Real Estate News

There are a lot of exciting things coming out in the next few weeks – here are my top 3:

1. Like it? Hate it? The iPad which drew a ton of rumors and speculation is ready to make it’s debut. The 1st commercial aired during the Academy Awards (which explains why Steve Jobs was on the red carpet) and is officially going mainstream. The iPad will be on sale on April 3, 2010 and pre-orders begin March 12, 2010.

Here’s the commercial in case you missed it:

2. Better than the iPhone?! The Google Nexus One phone – the phone that had a lot of buzz when it first came out, is a phone that critics are still wondering if it can compete with the iPhone and other touch-pad type smartphones. Google has never made it a secret that they plan to release it to multiple carriers – just WHEN is the question. This phone is rumored to be coming to Verizon on March 23, 2010.

3. Wonder if I could sneak into this? f8 – The Facebook Developer Conference is slated for April 21-22, 2010.

According to the Facebook blog,

“f8 has always been about empowering a community of developers to hack, to build and to delight users. We’re looking forward to continuing this tradition at our third f8 in San Francisco on April 21-22, 2010. Please save the date!”

BONUS: One more thing to add to your calendar this month. Planning on coming to Real Estate Connect SF (#icsf) – Early Bird Registration ends in 11 days! Sign up by 3/19/10 and save over $300!

Would love your comments – please leave feedback below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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“I have nothing to say.”

I have heard this over and over again, not just by real estate agents – but by many people who are trepidacious about getting involved in Twitter.

To many, Twitter has become more useful as a way to tap into what’s “going on today,“ than to broadcast their own messages. And once you get acclimated to Twitter, you might just find you have something to say after all.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder says,

“Naysayers should simply log onto their Twitter’s home page and search for a topic they are interested in, whether it’s their favorite sports team, the name of their company or a topic in the news.” Within a minute, they understand the appeal, he said.

Here are 3 ways to make Twitter work for you:

1. Create a custom feed. Find people to follow by searching Twitter directories. My two favorites are WeFollow or Just Tweet It. Remember, to get followers at first, you must follow others!

2. Create lists.

Lists are fantastic – and a GREAT way to organize people you follow. You could make lists for news sources, fellow Realtors, geographic areas, etc. This way you can click on that list to see what those specific people are talking about. I just created the Inman Team list – as a place for people to contact the right person at Inman News (i.e. editorial, marketing, advertising, etc.) If you don’t know who the best users are on a favorite topic, look for lists on sites like Listorious or by checking profiles.

3. Check out the most discussed topics in your area. We hear it over and over again, but real estate is truly a ‘local business.’ Find out who is around you locally and what they are chatting about. Some Twitter apps, like Tweetie and TwitterLocal, let you search posts near you. Check the Web site Happn.in to see the most discussed topics in your area.

BONUS: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Once you’ve gotten your feet wet, use Twitter to ask questions such as the best place to grab a bite to eat in a new city, marketing tips, or anything else you need an answer to!

Some questions Realtors could start asking via Twitter are: “What’s the best marketing tool that is working for you?” or, “What is the most effective thing Realtors are doing to convert leads to sales?” These questions open the door to conversation and networking!

What are you doing to make Twitter work for you? Would love your feedback – please leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Tip Tuesday: 3 Tips to Get the Most Out of Twitter

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Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find an email newsletter from – TWITTER! I guess it shouldn’t suprise me – but at first I was a bit surprised that the company that made “140 characters” a household name, decided to get a message out to their members via email.

Good reminder to all of us that email is still a great way to get a message out – especially to your loyal fans (or followers!)

Here is the body of the email in it’s original form – lots of great new things coming down the pipeline from Twitter!

Hi there,

In the early days of Twitter, I used to send out short updates just to keep everyone in the loop since so much was happening. It’s been a while, but you signed up for short, monthly updates from Twitter so we thought it was time to start sharing more information. We’ve had quite a year. If you haven’t visited in a while, we’d like to invite you to come have a look at http://twitter.com — we’ve been busy!

Growing Up
In the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500% and our team has grown 500%. Recently, we hired our 140th employee! His name is Aaron and he’s an engineer focused on building internal tools to help promote productivity, communication, and support within our company. We celebrated with a little dance party.

Features of Note
Some features of note that we released over the course of a year include the ability to create lists, quickly spread information with a retweet button, and an easier way to activate your mobile phone to work with Twitter over SMS. We also built a new mobile web site that looks and works much better on smart phones.

Feeling Inspired
By working together during critical times when others needed help, sharing important information that otherwise might not make the news, and inventing new and interesting ways to use Twitter, you’ve shown us that Twitter is more than a triumph of technology — it is a triumph of humanity. Projects like Fledgling and Hope140 were inspired by you.

Chirp!
While there may only be 140 full-time employees working at the Twitter offices, there are thousands of dedicated platform developers who have now created more than 70,000 registered Twitter applications creating variety and utility for all of us. We’ll be gathering this spring at Chirp, our first ever official Twitter developer conference.

Thanks,
Biz Stone, Co-founder (@Biz)
Twitter, Inc.

Would love your thoughts on email newsletters. I am a big believer in them myself – especially to drive traffic to your web site or blog. I also think they are a fantastic way to keep your ‘raving fans’ updated on the latest and greatest that you are promoting.Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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One of the topics people ask me frequently about is social media – and specifically they ask me for how to make the best use of their time. Anyone who has dived into social media knows that it is not “free” – it takes time and a thoughtful effort to make it work your time.

If you are like me, and seem to be “always connected” – whether it’s Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc  – it’s a great reminder that you need to be smart with your time. If you’re not careful, social media can be a time suck!

So how can you be more smart with your time?

Plan social media into your schedule for 1 hour a day: 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes late in the day.

The key here is multi-task, move fast, don’t get distracted.

If I was a real estate agent – this is how I would do it:

AM: 1st thing after or before you check your email

1. Turn on your computer. Open 7 windows: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your web site, your blog, your favorite news website (i.e. Inman News ), and your favorite ‘drip marketing’ social media site (my fave is Hootsuite). Move fast, don’t get distracted.

2. Facebook: Scroll through the page – make 3 comments on other people’s posts. Post what you are up to that day. Respond to anyone who has commented on your or left you a message. Move fast, don’t get distracted.

3. Twitter. Click your @ button (i.e. – @katielance). Anyone who has mentioned you – thank them publicly. Respond to DM’s. Scroll through your home page and re-tweet 3 things of interest. Move fast, don’t get distracted.

4. LinkedIn: Post your status update – have it feed to Twitter (check the ‘Twitter’ box to do so – so easy!) Respond to any messages in your inbox. Check your groups. Not in a group? Join a group and comment on 1 discussion a day. Move fast, don’t get distracted.

5. Close these 3 windows: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Keep Hootsuite.com open and your web site, blog, and your favorite news site. Pick 6-8 links to share that day in Twitter. One can be a listing. The rest must be good content or newsworthy. Pick 3 links to share for Facebook. Twitter moves faster than Facebook which is why you need to post more often. Plug your posts and links into Hootsuite. Space them 1-2 hours apart. If something is a hot topic you can schedule it to go out more than once. Move fast, don’t get distracted.

PM: Repeat!

Next day: Repeat!

Do this everyday 5-6 days a week. If you follow this schedule it will become a habit. Also don’t underestimate the power of commenting and interacting – this is probably MORE important than posting your own content and links. Social media is just that – social!

BONUS TIP: Plan into your schedule an additional 2-3 hours a week if you are a blogger. Also plan one time a week to search for new friends, fans, and followers.

Looking for more info?  Stay tuned… I have something exciting in the works that will be revealed in a few weeks.

I would love to hear how you formulate a schedule for social media – what works and doesn’t work for you. Please leave me your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Problem: When someone in the real estate industry goes job-hunting, it can be difficult to navigate through all the listings posted on Monster, Career Builder or some of the other online job boards posting up.

In addition, when an employer or real estate brokerage is looking for someone with specific real estate experience, it can sometimes feel like a ‘needle in a haystack.’

Solution: Vendor Alley has a BRAND NEW job board up just for real estate job postings. I think This is a great idea. It takes a a common problem  (unemployment in the RE industry) and makes a super-easy solution.

As of right now, there are 4 categories:

1. Sales
2. Tech
3. MLS/Association staff
4. MLS/Association CEO

This is a version 1 release. Vendor Alley plans on adding additional features, ‘bells and whistles, and possibly additional categories down the line.

Greg Robertson, Co-Founder, W&R Studios says, “I get a lot of requests for job postings on Vendor Alley or people wanting recommendations.  I also saw that there was no single place for people to look for jobs in the real estate industry.  Since Vendor Alley gets such diverse readership (vendors, MLS professionals, sales, tech, portal, brokers, agents, franchisees, etc.) I thought it would be a good place to start a job board.”

Posting a job is really simple – employers form to fill out that includes a place for a job descriptions and contact information. It is only $29.95 to post a job for 30 days via PayPal.  They are also thinking about the idea of charging an additional amount to also do a post about it on Vendor Alley.

Greg has requested feedback, so please check it out and feel free to leave a comment below.

Written by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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In the last few weeks or so, I have noticed an incredible amount of GOOD content coming down the pipeline. Like you, I subscribe to blogs, RSS feeds, Twitter lists, etc. But what has grabbed my attention lately has been my Facebook feed. Anyone who know me, knows that I am a huge fan of having a Facebook Fan Page. I think it is still one of the best ways that a brand, company, or individual can ’speak’ to it’s audience.

So today, I wanted to share with FOREM fans, a ’snippit’ of my Facebook feed and the articles that jumped out to me. You’ll notice that these articles are all across the board – not just real estate. 

When talking to FOREM founder Joel Burslem awhile back – he reminded me of something so powerful and gave me some great advice:  “Read blogs and news sources from outside your industry – we can learn so much by seeing what other successful companies and brands are doing – that aren’t necessarily in real estate.”

Here are the 10 stories I enjoyed from my Facebook feed today – in no particular order:

Starbucks Gets Its Business Brewing Again With Social Media

How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media

VIDEO: Posted by Fans of CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

VIDEO: Facebook is the ‘Ultimate” Viral Video Tool, Ethan Beard

Realtor Mag Marketing Makeover Challenge

RPR revamps MLS licensing agreement

Want More Twitter Followers? Tweetmeme Has A Button For That.

10 Must Have Facebook Plugins For Wordpress

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Expert Tips about Using Social Media

How to Make Money on Foursquare

Shameless plug: If you’re not following the Inman Fan Page, I encourage you to check it out! Get all the top news headlines delivered right to your Facebook news feed. Plus, be the 1st to know about contest, promos, and more.

So what are your favorite posts from your Facebook feed today? Have a great tip? Leave me a comment here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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I’m sure none of our loyal FOREM member commit any of these ‘blunders’ – but just in case… I figured it would be fun to do a little post about it today.

Feel free to pass this onto anyone “not following the rules!”

Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders:

1.    Talking about yourself to no end. Enough about me, let’s talk about ME! Yes, social media is social – but at some point, it is NOT all about you! This is tough in real estate, where you learn from every marketing person to ‘sell yourself’ and ‘you are your brand’ – which is true – but many people (especially the Gen X and Gen Y crowd) don’t want to hear all about you – they want to know about the interesting things going on in the community, in their neighborhood, local market stats, and other things that make what YOU do valuable to them.

2.    Only posting your listings. Major faux-pas!  Luckily I have not seen as much of this lately, but it’s still happening.   You can post your listings – but make sure you post other great content. (See my ideas in #1 above)

3.    Copying content and claiming it as yours. Big “no no” here. There is so much great content out there – it’s fine to use an excerpt of something and then credit the source, but don’t copy someone else’s  material and claim it as your own.

4.    TMI. There is a fine line between being social and giving out “too much information” – no need to tell your social network everything and anything!

5.    Speaking the same on Facebook as you do Twitter. Maybe this is my own irritation, but whenever I see hashtags and @ signs on Facebook I cringe a little. The language on Facebook is different than Twitter. I think it’s fine to duplicate messages on both channels (especially since a LOT of people are only on one of the channels and not both) – but if you do, take a moments to adjust your language to be more “Facebook friendly”

I know there are a lot more blunders – what’s your favorite one? Or the one you see agents doing over and over again? Leave me a comment below.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Fun Friday: Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders

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Planomatic recently released PhotoPlan Mobile 1.0 Beta - the first mobile interactive floor plan presentation optimized for the iPhone in the virtual media industry. iPhone users now have the ability to interact with real estate listings’ floor plans from any point on earth with internet service.

Planomatic seems to really have hit the nail on the head. The coolest part of this product is that the consumer can interact with it.

Once you click on the floor plan, you can pick from a drop down menu and choose which room you’d like to ‘decorate.’ Once you select the room, you are given a large variety of ‘furniture’ to choose from – including colors and styles, as well as the ability adjust wall and carpet colors.  I really like that a lot of thought went into the interactive part of this app. For example, you can pick different styles and colors of furniture – which really help to ‘put you in the house’ and paint the picture of what it would be like to live there.

One thing this app has going for it is the ‘fun factor.’ If I was a buyer, I could definitely see myself using this app especially for homes I was really interested in. It could  help a buyer make that decision when they are wondering:  “Is this the house for me?”

Kori Covrigaru, the CEO of Planomatic says, “It’s quite unique, and in my opinion (yes, I’m obviously biased) the coolest thing to hit virtual tours/iPhone in quite some time.”

To access the app – tap this link  from your iPhone – Safari will recognize that it’s on the iPhone, and automatically display the PhotoPlan Mobile:

Interactive FloorPlan Presentation

There are other great floor plan programs out there such as: United Lane or Floor Planner but none have the interactive iPhone app that Planomatic has.

According to Kory, the BlackBerry and Android apps are on their way!

What do you think of this app? Would love your opinion of it!

Do you have a unique or new product coming to the market? Drop me a line at katie@inman.com or post it in the comments below.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Interactive Floor Plans Going Mobile

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If you are like most real estate agents, you’ve set up a LinkedIn account, put in your basic info, connect with a few people and then haven’t looked back since.   If this is you – you are not alone! If you have been updating your LinkedIn account regularly you are ahead of the curve!

Why do I like LinkedIn? I really like that it is a truly professional network and allows me with one click to share unbiased testimonials.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to get the most out of LinkedIn:

1.   Update your profile. Log into your account and make sure you have the basics in there – updated photo, work history, dates, experience and education. Sounds simple – but if you haven’t been in there in a while, it’s good to dust off that resume!

• Add your specialties. This section is key (located under the ‘Summary’ section within ‘Edit Profile’) – this is the section google is going to pull from. Think of this section as the ‘keywords’ or ‘meta tags’ for your profile. Pick 7-10 key words to describe your specialties and/or areas of expertise.
• Add 3 additional links. Under websites – select the drop down ‘other’ – this allows you to add 3 different links and name them whatever you’d like. Instead of being limited, you can add specific links within your site or blog. A few ideas here: link to a market stat page on your blog/website, link to your property search (IDX feed) page for a specific area/county, link to your Facebook page, link to community info on your website or blog.

2.    Add your public profile link to your email signature. If you are using Outlook, edit your email signature in the Edit>Options menu. If you are using Gmail or another free email service a great free service to use is WiseStamp. WiseStamp will allow you to add all your social media channels into your email signature.

3.    Add connections. Add past colleagues and past classmates. It’s worth the time to get your client database into an excel spreadsheet (CSV file). If you are using Outlook or Gmail you can easily export your list. Once you’ve done that, copy and paste that email list into LinkedIn (Under ‘Contacts’ > ‘Add Connections.’) You want to get your clients onto LinkedIn ASAP – why? See reason #4.

4.    Write 10 testimonials. One of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn are the testimonials you can generate. How do you get people to say nice things about you? Say nice things about them! Write 10 testimonials – do 10 a day for 5 days and by the end of the week you should have at least 10 from people ‘returning the favor.’  A testimonial does not have to be an essay – simply 2 or 3 sentences of how you know this person and why you would recommend them. A great example of this is a Realtor I worked with at Empire Realty in the SF Bay Area – Sue Rubin. Sue aggressively added her contacts into LinkedIn and wrote testimonials – she now has 10 fantastic testimonials on her LinkedIn account. How is this different from the testimonials on your web site or listing materials? To the average consumer, LinkedIn testimonials are more authentic because you did not touch or alter them in any way – they are truly from a past colleague or client.

5.    Join a group. A great way to stay connected to LinkedIn is to join like-minded professionals – with over 6000 groups available – there is something for eveyone. Do a search for ‘real estate’ or any topic you are interested in. You will be notified via email or new conversations in the group. The 3rd largest estate groups on Linkedin is Inman’s Real Estate Connect group – here you will find news and discussions about the market as well as conference updates and highlights.

Bonus: If you are on Twitter make sure you add your Twitter handle and note that you can link your LinkedIn status updates to Twitter

I would love to hear how you are using LinkedIn. Please leave your feedback in the comments below. Thank you!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Tip Tuesday: 5 Ways to Make the Most Out of LinkedIn

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Wondering which iPhone Valentine’s apps to check out? Here are 5 fun ones to download for this weekend!

1. Candy Hearts lite – This free app is perfect for those who love the idea of candy hearts but don’t want to eat any empty calories.

2.  iXplode – Valentine’s Day – This $.99 app is the perfect ‘Anti-Valentine’s Day’ app. From the product’s description, “Want to send your “ex” a special holiday greeting? How about a heart shaped box of Chocolate being ripped apart in a massive explosion along a custom message straight from the heart? Maybe you just want to blow your “special someone away” with a Valentine’s Day greeting they’ll never forget.”

3. iFlirt – For $0.99 this app will provide you with dating tips, pick-up lines, and more.

4. iWrite – Love Poems – This $1.99 app will help you get your creative juices flowing, give you tips on writing your love poem and provide examples.

5. Shakespeare. A free app containing the complete works of William Shakespeare and if it’s free love poems you want then skip down to the last two items on the menu; his sonnets and poems.

BONUS:
Not really Valentine related – but Open Table (for local restaurant reviews/reservations) and Foursquare (the addicting ‘check in’ app) are great apps and have become two of my favorites lately.

How is this related to real estate? Well, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to show your clients your LOVE! Ok, I know that was cheesy , but honestly why not take this weekend to send a quick note to your top 5 favorite clients to thank them? It couldn’t hurt, right?

Happy Valentine’s Day FOREM members!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Fun Friday: Top 5 Valentines iPhone Apps

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[Note: To follow is an excerpt of a radio show interview conducted by Peter L. Mosca, host of Income Property Investment Talk dot com, with Randall Woodbury, CPM, 2010 IREM president, Ronald L. Goss, CPM, 2010 president elect, James A. Evans, CPM, 2010 treasurer. The trio look at the primary responsibilities of real estate managers and the impact they have on property investments, the growth of real estate management and the importance to all marketplaces across the country and the globe especially in challenging ones like today. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/011310.]

Here is the original:
Property Managers A ‘Value Add’ to Owners, Investors in the Real Estate Market

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Google announced yesterday that they are throwing their hat into the social media ring. Google says the new Google Buzz tab will begin showing up on about 1% of Gmail user accounts starting right away. Google says the rest of Gmail users will be able to see a new Google Buzz tab in their accounts within a week.

2 things immediately caught my eye:

1.    Google Buzz is only integrated into Gmail. Granted there are 150M+ Gmail users but there are still quite a few people who are not.

2.    Google Buzz does not integrate into Facebook. I think this is going to be a HUGE factor in whether Google Buzz is successful or not. It should be interesting to see how this plays out and IF Facebook will one day integrate into Google Buzz. As Facebook sneaks past 400M users – this is certainly not a number you can ignore.

Here’s a quick ‘cheat sheet’ of what Google Buzz is:

1. Integrates with Gmail. Below your Gmail  inbox, there will be a tab for Buzz, allowing you to read status updates, photos, and video. The 40 people you converse with the most in Gmail and Gchat are automatically added as friends. Buzz updates also appear in your inbox if someone comments on your updates or comments, or someone directs a Buzz to your attention by using the familiar “@” symbol

2. Integrates with Other Channels. Photos from Flickr and Picasa and video from YouTube appear as thumbnails in Google Buzz.  You can pull in tweets from Twitter but you can’t send your Buzz updates out to Twitter or other social networks.

3. “Page Rank” for Status Updates. To compensate for posts that many people don’t care about (like what you just ate for lunch) -  Google Buzz lets you like and dislike status updates, and learn over time whether to show or collapse status updates from your friends. It also looks for conversations outside your direct group of followers and adds them to your feed as recommendations.

4. Private and Public Updates. Private updates can go to all of your Buzz followers, or just a select group. Public updates are posted on your Google Profile page and are immediately indexed for Google Search.

5. Mobile App. Google Buzz will have a mobile app that  dictate status updates by voice and geotag your posts. On Google Mobile Maps, Buzz updates appear directly on the map, so you can read location-based updates. You can also look for any recent Buzz updates posted near your current location.

So what does this mean for real estate agents and brokers? I think at this point Google Buzz is too new make any predictions about what Realtors will or won’t need to do. I do think that if Google Buzz stays as is – it will be somewhat limiting to agents due to the fact it is just available to Gmail users and that it does not integrate with Facebook.

However – as social media evolves, it is imperative that agents keep an eye on where people are gathering and where they are communicating. Today it is primarily Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Will Google Buzz be the next big thing? Only time will tell.

Here’s a quick video Google put out yesterday that explains Google Buzz:

What are your thoughts? Would love to hear your comments – please post your feedback here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Lead generation using social media and other ‘non-traditional’ sources continues to be a hot topic among agents and brokers.  There is a HUGE opportunity for Realtors to start ‘Farming’ online.

If I was an agent, there are a few things I would do ASAP to kick-start my lead generation using Twitter:

1.    Take your Twitter campaign seriously. If you were to start a direct mail farming campaign today – how long would it take you to see results? 1 year? 2 years? The same is true for social media. You must be committed to the process to see results. Still not convinced Twitter can make you money? Check out what Dell has done!

2.    Search for the type of clients you want to work with! Check out DemandStop – this web site helps agents farm Twitter for local leads. Find locals based on location and keyword relevancy (house hunting, apartments, rent, condos, etc.).  You can search your location and connect with real people looking for real estate in real time. Another option is to check out the Advanced Search function on Twitter. Search key words, hashtags, specific words – all within a certain geographic area.

3.    Put energy into conversations.

• Re-tweet comments of interest. Why? The obvious reason is that you like the info and feel it is worth repeating. The not-so-obvious reason is that when you re-tweet it shows people you reciprocate! Others will start to re-tweet your posts. The re-tweet is PARAMOUNT to your success on Twitter. When you post something – it goes to your couple hundred followers. What if 5 of those people re-tweeted it? And then another 10 re-tweeted it again? Your audience and potential leads grows exponentially.
• Respond to all mentions and messages. See who has mentioned you and thank them – every day! Respond to DM’s. Send a quick ‘thank you’ DM to anyone who follows you (but do not send them a slimy spam message!)
• Share your lifestyle -  be personal, be real. People want to connect with real PEOPLE!

4.    Treat Twitter like drip marketing. Tweet about what you are working on: working with new clients, building your referral network, interesting industry info, local market stats that link back to your site or blog (Altos Research is a great option for this.) Plan your tweets out – just like drip marketing using SocialOomph or Hootsuite.

5.    Add your Twitter handle to everything with your name on it. Wherever you have your phone number, add your Twitter handle: email signatures, Facebook page, website, blog, listing materials, business cards, and more!

Looking for more info?  Check out Tom Ferry’s video from Connect NYC talking about this very subject at Connect. You do have to be a premium member to watch, but this video alone is worth the price!
Have you started generating leads on Twitter? What is working for you? Share your tips and comments below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Super Bowl Sunday is an ‘All American’ pastime. Whether you gather to watch the game or gather to watch the ads – either way, advertisers know that a lot of people are watching. It’s estimated that last year over 93M people tuned in.

However, this year, a lot of big names like Pepsi are scaling way back and spending more of their money and time on social media.

Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its ‘Pepsi Refresh’ initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20M in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.  “This is such a fundamental change from anything we’ve done in the past,” says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “… The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”

How does this apply to Realtors?

1.    You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a lot of buzz. In the past if you wanted to brand yourself you’d spend a lot of money on glossy magazines, park benches, and even worse – grocery carts. These days all you need is time and a plan. Within minutes you can create a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn account. With that you are armed to build your brand. You know those agents who put together detailed spreadsheets and calendars outlining their farming or SOI strategy? That’s the type of detail I’m talking about. To create a lot of buzz you have to get serious about your social media plan.

2.    Get creative. I love that some of the super bowl ads are getting super creative with social media – like Monster.com’s campaign. Having a 2-way dialog is key – asking for opinions, launching a contest, or creating a fundraiser. How can you RALLY your fans and start the dialog? If you are on Twitter create your own unique hashtag – for the 1st time the Super Bowl will have its own official hashtag #SB44. What could yours be?  How about #SoCalRE or #CARealEstate? Make sure you save that hashtag in your search. Respond to everyone who uses that hashtag twice a day – pretty soon the conversation will be rolling!

3.    Pick a few things and do them really, really well. With so many social media options, a lot of Realtors get overwhelmed.  If you’re going to do Facebook or Twitter – be a rock star at them. Post multiple times daily, post great content, be engaging – and treat it as seriously as if you were paying thousands of dollars for it! If you missed my post last week about Facebook, check it out here to see what you must be doing as a Realtor to be successful.

For those of you still wondering the effectiveness of social media, Alterian SM2 has been tracking the Super Bowl advertisers since early December. It has just released the latest version of its social media analysis and the findings are pretty interesting.

p.s. Looking to see some of those “banned” Super Bowl ads? Look no further!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Continued here:
Friday Fun: Top 3 Things Realtors Will Learn from Super Bowl Sunday Marketing

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It seems like whenever Apple announces the latest and greatest product -  there are always  other companies who see if they can do better. The last couple weeks, there has been a ton of industry buzz about the iPad – what it is and what it isn’t – and specifically, how it could impact Realtors. One of the biggest buzz items has been the lack of flash on the 1st generation iPad.

Just announced yesterday, the JooJoo tablet computer will begin shipping to pre-orders later this month. With all the hype behind the Apple iPad tablet, the timing could be perfect for Fusion Garage to launch the JooJoo as Apple has done the hard part of creating a huge viral buzz for ‘the next great thing.’  The JooJoo is listed for sale at $499 and will include Flash.

Fusion Garage CEO said, “It has a much larger screen, 12.1 inches instead of 9.7 inches. The resolution is 1368 by 768 pixels instead of 1024 by 768. There are an extra 300 pixels of length, so it’s 16:9 widescreen resolution instead of 4:3. And the Web browsing experience is even better than the iPad, because of the size of the screen.”

One thing to note – the JooJoo won’t have an app store.

Is Steve Jobs worried? Probably not

What do you think? Leave your comments here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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The rest is here:
Competition for iPad? Meet JooJoo: the iPad alternative with Flash

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