According to the Wiki, a geo-fence is a virtual perimeter around geographic area so that when the geo-fencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. What does that mean for real estate? As a buyer, you would go to a website, and save a search for the home you’d like to find. As you drive around town, you might get a text message on your cell phone that you are 2 blocks from a home that fits your criteria, if that home has a “geo-fence” around it. The “fence” would be added using mapping software by the real estate agent. So, as you travel, homes would find YOU!
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Long & Foster has a new video channel, and has produced 72 videos that agents can use and share as part of their marketing efforts. Topics include everything from home decorating, home gyms, and outdoor living, to closings, appraisals, and escaping foreclosure. Links are provided, enabling agents to share these videos on their Facebook, blog or website. These professionally produced videos are provided to Long & Foster agents free of charge to assist them in marketing and lead generation.
Visit the L&F Video Channel here.
Those of you running a Facebook “Fan Page” for your real estate businesses may want to take note: as of today, “fan page” status updates will be included in Google search results. To help explain the significance of this, please consider the following example: Annie Agent runs a fan page on Facebook called “Annie’s Awesome Real Estate.”
As of today, if she were to post a status update on the page….let’s say “I just listed 2 new homes in the Roanoke area” …that will now be indexed by Google, and a person searching for “homes in Roanoke” on Google will get Annie’s Fan Page as a response to their search.
The moral of the story is: make a fan page, and choose the words in your status updates to match a potential buyer’s (or Seller’s) search terms! This is fast, free advertising for you and your listings!
How to create a Fan Page:
Log into Facebook and go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Name your page and click the “Create Page” button.
Do you believe your reputation is an important factor that clients consider when choosing an agent? Does “word of mouth” matter when you choose with whom to do business? Consider this quote, from a National Association of Realtors survey: “The most important factor in choosing an agent was reputation, according to 41 percent of home buyers, followed by an agent’s knowledge of the neighborhood, 24 percent.” Word of mouth matters more than ever!
If a client tweets about their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with you as their agent, it could easily enhance or diminish your reputation with the public, and affect decisions about which agent to use.
You might say “it wouldn’t matter, who sees Twitter anyway?” In February of 2009 alone, Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, and registered over 7 million users. Still, Twitter users are likely a drop in the bucket of the general population. So again, why should you care?
Here’s why: On Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at a conference in San Francisco, Google announced that they will be integrating real-time Twitter into Google search results. This won’t be a separate “Twitter search,” tweets will be integrated into regular Google searches.
So if a potential buyer searches for real estate in your area, Google’s search results may well show real estate agent and company websites and tweets about real estate agents in the area. It’s not a reputation builder if the Google searcher sees your new listing and also a tweet about how you never returned someone’s phone call!
What can you do if a disgruntled client decides to tweet their complaints? Answer them, politely and professionally. Attempt to remedy the situation. The Google search results will also show your tweets-your quick response and excellent customer service in listening and resolving any issues.
Tip: Begin to monitor your online reputation by registering a Google Alert with your name as the search topic. Once a day you’ll get an email with every new place your name has been used online!
Mike Koval is introduced by Pat Clark
Mike Koval, CIO for Long & Foster Real Estate, addressed SW Virginia Long & Foster agents today, and provided details on a host of new technology being instituted at Long & Foster during the next six months. Managers at Long & Foster are being trained and each agent will receive individual assistance and attention when incorporating the new tools into their business. This is a time of change, and Long & Foster agents are ready to thrive! Benefits that L&F agents will see include:
- The ability to access and use Microsoft Office 2010 Software from any internet-connected computer,
- brand new computers and faster internet in every office,
- free Customer Relationship and Transaction Management tools similar to Top Producer,
- Windows 7 on office computers,
- automatic submission of property data and agent web page keywords to Google, Bing and Yahoo,
- free YouTube videos for homes with 40+ photos,
- free “all new” agent websites (multiple sites per agent ok..have one for a subdivision, a builder, etc. also are team-friendly,)
- customer information “syncs” from the websites to Outlook and the CRM software,
- VoicePad with lead capture, custom agent portal pages,
- online document storage and sharing for all agents,
- vastly increased mailbox space,
- tremendous discounts on Dell OptiPlex computers with Windows 7, and *much* more!
Be very careful renewing your domain names. In just a few weeks, I have seen 2 instances of agents receiving “renewal notices” for domains they didn’t even own (but with names very close to the ones they own.) One notice listed a $300+ renewal of www.agentsName.us … when the agent owned a .com, not a .us domain. If you don’t read very carefully, you might pay a steep price. These are scams!
Renewals should *never* cost hundreds of dollars! GoDaddy, a reputable company, charges approx. $10 for a domain name, per year. Even if you are a GoDaddy customer, other companies will try to get you to renew with them, at grossly inflated prices. There are many other legitimate companies, I am using GoDaddy as an example.
My personal rule is this: “I never renew a domain name unless I initiate the renewal.” Mark the expiration date on your calendar, and you approach them about renewals, don’t respond to notices!
1. Put yourself on Facebook
2. Fill out your Google Profile.
3. Register your own name as a domain .
4. Get your profile on Active Rain.
5. Register your own name on Twitter.
Why? Watch the video carefully!
