Posts Tagged ‘Social Networking’
Retarget Site Visitors to Maximize Lead Conversion
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
You do a lot of work to drive traffic to your website. Blogging, social media, SEO optimization, pay per click ads, postcard campaigns, drip messaging… It’s overwhelming and probably costs you a fair chunk of your income. Yet for all that, how many visitors land on your site once and for whatever reason, never come back? Well, now there is a way where you can follow up with your site visitors to remind them of your services, and even qualify those leads as you do so! The amazing thing is it’s very easy to do and costs far less than you think…
How Retargeting Works
Humans are creatures of habit. We seek information using certain guidelines or parameters. And, when there is something we are interested or curious in, we tend to notice things that relate to that item more readily. So, let’s say you are considering buying a house, you will search for information on the internet using some term like “buying a home in ______” (fill in the blank with a geographic location). You get a list of real estate websites, and will probably click on the first 3 or 4 before wondering what other resources you can find and try a different search, perhaps ending up on say, Realtor.com.
Now, consider this… You are starting to search around there, when you see an ad offering a custom luxury tour of a neighborhood you were just considering, or perhaps the ability to get greater details on a house you were interested in. Coincidence? Nope! Retargeting.
Because of your cookies, search engines can track every single place you visit on the internet. Google also has a vast network of advertisers, and they only get paid when someone clicks on one of those ads. So by combining these two pieces of information, Google has the ability to present specific ads to select people who have already shown an interest in that particular service or product, thus increase the likelihood the audience will click through.
You can leverage this for your site and business by developing targeted ads presenting tempting offers to entice the lead to return and engage with you.
Implementing a Retargeting Campaign
Firstly, you need to understand there are two different ways you can garner an audience for retargeting. The strongest by far is building your own list – which happens over time as people visit your site and are naturally tracked by their cookies – because you will already know that not only are they interested in real estate, but possibility even what specific kind of real estate. The second way is to use a “preset audience” which goes by established preferences based on browsing history, for example internet users who like horses, in a certain geographic region, and expressed an interest in real estate. This second method is not quite as accurate as the first, but allows you to get started right away.
Next step is to develop your ads. You must have a variety of them, because think about it… If you see the same thing getting shoved in your face over and over, are you really going to say yes the 10th time you see it when you’ve already said no 9 times before? Don’t think so! A templated ad builder is available, or you can have a designer customize and upload them. By the way, ever notice that ads are different sizes at different places on web pages? Some are a banner across the page, some a little box to the corner, some long up and down the side. You will need to have your ads created in all these sizes because Google will select ones that fit the available space.
You can control all aspects of your ads including budget, number of impressions, termination point, etc. You can set your ads to display according to certain keywords, or even specific websites. You can even control what they see when they get to your site, which means you can drop them right in the entrance to your click funnel. For example, here is Progressive Insurance’s general site at www.progressive.com:
Obviously, you see navigation, multiple offers, all kinds of access to all kinds of information. Now, look at what we get after clicking on a retargeted ad:
No navigation, no offers. One purpose, and one purpose only – follow the three easy steps. Note also that the box she is holding says “Auto” on it, because I searched using the keywords “car insurance.” I repeated this exercise using “house insurance”, and in the image she was holding two stacked boxes, you guessed it – one labeled “Homeowners” and the second “Auto.” So you can very simply drop your retargeted lead directly on the landing page for the offer you present, don’t make them think about it.
After launching, you will want the ads to run a couple of months until you saturate your market, then swap them out. It can still be the same offer, mind you – just a different way of presenting it. For example, you may start out with an ad offering a “No Committment CMA,” then go to “See Recent Sales in Your Neighborhood,” then swap to “Check Out Detailed Market Data.”
How Much Does Retargeting Cost?
So, I’m telling you that you can follow up with warm leads on a consistent basis over a long period of time with a single effort of setting up a couple ads. You’re saying, this has got to be yet another major expense to undertake, right? Actually, it costs less than standard pay per click.
To determine the cost of an ad, you have to balance out the per click payment versus its quality score. On the basic level, Google determines the quality score by the number of times a given ad is displayed (an impression) and the number of people who respond to it. If the ad has too low of a quality score, Google will shut it down because the ad is not making money. On the other hand, if you are getting people clicking through but still not engaging, it is not worth any money you are paying and you need to revise the ad.
Now, let’s look at a return on investment. Studies show it takes an average of 7 touches for someone to engage with a site. If you are paying $4 per click to get a visitor to your site using pay per click, but out of 100 visitors only 2 engage, that’s $392 lost. Now, if you can pay a fraction of that to retarget those other 98 visitors over a period of weeks or months, you vastly increase your exposure and the chances of those warm leads returning, thereby increasing your return on the initial investment.
In the end, retargeting comes out less expensive than standard pay per click. PPC is triggered by keyword searches, which although gives you a “best guess” does not necessarily identify any specific need. On the other hand, retargeting is based in the actual content the user elects to view, which is a far more accurate gauge. So Google charges less based on the likelihood being much higher of someone clicking on a retargeted ad versus a generalized pay per click ad.
Best Practices for Successful Retargeted Ads
As always, there are a few guidelines you should follow when creating and launching your campaign:
- Make sure your ad shows on related sites. A guy shopping for lingerie for his wife on Victoria’s Secret is NOT thinking about real estate. Do not waste your time and money displaying your ad to him. Be sure your keywords are specific enough that only sites related to real estate are used.
- Don’t make it easy for your competition. Don’t show paid ads on your blog or site. You cannot control what ads Google shows on your site, and it would be mighty embarrassing to have a competitor stealing your leads.
- Follow good marketing practices. As always, your ads should focus on benefits first and foremost, have big headlines and a strong call to action.
- Give ‘em what they want. Few things are more frustrating to a visitor than having to search for the promised information. If your ad offers a specific product or service, make sure the link takes them directly there, not to your home page landing. The whole point of this is to channel them into your click funnel.
Although some companies have been using retargeting for quite some time, it is becoming more and more prevalent. To find out more about actually implementing retargeting, you can go here: http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/remarketing.html
When used strategically and judiciously – there is a huge difference between retargeting and cyberstalking – this long-term method of marketing to potential online clients has shown itself to have tremendous success.
NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.
Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.OnlineDominance.com and Facebook page at Facebook.com/OnlineDominance
This article is reprinted in its entirety from the December 2011 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark of RUSSER Communications.
The Gift of Being Grateful
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
How often do you go out of your way to help people? Most real estate agents complain their time is already crunched with too many demands. Being almost constantly overwhelmed can make us blind to other situations going on around us. This also, unfortunately, makes us blind to the possibilities or gifts available to us at any given moment as well.
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart. — Henry Clay
I read a news story lately about a man who, although late for an appointment, stopped to help a stranger on the side of the highway change a tire. Nice, right? Just hold on… The tire being secure, the man gets in his car and drives off, but a couple miles up the road suffers a heart attack! Meanwhile, the man he had just helped with the tire came along, called for help and performed CPR until medics arrived – saved his life. If the first man had not stopped to help with that tire, the second would not have been able to get there in time to rescue him.
The message here is not original, but is a very simple and profound truth. Soon or later, you get what you give, often multifold. And not just the normal things you do for people in your everyday life. It’s the special times, the times when you see an opportunity to do something meaningful for another even though it is not convenient or enjoyable for you.
As Thanksgiving approaches (for the U.S. anyway), take a minute to think about the news story I mentioned, and by turns put yourself into the position of each man. Imagine how grateful the guy felt who needed help changing his tire that someone had enough empathy to pull over on a highway and provide assistance. Imagine the depth of gratitude the man having the heart attack felt to have someone there who knew what to do to pull him through. Imagine what the outcome would have been had neither of those two events happened?
What are you truly grateful for? Who made what happen in order for that to be possible? You never know how deeply what may seem like a simple act on your part impacts another person. So look for those opportunities, enrich someone else’s life… as well as your own.
5 Tips for Reaching the Millennial Generation
Friday, October 28th, 2011
Have you stopped to think how technology driven our society is today? It seems worlds away from where we were twenty, fifteen, even ten years ago! In fact, there’s a whole generation of people who don’t even know what life was like before the internet. They’ve grown up with immediate access to an abundance of information at their fingertips, a fast paced social life and are novices as quickly sorting through the best and most convenient path to take in any given situation. They’re call “Millennials.”
So, how do you reach this 17-34 year old, on-the-go generation? Since they are the next wave of home buyers and sellers, being able to capture their attention and speak their language is vital!
Two of the key aspects are to be mobile and be social.
Millennials aren’t tied to a desk top, but reliant on their smartphones, tablets and laptops. Being as mobile as they are will help you keep their speed. Being social reaches them where they spend the majority of their time and will help keep you at the forefront of their mind when they do decide to enter the real estate market.
Here are five main ways you can reach the Millennial generation with your marketing as pointed out by Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Millennial generation marketing agency Mr Youth.
Utility: Millennials are multitaskers. They have 15 tabs open in their Chrome browser while their iPhones push Twitter alerts and their Facebook feeds are blowing up. They don’t want their time to be wasted, so you’re best suited by offering tools to help streamline their day, as opposed to adding one more thing to check.
Keeping on top of your Twitter and Facebook accounts can help streamline their online time as you feed your blog and other social media sites through these hubs.
Entertainment: The average YouTube user spends 15 to 25 minutes per day on the site; we like being entertained. And since traditional media consumption is being turned on its head by streaming services, companies need to find a new way to get in front of their audiences and entertain them.
Having a custom YouTube channel for your listings and community videos will spark their interest and give them that visual entertainment they’re searching for.
Information: We are bombarded daily by information online, and one huge reason we use the web is to find more of it. The information you provide on your blog and other social media sites needs to be current and relevant in order for the Millenials to take the time to read it. They’re smart and will quickly dismiss any information they feel like they’ve heard a thousand times. They simply don’t have time for it. Fresh and pertinent information is key!
Rewards: Rewarding is most effective as a retention tool, and not an acquisition tool, Britton says. Offering a prize to your 200th follower might get you a few more fans, but they’re only there for the free stuff and not because they’re huge fans of your business. On the other hand, rewarding your existing fans is a great way to bolster their connection to your company.
Whether you’re offering an exclusive coupon or a prize, be sure to reward the existing fans who got you are past clients or current leads. These are your loyal fans who are most likely to stick with you and use you again in the future, unlike a fair-weather follower who only showed up for the latest contest.
Recognition: Be appreciative of your fans’ interest and support of your company (it doesn’t have to be monetary, even a “thank you” will go a long way). Branding isn’t just important for companies as millennials are all building their own personal brands, too.
If you have a current client who is showing in a local gallery; recognize their accomplishment on your sites! Having your recognition and interest in their lives will show them you care and show others that you’re a real estate agent who will go above and beyond. This will give them even more reason to tell their friends about you and your services, which could result in even more leads for you in the future.
Now, it may sound like it will take a lot of extra time and effort to reach out to this next generation of home buyers, but taking it a day at a time will go a long way. If you find you don’t have the time needed to reach out to this demographic in the way they need to be reached, your Real Estate Virtual Assistant will be a great resource in helping you achieve your goals!
Contact Carrie
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6 Ways to Customize Your Facebook Business Page
Friday, October 7th, 2011
As a real estate agent, you know that it takes much more than just a website to establish a worthwhile presence for your business. Maintaining a web presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others is extremely valuable in terms of connecting with prospects and clients, sharing content and generating leads.
But unlike your own website, it is not always easy to customize your social networking pages to your liking. You are forced to work within the set parameters and design limitations given to you, which can make it difficult to achieve a unique presence that sets you a part from your competitors.
But nothing is impossible, right? Here are several things you can do to uniquely brand and customize your Facebook Business Page.
1. Claim Your URL – Make sure your Facebook page is as shareable and easy to find as possible. You can achieve this by creating a more recognizable vanity URL. For example: http://www.facebook.com/username (insert company name here). Straight and to the point is all it takes for effective results. This will also make your page more professional, more identifiable and will make it easier to share with others. Keep in mind: you need at least 25 fans on your Facebook page before you can create a custom URL. Think of it as an incentive to really invest in growing your social media presence!
2. Generate a Custom Welcome Page – A welcome page can be used to welcome new visitors to your page and will encourage them to ‘Like’ you. By having a welcome page, visitors will not be able to view your page without liking it first. (Remember, your posts will not show up in newsfeeds unless you are ‘liked’) Set this page as your ‘Default Landing Tab’ so it’s the first page people will land on when visiting your page. There are several free services that you can use to create a landing page. You can also have website providers such as RealPro create a landing tab for your page that will match the branding of your website. Another option is to have your real estate virtual assistant create a custom landing tab for you.
3. Make Your Picture Stand Out – Your Facebook Profile Picture doesn’t always need to be your company logo. Be creative! Do you have an amazing new property that you would like to make known? Did one of your team members win an award? Honor them by making them your picture for a day or two. If you’re feeling spontaneous, you may want to experiment with different colors, themes and designs to get heads turning.
4. Create Custom Tabs – You can create custom tabs on your Facebook page to feature whatever or whoever you want. A few ideas of what to use could be: client testimonials, featured listings, product information, and publicizing your social media presence on other networks.
5. Generate Tabs Showcasing Other Content – In addition to your custom tabs, you can add a tab to your Facebook page to showcase work you’ve published to other websites or social networking channels. Maybe you have a slideshow presentation that you would like to make public. To get this content on you Facebook Page, all you need to do is create a SlideShare account and add the SlideShare app to your page. You can also do this with your other accounts such as Flickr and YouTube.
6 .Run a Contest or Promotion – Running a contest or a promotion is a great way to generate conversation and feedback to your page. It will also help to attract new fans and make your presence more unique. If you are having a hard time thinking up contests, look at it in terms of month by month. For example, for the month of October you could host a Halloween Costume Contest by encouraging fans to post pictures of their costumes. The contests/promotions could have prizes, or simply be for fun and engagement.
Establishing an online presence for any business is tough. It takes time, dedication and motivation, which are all things driven real estate agents know a lot about.
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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Multiple Custom Facebook Tabs That Cost Nothing!
Monday, June 13th, 2011
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how to make a Facebook Welcome Tab that helped convert visitors into fans. It depended on the ability to create a custom Facebook tab which back then was not free. I’ve now discovered a way to do this that costs nothing and even allows you to create up to 12 custom tabs on the same Facebook page. Here’s how…
Static HTML is a free Facebook app that let’s you create these custom tabs very easily. It also gives you the ability to create “fan” and “non-fan” versions of each tab with any kind of Web content you can imagine. And, just as importantly, these tabs are still visible to those visitors who have logged into Facebook via the secure method.
Using this app to create custom tabs is very straightforward. However, if you would like to see a brief step-by-step tutorial on how to use this app to create your custom tabs just go to www.Facebook.com/OnlineDominance and click the Free “How To” Videos! tab (yes, I created it with Static HTML) and watch the first video.
Your ability to stand out and generate new business via Facebook is changing almost daily. I will continue to do my best to help you discover and implement the best of these. The key word here is “implement”. The only useful tool is the one you implement.
Don’t Be Afraid To Get a Little Personal
Friday, May 13th, 2011Let’s be honest: people want to work with people that they like. Agents know that their clients stick with them because they like them, and a lot of that has to do with the time and effort that they have put in to building their relationships with each client individually. Whether they let their clients know that they’re stopping by their town on vacation or simply ask them how their weekend is, agents always take the time to go that extra mile and be personable. It makes the working relationship that much stronger.
The same thing applies when it comes to social networking. Don’t forget, Facebook and Twitter are social sites. When you use it as a marketing platform, it is important to maintain professionalism and show your expertise in your field, but it’s also important to be personable! The only way to invite interaction onto your page or get someone to tweet you back is to not worry so much about always keeping it business-related. Sometimes, it’s alright to be a little bit personal and share what is going on in your life.
For many real estate agents, this can be a bit intimidating. You’re of course worried about your image and how you come off to your fans. You don’t want to come off as someone who shares too much, or as someone who isn’t professional. This is completely understandable, but it’s also bad to go the other route. Nobody is going to be interested in a page where it’s all business, all the time. They’re far less inclined to interact with you on your social networking sites if they don’t think that you’re approachable. The key is to have the right balance between personal and business on your business page.
Ask a question. You’ll be surprised how a simple question such as “What are you doing this weekend?” generates response. People want to share what is going on with them, especially if it’s exciting or important to them. Taking a vested interest in what your fans are up to is key to beginning to interact with them, and that is the ultimate goal of social networking. If someone responds to you saying what they’re doing with their weekend, write back to them and let them know what you’re doing with yours. This creates a conversation that isn’t intimidating. You’ll be starting a discussion with someone that could be a potential lead one day without having a hard-selling approach. Starting a gradual conversation that allows you to get to know your fans can only pay off down the line.
Don’t be afraid to post about your family, friends, upcoming events, or exciting personal news. People are interested in hearing about other people. It’s just part of our social culture. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are so popular because they allow you to keep track of people you have lost touch with and local businesses or non-profits that you support. The best thing you can do as a real estate agent with a business page is have the occasional post or tweet that shares what you and your family are doing for that weekend or an exciting personal achievement. When you do this, people feel like they know you, and if one of your fans is going through something similar, they will likely respond to you. When people feel like they have something in common with those that they’re doing business with, it makes them feel more comfortable and strengthens your working relationship.
Take an active interest in your fans. Your fans don’t always have to be the ones to interact with you first. If you “like” a local business and see that they have posted some exciting news, congratulate them and ask them to keep you posted. If you see that one person interacts with your page on a regular basis, go ahead and friend them on Facebook, sending them a message that you’re the admin of your page. Once you’re friends with them, you can start interacting with them on their personal Facebook. On Twitter, if you see that someone is visiting your area or that their family has something in common with yours, shoot them a tweet and ask them about it. Doing things like this, gradually, of course, is the best way to start building relationships with current and future clients. The better people know you, the more they’re inclined to work with you, and part of establishing that connection on social networking sites is to be friendly and show an interest in getting to know them.
For many real estate agents, the prospect of getting too personal on Facebook and Twitter is stopping them from seeing the potential that social networking has as a marketing tool. While it is important to maintain the professional image that you’re so well known for, it’s also key to be personable and interactive on any social networking site. Taking an active interest in your fans and going above and beyond to find things in common with them will only benefit your business.
Make it a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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How Well Do You Know Your Social Media Audience?
Monday, April 11th, 2011It’s apparent that the key to having a successful social media presence is by having a strong following. It sounds simple enough, but this is something that several agents struggle with when they start their social media marketing campaign. Agents with large followings and a successful online following don’t have any special secret or trick that they use to obtain success, they just know the golden tip for building up your following: you have to know your audience.
The reason that social media is successful as a marketing tool is because it allows businesses to interact with their consumers. The only way, however, that you can get the interaction you need to have a successful social media presence is by knowing your audience. What interests them? What information will they want to read about on your page? What will spark their interest in your page enough to get them to interact with you?
Using some of these tips will help you get to know your followers even better:
Know who your target demographic is. Who are you targeting? Buyers? Sellers? First-time homebuyers? Empty-nesters? What age group are you trying to interact with? What geographic location are you targeting? It’s important when you’re maintaining both your Facebook and Twitter accounts that you post information that is relevant and interesting to the types of people that you’re trying to engage with. If you try to post information for too broad of a scope of people, you end up having a page that is too general and won’t get any interaction. Before you start setting-up your page, make sure you know the answers to some of these questions. Don’t make your target market too narrow, but narrow it down enough that your page will be engaging for the types of people you’d want to be your next client.
First impressions are key. If someone becomes a fan of your Facebook page or follows you on Twitter, make sure you thank them! When someone decides to follow you in some way online, that’s their way of making the first step to interact with you. The best way to make a good first impression on your new follower or fan is to send them a message on Facebook or mention on your Twitter page thanking them for deciding to follow you. We suggest that you try to personalize th
ese messages because then you’ll seem more genuine and people will be more willing to interact with you. On Twitter, it’s okay to mention someone on your page, but if you see a new follower who could be a lead or looks like somebody you’d be very interested in interacting with, you should send them a direct, personalized message thanking them. This is something that is easy to do and can be done every day in a short period of time! You never know what types of interactions can begin just by thanking someone.
Don’t be silent-join the conversation on your page! When someone comments on something you post on Facebook or re-tweets one of your tweets, don’t just ignore them! Respond to them and start engaging them in conversation. The more you interact with people on your social media pages, the more comfortable they’ll feel coming back and talking to you more. It’s also a great way to get to know your audience more and what types of content they respond to.
Ask questions!! The best way to 
encourage your fans and followers to give you their input or engage with you is to ask questions. For the holidays, ask your fans what their gift ideas for Mom and Dad are. On Friday, ask your fans what they’re doing that weekend. Doing this frequently shows that you care about your following and what they have to say. When you’re on Facebook, you can use the Discussions tab to ask questions and start conversations with your fans, and you can use your wall to direct fans to the discussion tab. This tab is a fantastic resource to use because people can engage and talk with people who are also interested in that topic, whereas conversations taking place entirely on the wall can sometimes be overlooked. This is another way to make people feel more comfortable coming to your page and interacting. Remember, the more approachable and engaging you seem on your profile, the more comfortable people will feel using social media to begin a conversation with you.
Follow back. This sounds simple enough, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t take the time to follow people back on Twitter or fan back a page or local business that liked them on Facebook. Besides the fact that this simply makes you look more friendly, the best way to get to know your online following is to look at their profiles. It’s also important to remember that if you find a fan or follower that you’re interested in, REALLY follow them! That is, if you found them on Twitter, try and interact with them on Facebook as well. Read their content, read their blogs, and start engaging with them on their page as well as your own. Taking the time to get to know the online presence of a potential lead, business contact, or interesting fan will help you get to know your overall audience much better, and you can converse with them on similar interests that you both share in terms.
Check out their following. This might not be something you’d initially think to do, but think about how much you could learn about the interests of your following by looking at who else they’re a fan of on Facebook or following on Twitter. You could also see potential new leads and fans by doing this. Remember, people are more likely to respond to you in the social media world if they feel you have common interests or a common friend, and so looking at your following’s audience and picking the ones relevant to you could help you not only build your online presence, but engage with more people as they feel that you’d have something else in common.
We know it sounds as though these initiatives take a lot of time, but in the long run, it is worth getting to know your audience. The more you get to know your online following, their interests, and what they’re looking for, the more likely they are to interact with you. If you don’t have the time, ask your Real Estate Virtual Assistant to manage your social media presence.
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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How to Develop Your Online Kaizen
Monday, April 4th, 2011
If you had a choice between instant results and “slow and steady” implementation, which would you choose? Okay, now which one is reality? Well for most people it’s neither, but for the really smart ones it’s the latter.
Last night I had a chat with one of my all-time favorite students, Doug Newby. The purpose of the call was to get his permission to include his Website’s monthly unique visitor count for a Realtor Magazine article I’m writing (over 25,000/mo. in case you were wondering).
Our conversation quickly evolved into reminiscing about how we first got together. He was in the audience of a presentation I did on behalf of the Dallas Association of Realtors, way back in the 1990′s. After the session he came up to me and tried to hire me as a consultant (at several hundred dollars per hour) which I politely turned down.
Not one to be frustrated in his attempt to move his online business forward, Doug attended one of my first 3-Day Advanced Workshops in the early 2000′s. Even though he had made some changes to his Website (based upon my first presentation) it had a long ways to go. He volunteered to be on the “Hot Seat” in front of the entire workshop audience –which was a gutsy thing to do. There wasn’t much left of his Website by the time I was through with it, other than the possibilities of something much greater. Instead of feeling dejected, Doug literally glowed with the excitement of what could be. In fact he won a medal from my staff and me at the end of the 3 days for being the one attendee with the greatest possibilities of improvement.
The following year he attended yet another 3-Day Workshop (still in the early 2000′s) and proudly announced that his online business had shot up 300% from the previous year. He has continued to make small, incremental improvements over the years to his Website. And then in July 2009 he took the leap of creating his ModernHomes Facebook page. Though he was very uncertain about this whole “social media thing” he trudged onward with the advice of Brad Carroll and myself. In just over 18 months his fan base for this page went from zero to over 300,000. And as a result of his slow and steady approach to implementing other proven online principles, his Website now enjoys over 25,000 unique visitors a month and has higher Google rankings than even 500 agent firms in the Dallas area.
Oh, there is one thing I almost forgot to mention. Doug will be the first person to admit that he is anything but a techy. He can send and receive email and use a Web browser without getting lost, but that’s about it.
We live in an “instant” world. Instant news, instant pain relief, instant weight loss, instant wealth. There is no pill to take or silver bullet to purchase that will cause your business to flourish immediately.
Doug Newby, with his contagious enthusiasm, sense of wonder and commitment to consistent incremental improvements is a perfect example of what really does work. His Kaizen approach to business is an inspiration that we all could look up to and learn from.
Three Key Elements to an Effective Facebook Ad
Friday, March 18th, 2011When you first create your Facebook business page, it can take awhile to get people to become your fan. Many people are hesitant to like a page with few or no fans, and the key is to get a viral effect going. Once people see that you have a good number of fans, they’re more likely to jump on the bandwagon. One of the best ways to get your fan numbers up is to run a Facebook ad promoting your page. Running an ad exposes your page to a large volume of people that are within your target demographic, and that means that the people who end up becoming your fans are more likely to be potential clients. The trick is to get people to click on your ad and see what your Facebook page has to offer. That’s where these three key elements come in:
Have an eye-catching graphic. The generic Facebook ad that you can run just has your business page’s profile picture as the ad’s graphic. While we’re sure that your profile pictures are very nice, the key to getting people to look at an ad is a unique graphic that is eye-catching and different. Whether it’s a stunning picture of your city’s skyline or a breathtaking country view, you want the picture to be able to stand out amongst a group of other ads. You might also want to put some sort of text over the picture in an interesting, colorful font. The text should be enticing, making the viewer curious about what the ad is about. Whether it’s a question or a promise of a discount, the text should make someone want to read your ad and click on it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be real-estate related, either. Your graphic can be more about your geographical area, niche marget, or target demographic. After all, you want to be seen as both a real estate expert AND community resource.
- Intrigue potential fans with the ad copy. You have a 135 character limit for the ad copy on Facebook ads. That is less space than a tweet! You have a limited amount of room to summarize what your page is all about and include your geographic area, too. That means that when it comes to Facebook ad copy, you have to get creative. You want your ad copy to be just as enticing and intriguing as your image. This can be difficult, but you might want to start by picking a few key words or phrases that summarize your geographic area, niche, and what your page is about. For example, if your area is in South Florida and you target golf communities, you might want to include, “Golfing”, “Sun”, “Easy Living” and “Real Estate” as key phrases in your ad copy. You will also want to include your geographic area, (South Florida, in this example), and also entice the person viewing your ad to like the page. You’ll have to play around with the phrasing, but your end result could be something like “Golfing under the sun. Easy living. Quality real estate. Wouldn’t you “like” to join our Florida community?” This ad copy is within the 135 character limit, paints a picture of what your geographic area and niche is, and also gives the person clicking on the ad an idea that this is a real estate related page. It’s also worded and phrased in a way that’s enticing and interesting, and people would be intrigued to see what your page is about.
- Know your target demographic, and use it. The best part about Facebook ads is how targeted they are. Their targeting is incredibly specific, so you can cater each ad you run specifically to the select group of people who you would want to be your next client. You can target your ad based on geographic location down to the city. You can also go even deeper and select the age range, gender, marital status, and languages you want to target. If your clients are largely a Spanish-speaking group, you can cater your ad to target only Spanish-speaking users! You can also select your demographics based upon your client’s interests, level of education, and even what specific company or workplace they work in! As you continue to target your ad, you will see a column on the right side of the page that says “estimated reach.” This tells you how many people will be able to see your ad, based upon the demographics you’re putting in. The more specific you are, the more the estimated reach goes down, and the more targeted your ad becomes. The idea of being as specific as possible with your targeting is to narrow the scope of who sees your ad. The reason you want to narrow down your target demographic as much as possible, instead of making your ad available for all of Facebook to see, is because you want anyone who becomes a fan of your page to be your next potential client. In order to do that, you really need to target your ad specifically to that group. If you only have 200 people on Facebook who can see your ad, after you put in the demographics, you can be assured that those 200 people are the type of people who would be your next client.
To put it all together, having the right image, ad copy, and specific demographics are the three key elements to getting the results that you want from your ad. Used correctly, Facebook ads can be an essential tool to getting you more fans. The more fans you have, the sooner the viral effect will start, and your fan base will start growing more rapidly! These are the three pieces of the puzzle that you need for an effective and successful ad that gives you the results you want, and with a little time and creativity, it’s possible for you to create one! If you feel as though you can’t sit down and spend the time to make an ad that looks and sounds great, your real estate virtual assistants are happy to help! We’re all about building up your social networking presence.
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What Should Feed Where? Breaking Down Social Media Feeds
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Feed your Facebook business page to your Twitter account. Many Facebook users feed their Twitter to Facebook, but when you do that your Facebook page statuses are comprised of tweets, and not all of the Facebook community speaks the Twitter language. That’s why we recommend feeding Facebook to Twitter. That way every time you update your Facebook, the post automatically feeds to Twitter as a tweet, and your followers can read that great content. It will also fit in nicely with the rest of your tweets, as Twitter users both understand Twitter language and the normal English you use on your Facebook page. In order to feed your Facebook to Twitter, you simply log in to your Facebook and go to http://www.facebook.com/twitter and link your business page to Twitter. After you authorize the application to access your Twitter account, you simply select which types of posts you want on your Twitter page and click “Save Changes.” It’s possibly the easiest feed you can ever do, and it increases your efficiency, because if you only have time to update your Facebook that day, the feed will insure that you at least have the content from your Facebook on your Twitter, too. Feed your blog to your Facebook page. One of the best ways to drive traffic to your blog is to have your blog posts automatically feed to your Facebook. Every time you post a new blog, it just wastes another 5-10 minutes to log on to Facebook, write a cute little intro, and attach a link to your latest article. When you automatically feed the blog, you don’t have to worry about manually posting it, and it instantly provides your wall with great content. Since you’ve already fed your Facebook page to Twitter, that means that once your blog feeds to Facebook, it will show up on your Twitter page, too. We feed blogs to Facebook using a free service called Twitterfeed. You simply register for an account, create the feed using the user-friendly set-up, and then the website automatically checks for a new post every few hours. It’s the most reliable service that we’ve found for blog feeds, and since it’s free and user-friendly, it only takes a few minutes of your time to set up. This is one of the most imperative feeds that you can have for your social media sites, as the more traffic you bring to your blog, the better, and the more quality content you have on your social media sites, the more interaction you will get.
Feed both your Twitter and blog to LinkedIn. Between posting on Facebook and tweeting good content daily, it’s easy to forget about LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is great for networking with other agents and building your professional reputation within your field, it’s not conducive for interacting with your clients, which is the ultimate goal of social media. That’s why oftentimes, many agents let their LinkedIn become lower on the priority list than Facebook and Twitter. If you simply set up these two feeds for LinkedIn, you wont’ have to worry about manually updating your profile anymore. These two feeds will make sure that you have a populated profile with quality content to share with your professional network.
The first feed you’ll want to set up is your Twitter to LinkedIn feed. You simply log in to your LinkedIn account, click, “Edit Profile”, and add your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile. Then you go to the main homepage and find the “Applications” menu at the bottom of the page, and select the “Tweets” application. You want your tweets to show up on your profile and your homepage. You also want to set the settings so that ALL of your tweets feed to your profile, NOT just the ones with the #in hashtag after them. You click “Add Application” and your tweets should automatically show up on your profile! When you feed Twitter to LinkedIn, ALL of your tweets will show up on your profile, which puts high-quality content on your page. The kicker is that since your Facebook feeds to Twitter, and your Twitter feeds to LinkedIn, everything you post on your Facebook will show up on LinkedIn due to the feed you had already created! Content from all of your other social networking sites will provide enough content for your LinkedIn profile.
After you set up that feed, you’ll want to make sure that your enticing blog posts show up on your LinkedIn profile, too. In order to feed your blog, you log in to your account, click “Edit Profile”, and you edit your websites on your profile. Select “Blog” as one of the websites you’re adding to your page, put in your blog’s URL, and save. Once your blog is saved as one of your websites, you can go back to the home page, go to the Applications drop-down menu, and select the “Blog Link” application. After you add the application, your blog posts, as well as blog posts from the people in your network, will automatically show up on your LinkedIn profile. This is another efficient way to make your content available to your network, and it also populates your LinkedIn profile even more. Between your weekly blog posts and your daily tweets, you’ll have enough content on your profile that you won’t have to log in to LinkedIn as much!
Is your head spinning yet? Not to worry, when you read it all at once, it sounds a lot more confusing than it really is. If you just break down this blog post into one feed at a time, you’ll find that setting up these feeds doesn’t take much time and will be beneficial to how efficiently you do your social media marketing. Once you have all of these feeds set up, you can rest easy knowing that all of your sites will be populated with high-quality content for your community and prospective clients to read, and that just makes you look like even more of a real estate and community expert to more people. If this all still seems puzzling to you, or you don’t think that you have time to sit down and figure this all out, your Real Estate Virtual Assistants will be happy to take care of this for you as part of your social networking setup!
Contact Carrie
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