Social Media has become such an important part of the real estate industry with almost 1 out of every 2 Australians 18 years of age and above now on Facebook.
This is one of the most extensive interviews I have ever conducted where I share some of the tools that I currently use to streamline and automate my own Social Media marketing strategies. And now you can too.
Behind the scenes I’ve been doing some work with Barry Liddle to help him with the ‘exclusive’ Underground Real Estate Breakthrough series and preparing something extra special for those agents who really want to put their foot on the accelerator and increase their market share.
Not only will you be able to access the video of the Social Media webinar, but you’ll also discover a series of videos PLUS a Blueprint for real estate success. To check it out Click Here Now.
Last night I caught up with a number of agents and have found it very interesting to see how many of these agents are now starting to talk about using Social Media.
I’ve also had some of the Real Estate Institutes and Franchise Groups chasing me up to learn more about how they and/or their agents can use Social Media more effectively in the day to day running of their businesses.
Then there are still lots of others who say that it’s a waste of time or it’s just a fad.
If you’re not convinced about how important Social Media can be for your business/career/agency moving forward then you really should take a moment to watch this.
I recently discovered SoundCloud.com and feel that it could provide a great opportunity for agents and real estate trainers to share some of their podcasts over the web.
For example, here is a sample of how a podcast can be embedded into an article using SoundCloud.
Once you set up a free user account within SoundCloud you can start sharing podcasts and music and/or use their service to send audio files. People listening in can also comment on your podcasts and SoundCloud has it’s own community within their site which is designed to help you with sharing podcasts or music with your friends.
You can also measure visitor stats and easily share your podcasts via Social Media networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc and/or embed the audio player into blog posts like I have done above.
Here’s a quick video to demonstrate a bit more about how it works…
Last week, I went to the realestate.com.au ‘Open For Inspection’ event in Sydney where the new look site was showcased to a large group of real estate agents.
Greg Ellis, CEO/Managing Director of REA presented some of the recent changes made that will impact the sites use:-
For all site users there has been a New Home Page, Enhanced Search, Multiple Views (Gallery View, List View & Map View) Compare Features (pointed out that the agents logo appears in the middle of the browsers computer screen) and MyRealEstate (an improved ability to store information on the site).
The suite of products for agents discussed were:- Suburb Profile Sponsorship, Suburb Sponsorship (IAB size ads), Exclusive Agent Showcase (No longer Guaranteed Top Spot but rather made available on every results page within that search), Feature Agent (a section of the site which has seen a 400% increase in traffic), Feature Property (appears as featured in List View, Gallery View & Map View) and eBrochure ( currently with over 800,000 people registered ).
Greg Ellis also announced that Realestate.com.au will shortly be releasing ‘Premiere Property’ which looks like it will appear on the top of the search results like the ‘old’ Guaranteed Top Spot but the ‘Premiere Property’ will open to a property page which features both the property & the agents details and branding exclusively (‘No Third Party Advertisers’).
Pricing was not discussed at this stage for ‘Premier Property’ but I can imagine it won’t come cheap when you consider the amount of revenue they could raise by keeping the advertising on these new pages.
Also, he mentioned that their Mobile site has already had 450,000 UB’s and they plan to have a Mobile/Social product which enables sharing via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & RSS.
Finally, Greg Ellis felt that there was also a great opportunity existing for agents to promote their profile via the Local Voices section of their site.
During the event I spoke with a number of agents and numerous REA Group employees and the feedback seemed quite positive.
Whilst there was one heckler in the crowd during Greg Ellis’s presentation, most agents I spoke with seemed to like the new look site. Most felt that it was about time that REA evolved with the times and that it had been screaming out for a change for a long while.
Although most discussion was positive, one agent said that they liked the site but they had actually experienced a significant drop in traffic since the launch. May be just an isolated case??? Not sure, whether this was related to the technical issues they were having within their suburb search or not? The agent is located in a first home buyer market so the marketplace shouldn’t be the issue. It will be interesting to know if other agents have experienced similar results.
With all the PR around the new launch I’d have thought that the visits would have actually increased.
I really like the MyRealEstate section and the new search capability.
Interested to hear your thoughts about the new look site…
I was searching the internet for something inspirational to share with agents and found this fantastic video from Zig Ziglar.
Your attitude makes all the difference to your real estate career & if you are in need of some inspiration or need help with what Zig Ziglar often calls ‘A Check-Up from the Neck-Up’ then this video could be just what you need right now.
I hope it helps you succeed.
PS: It reminded me of the saying that “It’s hard to see the picture while you’re in the frame.”
Every day I am blown away by how effective Social Media is for connecting with some of the best people within the real estate industry and/or any industry for that matter.
The leverage that real estate agents can get from using Social Networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs is enormous, if they use them the right way.
It’s a shame to see so many people within the real estate industry sitting back & waiting to see what this Social Media thing is all about and/or if it’s just a fad.
If it’s ROI they’re worried about then they should check out this video about Social Media ROI by Erik Qualman
As McDonalds said in this video “Our head of Social Media is the customer”, Real Estate customers are already all over this Social Media space and many have been for years, and some of them aren’t saying the nicest things about agents either.
Yet with customers posting such online comments & even though Social Media marketing is an ideal marketplace for agents to engage in, many have simply sat on the sidelines.
There is so much opportunity within Social Media for a real estate agent to generate business, but understanding how it works & seeing it as a marketing opportunity rather than a playground seems to be one of the biggest issues holding agents back.
I’ve even heard of companies that shut down computer access to facebook & Twitter, but neglect to think that the staff will only switch across to their mobile phones to access these sites anyway.
Rather than blocking it out totally, they should be looking at how they could actually leverage their marketing message via Social Media.
In fact, I read a story about one employer who actually paid his staff bonuses to send out marketing messages about his company out to his 1,000+ followers on Twitter. Lets face it, the staff member had an audience or access to an additional database of people that the company wasn’t marketing to previously.
Now in saying this, I don’t recommend that you get your receptionist to post out every listing to their friends via facebook, because not only will your receptionist start to lose their friends but you could also end up losing them as your receptionist in the process because the last thing they will want to do is start spamming their friends.
But, you could always get them to share out your company newsletter or latest blog post if it’s a good article & they feel that it may provide some value to their social network.
Whether your receptionist agrees to share your articles with their friends or not could actually be a very good barometer for whether you are providing the right sort of content for real estate Social Media marketing or not.
If they are prepared to share it with their friends, chances are that others will find your information interesting too and could be more inclined to share it with their friends too.
If you have any questions or comments with regards to Social Media please feel welcome to contact me personally or post your thoughts in the comments section below.
Last night I was watching this inspirational video from Honda called Failure: The Secret to Success Video – Honda – the Power of Dreams
It was great to see them referring to Thomas Edison and his famous statement about overcoming failure while trying to invent the light bulb…“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work.”
Then whilst writing this article I remembered some of the phrases I had memorised years ago from real estate trainer Tom Hopkins regarding his ‘Attitudes Toward Failure and Rejection’.
I never see failure as failure, but only as a learning experience.
I never see failure as failure, but only as the feedback I need to change course in my direction.
I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to improve my sense of humor.
I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance.
I never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play to win!
A great friend of mine Tom Gaskey mentioned to me that “Failure is not falling down. Failure is refusing to get up!”
There are lots of ways that you can address failure & use your failures in life to help you succeed, but one of the greatest sayings I’ve ever heard about failure is:-
‘There is no such thing as failure in life, only the failure to participate.’
Participation is such an important characteristic for success and enjoying life.
Being a spectator throughout your life & not trying new things through fear of failure can paralyse people into missing out on some of the most wonderful feelings of self-fulfilment and achievement.
We all know that change is inevitable, yet so many people stay bogged down within their comfort zone or aren’t prepared to think outside the box. Whilst, others will think of a fantastic idea in the shower but then get out of the shower and do nothing about the idea.
Participation means taking action on your thoughts and ideas.
You only have to look at people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Einstein to see that the people who really make a difference in this world are the ones who are prepared to take a chance, take action and try new things. I call them the ‘The Innovators’.
In life you can either be :-
The Innovator
The Immitator
The Spectator
Spectators miss out on so much and ‘The Immitators’ follow like sheep and only do things once someone else has paved the way.
Let me assure you, there is an amazing world of opportunity available to ‘The Innovators’ of this world and there are so many new doors that open that you may have never thought possible. Life also becomes so much more exhilarating & exciting as an innovator.
By making the decision to become an innovative real estate agent, you’ll find that you will quickly leave your competitors so far behind that most of them will simply become ‘The Spectators’ of your success.
Dare to dream. Take chances. Fail Forward. Embrace change. PLUS become seen as ‘The Innovator’ and you will quickly become the stand out real estate agent within your area.
On Monday I attended the launch of one of the best real estate initiatives that I have ever seen in my 20+ years within the industry.
It’s called Heart for the Homeless.
It’s a way that real estate agents can help the homeless by making people on the move (ie. sellers, buyers, tenants) more aware of ways that they may be able to help others within the community by not throwing out some of the items that would normally be discarded into the garbage bin during their packing & moving.
This initiative has been founded by Leighton Walters (Son of well known Property Management Trainer, Bob Walters).
“The initiative seeks to reclaim the average 15-50 kilograms of non-perishable food items that would normally be thrown in the bin each time a person moves house. Agents that are registered with us would generate the food, clothing and furniture items by registering their tenants or owners moving home via our website. Our member charities will arrange collection with these residents to ensure minimal wastage and damage to the environment.”
The launch was held at Darling Harbour with official representation by Captain Paul Moulds (Territorial Co-ordinator, Oasis Youth Network, The Salvation Army) and The Hon. Virginia Judge MP ( Minister for Fair Trading, Minister for the Arts and Member for Strathfield) Plus a live auction was conducted by Braden Walters to help raise some extra money on the night.
To find out more about how Heart for the Homeless works and how you can get involved with this fantastic real estate initiative, Click Here.
Here’s a video showing how Augmented ID is being used on a Google Android phone. (Note: This video has no sound. This is a case where actions speak louder than words).
Can you imagine using this at an Open Home to get someone’s details? Or alternatively, what if the buyers or sellers used it to pull up your details and social profiles, etc.
Using Augmented ID you could see what someone has been up to lately and start a conversation going about what they’ve been up to, for example their profile might say that they just saw the movie Valentines Day and you could start a conversation about what it was like, etc.
Well connected Gen Y’s no longer start conversations with ‘How are you?’ or talk about the weather, they say, I noticed your sister is due to have a baby soon, how’s she going? Or, similar. They don’t need to do small talk, they can go straight into a higher level conversation straight off the bat.
With Augmented ID, agents could potentially do the same with customers or vice versa. It will be very interesting to see how this technology continues to develop and how real estate agents start using it throughout the industry.
A friend of mine Terri Cooper, recently posed this question, “What Is Your Top Prospecting Tip?” to the group of agents within the Australia & NZ Real Estate Professionals Open Network on Facebook. Whilst some of the responses were based around “Committment” & “Having a plan and consistently blocking out non-negotiable time each day! (At least 2 hours)”, etc I believe that there are now easier & more effective ways to prospect for business.
If you think about how prospecting for gold has been made so much easier since the invention of the metal detector, then it only stands to reason that prospecting in real estate should also become easier with the advancements in technology.
Real estate agents could do so much better if they focussed their attention on converting their online customers into business and using technology to provide them with strategies that will not only help them to provide real value to their community, but also increase the number of recommendations that they receive.
If an agent is determined to stick with door knocking as a prospecting strategy then I’d suggest that they consider implementing a planned, effective approach before wasting too much time out in the field going door-to-door.
Whilst door knocking is a great way to practice icebreaker scripts and build communication skills, with so many people away from home, at work or running around with the kids, etc going door-to-door can also be a big time waster. (especially if it’s done at the wrong time of day).
There are also a number of easier ways to meet up with people who actually want to speak with an agent.
Don’t get me wrong! I have done it the hard way. I’ve walked the streets in my neighbourhood, going door-to-door, looking for listings, but just because I did that over the past 20 years successfully doesn’t mean that it’s the way real estate agents should be doing it now.
Our industry is changing & the old way of doing it isn’t necessarily the most effective any more.
There are some really innovative ways that agents can find sellers, and I have included them in the Area Monopoly Strategy.
But, there’s one word of warning, if you’re not ready to find a new & easier way to generate more business than you’ll ever need then the Area Monopoly Strategy is definitely not for you.
On the other hand, if you think it could be worth considering, you can find out more about it by clicking here.
When searching for that needle in a haystack (a seller) agent’s like you should really consider using a metal detector (technology) to get faster & more consistent results with a lot less effort.
PS: Whilst I’ve developed an effective Area Monopoly Strategy, I also appreciate that there are a lot of dynamic thought leaders within our industry who have some great prospecting success stories to share as well. What’s your prospecting tip? Is there something that is working really well for you or for your agents?
