Real Estate Reading List for 2012

With a new year comes a challenge and an endeavor to improve both in knowledge and in skill. My reading list never seems to shrink. As i finish one book I seem to add another two to the pile. What is on your list for 2012?

• Linchpin Seth Godin
• Raving Fans Ken Blanchard
• Trust Agents Chris Brogan
• Tribes Seth Godin
• The Real Book of Real Estate Robert Kiyosaki
• The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Gary Keller
• Unselling: Sell Less to Win More Peter Bourke
• The Law of Success Napoleon Hill
• Google + for Business Chris Brogan
• The Thank You Economy Gary Vaynerchuk

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Selling Real Estate Takes Perseverance

Real estate is a great career requiring hard, focused work. Agents reach fantastic emotional highs and then experience dramatic lows. Bouncing back and continuing to persevere receives it unmatched and well deserved rewards. Successfully helping clients reach their dreams is unbelievably rewarding!

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Ready, Set, JUMP!

Being cautious and looking at a problem from all sides is a great business practice. Business plans should include intricate details about marketing and product development. After careful analysis, however, sometimes you just have to take a running start and jump in! Don't forget to make as big of a splash as you can!

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Content Marketing for Social Media Sites

Many new Facebookers have true concerns about what and when to post material. Instead of creating a page and then trying to determine what information to provide, do it in reverse. Decide what content to provide and then create a page designed to deliver the information.
Before creating your Facebook page decide what kind of content or information to provide. This will depend completely on who the targeted audience is for the page. This allows the page to focus completely on consumer needs and delivers enough content for the first thirty to sixty days.
Three good questions to ask before creating a Facebook page are:

1. What kind of information does my targeted audience mostly likely need?
2. Why do I love selling real estate?
3. Why do I love this community?

The answers to these three questions are the beginning of a cntent grid. Use the following chart to help create a content grid.

Post several times a day in order to maximize exposure. Some recommend even posting the same material more than once to increase readership. Though this may look a bit like spam to frequent Facebook visitors, allows for the greatest exposure.

With all this great consumer centered information being produced, length of article or post is a concern. Facebook users are accustomed to short bits of information which is why Facebook is not in the center of the social media hub. Facebook allows the consumer to readily find topics and shorts posts of information. The true source of the information is the blog. Facebook just directs the consumer to it Even so, some bits of information may come from other sites like
governmental agencies, Realtor ssociations, school websites, news organizations to name a few. Create a link tothis information and post it directly on Facebook. Add the URL to longer articles or helpful link lists posted on the blog.

Each blog post has its own distinct URL or web address. By clicking on the title of the blog article, the URL will appear in the address bar. Copy and paste the URL for the article to Facebook. This gives the blog article greater exposure. The back link helps in placement in Google searches as well.

Content on blogs and Facebook is not limited to written articles. Content can be as simple as a picture with a title posted from Flick’r onto Facebook and the blog. Use the hub to create a network of sites whenever possible! Content can be shared as a video as well. Imagine, for example, keeping the community informed about a local construction project by posting
frequent and short videos. These videos are stored on YouTube and linked or embedded into the blog and Facebook. Creatively, client testimonials can be video as well. Ask satisfied clients to make a short 30-45 second video instead of writing a letter. These are great show instead of tells for blogs and Facebook.

Now that the social media hub is in place and beginning to work, refocus on the content grid to deliver quality and enjoyable information to your targeted group of consumers. This is the fun part!

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China Island Big Bear Lake

My mother painted this and gave it to me for Christmas this year. China Island, really Garstin Island, is a privately owned island in Big Bear Lake. Maude Garstin built the little Oriental style buildings in 1911.

Big Bear Lake is high in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. A transverse mountain range formed by folding and faulting, the San Bernardino Mountains are home to spectacular wildlife including big horn sheep, bald eagles, montain lions, and bobcats.Mount San Gorgonio, known as Old Greyback, tops out at 11,499 feet and is the tallest peak in southern California. The San Gorgonio Wilderness has an extensive trail system and is home to several ecosystems including chaparral, yellow-pine forest, montane meadows, lodgepole forest, sub-alpine, and alpine
fell.

I was fortunate to pass by China Island frequently on my way to Papoose Bay to fish. Big Bear lake is a stellar fishing lake with rainbow trout, northern largemouth bass, catfish, crappie, bluegill, and even carp. Imagine having to live in such a beautiful place? Thanks mom for this wonderful gift!

Mashable Reviews Comscore's Study on Social Network

In a whitepaper title It's a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It's Headed, dated December 21, 2011, comScore released amazing statistics. Adam Falk of Mashable highlights a few in this video.

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How do we interact in 2011?

To reach consumers it is necessary to understand how people interact today. More than likely, people meet online with 1 in 5 marriages originating from an online introduction. With the likelihood of personal interaction initiating online, a strong, widespread, dynamic, and planned online presence is a must for a real estate professional to grow a successful and productive business.
An online prospecting campaign must include a substantial amount of Facebook. Successful campaigns that create a measureable return on time and dollar investment usually include use of both the personal profile and a business page along with facebook ads.

Recently Facebook incorporated Facebook generated lists to help organize friends into manageable groups. Lists allow individuals to post status updates to specific groups of people allowing a great opportunity to target market. It would be beneficial to post an open house for friends in a specific geographic area. But it may be considered spam to others who live far away from the open house. Lists also allow facebookers to review or watch posts from specific groups of people. Many people today have more Facebook friends than they can interact with. Lists allow people to streamline friends into smaller lists. The smaller groups let posts move slower down the wall so it is easier to pay attention and interact with friends.

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