Twitter – There are now 105 million Twitter users and 300k+ new people each day. It is the number 8 ranked website in the United States. 75% of the traffic comes from outside of twitter.com (your blog, websites, listings, ext). Some people say it can be a waste of time or a black hole. It can be both of those things if there is not an online marketing strategy in place. First, make a weekly and monthly to do list. Next prioritize it.

How to Setup Your Twitter Campaign
TweetDeck & Hootsuite - Sort followers, track their tweets and manage multiple accounts throughout your social networks.

Twitter Lists: I have my lists broken down into 3 key categories and others by keywords.
1.   People that you want to reach (leads)
2.  People you have talked to (conversationalists)
3.  People you have built a relationship with (friends)
4.  Key word categories such as Realtor, lender, location, past & current clients.

Twellow & WeFollow – Twitter directories to add yourself to for visibility and use to define yourself as an expert in your local market through Twitter ranking by location.

Real Time Keyword Search for Lead Generation
Collecta – search for keywords in your industry. Real time search that covers blog posts, articles, comments on blogs, Twitter, Jaiku, Identica, Flickr, TwitPic, yFrog, YouTube and Ustream.
DemandSpot – geographic keyword search for Twitter users. Example “home for sale” in San Diego.

Get Your Message Out There
Retweet – Find top retweeted content and submit your blog posts/content here.
Tweetreach – Total tweets, exposure based on followers and top contributors.

Follow us @JsTweeting on Twitter and at Real Estate Marketing TV for new weeks live video training on Facebook for real estate marketing.

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View the blogging 101 recorded video:  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6320003

Specialize
Find your niche. First time buyers, multi-family, condominiums, land, vacation homes, luxury homes, investment fix and flips, ext.

Profile your ideal client
Age, location, profession, financial means, gender, ext.

Target location
City, neighborhoods or unique locations such as golf courses, waterfront properties, ext.

Target your posts
1.Buyers: Property search, specific info/ schools, parks, video, photos, IDX.
2.Sellers: Local content such as neighborhood data or home value analysis information.
3.Agents (referrals): Showcase your expertise within your area of expertise. You are a professional and a closer. Share past experiences. Here are 100 Real Estate Blog Topics if you need some inspiration.

Lead generation & conversion
Percentage of leads that become sales: Referrals 83%, Repeat Business 82%, Internet 53% … integrate them all with your blog and other online marketing sources. Have referral contests, testimonials, continue to keep in touch with old clients for repeat business and of course use the internet to do these things. Now you have covered the top three lead generation conversion sources.

What ways have worked well to convert leads from your blog or online marketing?

RSVP for next week’s live video training on Social Media 101 for Real Estate.

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What is a Virtual BarCamp? On Tuesday, April 6th, 2010, the Real Estate Tomato will be hosting a virtual event with 28 great presentations. Mark your calendars from 9-4 PST.
Each presentation will be 45 minutes in length with a 15 minute break after each session. 4 webinar rooms will be setup at a time, hosting 7 speakers throughout the day.

The list of topics include blogging, SEO, photo/video media, social networking, mobile technology, Google and more

For a list of speakers click here
For live webinar event info click here

It should be a great learning experience for anyone who takes the time to attend. I would encourage you to find a time slot with a topic of interest. See you on the 6th!

Register here: http://bit.ly/bWS49W

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Real estate blogging topics range widely but most topics can be focused locally. Every community needs a local expert to answer questions, concerns and keep them informed on their local market conditions. Our last weeks post about How to setup a blog should give you a good base in creating your local online community of local readers/followers.

Most people aren’t looking to directly buy or sell real estate from your blog, they are looking for information or answers to industry related questions. Keep the conversation informative and light, forgetting that you are doing this to sell houses or gain leads. They will use your services, without you even asking them, if you do this correctly. You will create a personal following by just updating people on what is new in your life, what activities you’re involved in, what you’re about to do, etc.

Keep yourself in front of people so they don’t forget you and provide them with useful information to keep them coming back to you for more. This includes friends, family, and even strangers who find your life interesting. Now the time comes that one of your readers has a need for your service, and you are in their face everyday because of the useful information you provide, guess who gets the sale?

Here are 100 real estate blogging topics to help get the creative juices flowing:

1. Local Market Data
2. Top 10 Lists
3. Not Top 10 Lists - (MLS photos for example)
4. Video Property Post - write a little bit about a featured listing and embed a YouTube video with the write-up.
5. Mortgage Rates
6. Tax Credits
7. Neighborhood Showcase
8. Local Business - provide them with a copy of your post.
9. Credit Reports
10. National Market Trends
11. Renting a House vs. Buying a Home
12. Community Meeting Summary
13. Types of Mortgages
14. Home Improvements
15. Home Maintenance
16.  Photo Montage - Take a picture of something local, post it and write about it.
17. Historic Buildings
18. Housing Styles in Your Area
19. Events for Kids
20. Advice for FSBO’s
21. Interview Someone
22. Featured Parks
23. Featured Schools
24. Zoos
25. Furniture/Staging a Home
26. Crime Rates
27. Property Taxes
28. Senior Housing
29. Rental Properties
30. Churches
31. A Closing
32. Showcase a Lender
33. Things That Have Gone Wrong During A Real Estate Sale
34. Second Homes
35. Breaking Mortgage News
36. City Council
37. Transportation Systems
38. Home Safety
39. Local Real Estate Websites
40. Art
41. New Construction Homes
42. Building Trends
43. How to Sell a Home
44. How to Buy a Home
45. What Not to do When Selling a Home
46. Interior Decorating Ideas
47. Improving Curb Appeal
48. Lawn and Garden Improvements
49. Consumer Scams
50. Credit Scores
51. Foreclosures
52. Real Estate Investing
53. Legal Real Estate Terms
54. Book Review of a Real Estate Genre
55. Best Restaurants in the Area
56. Shopping
57. Moving Tips
58. A Story of a Client That You Enjoyed
59.  Local News Topics - you can add some commentary if you so desire.
60. Funny Story
61. Commercial Real Estate in Your Area
62. Waterfront Properties in Your Area
63. Write About What it’s Like Being A Realtor
64. Conserving Energy or Going Green
65. Final Walk Through
66. Real Estate Internet Trends
67. Short Sales
68. Dealing With Tenants
69. Home Ownership
70. Property Taxes
71. Condos
72. Earnest Money
73. Types of Mortgage Loans
74. Lots or Land
75. Your Marketing Strategy to Sell Their Home
76. Vacations
77. Real Estate Investing
78. Zoning
79. Charities
80. Market Predictions
81. Is it the Right Time to Buy?
82. Luxury Properties
83. The Price is Right (hosted by your home)
84. Government Involvement With Home Owners
85. Flood Zones or Natural Disasters
86. Home Equity
87. Family Living
88. Online Media and Real Estate
89. Appraised Value
90. Closing Costs
91. Good Faith Estimate
92. Liens
93. Refinancing
94. Create a Walk Through Checklist
95. Highlight a Community
96. Bang for Your Buck Home Improvements
97. List The Pros and Cons of Working With an Agent
98. Top Things to Look for in a Home
99. First Time Home Buyers
100. List Community Resource Links

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In today’s environment, it is NOT chic to overspend or to be wasteful. Personally, I think its a good thing to live within your means and its good to have conversations with your kids about the VALUE of creating a budget and STAYING on a budget. But what if you’re a business owner, or an entrepreneur? How does this affect you?

Here’s what I’ve noticed. The minute that financial times are tough, the first thing that gets cut is excess spending, and most people count MARKETING in this venue.

Should you be concerned? YES! Why? Because there is a way to market yourself without spending much money, and yet most people give up on marketing themselves and when times change, money comes in and they start up again, they’ve already lost a wide audience. Those that stay in business are those that continue to reach out to their consumers. Those that continue to MARKET themselves and their services. If you’re going to give up traditional OUTBOUND marketing strategies (cold calling, TV or print ads), you need to replace with INBOUND marketing strategies such as engaging videos, websites, blogs, social networks, search engines, etc. (see The Customer Collective).

We are so lucky to have online marketing. Companies are flocking to the internet to let their clients know about their products. They hold raffles, give-aways, community fund raisers, etc, to engage the client. A prefect example of this is Dell - There they are, bright as day, engaging their consumers! Become a fan, they ask, and if you do, you will find out all about their promotions.  “Great!”, you say, but I’m a REALTOR (or a lender, or sell dog biscuits). “It wont work for me!” I beg to differ! Look at these examples: GMAC has created a Facebook Fan Page and are giving their clients community information. The Canal Fultons community page focuses conversation on reaching out to the COMMUNITY and not talking all about themselves! The ALL-ABOUT-ME mentality is gone and you need to shift as well. So, I say, make adjustments to your budget if you must, BUT replace what you’re giving up with new engaging online marketing strategies. Interact and win!

Guest Post by: Amanda Wernick

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How can a blog help grow your business?
An office blog can enhance the communication and culture within your company. It also builds credibility, branding your company as one that is “the expert” in your local market or niche. As an agent, you can really give prospect buyers and sellers an idea for who you are as a Realtor and as a person. The importance of community is huge in such a relational industry and that is why blogs have been so effective in communicating this aspect in a way that has previously been difficult to obtain through online avenues.

I’ll give you an example of how I found a blog useful: Last October I did a Google search for “first time home buyers tax credit”. One of the first things that came up was a local real estate agent first time home buyer article on their blog. I was able to get some great information and post a comment with some questions I had on the credit. “Can I get it early? Can I use it towards my down payment?” That is one case of how a Realtor was able to generate a lead (me) from their blog.

Connecting with the local community and it’s members is a great quality of blogs. Charities or area events will build credibility for you and your business. Posting those events to your blog gives you a platform to share what you are doing to make your city and world a better place.  Now who wouldn’t want to work with a Realtor who has a blog dedicated to them, the local community?

Getting Started

1. Find a blog platform: Beginning a blog can be one of the hardest parts if you don’t know where to look. A few great free blog sites are Active Rain, Blogger or WordPress. Active Rain is a Realtor favorite because it’s build specifically for you! There are groups of agents and specialized niches where you can connect with others that write about similar topics as yourself. Blogger.com is a very easy to use platform that doesn’t really have all the bells and whistles but it’s a great starter. WordPress.org is a bit more complex but can be customized to specifically what you are looking for. If you have some experience in blogging, than you may want to check out WordPress for additional themes and functionality.

2. Post articles: Once you have your blog setup, it’s now time to start writing. What should your write about? Start with writing about what you specialize in or excel at. You can always post tips for buying or selling to get started. We will be posting a bunch of topics later this week so stayed tuned for more information. Here are a few examples of top real estate blogs: Real estate agents Teresa Berry and Amanda Wernick both use Active Rain for their blog platform of choice. Teresa uses her blog to post events and charity causes very well. Amanda is more focused on posting about current market trends and controversies to spark discussion. As an office, Jumper Realty & Associates provides national news and trends in the industry with the majority of their posts.

What direction have you guided your blog? Where do you go from there?

Please share with us successes, failures or other experiences that you have had from your personal blog in our comments section below.

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Mistake #1 Most real estate professionals underestimate the search engine power of LinkedIn. This social network has a very high internet search engine ranking. Take some time to run a search on your name on google.com. If you currently have a LinkedIn account, you will notice your profile will be on the 1st page.

Mistake #2 Most real estate professionals leave their website link with the default names such as My Website, My Blog, etc. Given the ranking authority of LinkedIn, it is best to rename those to keywords that people can find your business via an internet search. A great example to be found by consumers in my neighborhood would be:  Santa Clarita Real Estate Agents or Santa Clarita Mortgage Lenders.

Here is another example, I changed my main mortgage website to:  Foreclosure Options

I changed “My Blog” to:  Real Estate Marketing

I changed my Facebook fan page to:  Facebook Marketing

This can easily be done by clicking on edit website or blog, then click on “Other” and enter in your specific keywords and save the changes.

One key feature of LinkedIn that makes this social network stand out from all the others is the recommendations feature. There is no better way to promote your business than by others sharing your expertise.

How do you go about obtaining recommendations, you ask?

The best way to increase your recommendations is by giving them. Of course, it’s best to start with your known business contacts and ask them to return the favor. Be sure to import your email contacts as that is the fastest way to initiate your LinkedIn network.

It is also important to update your status updates on LinkedIn as it is visible to your entire network. I highly recommend hootsuite.com as a site to manage your social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook fan page & profile, and LinkedIn. It is possible to update all of these sites using hootsuite. Here are the posts that describe how to integrate and manage these sites with your hootsuite account.

http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-integrates-lists-facebook-and-linkedin/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/manage-facebook-fan-pages-with-hootsuite/
Now it is time for you to take action. Go to your LinkedIn account and setup your profile in the right way so that consumers can find you on the internet. Let us know in the comments about your most pressing LinkedIn questions or issues.

Learn more social media strategies by using this Social Media Real Estate Marketing ebook
http://www.profcs.com/app/?af=1135252

Guest Author - Naomi Trower
Real Estate Broker & Social Media Strategies
Social Media Real Estate Marketing
“Teaching Professionals Social Media”

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Realtors have always been natural networkers and now, being online shouldn’t be any different. Today, people are going online to search for social interaction and conversations. According to Alexa, Facebook is now ranked 3rd (US), MySpace is ranked 5th (US), Twitter 12th (US) and Linkedin 22nd (US). We all know that social media websites bring in a massive amount of people, and being in a people profession, that is where we want to be. Yet only 33% of Realtors are taking advantage of social networking. This could be due to a number of questions including: How do I use social media for my business? Does this even have a benefit in real estate? How do I make time for it? We will answer all those questions for the 3 most effective real estate social networks: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Where to start with Social Networking:

To be successful with online relations a few basic principles should be followed. Start with being yourself and build relationships before sales. Speak in human rather than promotional terms. There must be a personal side to your online profiles and interactions before there is a business side. Have pictures of hobbies, vacations, etc. You don’t need to have extensive personal info but just make your profile personable. Focus on conversation and sharing the value of your expertise to bring others into the discussion. Post something as simple as, “If you have any real estate questions feel free to ask on my profile.” This will start a dialogue around your business that allows interaction between you and your potential or current clients. Posting on social networks shouldn’t be something that takes more than a few minutes per day. Ping.fm is a site that can be used to connect all your social networks and save you valuable time.

Facebook:
There are many social networking sites out there but let’s start with the most prominent, Facebook. Offices can create a Facebook group or page (http://www.facebook.com/justsnooping). Pages give you more flexibility and visibility so they preferred for real estate offices. The step by step process for creating a page can be found at (http://twitter.com/JSTweeting). Pages are currently showing up high in search engines and can be an easy way to build your online reputation as well as generate leads. Agents can create Facebook profiles (http://www.facebook.com/martymosesjr). The step by step process can be found at (http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Facebook-Profile) Once you have built your agent profile or business page you will want to start networking. Posting your virtual tours can be a good way of marketing your listings and you as an agent (copy and paste the standard virtual tour link to the wall on your profile/page). This will generate views for that listing and notify your contact list that you are within that top 33% of Realtors using social media for real estate. Other ways to gain contacts and build your reputation include: posting events, asking open ended questions, having a testimonials section, joining networks, conducting polls, having a suggestions box and searching for friends or people interested in real estate.

Twitter:
The name Twitter is a little strange but the marketing exposure that can be gained by using this network can open a whole new avenue for your business. The idea of the site is posting a 140 character message about what you are doing (or what your local real estate market is doing). Be an expert in your field and let people know about it. Twitter is a great way to portray your knowledge and expertise. Once again posting open ended questions can be very effective. Links play a large part on Twitter as well. Posting links on current real estate trends and information is highly recommended, especially if they just so happen to be one of your web pages. Make sure not to forget the personal aspect of your Twitter page in terms of what you post and your appearance. Having a custom background and personal profile image will go a long way in providing dynamic character to your page.

LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is an online business profile designed to help you advance your professional network and join groups in areas of interest. Having a local list of real estate business contacts can promote professionalism within your office and personally connect you with future business partners. LinkedIn profiles in other areas of business outside of real estate are all potential clients. Groups are a great way to interact with other Realtors and prospect buyers or sellers. Join a group and make expert comments to further the discussion and your credibility within the network. If there isn’t a group within your local target market, create one! The main goal is to build your network by finding local people of interest and share your knowledge as an expert within groups.

There is so much potential with over 300 million people on Facebook alone. Keeping up with the ever-changing social media and online market can be difficult at times. Feel free to use this blog or our social networks to post comments, questions or concerns. Our goal is to give you the most current tools to become the information source for real estate in your area by communicating with current clients, progressing business to business relationships, building a solid online reputation and connecting with future clients.

Join Our Social Networks to Stay Up-To-Date With Online Marketing:

Facebook Page : http://www.facebook.com/justsnooping
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JSTweeting
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/justsnooping

Advanced Social Networking Tools:

Ping.fm – If you don’t have time for social networking, ping it. Syndicate your social networks and post once on ping.fm to post on all your social networks. Track hits on the links that you post and setup your blog to syndicate to your social networks.
Facebook.com/username – Create a custom url for your Facebook profile or page. Facebook pages are only allowed custom url’s after they have an established contact list.
Socialoomph.com – If Twitter is too basic for you and you still don’t see results in using the site, go here to take it to the next level. Too many features to list.
Twitterbacks.com – Simple site to creating custom Twitter background images. http://mashable.com/2009/05/23/twitter-backgrounds/ has additional information.
Search.twitter.com – Search Twitter for targeted keywords (leads). Ex. “Real Estate Seattle”
Twellow.com – Add your Twitter profile to the Yellow Pages of Twitter for increased exposure.

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