A year ago I had a vague understanding that there was something out there called Blogging that was creating a stir in the real estate world.

I’m a pretty techie type of guy so I found Blogger and created a small Blog that I named MovePhilly, but frankly, after a couple of posts I felt like a guy in a room talking to himself and I stopped writing. I guess without positive feedback, and no road map to eventual success, I just wasn’t interested enough to support the time and effort it took to think of things to say in print on a regular basis.

At NAR’s Professional Standards Committee, we had been discussing the applications of the Code of Ethics to internet marketing, and Blogging kept being brought up. There was a substantial amount of writing going on out there , and it seemed that there was little understanding of what , if anything, we should do to keep the Code relevant to this new method of communication. At a meeting in Chicago earlier this year, the Interpretations and Procedures sub-committee of the group listened to a presentation by Liz Luby and Jim Duncan who made a presentation about the real estate blogging community. They showed us their sites, and national opinion sites like agentgenius and NarWisdom.

We left the meeting and I began to read some of the blogs. Soon I was commenting on what I considered inaccuracies on some statements. Soon I was involved in a lengthy argument with another commentator, and the next thin I knew I was writing. Through this journey I was being exposed to a whole new world of interactive websites populated by large numbers of real estate professionals and consumers who didn’t move in the larger physical circles of meetings and association groups that I had become accustomed to over the years.

As I traveled back and forth to visit with my son and daughter-in-law in California over the next few months, I began to evangelize about this new marketing medium and its immense impact on my business. After 37 years in the business I had less then 500 mentions of my name on Google. After less then six months, I had over 15,000 mentions of my name on Google. In addition, I had been hired for several consulting opportunities (that came directly from social media marketing), had re-connected with a friend from 35 years ago, had consumers contact me to list and buy property,  and had been interviewed by local and national media about real estate and social media.  In addition, I had the oportunity to participate in several potential business arrangements. This was an astounding amount of results for a very short period of time.

I had found a new type of world wide web – the web effect created by linking interactive sites where an online presence could be built quickly and  inexpensively. The world of WEB 2.0 (or in our industry the RE.NET).  This was a place where every professional needed to be in some manner.

So why weren’t there more people in this arena?  The effort to do the  research on where you wanted to be, how you wanted to be presented to the public, and how you wanted your online presences to interact and support each other was immensely time consuming.People just didn;t know how to bridge the gap between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, or what to do when they go there.  The time to find all the sites, let alone register on all of them can be immense. Busy agents have the time to teach themselves even if they had the inclination.

It was when my son Hal broached the idea of creating a free lance marketing company to serve the real estate community that BuzzBuilderz was born. We created a short cut to insert agents and companies directly into Web 2.0? We designed an interlacing relationship of Web 2.0 sites to give a turn key solution to the agent?  BuzzBuilderz was a simple concept. For a nominal flat fee for we provide an agent with a ready to utilize Web 2.0 platform. An easy to drive marketing program that they could operate at whatever speed they desired. I knew it worked from my own experience.And I knew that it didn’t take much time. All I needed to do was to learn some simple short cuts that had huge impact – things anyone could do while they searched the MLS, or read their daily industry news.

Instead of spending lots of time and money on the same marketing that real estate people had been doing for the last century, I now had a free marketing machine that created signs pointing at my business, that never go away. every time I did something, I wasn’t sending out something that was being used once by one customer, I was creating a perpetual marketing machine that kep tgetting larger and larger and larger.

Not only had I received referrals, earned, consulting fees, connected with old friends ,clients, and consumers in only 6 months,  I was enjoying myself meeting new people and learning about new applications of technology! And I had access to all of this for little or no cost.The experience was terrific -

So now we’re prepared to share that experience. Please visit us at BuzzBuilderz as we try to mesh the world of real estate I grew up in with the newer technology being adopted by agents and brokers all over the country. Maybe we can enhance your online presence a little.

]]> http://rereflections.com/2008/09/17/making-the-most-of-your-marketing/feed/ 234 http://rereflections.com/2008/09/11/building-your-buzz/ http://rereflections.com/2008/09/11/building-your-buzz/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:57:34 +0000 Bill http://rereflections.com/?p=38  

Social Media is not organized. Its organic and exciting, and confusing to most new participants. Real Estate agents and companies know that they should be Blogging, just like they knew they needed a database in the 19990s and their own web site at the start of this century. And like the databases and the web sites, they go  out to get them without a clear idea of what they’re supposed to do with them once they’ve set them up.

Even if they start to read blogs, and get an idea of what they might choose to write about there is still the issue of choosing a platform to start writing. Do they go to ActiveRain or Blogger or WordPress? Do they take the simplest platform or the one that is most flexible? Do they buy an area through a vendor seeling local or city blogsites or do they strike off on their own and take the time to build their brand?  The very variety of choices create additional confusion in the minds of the neophyte, and even the pros like PoppyD  of Agent Genius make mistakes in their strategies (as evidenced in this post on AgentGenius).

Additionally daunting are the issues of analyzing the Blog traffic, understanding the interconnection of various media sharing sites, Social networks, Social Bookmarks, and feed aggregators. And finally, there is the considerable amount of time it takes to create and then upload  consistent profiles , photos, logins and passwords on all of these sites.

So a busy agent do who doesn’t have the time to invest in the set up of the basic social media package seems to be at a substantial disadvantage – at least they are if they haven’t found the services available at BuzzBuilderz , a new company set up by my son Hal and myself.

My son Hal is an actor and  copywriter in Los Angeles who has written a wide variety of web based copy as well as shows and scripts for the entertainment industry, including treatments for Lou Gosset Jr.  A Cum Laude Graduate of Syracuse University, Hal has the insights of youth and the formal training to assist any professional in their entry to the world of Social Media.  Using my experience in social Media, and capitalizing on the mistakes I made and the lessons I learned in moving from Web 1.0 into the world of Web 2.0, we have designed a low cost, high impact method for agents to make ther own transition.

One flat fee entitles a BuzzBuilderz client to a marketing interview which is then used to create appropriate profiles for different sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, along with the shorter profiles needed for other social media sites. The BuzzBuilderz team then registers the client on 40 different interrelated social media sites, posting their photo or avatar, completing their profiles, linking their websites or blog, and setting up the analytics for the client to use.  If the client provides their email list, BuzzBuilderz will also create the core of their Social network on each of these sites.

A quick start manual with ideas on how to maximize the exposure provided by these sites with a minimum of effort, including isdeas on various blog topics completes the program, and the Web 1.0 agent is now the proud owner of a complete Web 2.0 platform, all ready to take out for ride in the new world of social media.

 Photo by Glutnix

There are lots of directions that real estate professionals take in their blogging efforts. And even more conversation in the blogosphere about blogging. It may be a narcissistic trend. Or maybe we just want others to validate our direction or the business benefit of this , as yet unquantified activity. But I think that many bloggers are driven by a desire to write and create, and mirroring that desire to write is a desire to be read. Without readers, we are merely individuals standing on a rocky shore yelling out into the void. But how do we find those readers?

There are so many different blogs. The Hyper-Local Blog, The News Blogs. The OP Ed type of Blog. The Introspective Blog. The Photo Blog and its brother the Video Blog (VLOG). The Political Blog. And the Hobby Blog. I picture each of them like little pets, each with a different cartoony type of head indicating their Genus, and all needing different care and feeding. And we, the writers have to feed them frequently.

Some people are so prolific, they can write, take photos, make videos, blog, and twitter with one hand while running their business with the other. Hopefully they aren’t driving, talking on their cell phone and drinking their Latte at the same time. But most of us need time to construct our posts, find material that isn’t being pushed out at the same time from everyone else’s Blogs, and try to make a coherent point in our writing posting (the change is recognition of those who post awesome video or photo content like Daniel Rothamel or Teresa Boardman or Chris Griffith ) I get stressed when I can;t write regularly because I need to actually be in the real estate business instead of writing about the real estate business.

Lani Anglin-Rosales, the Queen of Social Media recently wrote a product review on AgentGenius about an interesting service called Bring the Blog which provides pre-written content for bloggers or allows them to create a blog on their service, using their content. Licensees can modify the content or just reprint it. They may credit Bring the Blog or they can claim authorship.

As I pondered the product, I came to a couple of conclusions. As a writer, I know that its always easier to edit then it is to write. I also know that when I read something of interest, the immediate press of business may pull me away from my writing, taking so long that when I do get around to writing about the topic, I no longer feel its timely.  I also thought that this might be a great supplement for a single author blog, and might generate more interest in following the original postings, by providing a more varied fare for potential readers.  It also occurred to me that these posts might generate new and different posts because of their subject matter. A factual economic report for example could generate a post about the impact of that on the local neighborhood or town.

As we write, we are often captives of our own minds, seeing only the point of view that is visible from our current position. In addition, it would strike me that the author of the post is less important to the reader then the content, and then possibly the owner of the Blog.  I see a wide variety of posts on AgentGenius and other multi-author Blogs, which I think are more engaging to the reader, and provide more interaction and comments.  But I think I fed this blog enough today, its probably time to take it for a walk now.