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Welcome to the first of what will be a regular feature I’m starting here called “Infographic Fun.” I find all sorts of interesting real estate related Infographics (and some that are just fun), and decided what better than to share them with the BVAS Connections readers.
This one breaks down the order of desired amenities in a home for first time homebuyers.
Thoughts, or suggestions on your favorite infographics? Let me know in the comments below.
When we last left you, we touched on the subject of using Pinterest for real estate. Then on March 1st, we welcomed a new addition to the family named Nathan. He is quite cute and is looking to shape up to be a great office assistant to his mommy. Big brother likes him to.
I took a break to work into our new family routine, and my team has been working hard in the background assisting my current clients. Now I’m making my comeback and looking forward to bringing you more great info on the latest and greatest in social media, technology and marketing for real estate. I have got a lot to say, so stay close and tune in.
Pinterest is a fun new social network and a great visual diversion for most of it’s users. Now agents are trying to figure out a way to use Pinterest for real estate. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Pinterest is not a tool for self promotion or a magic lead generating solution. That being said, there are ways you can creatively use Pinterest in relation to your real estate business, to make new connections and even help with link building.
Before I launch into the various ways to use Pinterest for your RE biz, please heed this following warning… Please for the love of all things holy, DO NOT use Pinterest onlyas a vehicle to just post images of your listings to promote them. I’m serious. People do not go to Pinterest to search for real estate.
Moving on, here are a few ways you can relate the Pinterest social network to your business.
1. Showcase Your Community and Neighborhoods
Use lifestyle marketing and build your “trusted advisor” status by showing that you know you local community and neighborhoods well. Just like you can use video marketing to show off the great neighborhoods and area amenities, you can create pin boards on your Pinterest account to do the same. Curate pin boards with images of the neighborhood parks, city views, local landmarks, and the local restaurants and hotspots. Showcase what is great about the communities you work in the most and the lifestyle that people live there. It is a great way to show prospective buyers, connect to people in the community, and connect to people who interested in that area. You can do this for relocating buyers she meet with. When initially meeting with them, pull out your iPad (or laptop) and show them a collection of pin boards of the various neighborhoods that may suit their lifestyle or that they are considering. Again, it builds your status as a local area expert.
2. Home Decor, Dream Homes, & Landscaping
One thing I like to do on Pinterest is search for home decor ideas or features I want in the home of my dreams. You are in the business of selling homes, so why not create pin boards related to all things home decor or showcase photos of certain spaces? For example, I have made a pin boards consisting of Dream Kitchens, Dreamy Bedrooms, Dream Baths, and Outdoor spaces. It is a fun thing for me to put together and collect images what I want in my dream home. So again, because it relates to homes so it can relate to your real estate business. One agent I saw had gone a step further and encouraged their buyers to create pin boards of the things they wanted in their ideal home to help aid in the home search process. A great way to connect this social network to your real estate business.
You are more than just a Real Estate salesperson. You are not just a real estate robot. You have hobbies, interestes, and generally have a life outside of your work. So use Pinterest to display that. If your alter ego is a chef or you just love to cook, make pin boards full of your favorite recipes or ones that you want to try. If you’re a crafting addict like me, create pin boards with your own projects, or find great DIY & craft ideas you want to try yourself. Have fun and make things that reflect you. Just because you’re in the real estate business, there is no need to make Pinterest all about real estate (and it is NOT the place for self promotion anyways… have I mentioned that before?). Doing this can help you connect and meet others on this network who have similar likes and hobbies.
Who’s doing it right?
There are ways to tie this social network into your real estate business, and here is a collection of those in the industry that are doing it right on Pinterest and I generally like following:
Facepalm - Image via Wikipedia
“How do I leverage Pinterest for my real estate business?”
The title of this post, as well as the above question is starting to get asked a lot around the real estate marketing circles and social networks I follow. And I must tell you, it makes me cringe to hear it. Many agents are joining this relatively new network, looking increase their marketing reach and hoping it’s the holy grail of lead generation. Frankly I think they are missing the point and purpose of Pinterest, and may be sorely disappointed in the lack of “ROI”.
Just what is Pinterest, some of you may you be asking? Pinterest is an new-ish social network where users can Pin images, putting together a visual collection of things they love, their interests and inspiration, etc., on pin boards users create in their accounts. These pin boards can be related to anything from food to crafts, fashion to home decor. The possibilities are endless.
Personally, I LOVE Pinterest. For me it is a great source of creative inspiration, craft and DIY project ideas, home decor ideas, recipe ideas, and a place that I can daydream by pining images of my dream home or dream vacation spots. For me Pinterest is fun and and inspirational.
Where I believe that people are really going wrong, especially those that want to “leverage Pinterest for their business,” is that marketing and self promotion is not in the spirit of what Pinterest was designed for. Just simply look at #3 on their list of the Pinterest etiquette guidelines:
Avoid Self Promotion
Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.
When embarking on any new social networks, Pinterest or otherwise, my advice is to first explore it and really observe. Get an idea of what this community really is about. Observe how other users are utilizing the network. Then go have fun with it. On Pinterest, you may find that you can create new connections and meet like minded people you never knew before. But don’t have high expectations that it will be a magical source of lead generation.
If you are looking into to Pinterest purely as a way to promote yourselves, your listings and generate your business, then frankly I think you should move along. Pinterest is not exactly the place for you, and I think you will find very little ROI, if that is your main goal. Your time may be best spent elsewhere.
There are certainly ways to use Pinterest and relate it to your real estate business, and you can do so without shameless self promotion. Coming up in a follow-up post, I will show you come creative ways to use Pinterest as it relates to real estate, and show you some examples of those in the real estate industry who are doing it right. Stay tuned!
And if you want to follow me on Pinterest, find me here. You will see that I am definitely not all business all the time.
Facepalm - Image via Wikipedia
“How do I leverage Pinterest for my real estate business?”
The title of this post, as well as the above question is starting to get asked a lot around the real estate marketing circles and social networks I follow. And I must tell you, it makes me cringe to hear it. Many agents are joining this relatively new network, looking increase their marketing reach and hoping it’s the holy grail of lead generation. Frankly I think they are missing the point and purpose of Pinterest, and may be sorely disappointed in the lack of “ROI”.
Just what is Pinterest, some of you may you be asking? Pinterest is an new-ish social network where users can Pin images, putting together a visual collection of things they love, their interests and inspiration, etc., on pin boards users create in their accounts. These pin boards can be related to anything from food to crafts, fashion to home decor. The possibilities are endless.
Personally, I LOVE Pinterest. For me it is a great source of creative inspiration, craft and DIY project ideas, home decor ideas, recipe ideas, and a place that I can daydream by pining images of my dream home or dream vacation spots. For me Pinterest is fun and and inspirational.
Where I believe that people are really going wrong, especially those that want to “leverage Pinterest for their business,” is that marketing and self promotion is not in the spirit of what Pinterest was designed for. Just simply look at #3 on their list of the Pinterest etiquette guidelines:
Avoid Self Promotion
Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.
When embarking on any new social networks, Pinterest or otherwise, my advice is to first explore it and really observe. Get an idea of what this community really is about. Observe how other users are utilizing the network. Then go have fun with it. On Pinterest, you may find that you can create new connections and meet like minded people you never knew before. But don’t have high expectations that it will be a magical source of lead generation.
If you are looking into to Pinterest purely as a way to promote yourselves, your listings and generate your business, then frankly I think you should move along. Pinterest is not exactly the place for you, and I think you will find very little ROI, if that is your main goal. Your time may be best spent elsewhere.
There are certainly ways to use Pinterest and relate it to your real estate business, and you can do so without shameless self promotion. Coming up in a follow-up post, I will show you come creative ways to use Pinterest as it relates to real estate, and show you some examples of those in the real estate industry who are doing it right. Stay tuned!
And if you want to follow me on Pinterest, find me here. You will see that I am definitely not all business all the time.
Here is a special holiday message from me!
May your days be merry and bright!
You may have heard about the new Facebook profile interface, the Facebook Timeline. (If you haven’t yet Check out this complete guide from Mashable) It is quite a radical change to the overall look and function the Facebook profile that they started previewing to users back in September. Now they are rolling it out for everyone to have access too, and should become the default profile setting for all users in a upcoming months.
Want to go ahead and change and play around with the new Facebook Timeline now? They’ve made it easy! Here is now:
(tips courtesy of Mashable)
What separates Rich Real Estate Agents from the Poor Real Estate Agents? Check out this awesome infographic and survey from Active Rain. Lots of striking information in this, definitely worth checking out.
One year ago today, I made the decision to ditch Microsoft Outlook and move everything over to Gmail. And I have never looked back!
Why did I do it? Outlook at the time was continually locking up, crashing my PC and I was completely fed up. In the back of my mind, I had always considered moving it over to Gmail but was too afraid to take the plunge because it was so different than I’m used to. Then one day, after too much frustration, I did it. And it was so much easier than I thought.
So what are the Pros for leaving Outlook for Gmail? Here are a few of the great reasons:
* I should note that I did not move my domain’s mail hosting to Google Apps. I have a dozen or so emails associated with it, and my host is awesome so I didn’t want to rock the boat. I really wanted to keep it simple! Regular Gmail suffices for me (luckily I don’t have more than 5 POP3 accounts to pull in).
Being a real estate agent can definitely be a difficult job at times. From managing several buyer and seller clients at once, to tracking paperwork and juggling upcoming closings. But he thought that your real estate career can present you with some dangerous situations, hardly ever enters your mind. Some scary stuff in the news lately is driving home the fact that Realtor safety should become a priority.
Realtor safety concerns are nothing new. Several years ago, when I worked in the front office for a major real estate company, the company had decided to offer self defense classes to their agents which some thought was silly. Since the subject came up, my broker then told me this story:
She was working with these first-time buyers, showing them several properties on the weekends over a few weeks. One Saturday morning, she was setting up a few showing appointments for the day, and called one particular owner-occupied home where a pleasant gentleman answered. He said it was the requested appointment was fine and he would make sure to be out of the home.
Since this was the first appointment of the day, she decided to get to the property ahead of her clients to preview it herself, open up curtains, turn on lights, etc. When she unlocked and opened the door, about 10 feet in front of her was a man sitting in a chair with a shotgun in his lap, starting straight at her. She quickly apologized for disturbing him, backed away, closed the door, and got in her car. She had her clients meet her at the next property instead.
Now that scary situation turned out to be ok for my former boss, as she was unharmed. But it has stuck in her memory and has always taken extra safety measures ever since.
The news tell us that some agents have not been so lucky.
Last year, two Realtors were found murdered in separate incidents, one found shot in a vacant home he was showing, and one found in burning home.
Back in April, an Iowa Realtor was found murdered at an at a model home open house.
In July, a Tennessee agent was attacked and robbed during a showing appointment.
Just last month, an Oregon broker was targeted in his office and shot by a revenge seeking gunman.
A few weeks ago, northern Ohio agents were warned that a man was calling female agents for evening showing appointments, to possibly lure them into vacant homes and sexually assault them.
The sad list goes on.
Real estate can be a risky industry. Agents can often find themselves traveling alone, meeting with and showing properties to people that they don’t really know well or at all. There’s worries that violence against Realtors is on the rise. And it is not just women that are victimized. (check out his report)
What can you do to keep yourself safe? Though past violent incidents don’t always have a common thread, and there is no way to prevent every crime, agents should certainly take any step necessary to protect themselves.
Do what you can to increase your awareness and fine tune your gut instincts. Please stay safe out there!
My Virtual Neighborhoods