My daily morning routine is to browse articles posted by people and organisations which I believe will deliver some valuable insights to real estate agents and their digital marketing campaigns. My top 10 engaged with posts on Facebook for 2014 are listed below. Engagement was measured through a combination of views, clicks and likes on the Online Agents Facebook Page and various other Facebook groups including “Real Estate Rocks” and “The Real Estate Community”

#10 – SEO demystified for real estate agents.

SEO – Why is it important in real estate?

– 90% of homebuyers searched online during their home buying process
– 75% of users never scroll past the first page
– Search is number 1 driver of traffic to websites

#9 – Has your organic reach on Facebook fallen of a cliff?

The article looks into the algorithm of the Facebook news feed and how it has evolved. It includes some fantastic tips on how you can optimize your content for a better result.

#8 – Get Out of the House when shooting property videos. Great advise from Greg Vincent on Real Estate Business #realestatevideo

A great article from my friend Greg Vincent, real estate videos have been hot topic in 2014 and we’ve seen some of the best and worst of what Australian agents have produced. Greg is an expert in this field and is always free in sharing his knowledge to better others.

#7 – Would you buy Google Glass so that you can do this?

One of my personal favorites. US Realtor Ariana Rios presents a home walk through to a digital audience using Google Glass.

#6 – I speak to so many agents who say “Well we tried [Social Media], it just didn’t work for us..HOT TIP! Don’t share Listings.

Content, content, content. How agents wanting to succeed in the digital landscape without curating digital content for their online profile is beyond me. Believe Me. if you don’t YOU WILL LOSE!

#5 – Tweet door to door, hit the email pavement and Hello Facebook Neighbour. 3 ways to digitally door knock your community.

Face to face is vital to a strong relationship with people in your community, however. Do they want you to introduce yourself by knocking on their physical door or knocking at their digital door?

#4 – Can some one please congratulate me on posting this

It was a little experiment that really did work. Mention the word “Congratulations” in a facebook post and it reaches a much bigger audience.

#3 – Thou art so clever Google!

We all use Google to search for well, just about anything and everything. However, not many real estate agents know how to make the most out of some really cool tools that Google offer at no charge at all.

#2 – Private sellers need to understand WHY they should engage with a licensed real estate agent. Here it is..

The Ultimate answer to that seller that is considering selling privately. A Quality agent will get you a quality result.

#1 – Aprox $10K for a $420K Property. But you risk losing a few $ if you are not the successful bidder

Possibly the most controversial post was the new online property auction site bower bid. Selling seats to an auction where the eventual successful bidder walks away with the keys for anywhere around $10K. Check out the video and let me know what you think of this new process. Is it a winner?

Episode 4 of Online Agents TV, a weekly real estate marketing video, looks at some great tips for using Pinterest in real estate, the Social Profile of $100K Agent, An outstanding marketing campaign and an article about the science of blog timing.

Pinterest Tip –  Add a monetary value on the description of your pin and the price will appear as a ribbon on the pin. Very Cool Tip!

Pinterest Apps for Facebook – Check this article for some great apps to integrate your Pinterest profile and boards into your Facebook page

Social Profile of an $100K Agent – A great look at the social profile of a typical real estate agent earning over a hundred thousand dollars, $100,000.00

Raising the bar on property inspections – This is a brilliant look at a developer who has integrated facebook into the property inspection process. A must watch for any one in Real Estate.

Science of blog timing – Always wanted to know when the best time to write and publish posts on your real estate blogs? It’s all answered in this article.

When Facebook was launched in 2004 I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the amazing growth and world wide fame it has seen. In February 2012 Facebook reported that they had 845 Million active users. People all over the globe are connecting and sharing. Brands are building relationships with it’s customers and many real estate agents are still looking  for a way in which they can use Facebook to improve their own online profile.

Introducing the Facebook Timeline.

Until recently, all Facebook users could do was update their activity and share links they find interesting. It was all about what is happening now. That all changed when the Facebook Timeline was introduced where users could now also update their profiles with activities which happened in the past like child birth, weddings, divorces etc.

So how can we use this new feature to benefit our online presence in real estate? A few agents have jumped in and created a Facebook page for their Real Estate Office or even for their own profile but how will they use it to build trust and engage with a local community. Maybe they could consider using the Facebook Timeline Feature to create an archive of property prices in their community.

Your community Facebook Page should be just that, a page where people from the community can engage and interact with others in the community.

How to set up your Facebook Page Timeline?

1. Create your first Milestone – (Please note that you must be logged in to Facebook as your page, not your personal profile). Now that pages have switched over to the new timeline you will notice a new button on your status update field called Milestone (See image below)  The first time you click on this you will be prompted to add the date your page began.  The date to use here is when your community (not the community page) was founded.
   
2. Again, from the update field on your page click Milestone. This time you will be displayed a larger update box where you can add dated information.
   

So how far back do your Real Estate records go.  Date back as far as you can and start updating your timeline with properties sold and their price. Include significant landmark sales, land sales when the community was first developed. You can use specific properties but be sure to check any copyright on images you use.

Soon you will have developed a historic timeline of property prices in your community that members can interact with. It will also act as a tool for people interested in buying in the local community but most important of all. You are the authority for Real Estate in your local area and by using the Facebook Timeline to create an archive of property prices in your community who could doubt that.

Enjoy playing with this awesome new Facebook feature.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website and/or a webpage in search engines via the natural or un-paid (organic) search results. There are 100’s if not 1000’s of factors that the search engine considers to be relevant data to increase the ranking of a website but above all….Content is King.

Many agents today use Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to share content. So how can those agents now make the next step and actually generate the content not only to improve their own online profile but also to increase their visibility in the search engines.

One strategy to consider is creating a blog  and using this to post regular and relevent content in the form of articles. Creating a blog is fairly simple. See our recent article, Tools and costs to set up your own real estate blog.

Once your blog has been set up it’s time to start producing some articles here are some ideas that I suggested in a previous article I have created my blog, Now what? – Article Suggestions

• Real Estate in your area – Basic statistics and facts about real estate in your local community.
• General Real Estate – Trends, Markets, Your perception and prediction of the future.
• Your Listings – Let’s face it, you can never give your listings enough publicity. Just make sure that your blog does not become a portal for your listings, readers will lose interest very quickly.
• Local Area – Climate, Lifestyle, Recreation. Let readers know that you are familiar with your community.
• Places of interest – Tourist Attractions, Markets, Historic monuments.
• Local Schools – How many? Primary schools, high schools, colleges, universities.
• Community centres – Churches, Scouting, Day care centres.
• Local Shops – Major stores, specialty stores, restaurants, fast food outlets.
• Local Sporting Clubs – Publish results, fixtures, stories.

So in real estate it’s important to be different, to offer something unique….A purple Cow. So here is something to try. Why not ask your vendor to write a guest article.

Your sellers can provide first hand what it’s like to live in the neighbourhood, their experiences, their favorite places and things to do.  Within no time you can add genuine relevent content to your blog, share it accross your social profiles and include them in your local marketing.

Whether your strategy is Blogging, Social media, Real Estate Video or everything and anything online, Content will always be of paramount importance to the success of your online strategy. Web users do not consume platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. They consume the content that is presented to them via those platforms.
Good luck and please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below

The pimples are clearing for Google as they rapidly develop from it’s teenage years to adulthood. For those who care and have followed the progress of the search giant you will have noticed that from it’s inception in 1995 to mid-late Norties Google developed and improved it’s algorithms to deliver us the searcher what the algorithm believes will be what it is that we are looking for.

Delivering search results for Google was a mechanical and automated process and the crowds were happy, but Google wasn’t. Social engagement was growing and the crowds were turning to Facebook and Twitter. Here they were greeted with the absolute latest news, relevant to their interest and endorsed by their peers. WOW, that’s what search is all about.

So Google adapts and introduces Caffeine Algorithm to deliver real time results, to give users snapshopts of pages they may want to view and introduces the +1 button followed by Google+ to let the crowds interact and and endorse their results. Yes! That’s what we want.

Understanding the whole concept is easy. Real people decide what is relevant and will share it if they believe it will benefit their peers.

So why is it that now, more and more people in Real Estate employ an automated solution to delivering their content? On a daily basis I see Facebook updates which only stream new listings, or Twitter feeds that repeat the same links in a never ending loop. We are killing social engagement by automating our communications.

In todays social environment, the crowds control who they follow/listen to. Real Estate Agents that can interact with the crowds on a personal basis have a massive advantage, they will understand what their audience wants, they will build a relationship with their audience and become their peer. How can you achieve this when you rely on automation that can not deliver real time responses to crowds that demand just that.

Start slow and build your level of interaction, I’m not saying “Don’t Automate” I’m just saying “Automate Less” and make your communcations more personal by increasing your interaction.

Good Luck!