If I was an agent, there are a few things I would do ASAP to kick-start my lead generation using Twitter:

1.    Take your Twitter campaign seriously. If you were to start a direct mail farming campaign today – how long would it take you to see results? 1 year? 2 years? The same is true for social media. You must be committed to the process to see results. Still not convinced Twitter can make you money? Check out what Dell has done!

2.    Search for the type of clients you want to work with! Check out DemandStop – this web site helps agents farm Twitter for local leads. Find locals based on location and keyword relevancy (house hunting, apartments, rent, condos, etc.).  You can search your location and connect with real people looking for real estate in real time. Another option is to check out the Advanced Search function on Twitter. Search key words, hashtags, specific words – all within a certain geographic area.

3.    Put energy into conversations.

• Re-tweet comments of interest. Why? The obvious reason is that you like the info and feel it is worth repeating. The not-so-obvious reason is that when you re-tweet it shows people you reciprocate! Others will start to re-tweet your posts. The re-tweet is PARAMOUNT to your success on Twitter. When you post something – it goes to your couple hundred followers. What if 5 of those people re-tweeted it? And then another 10 re-tweeted it again? Your audience and potential leads grows exponentially.
• Respond to all mentions and messages. See who has mentioned you and thank them – every day! Respond to DM’s. Send a quick ‘thank you’ DM to anyone who follows you (but do not send them a slimy spam message!)
• Share your lifestyle -  be personal, be real. People want to connect with real PEOPLE!

4.    Treat Twitter like drip marketing. Tweet about what you are working on: working with new clients, building your referral network, interesting industry info, local market stats that link back to your site or blog (Altos Research is a great option for this.) Plan your tweets out – just like drip marketing using SocialOomph or Hootsuite.

5.    Add your Twitter handle to everything with your name on it. Wherever you have your phone number, add your Twitter handle: email signatures, Facebook page, website, blog, listing materials, business cards, and more!

Looking for more info?  Check out Tom Ferry’s video from Connect NYC talking about this very subject at Connect. You do have to be a premium member to watch, but this video alone is worth the price!
Have you started generating leads on Twitter? What is working for you? Share your tips and comments below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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However, this year, a lot of big names like Pepsi are scaling way back and spending more of their money and time on social media.

Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its ‘Pepsi Refresh’ initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20M in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.  “This is such a fundamental change from anything we’ve done in the past,” says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “… The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”

How does this apply to Realtors?

1.    You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a lot of buzz. In the past if you wanted to brand yourself you’d spend a lot of money on glossy magazines, park benches, and even worse – grocery carts. These days all you need is time and a plan. Within minutes you can create a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn account. With that you are armed to build your brand. You know those agents who put together detailed spreadsheets and calendars outlining their farming or SOI strategy? That’s the type of detail I’m talking about. To create a lot of buzz you have to get serious about your social media plan.

2.    Get creative. I love that some of the super bowl ads are getting super creative with social media – like Monster.com’s campaign. Having a 2-way dialog is key – asking for opinions, launching a contest, or creating a fundraiser. How can you RALLY your fans and start the dialog? If you are on Twitter create your own unique hashtag – for the 1st time the Super Bowl will have its own official hashtag #SB44. What could yours be?  How about #SoCalRE or #CARealEstate? Make sure you save that hashtag in your search. Respond to everyone who uses that hashtag twice a day – pretty soon the conversation will be rolling!

3.    Pick a few things and do them really, really well. With so many social media options, a lot of Realtors get overwhelmed.  If you’re going to do Facebook or Twitter – be a rock star at them. Post multiple times daily, post great content, be engaging – and treat it as seriously as if you were paying thousands of dollars for it! If you missed my post last week about Facebook, check it out here to see what you must be doing as a Realtor to be successful.

For those of you still wondering the effectiveness of social media, Alterian SM2 has been tracking the Super Bowl advertisers since early December. It has just released the latest version of its social media analysis and the findings are pretty interesting.

Super Bowl Social Media Results 3 Feb 10

p.s. Looking to see some of those “banned” Super Bowl ads? Look no further!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Just announced yesterday, the JooJoo tablet computer will begin shipping to pre-orders later this month. With all the hype behind the Apple iPad tablet, the timing could be perfect for Fusion Garage to launch the JooJoo as Apple has done the hard part of creating a huge viral buzz for ‘the next great thing.’  The JooJoo is listed for sale at $499 and will include Flash.

Fusion Garage CEO said, “It has a much larger screen, 12.1 inches instead of 9.7 inches. The resolution is 1368 by 768 pixels instead of 1024 by 768. There are an extra 300 pixels of length, so it’s 16:9 widescreen resolution instead of 4:3. And the Web browsing experience is even better than the iPad, because of the size of the screen.”

One thing to note – the JooJoo won’t have an app store.

Is Steve Jobs worried? Probably not

What do you think? Leave your comments here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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5 Things Every Realtor Must do to Be Successful on Facebook:

1.    Post good content daily. This is the #1 one thing that I see agents NOT doing. They spend time calling or emailing clients, but they drop the ball on their Facebook page. You should be posting 2-3 times a day. A good formula for Realtors on Facebook is: 2 parts personal and 1 part business. Corcoran does a great job of this – they post interesting real estate and market data but also sprinkle in really cool and unique links to New York city, little known facts, places to eat, etc.

2.    Have a plan and stick to it. Make a list of the top 10 sites you like to visit – include news sites (i.e. Inman News, NY Times, etc), recreational sites (gardening, travel, etc), and of course your website or blog. Visit this list daily. This makes it very easy for you to link to interesting stories and post good and relevant content daily.

3.    Do it yourself. As a Realtor you can’t hire out someone to manage your Facebook account for you. You have to make time – every morning and every evening to manage your account. You can however hire someone to enhance your page and make custom tabs with HTML. Mike Mueller is a great resource for this.

4.    Comment on what others post. This is KEY! It is not all about YOU!   Take 5 minutes out of your Facebook time each day to comment on what some of your friends or fans have said.

5.    Be engaging. Ask questions, post photos, be a part of the conversation. Remember Facebook is like the ultimate dinner party. At a dinner party you wouldn’t sit in the corner and not talk to anyone right? Nor would you JUST talk about real estate.

Here are some great examples of Realtors doing many of the right things on Facebook:
Sue Adler
The GoodLife Team
Julie Ziemelis

Do you have a great Facebook page you’d like to share? Leave me a comment here!

Check out the Inman Facebook Page here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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In the meantime, I thought I’d add a little humor to the conversation. Enjoy!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Rumored to be anywhere from $500-$1000 many Realtors will undoubtedly be wondering if they should make the switch to a tablet-like device. The launch of the all-in-one touch-screen tablet computer on will most likely spark the same excitement from agents and brokers that followed the iPhone’s launch in 2007.

What would the Apple Tablet mean for Realtors?

1. Portability

This may be the single biggest selling factor Apple will have when marketing to Realtors.  A Realtor could easily slip the tablet into their bag or briefcase. If the tablet is as sleek and thin as rumored, it will be simpler to transport than a traditional laptop.  Also, as agents are moving more and more away from a “traditional” office – something as light and portable as the tablet is sure to be enticing.

2. Paperless

This topic has been talked about for a few years at least – but the tablet may be the catalyst to make it happen industry-wide. The tablet potentially will have the ability to easily pull up contracts and receive digital signatures on the spot. If this is the case, a client would be able to literally ‘sign’ their contract on the tablet – much like how they accept a UPS package by signing on the UPS ‘tablet. ‘ In addition, there is certainly the ‘impress ability’ factor – clients will certainly be impressed by their tech savvy agent.

3. Easy learning curve

One thing I have heard over and over again by agents, is how easy the iPhone and other touch-screen smartphones were to learn. A short learning curve is key.  The only downside I can foresee is that unfortunately, some agent website vendors and MLS still are not compatible with Safari. If the tablet sweeps the Realtor world by storm, vendors and MLS’ will have to sit up and take notice. As mentioned at Connect NYC – now is the time to take a hard look at your vendors and see if they are in line with the goals you have set for yourself for 2010.

I am curious about your thoughts!

Will you consider purchasing an Apple Tablet? Why or why not?  A recent survey says 1 in 5 consumers will purchase one. Leave your comments here on the blog – thanks!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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I kept thinking, “If I was a Realtor, what would be my big take-away from Connect?”

At opening session, Brad Inman talked about 2 things that caught my attention:
1.    The world is changing – real time search, location, news, comments, reviews, auctions and collaboration, and of course real estate.
2.    In this age of “digital addiction” take time to “look up” and connect with people face to face.

So taking those two things into consideration, if I was a Realtor – here would be the 2 big things I would implement ASAP into my business:

1.    Mobile technology. If I was a Realtor I would make sure that I had a mobile strategy in place. In his opening message, Brad Inman, Publisher, Inman News said, “One of the biggest shifts we are seeing is the increase in real time data.” Tools like mobile applications, Twitter and Facebook, are impacting how quickly information is distributed. Inman predicts that one of the big trends in 2010 will be mobile apps that are able to filter and organize this data. Real time search, real time location, real time agent feedback, and real time real estate listing information will be major trends we will see in 2010. “Those agents that adopt technology will close more transactions because they will be more efficient,” say Inman.

If I were a Realtor I would make sure I looked at things like:

• Does my brokerage have a mobile app? What about my MLS?
• Is it worth me investing in my own mobile app?  iSites, a new service launching today, allows you to take your website’s RSS feed and data and quickly transform it into a full-fledged iPhone app. It was created by Genwi, a service that combines aspects of RSS reader, social network and news filter. For just $25, iSites will create a customized iPhone and Android app for you.
• What type of local data can I have right at my fingertips on my mobile phone? Yelp is a great place to start. Foursquare is another great local app that is getting a ton of attention, especially after Dennis Crowley spoke at Connect – and we all had an “a-ha” moment!

Mike Mangino, Owner & President, Elevated Rails talked about some of the key apps to have on your mobile phone to help you do your business better:

• Navigation tool
• Access to your CRM tool
• A simple mortgage calculator app you can use with clients
• Social Media apps: TweetDeck, Tweetie 2 or Hootsuite, Facebook and Linked-In apps
• I’m adding to this list – Wordpress app – a must if your blog is hosted on WP.

2.    Connect with people face to face. One of the biggest challenges Realtors face is meeting new potential clients face-to-face. Now is the time to ‘look up!’

Scott Heiferman, co-founder and CEO of meetup.com was one of the final keynote speakers at Connect and talked about the power of connecting with people live and face to face. People are creating their own self organized groups.

There are 5.7 million Meetup.com members in nearly 59,000 local groups in more than 11,000 cities, according to the company’s site.

Agents can not only join a meetup for local real estate professionals, but they can connect with local real estate buyers groups and sponsor non-real-estate-related groups.

I love this concept – especially for an agent trying to break into a new market niche or community, or just for an agent trying to expand their sphere of influence, this is the perfect opportunity for them.

The message is: be the catalyst for community in your business – online and offline in 2010.

Stay tuned for more about Connect. Inman News will be publishing a comprehensive report next week. Also check out inman.com this week – videos are available for Inman Premium Members. Not a member? Sign up by this Friday, January 22nd and get a special rate of only $99 (reg. price $149)

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Brand NEW for Connect NYC 2010: Live Streaming and Interactive Video – “Spinnio” – courtesy of Dustin Luther. We will be LIVE on Wed. Jan. 13th from 11 am (EST) – 2:45 pm (EST) and then 5-6 pm (EST). During that time you can watch Inman News Columnist and Broker/Owner, Kris Berg interview some of the best of the best in the industry. You will be able to ask questions via Twitter and Facebook!

If you are going to be at Real Estate Connect NYC make sure to stop by the Inman booth (#904).

Click HERE to see the Inman Spinnio page and make sure to check back Wednesday to see all the action!

Scheduled so far are:

• Brad Inman, publisher Inman News (Wed. 1/13 at 1 pm EST/10 am PST)
• Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.com (Wed. 1/13 at 2:30 pm EST/11:30 am PST).

This will be a great opportunity to “turn the tables” on these guys and ask hard-hitting questions.

Not yet registered? Very limited seating still available – click here to register.

View the complete conference program.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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FOREM members: you are invited to a BRAND NEW session at Real Estate Connect:

LIVE LABS: Building Brand and Influence Through Social Media: Selling Technology Solutions in Real Estate.

Thursday, January 14th 3-4pm

Register today and SAVE $100 off!! (use code “forem”)

Led by business development guru Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake, you will learn how to get results, move beyond participation to engagement on the social Web, and measure your success.

During live labs you will get the opportunity to “roll up your sleeves” and mix it up with your fellow attendees at Real Estate Connect. Each Connect Lab starts with a presentation by an expert  leader aimed at giving you practical takeaways you can implement back at home. The second half of each Lab will focus on audience-generated discussion and debate facilitated by your leader. These sessions will deliver an intensive 90 minutes on the issue that matters most to you.

Get the social media “secret sauce” to reach potential clients and leads!

See you at Connect! 8 days left!

Register today and SAVE $100 off!! (use code “forem”)

Questions about registration?  Please contact us at registration@inman.com or by calling 800.775.4662 ext 143

View the complete conference program

p.s. Have you downloaded the ConnectNYC app yet? It is available for use on any smartphone. Go to http://connectnyc.boopsie.com on your mobile browser or for iPhone users, go to the iTunes App Store and search for ‘ConnectNYC’

posted by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Google announced today they have invited the press to an “Android press gathering” on Jan. 5. This date is very strategic on Google’s part – as the Consumer Electronics Show is in Las Vegas later in the week. Google representatives declined to provide any further details about the event, but most likely this will be the unveiling of the Nexus One. This will be Google’s first phone sold directly to consumers. The rumors are, that if purchased directly from Google, consumers could pay up to $500, or considerably less if they sign a multi-year contract with T-Mobile.

Google employees began tweeting about the Nexus One after Google handed out these new phones to employees. Then, on December 12, Google posted a somewhat odd blog post where it said that the devices were intended to test new mobile technologies. “We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe,” Mario Queiroz, vice president of product management.

Also there are rumors that at this press conference, Google will address the questions that have risen about the Android strategy. Many are wondering if Google will sell the Android directly from its website.

I’m curious to see what this all will mean for the real estate professionals. As referenced in my last post about smartphones, the iPhone is still the top seller,  followed by the Blackberry and Razr. Will the Google Nexus One surpass what the iPhone has successfully accomplished? For real estate agents, ease of use is their top priority – followed by superior phone and data service. This topic will certainly be discussed at Connect NYC.

What is the future of mobile technology for 2010?

Find out at Connect! (FOREM members receive $100 off , use promo code “forem”)

by Katie Lance

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