social networking » Technology Tools for Real Estate

Are you sitting on the sidelines when it comes to social networking because you don’t know how to get started or you don’t have the time?

For some agents, social networking activities are a breeze. They find it easy to post fresh information and keep friends and clients updated online. But for others, the prospect of building and maintaining an online presence is daunting, confusing, or just too time consuming.

One solution to building and maintaining an online presence is to hire a virtual assistant (VA). A virtual assistant is an administrative professional who uses technology and the Internet to stay touch and complete assignments. The ideal VA works closely with you to handle administrative tasks so you can focus your time on activities that lead directly to producing income.

Successful agents have always had licensed, personal assistants to help them answer questions about properties, show homes, and complete paperwork. But this new breed of helpers can use technology to help agents do things that don’t require a license.

A VA could build your website, for example, or help you set up your Twitter and Facebook accounts. He or she could even ghostwrite blog articles for you so that you could devote more of your time to serving your clients or running your brokerage. And because the Internet makes “telecommuting” so easy, your VA could live in another part of the country or even half way around the world and still be able to offer you assistance.

Virtual assistants can be hired to do just one project for a set fee, or they can be paid an hourly rate to work on an on-going basis. A growing number of organizations train and certify virtual assistants; the International Virtual Assistant Association, for example, requires its members to abide by a strict code of ethics. You can even find virtual assistants who’ve been specifically trained to work in the real estate industry.

If you’re challenged when it comes to technology or could use the help of someone who knows his or her way around the Internet, consider hiring a virtual assistant.

Find people to follow using City Tweets

Twitter baffles many people because they don’t understand how to use it. If you just log on and start watching the tweets put out by random people, it’ll seem like so much useless—well—twittering.

Twitter enthusiasts know, however, that Twitter can be a great source of useful news and information, if you’re following the right people. Here are some suggestions of whom to follow and how to find them.

Family and Friends. Their messages may or may not contain truly valuable information, but hey—it’s fun to keep up with your friends throughout the day.
Your Clients. Let Twitter review your e-mail contact list and identify which of your contacts has a Twitter account. Follow current and former clients to get a feel for what they’re thinking about. Monitor what your clients are saying about their homes, their communities, or the local real estate market.
Your Co-Workers in the Office. No need to wait for office sales meetings. Get up-to-the-minute information on new listings and price reductions from the colleagues in your office who tweet. Also, some office managers and brokers may be using Twitter as a quick way to broadcast office news.
Your Colleagues at Nearby Brokerages. Build relationships with other agents and stay on top of what they’re saying and doing. Use it as a source for competitive intelligence.
Movers and Shakers in Your Home Town. Use sites like CityTweets to discover who’s on Twitter in your area. Capture the pulse of your community by following people whose posts are thoughtful and interesting.
Agents Who Use Social Media. Learn to use social media better by following agents in or outside of your market who use Twitter well. Use sites like Just Tweet It to search for Twitter users by profession.
Lenders. Check with lenders you use to find out if they’re on Twitter. Lenders often post information about mortgage rates and new loan programs. They may also offer links to articles that can help you stay current on the mortgage industry.
Attorneys. Yes, some attorneys even post to Twitter with information that can help you help your clients.
Contractors and Other Professionals. Find painters, movers, home inspectors, staging professionals and others who post to Twitter. Check their websites for links to their Twitter profiles.
Experts on Technology and Social Media. Keep abreast of new technology and new ways to use social media by following industry experts. In November 2008, Darren Rowse identified Ten People All Twitter Beginners Should Follow. The list is still relevant today. Follow their Twitter feeds or read their blogs to quickly learn how to master social media.

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing when it comes to social networking? I think the answer is yes.

Case in point: the twitterer who sends out too many tweets. I’ll call him @twitterguy.

I found @twitterguy’s blog only a coupe of days ago and I loved his perspective. He was positive and motivational, and he was writing wonderful articles on how to market yourself and build your business using social networking tools. He was exactly the kind of person I wanted to contact online, so I looked him up on Twitter and started following him.

As it turns out, @twitterguy’s as prolific as he is motivational, sometimes sending out seven or eight tweets an hour. (It’s really him, too, not some bot putting out messages on his behalf.) It wasn’t long before there was no one in my Twitter timeline but him.

I could skip some of his messages and I could use tools like Tweetdeck to isolate him a little bit. But after only a day or two I was overwhelmed so I unfollowed him.

The moral to the story is this: social networking is about balance. You must give and receive. You should share—but don’t share too much. If you’re building your brand or promoting your business, be consistent and dependable, but don’t be a pest. When you get invited in, don’t overstay your welcome.

There’s a fine line between promoting yourself and being a nuisance. Jason Falls describes it best in the Social Medial Explorer when he says nobody likes being marketed to. That’s why the old ways of marketing are falling by the wayside and new social media networks are taking their place.

Big organizations have to be strategic in their use of social media—too much promotion and their communication becomes offensive. (In fact, Falls seems to be suggesting that big organizations should use social media more for listening than for putting out messages.)

In this regard, real estate professionals have an advantage. When using social media, you’re an individual, and the rules are different for individuals, and celebrities, and small businesses. That’s because we expect self-employed people and celebrities to promote themselves.

The rules are also different because self-employed individuals are allowed to be individuals; their posts and their social media personae can be a mix of personality and professionalism. You can show some of yourself and still be about business—and it’s all okay. Big corporations can’t exactly do that.

So, as you grow in your use of social media, look for the balance. You don’t want to be like that boring guy at the party who walked up to everyone in the room and handed them a business card in the first five seconds of the conversation. In that sense, online marketing imitates life; build relationships first and the business will come.

As you create your online identity, you’ll need to strike a balance between sharing personal information and being safe. Of course, you want people to be able to find you and contact you, and you probably even want strangers to be able to reach you if they’re in need of a real estate professional and they don’t know one. On the other hand, you don’t want people to know so much about you that it compromises your safety. The security breach created by information on the Facebook page of the wife of Britain’s intelligence chief points out the dangers of sharing online information carelessly.

Real estate professional should always be mindful of their safety. The #1 Tip of the North Carolina Real Estate Safety Guide is “know who you’re dealing with.” Hopefully every managing broker cautions new agents to use good judgment when meeting clients for the first time.

But social networking changes the game considerably. Anyone with a Facebook account knows that strangers will often invite you to be their friend. Some Facebook users are happy to make online connections with new people. In fact, that’s one of the great attractions of such sites. Other people are more cautious. As you build your online presence, you’ll have to decide. Here are some things to consider:

Make sure your privacy settings allow only people you have connections with to see sensitive personal information like family members’ names or your home address.

Even with strong privacy settings, be cautious about the personal details you post online. Never post personally identifiable information.

Don’t let people know that you and your family are out of town. For example, posting to your blog, to Twitter or to Facebook in real time about your vacation broadcasts to the world that no one is at home in your house.

Choose a public place to meet people in person you’ve only been introduced to online. Your office is probably best Never agree to meet someone you don’t really know at a property—even if they’re the friend of a friend or they seem interesting based on their online profile.

Know the privacy guidelines of the sites you use. For example, how do they use your personal information?

Putting your name and number on a yard sign to be seen by passersby is a very different kind of publicity than posting your information on the Internet to be seen by millions. Choose a privacy/accessibility strategy that works for you.