Chris Brogan shared some excellent thoughts today in a post titled: If I Were A Realtor. He offers some excellent suggestions on the kind of content that you should be sharing through social media. It’s a good read so check it out! Then, let’s talk about what you need to get started and claim your piece of real estate in the media-sphere…
Getting Started…
Set up a blog at WordPress.com. (Blogging’s not for everyone. If you decide it’s your style after a month or two, then consider getting a custom site designed. Otherwise for now, this will do).- Set up Alerts for your “Name”, “Company Name” and what others are talking about locally in real estate. Chris talks about this here: Grow Bigger Ears in 10 Miutes.
- Content is everything! Get a digital camera and a Flip Cam. Take pictures relentlessly and video too. Upload it to places like Flickr and Youtube. If you enjoy doing video, consider getting a TubeMogul account.
- For property slideshows, consider something like Real Estate Shows and even Animoto. Here’s an example of a couple of agents that are using Animoto to market their properties.
Having trouble coming up with content?
Consider a multi-author blog this way you split content responsibilities amongst a group as opposed to being responsible for it all yourself (less pressure and stress). Ewing & Associates (Client) did this with their blog at EwingSIR.com. Each individual agent writes and covers content (from real estate to local events) for varying communities. In terms of the type of content to cover, here’s some ideas…
- Market Statistics – Laurie Manny does this well. She writes about Belmont Short & Naples Condos for Sale (in addition to reporting on other communities). It might not seem like the most interesting content, but to the itching home buyer, it’s just what they’re looking for.
- Area Events – Find a public calendar and write about any upcoming local events. What’s even better is if you attend the event, take lots of photos and blog about it afterwards (Animoto slideshows are great for this). Look at what Ines Garcia wrote about the Miami Shores Holiday Walk 2009. Teresa Boardman talks about Dining Locally. Chris Griffith wrote about a local Bonita Springs Wine Tasting Event. Kristal Kraft writes about her weekend escape to Estes Park in a post titled Time for Elk Fest (she uses some wonderful photography in this post).
- Introduce Media – Find a video on Youtube. Blog it, but share commentary on the video to add content. Here’s a fun video. Ines writes her Miamism Friday posts every Friday without fail wherein she hi-lights a new photo that one of her readers (her community) has shared.
- Timeless Content – This consists of the countless bits of knowledge and information in your noggin’. Put it down on paper and write a short post showcasing your expertise. This consists of things like “Listing Tips” and defining “Real Estate Terms” that First Time Buyers might otherwise be unfamiliar with. Consider this post from Ines: Why Isn’t My House Selling? (simple, to the point and effective).
- Answer Questions with A Post – the next time a client asks you a question (in person, over the phone, via email), consider answering that question via a blog post to share with other people who might have a similar question. Do this daily!
We’ve left a lot out I’m sure…this is just the “tip of the ice-berg”. Anything you would add?
[Photo by: dehaneshr]
I've found that sharing local content drives a lot of traffic to my blog. Especially local events, festivals, etc. People are always looking for things to do and a map to get there.
Thanks for the positive affirmation Chris! People love the community they're a part of, the community they live in… So why not blog about it, share it, and give people a voice on your site to continue to share content right? 🙂
The Lake Powell area is so isolated and unique it offers outstanding opportunities to blog the not only the lake, but also the four small communities (which act as one). I've been shocked at the traffic I've had over the last 18 months, given the small size of the communities, but the Lake has an international draw. I just added posterous to my blog and now………….to get better with video 🙂
See, now THAT's what I mean about how the local community already provides you with so much automatic good content! Anyone can do so much with a little photo and video… And thanks for the affirmation the kind of positive results your getting writing about it all too!
In regards to video, the more you do it, the easier it gets 🙂
Thank you, Ribeezie, for these simple content suggestions. I'm going to pass this along to my agents in the hope they'll get inspired and contribute to our new WordPress blog!
Where's the new site? Drop the link here so we can check that bad boy out! 🙂
Hope the content suggestion's are helpful! There's lots that you can cover. Real estate IS content!
This is great info for new agents. The biggest part about this is actually doing it. I've seen many agents asking for ideas and Ricardo, you hit the nail on the head with the first item being “Blog”. Agents are quick to say they aren't writers. I wasn't at one time and it's like anything; the more you do it, the better you get.
“Action Creates More Fortune, Than Caution” – Luc de Clapiers
The most challenging part of most strategies/campaigns lies in the “execution!” Now re: the point about most people saying “I'm not a writer”, etc… Well, you don't have to be a poet to author a blog. You just have to realize that Real Estate IS content! All the questions that you answer day-in and day-out as an agent, you could very well publish as an article on your blog which then serves as a continuous marketing system for you. When people grasp that part, it gets a little bit easier. At Ribeezie Media, we help with the execution and discipline 😛
The most challenging part of most strategies/campaigns lies in the “execution!” Now re: the point about most people saying “I'm not a writer”, etc… Well, you don't have to be a poet to author a blog. You just have to realize that Real Estate IS content! All the questions that you answer day-in and day-out as an agent, you could very well publish as an article on your blog which then serves as a continuous marketing system for you. When people grasp that part, it gets a little bit easier. At Ribeezie Media, we help with the execution and discipline 😛