Last week LinkedIn achieved over 100 million members and published this infographic:

Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn said:

“We’re now growing at roughly one million new LinkedIn members every week, the equivalent of a professional joining the site at faster than one member per second.”

Are you on LinkedIn? We’d love to hear how you are using LinkedIn to network and grow your business. Leave us a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News, @katielance

Share on Facebook

Today is the official launch of a brand new real estate education and community site designed to enhance agent productivity through social media – The Hip Roof.

The Hip Roof was created by Maya Paveza (@mayaREguru), award winning REALTOR in Delaware with Coldwell Banker Preferred and real estate social media butterfly! Maya has gained national acclaim for continuously redefining the role social media plays in her business.

I’ve know Maya online for some time and was very excited to see this new forum get off the ground with the assistance of a lot of great people in the industry including the one and only, Chris Brogan, president of Human Business Works.

I emailed Maya yesterday to interview her, and get the scoop on this new networking and learning opportunity for real estate professionals.

Q: Maya, how did you come up with the idea for The Hip Roof?

A: The idea for a real estate educational community is something I have been toying with since early 2009. I was a web developer and designer from 1993-2001, so my mind works in this sort of way, I am also very entrepreneurial in spirit. I loved the idea of creating a place where some of the community of experts I know via the social spaces, and from attending a variety of events, like Real Estate Connect, could interact and share their achievements and ideas with others. Where the new agent or the agent who has been working for 30 years could all come together and share and learn. A collaborative community if you will, where everyone can contribute as everyone has an area of expertise.

Q: What’s the general premise of the site?

A: The premise is that THR is a real estate educational community with a focus on social media.To allow people to grow and learn, to share successes and seek assistance from others. To remember that what we do is about customer service and finding new ways to do that better. To remind each other that humanity is much more important, especially in this day and age. To share expertise, to offer webinars to help agents better understand the social spaces, platforms, and a lot of basic business development and coaching too. Currently the membership gets three webinars a week, Sunday Night Open Forum, Experts Series Interview (kicking off 2/28 with Ben Kinney) and the Thursday “Hot Topic” learning webinar.

The most basic need I feel the site meets is to make education, coaching and training accessible and affordable to agents everywhere. We can’t always make it to New York or San Francisco for a Real Estate Connect, or a REBoot tour, especially with the current market conditions. I believe so deeply in this that we don’t want to turn anyone away – if someone wants to join but can’t afford it, I am working with a few partners to offer scholarships, it is that important to permit total access.

Q: Is it open to all agents nationwide?

A: Absolutely, real estate agents nationwide and worldwide – as long as they are licensed in whatever capacity in their municipality. But not just for agents, it is also for Brokers and owners – the category I call office leadership – they have their own private forum within The Hip Roof. Office Leadership will have different discussions needs from recruiting and retention to desk occupancy costs, and more. We also welcome our partners who we deal with on a daily basis, all of which have their own forums like the leadership does – lenders, title representatives, real estate attorneys and home inspectors. We don’t have a consumer facing side at this point, but there might be something coming soon to meet that need, a forum where consumers can ask questions and interact with the experts.

Q: I see you have no advertisers, will that change in the future? If not, do you have plans to monetize the site?

A: I want the agents and community to feel completely comfortable in sharing opinions and thoughts on technology, tools, platforms and vendors. I don’t anticipate that changing, which is why we do charge a membership fee, similar to the other Human Business Works communities although we are independent from the HBW family.

I don’t expect it will change, but the option has been reviewed. I think that if it comes down to advertising it will be advertisers that don’t directly market to agents, maybe on the consumer facing side – when and if that happens. I want to avoid agents having to feel like there is any undue influence on the information shared within the community, which is why I don’t want to permit advertising on the inside.  To help create local experts everywhere, because there won’t be a “tour” or local events, if a local board or mls wants someone we will refer them to one of our area experts.

Q: What is the cost for a membership?

A: The introductory rate is $27/month for the life of the membership until 3/31 for agents. For Brokers/Office Leadership, the rate is introduced at $57/mo as well as Lending Partners, Title/Attorney and Home Inspectors until 3/31.

Q: When is your official “open for business day”?

A: We soft-launched on Monday February 21, but our official “launch” is today! It is a living organism of sorts, the platform we are built upon is so dynamic, it is just amazing the things we can do with it, to grow it and expand. What is really exciting is that right now during the launch we are giving $5 for every paid membership that signs up until 3/2 to Daniel Rothamel’s Legal Defense Fund. Dan is a great guy, and he was in the new edition of Trust Agents, so he is a shining example of the goal of this site – to be a better agent, to serve your community, to share with others, to humanize business

Q: How did Chris Brogran hear about the project and get involved?

A: I met Chris in March of 2010 at a Trust Summit even in Wilmington DE, we have a mutual friend in Whitney Hoffman. She helped bring Chris, Julien Smith and Mitch Joel to that event. I wasn’t planning to go but decided last minute to buy a ticket. So serendipity, we met when a friend saw me arriving and called me into the coffee shop to meet the Governor. I honestly have to say I didn’t follow him on Twitter, had not read the book, and didn’t know much about him other than his name, I am like that with anyone, I want to meet people for who they genuinely are not what my mind might have created from reading about them or following them.

He is a good friend, more mentor often than anything else – always offering suggestions and a good kick in the backside when I needed it. This was a project I had been working on trying to create for a while, I believe I was most likely whining to Chris about my frustrations with progress on a variety of projects, purely for the friendly kick in the backside I needed and expected, when he suggested that his company Human Business Works could partner in the development of the site. An incredible offer, and after two previous partners had bailed, it was surreal to think it might finally become a reality. I think that for Chris it aligned nicely with some other projects HBW was working on, like 501MissionPlace.com and KitchenTableCompanies.com. Serendipity again. I really have the most amazing group of friends.

Q: What is your goal for this site? Your dream?

A: My goal has long been to create this site, so I now have to adjust my mindset to extended business planning and goal setting. This is the safe place for agents to interact and talk freely with each other without worrying about consumers reading about our day to day challenges. I want it to become the standard of excellence for real estate educational communities, to be the resource people think of when they want to learn something or ask a question. I think my dream is for the site to be everything that the member wants, it can grow and evolve as technologies change, platforms change, the business changes, it is completely dynamic and database driven so that is super easy.

Part of the dream of this site is to show my two daughters that anything is possible, and they should work hard and dream big. Be idealistic and be kind.

I would love to see it have a regular charitable cause, or some sort of benefit to the real estate community. I want it to make a difference in an agents life, to help someone gain access to all these wonderful resources, and affordable coaching. It really is about real estate agents by real estate agents, so I want everyone to feel that, and share in that sense of ownership.

My next dream has nothing to do with this site actually, I dream of being able to bring change to girls and women, to help bring back self-confidence and the #ownit mantra I have. Life is too short not to love every moment and feel great about who you are. My dream is to bring that message as far and wide as I can, by sharing my own story. That’s the next chapter after THR is running smoothly.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I am so grateful for all the support from the RE.net community, there are so many amazing people out there, who have generously given of their time to help me build this community, when it truly is about the community. This is merely the beginning, I want to bring this to the far corners of every continent to make it accessible to everyone. I welcome anyone to join, and those that would like to contribute I would be happy to hear from them as well. There is always room for more people.

To find out more about The Hip Roof you can go to their site or contact Maya directly for more information.

If you have already signed up, I’d love your feedback on the site. Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News, @katielance

Share on Facebook

Written by Nick Lovegrove of limeyboy.com.

limeyboy.com has spent over a decade helping real estate agents get more from the web, whilst trying to insulate them from the really geeky parts. We help agents define their online brand through building real estate websites, integrated blogs and social networking strategies around them. We are dedicated to helping you find the web approachable and fun, and yet have no desire to turn you into a geek.

Website: http://www.limeyboy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/limeyboy
Twitter: @limeyboyweb

Regardless how wonderful your website is, it is really pretty hard to get people coming to your site and even harder getting them to come back for more. When I say hard I mean really hard.

“Is anybody out there? I have new content…”

Don’t take this the wrong way, but no one, that’s right no one, is going to make your real estate website their homepage, (so please stop asking me to place a link on your homepage to do this

You can get hits from showing up in online search, get a few hits from your offline mailings, but how do you get your website’s new content back in front of your readership when it’s updated? I guess hope for more search results and do another mailing? Hope that people regularly trawl through the browsers bookmarks? (Does anyone still use bookmarks?)

It’s true that your blog (you do have a blog right?) has an RSS feed, which (in theory) allows your content to be subscribable, but other than one’s mother, has anyone ever done that? (She hasn’t by the way). I would admit to being a fully signed up member of the geek fraternity, however, I have never subscribed to a blog by RSS. It just feels like too much commitment.

Subscribe by email is another option, but too many emails of the “Time to clean your gutters” variety and you have lost my interest/subscription. I am well aware of the state of my gutters thank you very much, the last thing I need is your emails clogging my email drainpipes!

So how does facebook fit into all of this? Well Facebook is one of the greatest gifts ever given to the website owner.

Why? Earlier I mentioned that no one, NO ONE, is going to make your site their homepage. So let’s accept that fact. So if we assume that they are not turning on their computer to be greeted by your content, we can pretty much assume that many of your site’s potential eyeballs are at facebook, every day. 500,000,000 users can’t be wrong.

So how do we get our content in front of them now that we know where they are?

Simple. We build a business page, then post tantalizing snippets from our blog and site, each time we update it. If those users have “Liked” our page, they will receive our updates as we post them in their personal walls.

You are able to essentially syndicate your content onto the facebook walls of those who asked for it. What’s great about the facebook wall is that it’s not like receiving an email, which you have to proactively delete or interact with on some level, at facebook you just leave it there and click on it if it’s of interest, if it’s not you just leave it.

Each of your facebook posts will include a link to your latest content on your website or blog and in one click they are back on your site. This is truly amazing for the website owner. It’s what we hoped RSS would be, but wasn’t.

We are seeing that facebook is rapidly moving up the ranks of sources of leads for real estate websites.

Oh and by the way, this will cost you nothing!

In fact, in many ways it makes more sense to market your facebook business page url over your web address. Website hits are great but, how do you keep people coming back for more?

This is one of the oldest conundrums on the internet. Facebook may well be the answer we have been waiting for. Getting a website visit can be fleeting and sporadic. There is much more longevity in someone who ‘liked’ your business page as the connectivity is ongoing.

And yet, we speak to so many real estate agents who are almost proud that they don’t facebook. To which we respond, it’s not about you, the point is your buyers and sellers are!

Before you print your next set of business cards, think about adding your facebook business page to it…above your website!

Do you find facebook to be more effective than email?

Share on Facebook

Marty Boardman is a Realtor and real estate investor in Gilbert, Arizona.  He’s the Chief Financial Officer for Rising Sun Capital Group, LLC, a real estate investment firm that buys and sells distressed real estate in the Phoenix metro area.  He’s also an accredited instructor for the Arizona Academy of Real Estate.  You can read about his successes and failures on his blog, www.freerealestateeducation.com or contact him directly at marty@risingsuncapitalgroup.com.

I see dead people.  That’s what Haley Joel Osment’s character said in M. Night Shyamalan’s first box office hit called ‘The Sixth Sense’.  It’s been 11 years since I saw the movie and I still remember that line.  Why is that?  If you’ve never seen the movie I don’t want to spoil it for you but this cinematic masterpiece had one of the most memorable endings of all time.

When I first embarked upon my quest to become a blogger (about 17 months ago) I posted this question on a Linked In question forum:  What is the single most important thing I can do to drive traffic to my blog? The answer may surprise you.  It wasn’t search engine optimization or frequent posting.  Almost everyone agreed that the best way to drive traffic to my blog was to write good content; much like M. Night Shyamalan did when he penned the ‘The Sixth Sense’ script in 1999.  So before I enter the blogosphere I remind myself that every post should:

1. Tell a story.
2. Have a beginning, middle and a memorable ending.
3. Contain me, us, my subject, me, us.

Tell a story

The best way to tell a story is to become a voracious reader.  Read everything from newspapers to blogs to books and even People magazine.  It’s amazing how much context you can give your posts when you incorporate funny stories, insightful anecdotes and timely real-world news.  Since I started blogging I’ve written about autopsies, roller coasters, golf, the Loch Ness Monster, Tiger Woods and Santa Claus.  I’ve managed to do this while keeping with a real estate theme.

Have a beginning, middle and a memorable ending

The other night I read my daughters Mary Poppins.  This story is perfectly constructed and engages the reader from page one.  Best of all, it incorporates a nice moral at the end.

I’m not saying you have to write a cliff hanger every time you blog or be the next Mark Twain.  To begin, share a story – it could be funny or sad – just make it engaging.  If you don’t know a good story then find one (that’s what the internet is for.)  The middle is the easy part; it’s your subject, the meat in the sandwich.  Your ending should evoke emotion (laughter, tears or at the very least an “ah-ha” moment.)  Again, if you can’t find the right words for your ending then go find some.  I love to use www.brainyquote.com whenever I’m stuck.

Contain me, us, my subject, me, us.

I discovered the me, us, my subject, me, us formula by accident.

From 2002-2006, I accumulated over $16 million in real estate assets.  Then suddenly in August of 2007 the music stopped and I didn’t have a chair.  It only took me about 6 months to lose my assets (with emphasis on the first three letters of the word.)  I was forced to stop pretending everything was going well when I traded in my Mercedes Benz for a 95’ Honda Accord.  It then occurred to me that few real estate professionals talk about their failures because it’s bad for business.  Rather than hide from my past I decided to share it with others on my blog.  And you want to know something funny?  By outwardly discussing my successes AND failures online I’ve discovered I can connect with people on a much deeper level.

These days whenever possible I begin a new post by talking about a mistake or shortcoming I have that a broader audience can identify with (the me, us part of the formula.)  I then jump into real estate stuff (my subject) and finish up with how the reader and I can apply the information (me, us.)

Does it work?  Yes, most of the time.  Just be memorable because that’s what keeps your readers coming back.  How do you do that?  By helping others learn.  It’s like Andy Rooney once said, “Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”

Share on Facebook

Guest Blogger, Suzanne Roy is Lead Contributor with Tech Savvy Agent and Owner of V.A. Work, and has been working with Real Estate Agents throughout North America since 2002 – initially as a virtual assistant, and more recently as a social media specialist, concentrating her efforts in assisting Real Estate Agents with blog design, content and syndication, custom Fan Page designing, keyword research and search engine optimization.

The World Wide Web (better known as “www”) is described by Wikipedia as “a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet.”  Just less than 20 years ago, August 6th, 1991, was the official debut date of the “www.”

More recently, (over the past 6 years) Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and scores of other social networking sites have taken the World Wide Web to a completely different level; one that, without some strategic planning, can become, overwhelming in a split second.

Real Estate Agents have the ability to market themselves and their specific areas of expertise to millions of people through social networking and media sites – taking their offline marketing (such as recipe postcards and local football team schedules) completely out of the picture – Thank God!  Oh, and without costing a penny either…

So where do you begin to create your own social web?  Well, the true heart to all your online marketing and social web integration has to start with your blog.  No, not your website – your BLOG.  And not just any blog – a self-hosted blog – meaning one that you are in control over, you have the complete rights to, one that is a standalone site, and not embedded into another.  Godaddy is an excellent option for getting this set up easily, since they have a direct link to Wordpress blog hosting and can be linked to one of your purchased url’s.  But that’s another post for another day…

Integrating your social networking profiles with your blog allows you to have your own social web of content and information.  Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN are what make up the most dense population of eyeballs that will see your content and get traffic to your blog.   So with this in mind, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make your own social web and get your information found consistently.

1.  Self-Hosted Blog to Facebook Fan Page

Facebook has an encyclopedia full of applications that can be utilized on your Fan Page and, in this case, your blog.  NetworkedBlogs is an excellent application which allows you to automatically upload your new blog content to your Facebook Fan Page with a simple process as shown in the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW84XruyPTI

2.  Facebook Fan Page to Twitter

Utilizing the same Facebook application – NetworkedBlogs – you can link your Fan Page up with your Twitter account simply and effectively:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JKpbwZtJ14

3.  Twitter to LinkedIn

There are probably dozens of different ways to go about accomplishing having your Twitter account linked to your LinkedIn profile, but here’s the easiest route we have found to make this circle complete:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmriAbdGFxs

Now, when you post your daily blog (ok, weekly?!), your hyper-local content will be broadcast throughout these three massively trafficked sites with the simple push of the “Publish” button.

Share on Facebook

Guest Blogger Alex Cortez is a REALTOR in Hawaii, specializing in Maui Condos. Visit his Maui Real Estate Blog for local market information.

With social media becoming one of the newest and hottest tools in a real estate agent’s bag, there are some who have taken to SM a bit TOO much. Have you met anyone who tweets EVERYTHING they do? Or someone who LIVES on Facebook? Or how about the one who FourSquares their entire day, one location at a time? Well, this one is for them.

Top Ten Signs You Need a Break From Social Media

1. You can tweet faster than you can talk.
2. You ask yourself “What would Ashton Kutcher tweet?” more than once
   a day.
3. You use Tom from MySpace as your only role model.
4. You live your life 140 characters at a time.
5. You live vicariously through your Facebook status.
6. You refuse to acknowledge people who are on MySpace.
7. Your real-life friends refuse to be your Facebook friends.
8. You have been fired due to a Facebook status update.
9. You have been named FourSquare mayor of more than five places.
10. You shared this post on StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Google Buzz, DailyMe, Bebo and Blinklist before you got to the end.

If you know anyone who is suffering from any of the above conditions, then send them to Bojanjo (bonus points if you know what that is). Comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

Share on Facebook

Hey FOREM fans – have you started using Gist yet?

What is Gist?

One of the things I love about Gist is how it aggregates all of your contacts in your social networks – in one place. For a real estate agent – Gist really creates a unique opportunity to have one ‘go-to-place’ to see what all your friends, followers, fans and connections are doing so you can connect and comment on a regular basic with everyone in your network. Gist is still in beta form and still working out some of the bugs – but overall I think there is a of of potential for this social media CRM.

Inman News columnist, Gahlord Dewalt posted about this Gist earlier in the year:

“…our contacts and connections are spread willy-nilly. It’s as if someone came into our 1950s offices and spread parts and pieces of our Rolodex over three different desks on two floors of the office. Individuals and their content are spread about over several networks.”

Just announced: they just launched the Gist Android App! I am a loyal iPhone user BUT I know that there is a huge Android audience – especially with real estate agents.

Get the Gist app from the Android Market by following these four quick steps:

1. On your phone, click on the Market icon. This will take you to the Android Market.
2. Click on the search icon (magnifying glass) in the top right hand corner of the screen.
3. Enter “Gist” in the search field and click on the magnifying glass button on the keyboard. The search is not case sensitive so you can use all lower case.
4. The app will show up in the list below. Click on it and then click on the Install button to get our app.

Are you an iPhone user? Check out the new and updated Gist iPhone application here.

FOREM fans – would love your feedback about Gist. Are you using this application? What do you like or don’t like about it? Leave us a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

Share on Facebook

Nobody likes someone who is an ego-maniac. However, a lot of real estate agents get a bad rap, because some agents think that to build a great personal brand, they need to talk about how great they are.  This is very off-putting for many people – especially your Gen X and Gen Y clients who are slow to trust and quick to judge anyone who calls themselves an ‘expert.’

Personal branding – the art of packaging and presenting yourself has become so vital to both career and business development – especially as a real estate agent.

Here are five simple strategies that real estate agents can use to instantly set themselves apart from the pack:

1. Craft a Compelling Pitch. You need to be able to clearly define yourself, and sum up precisely what it is you do, in 30 seconds or less. When in doubt, make a simple bullet point list of the skills you excel at. Ask yourself: How do I see myself? Your pitch needs to be brief, to the point.

2. Take Control of Your Your Name. Input your name or your business’s name in Google, and see what comes up. It’s vital that the majority of results that appear – especially the first ones, all speak to the same clear message. You should not only own a website with your personal name as the domain (a given, right?!) – you should also have profiles on all major social networking services (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) under the same name. Even if you plan to do nothing else on social media – as a minimum – set up your profile.

3. Create Strong Branding Platforms. Personal branding is about establishing yourself as someone that brings unique, indispensable real estate services and skills to the table. You need to create platforms (blogs, Facebook pages, online video channels, etc.) that can help broadcast your skills and experience to as many people as possible. All of these platforms should also be stamped with your signature name, logo and imagery. Once built, it pays to pump out content through them that illustrates your expertise.

4. Be Generous with Your Time. Acts of kindness and generosity serve to generate goodwill and help build invaluable relationships and contacts that can pay off immeasurably. Charitable work presents great opportunities to establish trust, grow your personal/professional network and make a positive impact – you never know when it might lead to a vital mention or referral. Go above and beyond the call of duty. It doesn’t just speak to personal values and work ethic. It also presents a prime opportunity to demonstrate your expertise.

5. Accessibility is the Name of the Game. Whether using blog posts, tweets or your professional Facebook page, accessibility is the name of the game. Not only do people need to know you’re out there – they also need to know where and how to reach you, that you’re available to connect as needed and will respond to requests for outreach in a timely fashion. This doesn’t mean having to broadcast your personal information to the world or staying up until 3 a.m. responding to 200 e-mails . But it does necessitate that you not build too many layers of insulation between yourself and incoming queries, and be respectful of acknowledging people’s questions and feedback (even if it’s just through a series of blog posts).

The bottom line: If you want to be a go-to real estate agent, you’ve got to earn people’s trust. That means being genuine, listening and responding quickly!

Bonus tip #1: At some point you will want to work with a professional designer to help create your brand for you – i.e. your look, logo, imagery, etc. Don’t take a short-cut! Hiring a designer will help save you time and money in the long-haul!

Bonus tip #2: Be respectful of your brokerage’s brand and image. Although you are independent, pay attention to style guides and/or branding standards your brokerage has published. There are so many ways to differentiate and brand yourself but still stay within your brokerage branding guidelines.

Would love your comments and feedback – please leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

Share on Facebook

Invariably once someone gets really excited about social media – they tend to flip on a switch. It’s called the “over share” switch!

So how can you still remain authentic and personal not over share on Facebook and Twitter? Here are a few simple do’s and don’ts:

Do’s:

Share what you would at a dinner party when you meet someone for the first time.

• Where are you from?
• What area do you live in?
• Married? How long? Kids?
• Your job – how long? What do you specialize in?
• Hobbies/interests
• Organizations you are passionate about
• Recent travels

Don’ts:

• Tell your whole life story – no need to mention every move you make!
• Going into too much detail about your family – follow your own comfort level. Decide if you want to reveal ages, names, photos – some people are more comfortable with that that others.
• Other people’s kids – ask the parent’s permission first
• Your specific home address
• Political or religious – this is another personal choice, but I tend to avoid these topics on social media because they can be very polarizing topics.

Would love your opinions – please leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

Share on Facebook

The more you learn, the more you earn.

FOREM fans – for a limited time* – subscribe to become an Inman News Premium Member for $149.95/year OR $19.95/month and receive my 30-Day Social Media Plan FREE!

You will receive an email once a day for 30 days with the hottest tips to make social media EASY for you. You will be given specific tips and tasks to make marketing yourself on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn easy and efficient.

If you are a beginner in social media or if you have dabbled in it for sometime – this 30 day plan will help you make more money in 2010! Here are just some of the tips covered:

• Creating a connection – making the best use of your time
• Content is king – what type of content is most useful and where to get it
• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail – a simple easy to follow plan!
• Get the Most Out of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Promoting your social media networks – how to get more fans, friends and followers

Subscribe Today!
*Offer expires 4/5/10

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

Share on Facebook