• What have they done?

Talk is cheap, especially in the world of social media.  Here’s what most people still don’t get, resumes are dead.  Why?  Because they’re a 2 dimensional representation of what a person says they can do.  Today’s resume is an aggregate of what you’ve done online.  Conversations, blog posts and photos give a real time look at who you are, what you’re passionate about and what you’re capable of.  If a so called “Social Media Guru” can’t show you anything they’ve done online, there may be a problem.

• Where are they?

If you want to learn how to buy foreclosures would you go to a relocation specialist?  Hell No!  When you’re looking for a social media consultant you have to research their overall social presence.  Are they using the networks that you use?  Are they successful on these networks?  Just having a profile isn’t enough.  Some things you should be looking for are:

1. Facebook:  Do they have a Facebook Fan Page?  Is anyone interacting with them or is the wall covered in just their posts? What kind of information are they sharing?
2. Twitter:  Are they tweeting regularly?  Are they being retweeted? What are they tweeting about?
3. You Tube:  Is their channel specialized?  How many “upload video views” do they have?  What are their videos about?
4. Linked In:  Is their profile complete?  Do they have any recommendations?  Do they have any “Best Answers?”  What industry are they in?

Another thing you should take into consideration is the value proposition.  When you’re doing research make sure to look at the content they’re providing across the platforms.  Are they adding value to the conversation, or are they taking value?

The New world of Social Media allows us to quickly an easily sniff out the real people from the fakes.  If a persons message is not consistent across the entire space there’s a problem.  There’s only one true you, so which profile is it?

Are you REALLY for Real?

I feel like I would have let you down if I didn’t add a little twist.  Now that you’ve read the entire post I want you to go back an replace “Social Media” with the words “Real Estate” and “Guru” with the word “Professional.”

==========================================

I’ll give you a minute to re-read the post with the new words

==========================================

Is you message clear online?  Are you for real?

We are in the middle of a fundamental shift in marketing.  The hunters have become the hunted.  If your message is not clear  prospects can easily move on to someone else.

Now that you realized how important your social presence is, what are you going to do to make sure that your message is on target?  Leave a comment below.

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Last month I told you about the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.  The good news for those of you who missed it is that they’re already planning the next one.  Before I give you the details of when the event will take place I want to tell you a little bit about what makes this different than any other Social Media Training event you will attend.

What’s so special about Virtual Real Estate BarCamp?

1. The event is all Virtual:  If you have an internet connection you’re already there.
2. The entire event is geared towards helping you use new media to improve your real estate business.
3. There are 28 presenters speaking on a variety of topics throughout the day.
4. Planning the event is interactive:  you get to vote on the topics.

When is the next Real Estate BarCamp?

The good news is you won’t have to wait too long for the next RE BarCamp.  It’s just a few weeks away so you’d better mark your calendar for this one.

Date: Monday January 4th, 2010

Time: 9 am- 4 pm PDT

That’s 7 hours of Virtual Real Estate training on 28 different topics at NO COST to you.  This is an amazing chance to get the knowledge you need to make new media a real part of your business in 2010.  To register, just click the link below.

PS- I’ll be one of the presenters at this event.  If you want to learn more about Advanced Facebook Marketing for Real Estate, you won’t want to miss my session.

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The year is winding down and before you run off to “Holiday-ville” I wanted to to give you one more push.  Marketing is changing and if you’re not keeping up you may fall off the face of the planet….OK, maybe not the planet..but if no one can find you online then you may as well have.

Get ready to embrace new media beginning with the 350,000,000 member nation of Facbeook.  Your first lesson in new media is the “7 Things You Must Do to Use Facebook Successfully in 2010.”

While everyone else is winding down we’re ramping up to make the next year a profitable one.

1. When REALTORs start out in Facebook they forget one key factor.  Who they’re trying to reach.  If you don’t identify your target market BEFORE you get started how on earth do you expect to find them when you get online?  More importantly, how do you expect them to find you??

OK, so you got tip number one of seven.  If you want to start off 2010 with a BANG, I suggest you listen to the entire training call.

Listen to the “7 Things you must do” Training Call

Good news for you, we recorded this entire 47 minutes of training and we’re making it available to you right now.

Don’t make the mistakes that other REALTORs are making on Facebook, this call will outline a full strategy to help you integrate Facebook into your marketing plan for 2010.  And just in case you were wondering, “How Much?”…the cost is ZERO.  So now what’s your excuse not to listen in?

Get your copy of  the “7 Things You Must Do to Use Facebook Successfully in 2010″ by signing up below.

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In yesterdays post I broke the news, “No One Cares About You.”  I wasn’t trying to be mean, I was just setting you up for todays post about naming your Facebook Page.

If you’ve already created a Facebook Page I’d like to know what you named it?  Did you name it after yourself??  Who’s Bright Idea Was That???

I know, I know….you’ve put a lot of time into branding your name as a part of your Real Estate business.  You’re name and your face are your ticket to the REALTORs hall of fame.

Branding

If in fact people are looking for “Your Name” online chances are very good that they will find your personal profile on Facebook.  Right now Facebook is one of the hottest properties on the web, you should take every chance you get to claim some of that while you still can.  Naming a page after yourself is a waste of valuable web real estate.

If you’ve already created a brand around your name offline, that’s fine.  Just be sure to include your Facebook Page address in your marketing collateral.  Chances are that wherever your brand is offline, your phone number is not too far.  That means people are more likely to call you rather than look for you on the web.

Let me put it to you this way, the people that already know your name are probably going to be customers any way.  The web gives you a chance to meet even more people.  Unless you have enough business and you don’t want any new customers, but if you’re online reading this post chances are that you want or need more business.

I don’t use my personal profile for Business

Yep, I hear the next objection…My personal profile is private, I don’t like to use it for business.  That’s a great reason to have a facebook page, but it’s hardly a good enough reason to name that page after yourself.

Even if your personal profile is locked, you can tweak the privacy settings to allow people to view which fan pages you belong to, so it’ll lead them right to where you want them to go.

I already have a Facebook Page

AND—-Cue the whining.

Now I can hear you saying, “But I already created my page and there’s no way to rename it.”  I’m going to tell you something very important about Facebook Pages that you might not already know, but you have to promise me to keep this a secret….YOU CAN CREATE ANOTHER PAGE!!!

Yep, that’s right.  If you’ve already named one page after yourself why don’t you just create another one with a GOOD name?

What’s a good name for my Page?

This brings me to the purpose of today’s post.  How to name your Facebook Page.  The interwebs are all about WORDS.  When someone has a question they run over to Google and type their query into the search box.  Low and behold the magic Google engines return answers directly related to their query.

People are looking for answers online and it’s up to you to find out what their questions are so you can find a way to answer them.  Luckily for us Google has created a magical keyword tool that helps you understand what people are looking for.

The idea is to find out what the people in your market are searching for and then design your page around it.

How do I find Keywords for my page?

Today’s your lucky day because I’m going to give you a sneak peak at one of the many videos from our all new Social Media Academy for REALTORs.  Watch this video to learn how to use keywords for naming your page.

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I can’t believe I have to be the one to tell you this, but…

No one Cares About You!

I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the ugly truth and you’re going to have to learn to live with it.  The internet has given users more choices than ever.  If they don’t like what they’re hearing all they have to do is <Point and Click> their way out of it.

Take a second to think about what your doing Right Now  online.  What makes you different than every other agent trying to push their listings on everyone?

You have to stop thinking about you and start thinking about your target market.  …You know…  the actual people you want to meet and do business with online?  That’s why you’re online isn’t it?  To get more business?

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Remember in the movie Field of Dreams when they said, “Build it and they will come?”

Most people think that’s the Secret to a Successful Facebook Page. Unfortunately that’s not the case.  Any REALTOR can build a page, but it takes someone really savvy to make a page buzz.

You can’t expect people to just come to your page because you built it, there’s lots of planning that goes into a making a page work.  Some of the things you need to consider are:

• Page Name
• Target User
• Intended Use

The first question you should ask yourself when designing a Facebook Page is, “Why would someone want to come to my page?”  If the only answer you come up with is, “To see my listings” you will be at a great disadvantage.

Not to worry, I wouldn’t leave you hanging.  I’ve put together a 35 minute podcast to teach you EXACTLY how I planned the launch of the Real Estate Referral Group.

To get a copy of the podcast all you have to do is fill in the form below.  If you don’t see the form, CLICK HERE.

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Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla in the room.  If you’re not using it because of privacy concerns you need to get a Business Page set up immediately before your competition beats you to it.

In my humble opinion a Facebook Business Page is the greatest marketing opportunity for REALTORs today. Pages are like mini websites (actually, they aren’t so mini) inside of Facebook. Some of the benefits they offer are:

• Sharing Photos
• Sharing Videos
• Forums (discussion topics)
• Sharing blog posts (notes)
• Updating your fans
• Customizing (branding)

Basically, it’s a profile for your business.  Pages show up as “friends” to the people who are fans.  For all you privacy fanatics out there, a page is separate from your personal profile.  That means you can have all your REALTOR clients as fans without them knowing what’s going on in your personal life.  If you use it properly you can leverage the viral power of Facebook to its full extent without compromising any privacy.

In this video I’m going to show you how to build your very own Facebook Business Page in less than four minutes.

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With Thanksgiving behind us we’re officially in the “Holiday Season.”  It’s easy to get caught up in shopping and holiday parties, after all isn’t that what all REALTORs are doing?

Every December I wind down to asses my business for the year, then I start planning for next year.  Since everyone is caught up in the Holiday hype I figured this was the best time to do it.

This Thanksgiving I decided to take a few days off from the internet since I spend most of my waking hours glued to my computer.  When I finally got back to Facebook I found that my friend and business partner had posted this video from Chris Brogan.  Chris is one of the top “thinkers” in the Social Media space.  Few people “get it” like he does.

In this video he shares The Secret to overnight Success.

How can you become an overnight Success?

Like Chris said in the video, you need to kick it up a notch while everyone else is slacking.  Guess what, you’re not alone.  After watching this video I’ve decided that I’m going to end this year with a bang so I can head into 2010 like a bat out of hell.

Want to join me?

Of course you do.  So what I’ve decided is put together some amazing content on how you can use Facebook Business pages to take your online marketing to the next level.  Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be delivering some exciting new content in the form of videos, posts, and even a webinar next week to help you bring in the new year with a bang.

It all starts RIGHT NOW.

I’ve got a little present for those of you who are ready to take this journey with me.  I put together a 30 minute presentation on how to properly build a Facebook Business Page and I want you to have it so you can get ready for next weeks webinar.  All you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below.

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Yesterday was the start of something very special.  If you’re into social media and you didn’t hear about the first ever Virtual Real Estate BarCamp you must be living under a rock.  For those of you that don’t know what a BarCamp is, allow me to explain.

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences (or unconferences) – open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.

To be honest, I’ve never been to a BarCamp, so this virtual event was my first.  The event carried on throughout the entire day with 27 Social Media experts who specialize in Real Estate.  At any given time there were three speakers in three rooms covering three different topics related to social media and real estate.  Some of the more popular sessions included You Tube, Blogging, and SEO.  All classes were conducted through webinar using the Go To Meeting platform.  That means all this education was delivered straight to you no matter where you were. Over 1,500 real estate professionals participated from all across the nation.

OK, enough about how the BarCamp was put together.  If you weren’t able to make it I want to share some of the highlights from the sessions I attended.

You Tube for REALTORs

The first session I attended was You Tube for REALTORs.  This session was led by You Tube pro Doug Devitre.  It turns out that You Tube is the second most searched engine on the entire web, second only to Google itself.  Video has become quite easy to produce while remaining relatively inexpensive.  If you want to get the most bang for your buck, video is definitely the way to go.  Another advantage to using You Tube is the fact that it’s a great way to increase your SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)  New videos are ranked high on Google when people search for your keywords.

Top tips for Free Advertising Online

This session was led by my friend Suzanne Roy.  Suzanne is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in helping REALTORs.  Some of the tips she shared included using Postlets and Craigslist.  The best thing that I got from her presentation was the idea of having a call to action in your online advertising.

I’m a big proponent of using calls to action in ALL your marketing.  What’s the point to marketing if there’s no clear direction of what to do next.

Converting Social Media into more Real Estate closings

This session was led by Ross Hair, the bald guy from South Africa.  Basically he believes that social media is nothing more than a place to build an audience so you can broadcast to them.  Anyone who’s been following me for a while knows this is opposite of what I believe.

Even though I don’t agree with Ross’ philosophy, there was definitely some merit in his system.  He uses social media to build lists, then he works to narrow down the people that could be clients and takes the relationship offline.  One of the most common mistakes I see REALTORs make with their online marketing is NOT taking the relationship offline.  If you’ve gone to the trouble to get a lead online, why wouldn’t you find a reason to pick up the phone and give them a call?

My favorite quote from Ross was, “It’s easy to make friends using social media, but it’s hard to sell houses.”

Linked In

Mike Mueller presented Linked In.  Mike took us on a tour of the Linked In platform showing us how to complete our profile.  Surprisingly most REALTORs actually join Linked In and never complete their profile. If your profile is incomplete, you should log in and finish it right after you finish reading this post.

This platform is more of a professional network and online resume.  If you’re looking for fun and games then Linked In is not for you.

Using Posterous for you Real Estate Business

My favorite session of the day was Bobby Caroll, who took us on a tour of Posterous.com.  Posterous is a live sharing platform that you can use to share photos, videos, and almost anything else.  I’ve been thinking about using it and Bobby’s presentation really piqued my interest.  The content is indexed by Google (which helps with SEO) and is really easy to upload.  Not only that, but Posterous can also update your other social networks.

Since I haven’t explored this platform yet I can’t write too much about it, but I can assure you that I will be testing and writing more about it in the future.

The Virtual Real Estate BarCamp Review

After spending nearly four hours glued to my computer learning new and different ideas on how to use social media in my real estate business I have to say the BarCamp was phenomenal.  There were so many different ideas flying around that it was hard to keep up.

If you’ve never been to a Real Estate BarCamp I highly recommend attending one, you can thank me later.

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In this post I want to save you the two years it took me to realize to succeed in social media you need a team.

When I first started out as a REALTOR I thought I could do it all myself.  That’s a common mistake amongst entrepreneurs.  Just in case you didn’t realize it, REALTORs are entrepreneurs.  I’ve made this mistake more times than I care to admit.  For instance, when I was buying and selling properties as an investor I did it all.  My list of responsibilities included:

• Buyers Agent
• Project Manager
• Electrician
• Painter
• Carpenter
• Drywaller
• Sellers Agent

Why on earth would I take on all these responsibilities?  For the same reason every new entrepreneur does…to save money.  At that time I hadn’t really considered the value of my time.  I’d hate to go back and put a price to the hours I spent doing all this work.  If I was smart I would have hired out all the trade work and just focussed on the buying and selling of these properties.

I bet you’re wondering how this ties in to social media.

If you’re like most REALTORs you’re a one person show.  You market, sell, schmooze, and close deals.  How much more time do you have to do anything else?  If you’re a good agent the answer should be none.

If that’s the case, then why would you go and try to learn Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Blogging, Web Design, SEO, and everything else that people say you need to be successful online?  Is it to save money?

Let’s do a little exercise:

Take a moment to think about how much time you spend on the various social networks each day and multiply it by twenty (5 day work week).  Take that number and multiply it by your hourly rate (you can figure that out by taking the average dollar amount you make per deal divided by average hours worked per deal.)  My numbers look like this:

2 x 20= 40 hours per month

40 x $150= $6,000

Now that you’ve got those numbers worked out you need to figure out what your return on investment is.  How many deals are you closing through social media?  In my example I’d need to close one $200,000 deal per month to make up for my time spent online.

The point wasn’t to discourage you, I just wanted to help you asses the situation.  If you’re not getting the results you need then you only have a few options.

1.  Stop using Social Media (not recommended)

2.  Spend more time attempting to increase your return (REALLY not recommended)

3.  Spend less time and hire someone cheaper than you to do it (Highly recommended)

To succeed in social media you need a team.  If you can hire out most of the work and spend less of your valuable time getting better results why would you do it any other way?  The numbers don’t lie, chances are you’re wasting time doing things that you can hire out for cheaper.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you hanging.  First I want to provide you with some social proof that I know what I’m doing, then I can go into my sales pitch.  Check out these search results for my brand:

Real-TechGuy on Google

Real-TechGuy on You Tube

Real-TechGuy on Twitter

What do you find in these places when you search for your name or brand?  If the answer is nothing, I can help.  Just send me an email to Jonathan [at] Real-TechGuy. [com] with the subject line “Social Media Evaluation” and I’ll get in touch with you to schedule a call.

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Are you tired of using Facebook and not generating any leads?  Are you doing everything you can to get people to notice you even though it seems like they’re not listening?

I’m Jonathan, The Real-TechGuy and I specialize in using Facebook business pages to generate more leads.  In the past 12 months I’ve been able to generate 400 Real Estate leads using nothing but a Facebook fan page.

If you’re even thinking of using a Facebook business page you won’t want to miss next weeks call where I’ll share the five things you MUST do to start generating business from your page.

To reserve your spot you need to RSVP.  All you have to do is leave your name and email address in the form below and we’ll put you on the guest list.

As an extra bonus for the first 100 people that RSVP I’ll throw in a copy of my latest report, “The 7 Mistakes Every REALTOR makes using Facebook.”  This is a MUST read for anyone using Facebook.

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Last week I had the pleasure of attending another Social Media for business seminar sponsored by “The Closing Agent.”  I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized this uber high-tech class was taking place at the Beardall Center in Orlando, Florida.

I’d like to say I was there to learn, but the truth is I was really there to spy on them.  The speaker was Amy Jantzer from weedott.  She had a “Presentation Zen” styled power point using bright red graphics against a black background (she gets style points for that.)  For those of you that aren’t familiar with “Presentation Zen” it’s a movement to improve the state of power point by using more pictures and less bullet points.

Her presentation was focussed on 4 main Social Networks

1. Active Rain
2. LinkedIn
3. Facebook
4. Twitter

The last three make sense, but I’m still on the fence about Active Rain.  See Active Rain is indexed by Google, but only through their paid option otherwise your blog is only open to members of the site.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s are lots of people there, but I’m not sure how the internal network could really lead to more business.

Networks like Facebook and Twitter are going to be the best places to find consumers.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but as a REALTOR don’t you make your money from consumers?  Primarily I think LinkedIn and Active Rain are good B to B platforms, but if you’re in the B to C business the best place to spend your time is the one with the most consumers.

Nothing against Active Rain, but having to pay to make your site public seems like a waste.  You can accomplish the same using a Facebook fan page and it’ll cost you ZERO.  If  I thought it was worth it, I’d gladly pay.

I digress.  The next three things she covered was the purpose of Social Media.

The Three main points were

• Branding
• Networking
• Prospecting

Those are valid points, not much I could add to that.  She ended the session with 4 essential tips to succeed in Social Media:

1. Set Measurable Goals
2. Link Profiles
3. Use multimedia
4. Listen

The first tip is my favorite, “set goals.”  I’ll expand on that in a later post.

Anyone who’s been following my blog knows how I feel about listening.  Overall I enjoyed Amy’s presentation and will be watching for some of her upcoming events.  I heard rumors of upcoming workshops where you’ll be able to bring your lap top and get hooked up to the interwebs.  Sounds like fun.

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If you’re new to the online buzz, Social Proof is just the cool kids way of saying testimonials. In our increasingly digital world a testimonial can come in so many different forms. Today the old handwritten thank you letter is just not enough.

If you have a Facebook and Twitter account your 2/3 of the way there. The interactions that you have online today could be the testimonials of tomorrow. REALTORs using social media should approach it with a plan.

1. Have Clearly defined goals
2. Get base metrics for measuring your effectiveness
3. Consistently review your plan and revise as necessary

It all comes down to marketing 101: Test and Track.  Using online tools should be extensions of what you’re already doing in your offline marketing.  The point is to reach more people in order to increase your chances of getting a deal… or “Increasing your sphere of influence.”  Yep, I still remember that from my new agent training at Coldwell Banker.

The idea is to Run the tools to improve your business, not the other way around.

Anyways, back to the original theme, “Social Proof.”

When you’re using Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter your interactions are recorded.  Remember all that time you spent last month chatting about the $8,000 tax credit?  If you did it right that was full time “I’m a REALTOR” advertising without having to shout it.

Social Media is the most subtle advertising in the world if you know how to use it.

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Social Media has been around longer than you think. It’s only recently that the media has caught wind of it and it has become mainstream. Remember when people used to talk about My Space? That was mainstream social media. Even further back, remember blogging?  Yeah, that was and still is social media at it’s most basic. If you’re sitting on the sidelines thinking about getting in the game, you better do it now before it’s too late.

The following is a list of 5 reasons REALTORs should get use social media.

1. Short on cash for your marketing budget? SM is a time investment, no money necessary. With so many free sites available to you, there’s nothing keeping you from putting your marketing on steroids by using social media.

2. Want to meet more people? One of the first rules of sales is, “Get in front of as many people as you can.” With over 300,000,000 people on Facebook alone the opportunities are endless to meet new people you may have never met before.

3. Wondering what people are saying about you? SM allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of every conversation which mentions your name or brand. Even further, you can set up alerts for keywords to catch conversations that may signal an opportunity for you.

4. Don’t have time for that networking event? With SM you can network 24/7 right from the comfort of your own home. No need to get dressed, drive, or even comb your hair.

5. Want more business? What better place to get it then using SM? When you participate in conversations with your customers and you solve their problems it’s all right out in the open for everyone to see. These interactions act as online testimonials aka Social Proof. When people see how well you handle your clients chances are better for you to receive referrals.

The world is shifting to a more transparent form of business. As REALTORs it’s important to make that shift now while the getting is good. Before you know it direct mail campaigns and newspaper ads will be obsolete, when that happens where will you get your business? The smart people that get in the game now will be light years ahead of their competition. It’s pretty simple, get in now or be left behind.

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This is a viral note I created for a recent campaign. It doesn’t make as much sense here as it did inside of Facebook. A lot of great discussions were started because of this note and a lot of friendships were solidified. Enjoy!

______________________________________________________________________________

You’ve been tagged in this note because I think we are friends. To share it with your friends all you have to do is Cut and Paste this text into your notes and tag your friends. This is a great way to show your appreciation to all those great friends you’ve made online and to say thanks for the support. ***Remember to include these instructions when you cut and paste the note*** ______________________________________________________________________________

Social Networking is a great way to expand your network, but sometimes the lines are blurred between connections and friends.

When I first started I was focussed on the number of connections I made, it didn’t matter who they were. After meeting Simon U Ford I realized this approach was all wrong, he preached Quality over Quantity. It took me a while to get it, but when I finally did my experience on social media changed. Simon calls this the paradigm shift. Before meeting him I thought it wasn’t possible to make real friends online.

Since I’ve been a part of Social Traffic I realized that you can really make friends online. Not just faux friends, but people who are there to support you, help you grow, and push you when you need it. I am grateful to have learned how to use social media to make real friendships and I want to thank you for helping me grow both online and offline.

When I speak about social networking I often stress the idea of making real meaningful relationships. Often times people ask me, “How can you make real friendships online?” My response to them is, “One at a time.”

I’ve written this note for two reasons,

1. To say Thank You to my friends who I’ve met online

2. To provide social proof that you can create meaningful relationships online

What I wrote above covers part one. Part two is up to you, my friends to provide social proof that Simon Ford and Social Traffic can teach anyone how to make real relationships with nothing more than a computer and an internet connection.

Are we really Friends?

_________________
_________________

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Over the last few weeks I’ve been touting the importance of friends vs. audience, this week I decided to play the other side.  Friends are priceless, but without an audience you’ll be working much harder to get your message out to the masses.   I’m a bit of a stats geek, so I’ll be sharing some numbers at the end of this post.

Last week I posted “What the Beatles Taught Me About Social Media.”  It was geared more towards my audience then to my friends.  I ended up with 33 comments and 6 “Likes” through my friends, which is average.  On the other hand, when I promoted this note to my audience they scooped it up and it gained some serious momentum.

There were two major components to the success of this post.

1.  Knowing my audience.  Over the last year I’ve built up a quality audience using a Facebook fan page.  One of the most powerful tools behind the fan page is the analytics engine.  The information provided ranges from interactions within the group all the way to age and gender.  Armed with the knowledge that 60% of my fan base consists of women between the ages of 35-54 I knew anything about The Beatles would be a hit.

2.  A call to action.  Anyone who studies marketing knows that you should always have a call to action, yet no one seems to be using them in Social Media.  Why not?  How are people supposed to know what to do once they’ve interacted with your content?  We’re all surrounded by noise on the web, attention is precious.  If your content is good enough to rise above the noise you only get a split second to turn the attention into action.  Here’s how I got my audience to act

Yeah I know that was a little tricky, but it goes back to how well I know my audience.  Most of them also have a very short attention span, so giving them a quick call to action before they read the post is more likely to get them to act.

Now we’ll get into some of the Geeky stats I promised you.  If you’re not into stats, then I won’t be hurt if you leave now…but before you do, I’d like to ask you to hit the “LIKE” button to let me know you’ve read this far.

The power of my audience:

Each week I promote my posts to the audience on my fan page.  Typically this results in 10-15 comments and equally as many “likes.”  With that comes a spike in traffic to my blog of 85 or so visits.

When I ran The Beatles posts above you see that I ended up with 31 comments and 162 “likes.”  Naturally I expected a big spike in my blog traffic that day, but I was disappointed to see that I only got 85 hits (the usual.)  I then began to wonder what the point of managing this big audience was if they weren’t pushing traffic.

As I dug deeper I realized that the effect was felt inside of Facebook.  All these interactions led to a lot of activity within my page.  Typically I get somewhere between 350-400 page views per day.  On this day I ended up with 1,185 page views of which 410 of them were uniques.

If you’re not following, that means all the activity brought 410 new people to my page that day.  The momentum continued into the next day with 1,521 page views and 635 uniques.  In the course of 2 days we had over 1,000 new people visit the page.

Judging by these numbers I have to say the quality of your audience is equally as important as the quality of your friends.  What do you think?

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Last month while in Las Vegas my wife and I were lucky enough to catch the Love Show at The Mirage.  For those of you who don’t know, the love show is Cirque du Soleil meets The Beatles.  During the show I was flushed with memories of my parents when I was a kid.   I grew up listening to their music and never realized it.

Since we’ve returned from our trip we can’t seem to get enough of them.  There’s been quite a big buzz around them with the latest release of Rock Band.  In the last two weeks we’ve consumed hours of their music, watched countless TV shows, and even  bought a CD (their catalog isn’t available on iTunes so we had to go old school.)   I guess you could say we got into our own mini Beatlemania.

What’s most amazing is this group from fifty years ago still has the ability to Rock Me.  These guys were more than just a band, they were influencers.  They created trends in music and clothing which the masses eagerly followed.

This made me think, Am I setting trends in Social Media?

Social Media allows us to reach more people then we ever could before.  The first step to being a trendsetter is to make sure the quality of what you do is something to be proud of.  The Beatles didn’t make hits by thinking about what the fans would like, they made hits that their fans liked.

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