voting services kinds conversation interested share favorite understood photography Participation community resources transmitted group use media contributions traditional online encourages content broadcast allows interests comments communicate information new connectedness love Social better political audience rarely making November 2011 How to use Social Media the right way. www.remax.eu i Intro Everyone’s heard about Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by now. Maybe you’re still trying to figure out what the buzz is all about and how social networking can help real estate agents. The purpose of this Guide is to give social media rookies and experts alike the information, the background, and the best practices that are needed to utilize social networking fully. Take your time and follow 3 simple steps to increase your Social Media skills. 1 2 3 STEP STEP STEP The RE/MAX Social Media Guide Know the Facts. Know the Rules. Know the Big Players. 2 1 STEP Know the facts or why Social Networking is a crucial part of the Media-Mix. Some facts about social networking: • There are 1.9 billion internet users worldwide. • 175 million users logging on Facebook every 24 hours. • Micro-blogging is used by 78% of company respondents. • 2 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. • And the best fact: Most social networks are free! (Sources: internetworldstats.com, Facebook, Econsultancy, Comscore) State 10/2011 and still growing everyday. The RE/MAX Social Media Guide 3 So now that you know Social Media is important, you certainly want to know more about your benefits. Here are some practical applications for real estate agents: • The ability to promote yourself and your services. 1 STEP • Advertise your listings and give virtual tours. • Connect with past, current and potential clients. • Send updates about listing changes and new homes on the market. • Recruit prospects. • Advertise open houses and other events. • Provide information, answer questions and create dialogue with your clients. the re/MaX Social Media guide 4 Your Social Footprints. It’s important to know your standing and reputation on the internet. With basic reputation management you have the ability to monitor what is being said about: 1 STEP • RE/MAX • Your name • Your business name • Your profession For this you can use some tools especially for monitoring social media: > www.whostalkin.com > www.socialmention.com > www.howsociable.com Additionally, you can configure Google Alerts or Google Trends to scan blogs, news websites, video sites and more and send you as-it-happens, daily or weekly emails based on search terms you choose. By the way: These tools are also very useful in anything else you might to keep tabs on – your competitors for example. the re/MaX Social Media guide 5 01 Username It’s best to use your name instead of an obscure nickname that people may construe as spam. 1 STEP Before we can start, let us ﬁx the basics. All social networking sites have one thing in common. In order to get going, you will need to create your personal profile: the re/MaX Social Media guide 02 Password Choose a password that is difficult to guess. Incorporate lower case letters, upper case letters, and numbers. Make sure to change your password every now and then. 03 Safety Beware of „phishing“ scams. If you receive a questionable message, there is a good chance that their account has been compromised. If you think your account has been compromised, make sure to immediately change your password. 04 your Picture Show off your personality. Most often, social networking sites are a more informal setting than a professional suit and tie photograph. 05 re/MaX graphic Standards on re/MaX Mainstreet If you wish to incorporate any RE/MAX material in your profile, please refer to the Trademark and Graphic Standards manual. 06 contacts Import your contacts. Simply look for „import contacts“ or a similar phrase. You will typically be able to enter your email login and the social networking site will automatically pull up all of your contacts and match them with those who have profiles on the site. 6 2 STEP The RE/MAX Social Media Guide Know the Rules or how to act in Social Networks. Always remember that social networks aren’t distributive channels or points of sales. People are offended by simple advertising because it primary is a tool for them to share their thoughts and stay in contact with family and friends. Though when you respect the rules you will profit in an indirect way. 7 Personal vs. Professional Life. When considering sharing your personal life on social networking sites, you must remember that clients, colleagues, and everyone else typically has access to the online content you post. 2 STEP the re/MaX Social Media guide And know that information originally intended just for friends and family can always be forwarded on. That being said, it makes the most sense to have dualpurpose profiles for most social networking sites. But it is possible to use a profile for both business and personal reasons. The key is to maintain a balance. 8 § 2 STEP The 10 Social Networking Rules of Engagement. the re/MaX Social Media guide 01 Say who you are. Always disclose your work relationship. 02 Show your personality. Be conversational while remaining professional. 03 engage and add value. Provide valuable insight. 04 Know your facts and cite your sources. When making claims, always refer to your sources. 05 Stay on the record. Never say anything you wouldn’t say to someone personally. 06 if you respond to a problem, you now own it. If you become the point of contact for a complaint, stay with it until it is resolved. 07 lurk and learn before participating. Most social networks have certain mannerisms that can only be learned by paying attention to them beforehand. 08 Make time to check out your social networking proﬁles. A few minutes a day is enough time to make using a social network worthwhile. 09 try to post content to a social network site at least once a day. Vary personal promotion vs. other content. You don’t have to create your own content. Share everything that could be of interest. 10 Forward any concerns along to re/MaX. We would be happy to help you sort out any situation that you may be unsure how to handle. 9 3 STEP The RE/MAX Social Media Guide Know the Big Players or which network is the best for me. Obviously you should use a network with a huge amount of participants. But you should also choose one that makes best concession to your needs. Do you often share videos, pictures, long texts, links to other websites, etc.? Of course you can also use more than one network and link them together. 10 • Real Estate Marketer (www.facebook.com/realestatemarketer) • eListit • Postlets • CenterStage for Real Estate Agents 3 a few tips: • Share pictures, video, blog posts, and any other type of multimedia content that may be of interest. STEP • Invite past and present clients, friends, family, and co-workers to like your fan page. Facebook • Ask questions to engage with your fans, i.e. „What are the most important things to consider when buying a home?“ Facebook is the social network where you will have the opportunity to connect with anyone from old classmates, friends, family, other real estate agents, and even potential clients. There are quite a few applications that you can install that may help increase the visibility of your listings, check out: • Check out other fan pages and build on their success. • Update your fan page regularly! • Make your fan page an information resource. • Make sure that you take the time to go through the „Privacy Settings“. facebook.com/remaxeuro the re/MaX Social Media guide 11 Perhaps the best feature available on YouTube is its ability to share. Nearly all YouTube videos can be linked or embedded elsewhere. This enables your videos to go „viral“ and be seen by a larger audience across the Internet. a few tips: 3 • When you upload a video, the words you use in the title and the tags are extremely important for other people finding your content. • Try to make your videos as short as possible. STEP • Customize your page to your liking. youtube • Create unique playlists for specific categories of videos. YouTube is something that RE/MAX has decided to emphasize in its overall social media strategy. The RE/MAX Brand Channel will allow you to upload your listing videos, personal profiles and other relevant video. • YouTube has developed an extensive search capability. • Create a nice background for your profile, or use some pre-existing RE/MAX imagery. • Respond to comments and messages about your videos. • Link to YouTube videos from your other social websites and other platforms. youtube.com/remaxeuroversity youtube.com/remax Brand Channel Page on RE/MAX Mainstreet: http://www.remax.net/marketing/Pages/YouTubeBrandChannel.aspx the re/MaX Social Media guide 12 The „retweet“ allows users to share the best links, tweets and gems they find from others using this service. The basic idea is that you can follow people and people can follow you. Make sure that you take the time to go through the Twitter Help Center: http://support.twitter.com/ a few tips: 3 STEP twitter Twitter is the greatest social network. It is also the most confusing. It has its own unique conventions and terminology that may take time to understand. You can send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters known as „tweets“. • Fill out your bio and link to your website. • Retweet interesting content that you see from other users. • If you are consistently posting useful or informative tweets, the followers will come naturally. • Let your friends and family know that you are on Twitter. • Feel free to start a discussion with a reply, even if you don’t know the person in real life. • Do not use auto direct message tools. This is considered a spam technique and is frowned upon. • Engage with your audience – don’t just tweet out your listings and neglect any real dialogue. • Beware of suspicious links from unknown sources. Twitter: http://twitter.com/remaxeurope the re/MaX Social Media guide 13 a few tips: • Utilize LinkedIn Answers to provide high value responses to industry questions and position yourself as an industry thought leader. • Import your contacts from relevant email addresses. • Keep tabs on the „Who has viewed my Profile“ module. 3 • Join relevant industry groups. • Look into LinkedIn Applications and see if any might be helpful or provide value to your profile. STEP linkedin LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. There is a level of inherent trust on LinkedIn that makes the network useful. Probably the best reason to use it is the ability to leverage your LinkedIn network to post and answer questions, network with other professionals and utilize recommendations. the re/MaX Social Media guide 14 Users can then choose which groups to share information with, allowing for greater privacy and control over the flow of information. Businesses can easily use circles to identify demographics and to target information and marketing. Promotions can be advertised to only those users who would find them most relevant, making marketing strategies more efficient. 3 STEP google+ Google+ is the newest social network and it’s already creating buzz among social media users and businesses. It has the potential to be a powerful player. Google+ allows you to organize friends into circles — such as acquaintances, co-workers, and so on. the re/MaX Social Media guide a few tips: • Video chat options provide a great opportunity for businesses to connect directly with customers. • One-on-one video chats would be ideal for resolving customer conflicts, allowing businesses to offer a more personalized approach. • Perhaps the most useful of all Google+ features is +Sparks, which allows users to suggest news stories, videos, photos, and more to specific users or groups rather than automatically posting it to everyone. This allows opportunities for targeted marketing by focusing on those users who would find your content most useful. Google+: https://plus.google.com/s/remax%20europe 15 Blogging, if done correctly, can bring a level of visibility and credence to your business that other social networks can’t match. There are many blogging platforms available such as Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous. The setup of these is so easy you will be blogging within a few minutes. 3 STEP Blogs Blogs (or Web Logs) are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Blogs are fantastic because they aren’t tied to a social network or have any character limitations. the re/MaX Social Media guide When Posting: When Commenting: 01 title: Consider using odd numbers as part of your title (example: The Top 5 Tips to Home Buying). 02 Keywords: As much as possible use real estate related keywords. 03 Post length and content: Brevity rules. When possible, offer analysis, new tips and tricks. 04 announcing: Sometimes announce on other social networks to notify others about your blog post. 05 Keep giving: Being helpful is the #1 thing you can do for your community. 01 on your Blog: Comment to other’s comments in your own blog. 02 on other Blogs: Make your comment thoughtful. Strive to include a valuable take-away. 03 Frequency: Commenting on a few of the same blogs often can establish a relationship with the blogger and their audience. 04 linking: If you are linking to content of your own, be sure it relevantly addresses the topic at hand. 16 Last Step There’s one last step. But this one you have to do on your own: The best thing for you to do now is go out and try out a few social networks yourself. Hopefully you will see the enormous potential that exists for your business. If you need any assistance in developing a social networking strategy for your office, please contact RE/MAX Europe. Thanks for reading our Social Media Guide! i Info Join RE/MAX in Social Networking: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/remaxeuro YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/remaxeuroversity Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/remaxeurope LinkedIn: Once you’ve created an account, you can join the official RE/MAX Group (Group > Groups Directory > Search Groups: RE/MAX International). Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/remaxeurope PMSCS Regional Franchise Services GmbH RE/MAX Europe Regional Services Donau-City-Straße 11 Ares Tower, 17th floor 1220 Vienna, Austria Tel.: +43 1 269 73 72 Fax: +43 1 269 73 72 – 200 E-Mail: [email protected] www.remax.eu Each office independently owned and operated.