Recently I gave a presentation to a group of progressive title representatives and here is the training video recap. This session was one hour and covered Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Please let me know if you have any comments in this thread.
Over the past few years Facebook has seen many changes. You may remember Facebook apps seemed to be the hottest thing around. But it didn’t take long for all of us to try them…and get burned out! Also during this time Twitter burst onto the scene and taught us conversation was far more important. Facebook quickly realized that and made more adjustments bringing us the newsfeed we know and love. The evolution has continued and now brings us a new Lite version of the site and @ status tagging.
Facebook Lite was originally touted as an optimized version of the site for countries with low-bandwidth. However last week over at TechCrunch, Facebook was quoted as saying:
“We decided to roll out Facebook Lite in the U.S. to give users a simple, expedient alternative to facebook.com, and hope that it will fill this need. We have also found that people who are new to Facebook tend to be most interested in a simpler experience, focus on establishing their network of friends and communicating with them by writing on their walls, sending messages, and looking at pictures. We have introduced the Lite site with these new users in mind”.
After taking Lite for a spin, I must admit that I’m very impressed with the simplistic interface. As you can imagine, the newsfeed is the main aspect of the site. It’s very clean and easy to interface with. Clearly positioned at the top are status and media sharing tools; followed by birthday and event notifications.
Now when posting a status update you’ll have the option of tagging your friends in the message…that’s right, just like Twitter. Although Facebook’s implementation works differently, there are obviously similarities starting with the @ symbol. Once you type “@” a drop-down menu will appear with a dynamic list of your friends and other connections even including groups, events, applications and Pages.
When you reference a friend it will send them a notification and post the status update to their wall. Just like traditional tagging in Facebook, your friend can delete the update from their wall. Also worth noting is that the “@” symbol will not be displayed in the published status update.
Well for starters, you’d be better off spending time communicating and engaging your connections than building fancy applications for a page that users may not even visit. Remember it’s not just Facebook Lite you need to be thinking about, it’s also Facebook mobile. (Read here: Mobile now connecting 65 million.) You’ll notice that Lite seems to parallel mobile in terms of its feature set…which may become our new reality. Now I’m not telling you to bail on your business page, it will still be assessable. You will still be able to share business updates and engage with users you just might not need those fancy tabs.
Today over at Jeremiah Owyang blog I learned of a new Podcast that Aaron Stout of Powered created. He invited folks like Brian Morrissey, Susan Getgood and Jeremiah to converse around Facebook for business and specifically how Facebook connect can help with engagement, registration and traffic! The podcast is great and I suggest you take a minute to listen.
It’s hard to believe, but email is starting to become a thing of the past. Social Networks are continuing to dominate online communication. Why spend time attaching a photo in an email when you could just post it to your Facebook page? Why have an email address when you can have your own personal URL? Why email one customer about your businesses promotions when you could tell thousands at once? Why? Why? and more Why’s? The list goes on and when you think hard you may start to wonder…dare I say it…Why even use email? While that question may be a stretch now, soon enough it might be a question you find yourself asking others. Statistics show that Facebook is by far the most popular service for sharing content online. 24% of all content being shared is through Facebook. That easily towers over email’s 11.1%. Even Twitter, which was only started 3 years ago, is as popular of a sharing service as Email.
My point is, if your not in the loop, jump in! You may ask yourself, am I too far behind? or am I too old to start sharing on social platforms? or will the whole world constantly be tracking me? The answer is No. Social media can be utilized by all age groups and you can personally choose what you want to share and who you want to share it with. Below is a list of the top 10 social media sites that I suggest using and why.
Can’t make ReBarCamp SF or Inman Connect SF 09′? Check here for our view of what’s happening.
Long gone are the days of only doing SEO work to promote your website. Long gone are the days of only using email to connect with others. And long gone are the days of only visiting CNN.com to get your news. It’s pretty clear that the hottest new trend on the web to communicate is Social Media. From Tweet’s to Wiki’s and Digg’s to Vid’s, there is absolutely no stopping this conglomeration of social connections that feed into your life…unless of course, you’re behind the rest. But if you are, don’t worry. I have compiled a list of the top 10 things you should know about social media and why they are important. Whether you’re trying to promote a business or simply connecting with friends, these tips will help.
1. Explore - Get to know about many of the social media websites before just creating accounts all over the net. Visit the site, play around a little, and decide whether it’s something that you think will be useful or not. Will you come back frequently? Does it pertain to you? or is it only for a certain group of people (ex. Realtors)?
2. Stay Current – Social Media is constantly changing. The most important thing you can do is know whats going on and where social media is heading. There are always new apps being developed and new tools to communicate and spread information.
3. Update Frequently – In the Social Media world, nobody cares about yesterdays news. Sites like Twitter show us that constant updates are necessary to keep others interested. Whatever networks you belong to, make sure you are updating frequently and sharing new information…. even if it’s once a day. If you are using social media for promotional reasons make sure your updates are genuine. Do not constantly update just for the sake of having more content.
This morning we had a webinar covering Facebook Business Essentials and this post is a recap. We covered a lot of ground and promised that we would compile links, slides and video for your review.
If you haven’t connected with us yet, you’ll find us here:
Cyberhomes Fan Page
Connect with Reggie
Connect with NikNik
Here are the PowerPoint slides
Here is the video recap. We had a little problem with the recording, you’ll notice it cuts in about 5 minutes after the presentation started. If you don’t see the player below, you may need to install Microsoft silverlight.
In the spirit of Twitter, we wanted to have a little fun this coming week and give away some free Market Forecast reports in a Q&A contest. The questions will relate to Cyberhomes in one way or another. You’ll be able to research the questions in real time. The first tweet directed to @Cyberhomes with the correct answer will win a free Market Forecast report! ($9.99 value)
Here are the full contest details:
A total of 10 questions will be tweeted throughout the week (at 9am PST & 1pm PST each day- Mon-Fri)), providing 10 opportunities to win! Only one prize per person will be given, 2 winners per day!
Question 1 – 9am:Visit the blog on Cyberhomes.com and find the post about Stephen Baldwin’s home going to auction. Tweet me the URL of his home on Cyberhomes
Correct answer: http://www.cyberhomes.com/homes-nyack-ny-10960/71oldmountainrd/47483339.aspx
Winner: @lisaopolion
Question 1 participants: @lisaoates, @Mary_R_Roberts, @Missouriagent, @DougGarner, @Wharriman, @Manseta
Question2 – 1pm: Looking at the Cyberhomes “Maps” section, names the 4 maps included in the Neighborhood Characteristics category? Tweet the answer to me.
Correct answer: Homeownership, crime, school rating, population density
Winner: @TopBrokerOC
Question 2 participants: @Mary_R_Roberts, LaniAR, @rerockstar
Question 3 - 9am: On Cyberhomes.com in “News & Advice” we have 3 featured special reports. Tweet me the names of all 3.
Correct answer: Buyers Guide, Facing Foreclosures, School Values
Winner: @manseta
Question 3 participants: @phildelacruz, @Robbiestern
Question 4 – 1pm: Using Cyberhomes.com, what is the 12-month change in value for Chicago, IL 60614? Tweet the answer to me.
Correct answer: -4.11%
Winner: @mattdollinger
Question 3 participants: @KeandraSandifer, @Robbiestern, @Mary_R_Roberts, @creativelyfresh, @10KResearch, @Jeanie_NJ
Question 5 – 9am:Using the personalized Cyberhomes homepage, name all 5 widgets you can add to your page. Tweet me the answers.
Correct answer: Homes for sale, Foreclosures, Home, Neighborhood & School
Winner: @Mary_R_Roberts
Question 5 participants: @KeandraSandifer
You can’t leave without taking a minute to watch “Know Your Market”…do you recognize anyone?
Yesterday we held a webinar for real estate and mortgage professionals sharing strategies on how to incorporate Twitter into your business. Today I want to share our presentation resources. To start we have a video recording of the event. You’ll also notice we have included our PowerPoint slides, and a list of links to most of the resources we talked about. We hope these resources will be helpful! Please leave any questions in the comments below.
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Twitter Backgrounds Grow Your Following Finding Locals Scheduling Tweets Twitter for Desktop Twitter for Mobile |
Media Sharing Short URL’s Twitter Widgets Events Monitoring Tweets |
Follow us at @cyberhomes and @nik_nik
If you were to ask me for one of the big buzz words of 2009, I would have to say Twitter. You can’t turn around without someone mentioning the rapidly growing micro-sharing network. But what is it about 140 character tweets that has everyone talking? If you’ve been asking those questions, than you should seriously think about attending our free upcoming webinar:
Twitter Webinar
Date: May 7th, 2009
Time: 10am (PDT) / 1pm (EST)
RSVP: http://rsvp.cyberhomes.com
Instructors: Reggie Nicolay (@cyberhomes) and Nicole Nicolay (@nik_nik)
The truth is Twitter has lots to offer your real estate business. The simplicity of the tool has empowered extremely creative uses of the technology. One of the latest Twitter features is another take on a growing web-based quandary of user registration. Keep in mind, each time users are asked to create a new account; they typically create a new username, password, and even upload their avatar. Both Facebook and Google have stepped up with solutions aimed at porting user’s profiles into newly authenticated sites. Now Twitter has done the same with Twitter Connect. Basically the service allows any website or blog owner to self-host the entire oAuth connection process. (see examples)
As mentioned, this would allow visitors to your site to authenticate using their Twitter account. Which could be handy for leaving new comments, it’s even possible to bring in their avatar alongside. Of course, Twitter Connect could be used for more than just comments; it could be used for any other registration need that may arise.
If you’re a WordPress user, I’ve already seen a WordPress plug-in popup that will help you through the installation process. You will however need to follow a process similar to Facebook connect setup, meaning you will need to register your blog and then grab your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. Those unique numbers are then added to the WordPress Plugin.
