Tech Bytes: Video! Video! Video!

According to Cisco's Visual Networking Index Report, by 2015, the world will be watching 3 trillion minutes of web video per month.  Web video is currently 40 percent of all Internet traffic and expect to be 62 percent by 2015.  As a real estate agent and marketer, what should this tell you?  It should tell you to make sure your real estate marketing approach keeps up with this trend by adding video to your marketing efforts.

There are many ways you can market your business using video.  Here are some examples the kinds of videos you can make:

• How your services differ from your competitors.
• Homes you'd like to highlight.
• More general real estate information buyers and sellers would find helpful.
• Client testimonials.

You want to create video with topics your target audience would look for online. 

Your videos do not need to look like a TV commercial.  You don't need an expensive video camera or expensive video editing software.  I prefer to use my iPhone 4.  A large portion of consumers don't trust conventional advertising, so using a "pretty" video could feel more like advertising than informational in nature. 

Some people like to just turn the camera on and go for it, but a majority like myself can not.  I like to create a script or outline of the topic I want to cover.  A script can help you overcome use of the "um" and "uh" fillers, or the rambling on that could confuse your audience. 

Every video needs a star.  Many real estate agents will make videos telling the world how awesome they are!  And how they are #1!  PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!  Consumers are online for 2 reasons - gather information or solve a problem.  The product you are selling is a home, subdivision, builder, information or process.  Make a video about that, and not yourself.  If you want to brag about yourself, let your clients do it in a client testimonial video.

Make your videos as visible to as many consumers as possible.  Place them where consumers will look for them or stumble upon them.  Put them on Youtube, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  Embed your videos on your website and blog posts.  Make sure that your videos are optimized to be played on smart phones or other mobile devices. 

Please be sure to end your video with more than a small.  Use a call to action and get your target audience to do something.  Have them call a number, or send and email, or click a link.

And lastly, have a personality.  No one wants to watch a 2 minute video if you are boring.  Raise your voice and use hand gestures.  You are human, so don't act like a robot.  Even if the topic is boring, you don't have to be.  Use personal stories and experiences to keep your audience engaged.

Here is an example of a great video by Jessica Edwards out of Wilmington, NC



If you are a forward thinking real estate agent, you have a unique opportunity right now to grow your business with video.  Most of our competitors are not doing it right now.  Don't worry about what you look like, the consumer just wants your information.  So get out there and get to marketing!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Social Strategy for Real Estate Agents

So often, I am questioned by my agents, "how can I get started with social media?"  Well it is not as difficult or time consuming as one might think.  All you need is a simple strategy and to develop some good habits.  Today's post consist on an infographic with a very basic social media strategy.  Hopefully you will find this helpful!



FM Durham Infographic - Social Strategy

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Money Saving Marketing Tips

Often, new agents come to me with their license, and say, "now what?"  Or I will have some of my experienced agents come to me while there is a lull in their business and ask me for some new marketing ideas.  Also, most of us are looking for ways to save.  So take a look at the money saving marketing tips below.

Print Marketing

• Create a neighborhood newsletter (mail it or walk it)
• Mail hand written notes and thank you cards to your clients
• Update your business cards with your social profiles
• Direct mail with neighborhood comps
• Create or sponsor a local business or resource guide
• Create t-shirts, pens, etc. and give them away to clients and friends
• Get a vanity plate for your car
• Carry with you at all times your business cards, and hand them out

Email Marketing

• Send an email inviting your network to you social profiles
• Send emails with rate updates and info (work with your in-house or local lender)
• Send a weekly email with the local weekend events (attach a coupon for a local business attraction)
• Send a monthly email newsletter
• Create a drip email campaign, focusing on your niche (offer tips and advice)
• Send out seasonal homeowner reminders and safety tips
• Send flash animated birthday or holiday cards (jibjab or Zingding)

Blog or Website Marketing

• Do a video/podcast blog series on specific topics or your niche (example:  http://hotpropertyblog.blogspot.com/)
• Offer a free IDX search tool
• Add Facebook Connect to your blog
• Create a local special interest landing page (i.e. schools, non-profits, farmer's market, etc.)
• Offer client Q & A via a contact form, highlight it in your sidebar
• Post articles about others on your blog or have a guest blogger (local businesses, interesting people, neighborhoods, etc.)
• Create an ebook, require name and email address for free download
• Most importantly, comment back timely and create dialogue within posts

Facebook Marketing

• Create a profile and import your contacts
• Send daily birthday wishes
• Comment or like 305 posts from the Newsfeed daily
• Update your status with something fun and something of value once a day
• Create a Facebook page for your business
• Post helpful and relevant resources from your FB Page
• Leave comments on local business pages or groups (NO SPAM)
• Comment on others' status updates
• Create a past client photo album with testimonials (tag those clients to the albums/photos)
• Create Animoto slide shows or a photo album for listings and post them to your page

Twitter

• Create a Twitter profile
• Use the "find People" feature to find people you already know on Twitter
• Tweet homeowner tips
• Tweet funny, inspiring and engaging experiences and information
• Tweet local market info, updates
• Break news as it happens
• Tweet local event information
• Tweet your blog posts

Each of these are great ideas to help with your marketing efforts, and they cost little if no money.  So get to work!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: Content Calendar

I remember when I first started using Facebook to market myself.  To run a really effective Facebook business page, you need a lot of great content and diligent management.  This task felt daunting to me.  There was no way I was going to have enough time to run a decent business page.  This is the same feeling expressed by many of my agents when they first start to market themselves on Facebook.  I feel that organization and planning really helped me to reduce my fears of failure, and this is exactly what I coach my agents to do. 

Successful pages have a continual stream of new, interesting content that creates fan engagement and hopefully attracts new users to the page.  My advice for managing this process is to set up a content calendar that maps out every new page post you will do for the month ahead.  If you want to keep it simple, start by downloading a Microsoft Word or Excel calendar template.  Then type in the content you plan for that day. 

Here are a few ideas you may want to include in your content calendar:

• Market stats
• Slideshow video of your listings
• Post photos or videos from a local event
• Link to articles from the local paper
• Post holiday greetings to your fan base
• Link to blog posts or articles you are writing on your business site
• Link to articles relevant to the real estate or mortgage industry
• Information on community events and things to do
• Videos on various topics related to the home buying or selling process

Also check out these successful Realtor run Facebook business pages for additional content ideas:

• The Carolina's Finest, Jessica Riffle Group
• Amy Shair - Remax Real Estate
• Team Ludlow Realty

If you want to take things a step further and make your life a lot easier, try tools like TweetDeck, Hootsuite or Roost Publisher.  This way you can schedule your posts in advance and have them posted to your page at specific dates and times.

With with these helpful hints, you should be ready to get to marketing with Facebook!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: SocialCam for Real Estate Agents

I want to introduce an awesome new app for you. It is like the offspring of Pinterest and Youtube, Instagram for video! It is going to make video blogging so easy!  The new app I am talking about is Socialcam. SocialCam is a fantastic app for capturing video content. A great example of it in use is the video below by Fonville Morisey Realty's Digital Media Marketing Director, Lisa Sullivan.

  

Lisa just recorded the video on her iPhone app, and SocialCam automatically uploaded the video to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and I later embedded the YouTube video in this blog.  But you don’t even need to embed the video in your blog — just taking lots of videos using SocialCam on your phone is a great start.  It will give you content that you can use later.

As a real estate agent, there are so many great ways for SocialCam to give you exposure to your and your clients' friends and followers on social networks.  I believe this will be one of the better brand building tools we will have at our disposal.  How you can use SocialCam as a real estate agent: 

• Do a video with a client about any real estate related topic (maybe a testimonial, for example) and then have your client post the video post to their Facebook wall and Twitter stream, using them as a ‘hook’ to vouch for you. 
• When you are in the car going to see a client, take a SocialCam video of what you’re up to. 
• Capture a video of your buyer or seller standing in front of their new home or the home they just sold and discussing the transaction and how happy they are.
• Use it as your video blog and blog about an HOA, foreclosures, short sales, dog parks, luxury homes, and more, while never needing to actually write anything.
• Use it to create a video tour of your listing.
• Use it to create a video of homes you are previewing for out of town clients to help narrow down their home search before they arrive.

There is just so much you can do with this application.  SocialCam is available for iPhone and Android phones.  It also has a web application.  The best part is, it's FREE!  Now start shooting that video and sharing it with the world!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Ignite Your Business Part 3: Time for a Recommendation

This is the last part of our 3 part system for agents looking to get a quick jump start on their business and to ignite a little buzz over a 30 day period. Again, we are going to need your contact management system in order, and grouped into your A's, B's and C's.

In the last part, we are going to work on giving people recommendations. But not just any old recommendation.  The first step is to join LinkedIn, if you haven’t already.  Then I want you to search for people you have worked with, either in real estate, or in some other capacity.

Next, I want you to recommend them.  Say something positive and unique about that person.  Speaking of their uniqueness is key. Focus on something about that person that makes them stand out above all others. You want to give the kind of recommendation that makes someone message you and tell you how you just made their day or their week.  If you need help learning to right a good recommendation, click here.

This is a really easy task and won't take more than 10 to 15 minutes of your time.  I want you to give one recommendation a day for the next 30 days.  By doing this, you have hopefully made 30 people happy, and if you are lucky, you will get 30 recommendations of your own.  Even if that doesn't happen, even if you only got 10, that is better than none.

Social media is out there to help you. And it’s perfect for what you want to do–generate leads. Where else can you have access to millions of people in the matter of a few clicks?

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Ignite Your Business Part 1: Thank You!

This is part 1 of a 3 part system for agents looking to get a quick jump start on their business and to ignite a little buzz over a 30 day period.  First thing's first, you need your contact management system in order.  Group your A's, B's and C's.  Get rid of your D's! 

The first part of this program is the "Thank You!"  All you need is your computer, a phone and your list of contacts.  Then take a moment, and think of 5 people who deserve a little gratitude.  For those of you who don't like to make the phone calls, don't worry, this isn't a must for part 1. 

You can email these people, and it's so easy!  Here is an example, "Hey Joe Jefferson, Thank you so much for helping to get our listing closed on time, we really do appreciate it!"  How simple was that?

What other ways can you thank them?  You can give them a call on the phone.  You could post to their facebook page with a "thank you."  You could pop by their office or place of business and drop off some cookies.  You could send them a hand written note to their home address.  Who doesn't like getting a hand written note?

Who can you send "thank you's" to?  You can send them to your mom and dad, your friend, an agent in your office, your mortgage lender, a husband/wife/life partner, a client, a past client, a closing attorney, a home inspector, an insurance agent, etc.  The list is endless. 

I want you to say "thank you" to 5 people in each of the next 30 days.  And I want you to keep track of it in your contact management system. 

Stay tuned for Part 2...

BE REMEMBERED....SAY THANK YOU!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: HTML Email Signature for iPhone

I would say that about two thirds of the agents in my office use an iPhone.  And if they are anything like me, they probably send about two thirds of their emails from their iPhone.  The only problem with that is I get so tired of seeing the same old default email message that ends with “Sent from my iPhone.”  I wanted to have a great email signature that would show my logo and have links to my social networks.

Well I found Cool Geex.  They've created a website that allows you to create an HTML version of your email signature that can be used on your iPhone...and it's FREE!  With this tool, it is easy to make your email signature stand out against your competition's.  You can also add some of the social media sites and tools to your signature to make it easy for your clients to connect with you.

All you have to do is visit Cool Geex website, create an account, fill out the online information form for your signature, set up the desktop icon on your iPhone and it's ready to go.  Then whenever you are sending a new email, click the desktop icon on your iPhone and a new email will open up.  Also, be sure to remove the email signature you had set up under the "mail settings" on your iPhone, or you will be sending emails with two signatures.

The only shortcoming I see with this, is that the new email signature will not show up when you are replying to an email.  But I personally don't like have someone's long email signature shown 10 different times in an email thread.

There are other html email signature tools out there you can use for your iPhone, but in my opinion this one is the best and it's free!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: Facebook Timeline for Business Pages

For those of you who have a business page on Facebook, you may have noticed that you page will be automatically updated to the new timeline format on March 30th, 2012.

Several things I would like for you to think about before setting up your Facebook business page are:

• Think Visually
• Think Historically
• Think Live Media
• Content is Still King

Your cover photo is the biggest change that comes with the new timeline format.  This is the first thing your fans will see when the come to your page.  This is a great opportunity for you to creatively showcase your real estate business.  A few ways you can use your cover photo are:

• Photos from around your market
• Photos of your office staff or members of your team
• Photos of special events, promotions or exclusive deals
• Advertise a featured listing
• Collage of photos or your listings or your happy clients

*  Keep in mind, the size of the timeline cover photo is 850 x 315 pixels.

You also will want to emphasize your most important posts.  Keep them most visible by pinning them to the top of your timeline.  The post will stay there for up to 7 days.  You can also highlight any story, giving your story more exposure by expanding it the width of your timeline.  Always highlight or pin to the top your real estate marketing fliers and your special events.

Lastly, you are going to want to add history to your Facebook page.  By adding milestones, you can give your fans a look into your real estate business and see your growth overtime.  Use photos to mark milestones such as awards, new location, new brand or product, new staff, etc.

Whatever you plan on doing with your Facebook business page timeline, be sure to take your time and put thought into it.

Brandon Penny

bpenny@fmrealty.com

http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham

(919) 402-1201

"Yes I can"

I recently conducted a training session called Facebook 101:  Business Pages.  It is designed to help real estate agents set up their business pages and to provide them with ideas for their business page action plans. 

During this session, I told the class that I make two, value-added posts a day to my Facebook business page (Fonville Morisey Durham).  A student in the front of the room said, "that's a lot!"  My reply to her was "who says that's a lot?"

I responded to her that she had basically already talked herself out of using social media as a part of her marketing plan.  She agreed.

This was a perfect example of self-sabotage.  How many people talk themselves out of things before they give themselves a chance to start?  This really is sad when you think about it.  How many great ideas has someone given up on simply because they thought it would be too hard?

There is enough negativity in the world to keep us down as it is.  Why would we allow ourselves to be another barrier to doing something new and exciting?

Next time you are thinking of doing something, and that little voice in your head says, "that will be difficult" or "you can't do that" stop what you are doing and shout, "YES I CAN!"

Just like a bully that would steal your lunch money, once you stand up for yourself, the bully will usually back down.  Stand up against your own self-sabotaging bully.

Brandon Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: Slideshow Videos

Trying to get a jumpstart on the week, so I'm posting a tech byte a little early this week, and it's a good one! 

Old media like Yellow Page ads, newspaper ads and even T.V. and radio ads are no longer effective ways to advertise real estate.  Today real estate searches begin online.  To make sales you have to go where your customers are, and these days people are hanging out online on sites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter as well as other video and social networking sites.

Today I would like to discuss a few slideshow programs that will allow you to create unique video slideshows displaying your client's listing photos in a matter of minutes.  These are low cost ways to create buzz and get your message out quickly to sites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter with awesome videos that will impress your clients.

Animoto

Animoto allows you to combine high-quality images and short video clips with music to creat beautiful slideshows.  Best of all, Animoto is inexpensive and easy to use.  You start by uploading photos and video clips, or sync Animoto to your Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, or Photobook account.  Then, you choose music from Animoto's large music library (600 or 1,000 songs depending on your account type), type in the text you want included, and Animoto produces a beautiful video slideshow within minutes.  If you aren't satisfied with the result, then Animoto makes it easy to resubmit the video until it meets your expectations.  There is a great app for iPhone users that makes it easy to build videos from your phone!


Stupeflix

Stupeflix is another web-based platformt to help you streamline your slideshow video process.  Stupeflix is great because it is built right into Youtube.  You can build your own themes or you can use it's pre-built themes.  All you have to do is load your images or video clips, add titles and add music either from your computer or directly from Youtube.  You can also add a pinpoint location of the listing from google maps, giving a potential buyer an idea of where the property is located.  And for those Android smartphone users, there's an app for it as well!

Flixtime

Flixtime is another slideshow video building application.  It allos you to make 60 second videos using your own images, videos and music.  With this online platform, you do not need to download or install any additional software.  You select media from the program's "media lounge" or you can upload your own media files.




Take advantage of these great tools to showcase your listings, generate TMLS compliant videos, market your services, and be found on video and social networking sites.

Brandon Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

FM Durham Tech Bytes: Try Pinterest if you have an Interest!

In the era of social media, certain websites pop up and I immediately write them off as a waste of time.  But one of the fastest growing social media sites, Pinterest, is the one that I love.  It recently became the fastest standalone site to reach 10 million unique monthly visitors.  97% of the site's registered users are women.  However I think that is about to change, because I'm a man and I love it!

When I first signed up a few months ago, I loved the idea, although I thought it was just a place for fun sharing and I wasn't sure how it could possibly help my business.  Then I thought to myself:  "Are my clients, locals and potential clients hanging out on Pinterest?"  Most likely, the answer is "yes," or it certainly will be once they find the site.

Pinterest allows you to create "Boards," or a category of interest to you.  You can then add links to your board for easy access of people who follow you on your board.  Start by adding some relevant business boards that focus on housing and real estate.  But don't only focus on business boards.  Be sure to share some of your personal interests, because people want to know a little bit about you and your interests.  This will expand the amount about people that will be willing to follow you.

Other boards that you may think about adding could be:

• Real Estate News
• Local Places of interest
• Home maintenance tips
• DIY home projects
• Home decor
• Your listing links

The options are endless!  Be creative and get started with your Pinterest account.

Brandon Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
919-402-1201