The Direct Marketing Voice

Tag Archives: Realtors

Social Media Tips for Real Estate

Posté par Jamie Matusek le May 7, 2009 – 4:15 pm

dans Digital & Social Media, Real Estate Marketing

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Oh my! We are all looking at ways to use these tools for business — successfully that is. But don’t panic, as the initial “buzz” is starting to calm, I, along with other top marketers in many industries, am seeing that social networks are just another marketing avenue to add to your current marketing mix. If you have outlined your marketing strategy for this year, don’t deviate just because new waves of communication methods are emerging. Instead, review which social networks make the most sense for your current marketing plan and for your company.

So, time to get down to some nuts and bolts. I wrote a post in April called, “3 Tips on Using Social Networks in Real Estate.” At the time, I couldn’t find many resources to pull from, other than feedback we had collected from our real estate clients and other business owners. There were but a few articles. However, companies are now being formed to serve specific niches, like real estate for example. And I’ll tell ya, there are some great tips out there on how to get started and even more information for those of you who may consider yourselves closer to the “expert” level. This collection of resources is housed at AgentGenius.com. (Visit the site, bookmark it and refer to it often. It is a great resource!)

The first article I came across provides some very basic information on getting started on the major platforms, “How Your Business Can Benefit from Social Media Right Now.” The reason I loved this article so much is it gives an explanation of the social network, a tip on how to use it and a tip on how NOT to use it. Genius. An example:

How to use Facebook: Use it to establish yourself as an expert in your community and build relationships with people you already know and also with potential clients. If you are looking for great ways to use Facebook for business, you can find some here, and some real estate-specific possibilities here and here.

How NOT to use Facebook: Remember that if you are going to use one Facebook profile for both business and personal use, anything that you put in your profile should be appropriate. You may have had a great time at that party the other night, but do you want your real estate clients and prospects viewing that photo of you with a lampshade on your head?

In my hunt for compelling information, I also came across an article announcing the launch of the Social Media Marketing Institute. The founders, Jeff Turner and Bill Lublin, both have extensive experience in the Real Estate industry (Lublin being the CEO of a Century 21 affiliate in Philadelphia and Turner better known as the founder and president of the virtual tour company Real Estate Shows) and offer a new designation for real estate professionals upon completion of their social media marketing course, Certified Social Media Marketer (CSM).

Here is another quick tip. There isn’t much use establishing a great blog, website or social page if you aren’t getting the “eyes” to it. I am sure you’ve all heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is a core component of marketing plans that help direct prospects to your web site “organically” or through a natural Google search. You don’t pay for SEO, but there are companies that you can pay to help you understand how to better optimize your website. These experts can also help you determine how to gain organic search results to your blog and your Facebook pages (or other social platforms.)

For example, QuantumDigital uses an online publishing platform called WordPress for our blog and I just learned yesterday that there are ways to optimize WordPress pages to help increase your natural or organic search. Leverage Marketing shared this helpful little tip.

If you want more great tips, here are a few straight from Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s anti-webspam team: “SEO Tips from Google to You.”

Whomever you decide to use to help assist you with social networks, SEO or structuring your marketing plan to include pay-per-click advertising, be sure to choose a company that gives you the full picture — Initial strategy, reviewing your goals, outlining a plan to match your goals and budget, and a company that will give you full reporting on the analytics to your campaigns so you can tweak your plan for success.

Next on the agenda? Using targeted direct mail to drive prospects to your website and social pages.

Promote Property Listings with Market Data

Posté par Luis Paez le April 1, 2009 – 2:37 pm

dans Real Estate Marketing

Many agents and brokers know that sending a Just Listed direct mail piece generates interest and calls, but how can one improve on a known format that already works well? Data! Many customers these days are asking their agents for more data and information about things like comps, school districts, etc. For some buyers, this has become a pre-requisite for considering a listing. if there is not enough data provided, there remain too many questions unanswered about a property.

Enter MLS & Market Data tools. There are alot out there. Your local Board likely provides some tools currently. In addition to this, there are an array of data providers that do anything from provide you with advanced property comparision tools to even integrate with the listings on your company’s website, providing a level of detail that is very attractive to information-hungry property buyers. I have noticed that the more direct mail pieces are now using those selling points on their artwork.

While you don’t want to overload the direct mail piece with information, letting prospects know that you offer this level of knowledge is both a property feature as well as a benefit to working with your organization.

Here are some potential images that one could use on the address side of a Just Listed card. Again, don’t overload your card with this, include the images in a very small section of the card, small enough that they can’t make out the exact data on the graph. Providing a headline above the small icon that drives people to your website will provide their call to action that will entice them to visit your website and contact you.

While the above two images might be used on a Just Listed card, it’s better to do screenshots of your own maps or graphs that the buyer will see – as it will provide a better, more seamless, experience for them. Using just static images like the ones above in your card designs can mean more interest from your “left-brained”, numbers-driven buyers. (Full Disclosure: I am one of those numbers-driven buyers. Apologies to Sue Shearer for giving her so much grief.)

2009 RE/MAX Convention – Day 1

Posté par Jamie Matusek le March 4, 2009 – 1:56 pm

dans Real Estate Marketing

The 2009 RE/MAX annual convention kicked off with a bang yesterday! Anthony Gomez, Director of Business Solutions for QuantumDigital captured some of the highlights from the opening session.

Dave Liniger, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board for RE/MAX International discussed the state of the real estate market from his perspective:

2009 has half the homes available that the 2005 market did – with 1/3 of those homes on the market being distressed.

The market will become stronger starting mid to late April of this year.

Agents can become a greater asset to consumers by becoming more educated in the following areas:

Government programs
Foreclosures
REOs
Short Sales

A new designation has become available for Realtors called CDPE which means Certified Distressed Property Expert. It is RE/MAX’s goal to have 10,000 RE/MAX agents certified within the next 90 days.

There are currently 700,000 – 800,000 REO (real estate owned) homes on the market.

50 – 80% of homes are currently being bought by investors.

RE/MAX owns 50% of the share of voice in National Advertising for Radio, Television and Ads.

RE/MAX’s approach moving forward will be to continue to focus more on education for the agents and consumers.

Anthony also captured a video interview with John Chinello, eBusiness Training Manager for RE/MAX.

Have a great Day 2!

Integrate Twitter & LinkedIn into a Real Estate Marketing Plan

Posté par Luis Paez le February 25, 2009 – 5:10 pm

dans Digital & Social Media, Real Estate Marketing

As we enter a new era of real estate marketing, many Realtors and other professionals are relying on a new set of tools to keep in contact with their clients and sphere of influence (SOI). Perhaps two of the more popular social media tools being used in business today are Twitter and LinkedIn. In tomorrow’s Managing the Marketing Mix webinar, these among others will be covered by Eric Cosway and Freddie Baird. For the purposes of today’s post, however, I wanted to highlight how to integrate these social media tools into your current Just Listed, Just Sold, or other customer-centric direct mail postcard campaigns.

Below is a mockup, using a sample Just Listed postcard, on how you can drive people to your personal profile pages on these, or any other, social networks.

Integrate Twitter and LinkedIn social media on your postcard

This really isn’t that much different than listing your company’s website (which you may do already on Just Listed or Just Sold cards). The graphic icons are there just for impact, but you can just as easily mention links to your profile in the message body that you include on your postcard. In any event, what you are really doing here is tying together the different marketing tools at your disposal, inviting your clients and prospects to interact with you in any way they’d like. It both makes effective use of your marketing dollar, and caters to the preferences of your clients.

Reaches the New Generation

There are various studies out now that highlight the demographics of those who use social media tools such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and all of them point to the fact that these tools are primarily used by Gen X/Y age brackets. Since these demographics are already on various social networks, it’s easy for them to connect with you and your company on one of these networks, thereby providing another interaction point in addition to telephone, email & direct mail.

Differentiation Point