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Last night I was chatting with a friend of mine who is a loan officer. Our discussion turned to using “Social Media” in our market …Ah, “Social Media” -  the newest catch phrase buzzing around offices and blogs. Okay, we know we need to do it. We know we need to use it and sign up for it, but how? How does it all work? How does it “link” together?

First you have to have a personal Facebook page, adding your Business Page. Facebook will not allow you to have a Business Page if you don’t have a personal Facebook page to start with. Here’s how to build your Facebook Business Page. Load it up with your professional information and photo. Link that to your website and blog. Start commenting, “Liking” other Facebook business pages (ie – Gitomer, TBWS etc). You can also “share” articles from other blog posts onto your Business Page.

Next, sign up for your Twitter Account. Start following some industry powerhouses – ie Gitomer and TBWS and others. You can tweet, but wait. I’ll show you an easy way to kill 2 birds with one stone when tweeting.  Twitter can be customized with your picture and background. Link that to your website and blog, also. Feel free to retweet when you find something  your followers may find interesting.

Then sign up for Linked In. Elaborate on your profile with Linked in – fill it out completely – include your photo. Start inviting business associates to link with you. Do a search and then invite them. Post links to your blog when you have written your blog. This post will then show up in Twitter as a Tweet.

Sign up for Active Rain. It’s a great networking tool and a wealth of blog posts for Real Estate professionals. The topics are varied, vast and all are quite interesting and useful. Here, you can post or repost your blog, twitter or Linked-in articles.

And with all these - link back to your blog and website with your comments and posts.

That’s the very condensed version of using Social Media. But most of all it works; but you have to work it. Not only are you giving your clients useful information, but you are optimizing search engines organically – FOR FREE!

If you need help, feel free to contact me.  Also, I would love if you “Liked” me on Facebook; followed me on Twitter; link with me on Linked In; or find me on ActiveRain.com.

Your Facebook Fan Page (or it’s actually a Business page) is all profiled and ready to go. Now what? What do you do with it? If you blog – and you should be blogging,  you can have your blog pages post in your Facebook notes page (call me and I can walk you through that – it’s SUPER simple). But what do you put on your Facebook Business page and how much should you post?

Please read a re-posted article below explaining how you should be using Facebook as a tool for your business:

How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’

By Mari Smith
Published January 26, 2010

A compelling, active Facebook fan page should be an integral part of your marketing plans. With its 350 million users and average daily session time of 25 minutes, Facebook provides an exceptional opportunity for visibility, Google indexing, live search ability, and fan engagement—whether you’re a solopreneur, a large brand or anywhere in between.

But, if you build it, will they come? And if they come, will they stay and engage?

There are two primary components to Facebook fan page engagement: 1) Sharing quality, relevant content and 2) inciting comments.  In this article I’ll tell you how to best engage with Facebook fans.

Of course, there are many other components of effective Facebook fan pages and Facebook marketing in general. However, for the purposes of this two-part post, we’ll focus on content and comments. The more comments you have, the more viral visibility and free marketing you’ll create. But your fans have to have something to comment on!

Share Quality, Relevant Content – Daily

TechCrunch recently posted a Facebook fan page study by Sysomos that revealed 77 percent of fan pages have fewer than 1,000 fans. What stood out for me in that post was this fact: “Facebook fan pages tend to be updated only once every 16 days.”

TechCrunch goes on to say, “On Twitter, you follow someone because you want to hear what they have to say. On Facebook, you fan them just to show your support or affinity. Too often, it’s a throwaway gesture.”

While this may be true for many Facebook members and fan pages, I see a lively fan page as an extension of your blog and business – a place where you can generate real community and further solidify your brand.

1) How Often Should You Post?

• For most fan pages, there is a direct correlation between frequency of posts and number of fans. Frequency is king, but there’s a fine balance – you don’t want to overwhelm your fans.
• If you’re just starting out with your fan page, I would suggest a minimum of one update per day and increase from there to several times a day (mixing up the types of posts – see below) if you’re getting a good response from your fans.
• Daily posting (at least Monday through Saturday) should yield daily comments and engagement.
• You’ll find the right rhythm with your fans. Better to start with once a day than several times a day and have your wall filled with only your own posts.
• Also, keep in mind “high traffic windows.” Depending on your time zone and the time zone of the majority of your fans, you’ll probably want to post sometime between 8:15am PST and 2:00pm PST.

2) What to Post

• I recommend a mix of your own thoughts, breaking news, useful tips, tools, resources and links from other sites in your industry and related industries. Stay on topic, stay focused.
• You could create an editorial calendar for your fan page just like many bloggers do.
• If you’re not sure what content your fans want, ask them – in a poll or status update.
• If your fan base is small and still growing, ask your Twitter followers, Facebook friends, email list, and blog subscribers. They are all potential fans. (See related post: 5 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page).

There is more to this article and you can read it online – More Details.

What does your day look like? Is it what you thought it would be when you started your real estate career? Are you making the income you thought you would? Do you have all that “free” time you thought you’d have “being your own boss”? Is this what you thought your life would look like?

Real Estate isn’t easy. It’s darn right tough and grueling. Real Estate has one of the highest divorce rates and the stress is unbelievable – as much as an air traffic controller. When I had stars in my eyes starting out as an agent (much less a broker) I had NO idea what was in store for me. Did you? Would you have chosen this life if you knew?

However, I would do it all over again. BUT, I would be smarter about it. I would ask for help so I could enjoy all the fun aspects of real estate like working face to face with clients and networking. That’s the fun stuff – not the paperwork, data entry, mailings and closing details.

Working with clients earns more money for you than all the background duties performed. Networking and personal contact starts the trust building which bring you more introductions and referrals. You work so hard attracting clients, befriending them – they want to see you and hear from you. They want to stay friends. When you spend your valuable time doing all the other duties, they get less of your contact and will at some point become disenchanted. They will gravitate to someone who will maintain a relationship and have their trust.

Isn’t it cheaper just to do everything else yourself? Sure, you aren’t “paying” anyone to enter your listings, client data entry or maintaining your blog, mls and website, but it could be costing you more in the long run. You start wooing  a buyer or a seller, working with them on a personal level – building  a relationship of trust. You may be juggling many clients at once. How can you give them your full attention, if you have your head in the computer or are so exhausted staying up late catching up on paperwork? One over-site or one mistake with their process and all the work you have done to build trust could be lost. That could be costly mistake.

I know it’s hard to hand parts of your business over to someone else. However, unless you do, you may not know how great your business can become and how much fun it can be!

Start small …. pick something you detest in doing ….. and think about handing that over. See? Feeling pretty good, right? Don’t have to dread doing it. You can then go on to the next thing you don’t like to do. Perhaps, that’s another thing you may want to pass on …. ah, that feels even better! And this may free up more time to go to that fun networking activity (golfing?) to find more potential clients.

The choice is yours to whom you may want to pass some tasks to. However, a Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant (you knew this was coming, right?) will provide a service in which there is no training needed and you can use them as little or as much as you want. And they are an independent contractor, so all you have to do is send a 1099 at the end of the year. If it’s just a project – contract them just for the project. Simple. Easy. Cost effective.

Bild a Better Business is no ordinary Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant Company. I am a licensed Broker in the State of Iowa. I know real estate law and ethics. I have lived and still love the business. I have done short sales, foreclosures, FHA/VA/Rural Development Loans and have worked with about any type of client you will come into contact with. Having been a VA for over 4 years working with clients throughout the United State, I have gotten to know how the real estate process works in different states.

In addition, you wouldn’t be hiring just an assistant who would just do what you want them to do (which is good, if that is what you want and I can do that), but I will supplement what you already know. I can put together marketing plans and campaigns to build and maintain your clients. I know technology. I know what programs you need.  I know how to get you up to speed with Social Media and how to make it work for you. I know what you need for a website and blog. All this to help get you to a higher level — boost your career – help you become a top performer.

Above all, I can help you have a business and a personal life.

So, if you want to “Bild” your business, contact me. We can go over what you need and how much you need to grow your business. Start small to see if it’s a good fit. Either way – ask for help. Your family and clients will appreciate it.

Everyone is talking about Facebook and how you need to use Facebook in your marketing arsenal. But how? Why can’t you use just your personal Facebook page?

Your personal page is just that – personal. You can have your personal contacts on your business page and should, but not the other way around. Your business clients do not need to see last night’s party pictures – or random posts from well meaning friends. However, to set up a Business Page, you must first have a Facebook personal page.

Whether your personal page is new or has been around for awhile, to set up your new Business Page, scroll down to the bottom of your page and click “HELP”. Yes, really.

Once “Help” opens up, find Ads and Business Solutions, then under that heading, click the yellow flag “Business Page”.

This takes you to yet another page where the first link you see is “Creating and administering your Page”.

The next page is a list of questions and you want to click “How can I create a Page?” Once that opens up, click “Here”. That will take you the start up for your Business Page.

Or if you are already signed into your Facebook personal page, click or copy this link  – Facebook Business Page – and take it from there.

You will be a “local business” and the drop down menu includes real estate agents. You will want to link your blog, website and most everything you have to your business Facebook page because you want everyone to “Like” you so they will see the fabulously useful information every time you post. This includes property listings and other marketing materials and tip ideas you want to pass along. Easy and highly cost effective way of also staying infront of your clients. But don’t depend solely on that – just a minute part of what you need to have at your finger tips. Also, don’t forget to “Like” resources for your Business page posts, too.

Now, if you have any questions or would like some assistance with your Business Facebook page content or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me. In the meantime, here is a quick video on Etiquette regarding your new Facebook Business Page.

Facebook Etiquette

I’m still reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s “The Little Red Book of Selling”. This is my 2nd time through and I am finding more valuable information I missed the first time.

We all know how to network, right? On pages 82 through 95 he spells it out. Are you still cold calling? You don’t have to as long as you maintain contact with the clients and sphere of influence you have now and network for new prospects.

Gitomer spells out 21.5 best places to network (and the secrets of being successful at it). Some of the places are:

1. Any type of class like Toastmasters or other self-improvement course.
2. A Civic Organization like Rotary, Kiwanis, ect.
3. Charities.
4. Private Club, Health Clubs.
5. Sports events and through parents of your children’s friends.
6. And many more.

Sure, you may be belong and attending, but are you working it? Gitomer explains need to have a 30 second “elevator speech”. This speech explains what you do and how special your services are in 30 seconds. Are you engaging and befriending those who you have gotten to know at these places? Are you putting them into your data base? Are you sending them timely and useful information? Recipes do not count – they can find those on any food site or magazine …..

For example, useful information may be what their market is doing in their neighborhood. Not the city and not just the community. (Ever go out and someone comes up  fishing for “free advice” about real estate? Approached like a doctor at a party where everyone approaches them with ailments and wants diagnosed? That is an opportune time to engage and get their info to enter into your data base). And then when you see them face to face at the organization (after you have built a repoir with them), ask them to introduce you to like people …(see earlier post) – and guess what – now you have gotten some potential clients who know who you are, are friends with who trust you and haven’t had to make a cold call, pay for a google click or lead.

I know sounds very basic, but when things are a little slower than we want or we’re too busy now to be thinking about networking, we need to remind ourselves of the basics to have clients in the future.

I’m going back now to read “Reasons You Can’t Get Appointment” ….. good stuff here.