Pinterest Business Accounts: The Definitive Guide to Getting Started | Armonk NY Realtor
Leave a reply
Daily Archives: December 10, 2012
Google Beats Nike to Become Most Shared Social Video Brand of 2012 | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate
According to new data released today by Unruly Media, Google is the most successful social video brand of 2012. The technology giant’s video campaigns attracted more shares this year than any other advertiser.
Thanks to the global success of campaigns such as Project Glass: One Day, Google increased the number of shares it attracted in 2012 by 196.8% from the previous year, beating Nike to the top spot by 421,359 shares.
The Most Shared Social Video Brands Of 2012
The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index shows a number of newcomers in the top 10, with TNT Benelux, Coca-Cola, Abercrombie & Fitch, Samsung, and P&G replacing last year’s front-runners Budweiser, Evian, T-Mobile, Activision and Kia.
<img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-74776″ title=”social-video-brands-2012″ src=”http://cdn4.reelstatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/social-video-brands-2012-e1355082351369.gif” alt=”” width=”509″ height=”724″/>
The top 10 brands accounted for a colossal 35 million video shares. This indicates that competition in social video advertising is heating up. And it’s worth noting that Coca-Cola made the biggest leap, growing by 485.4% from last year, powered by campaigns like Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds!
According to Unruly co-founder Sarah Wood,
“The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index is the definitive chart for measuring a commercial brand’s social video success as it’s based purely on sharing activity rather than views and subjective criteria. This is the content that people are choosing to share. Savvy brands are no longer creating content to merely watch their YouTube view counter tick up; they’re measuring who’s sharing the content, what they’re saying, and how it’s impacting brand metrics.”
Video Marketing Lessons from Social Video in 2012
Why should internet marketers and video content producers pay more than casual attention to the Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index?
Let’s start with the methodology.
The 2012 Index, based on data from the Unruly Viral Video Chart, ranks videos by the number of shares they attract across Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere as opposed to the number of views. As such, it is a measure of the brand’s viral success ranking branded content by the volume of active pass-on rather than the more passive metric of video consumption.
The list also shows the extent to which some brands have already recognized video’s potential for brand advocacy and are successfully leveraging the potential of the social web to increase sales. However, the top 20 does not include movie trailers.
Internet marketers and video content producers understand that the days when YouTube was exclusively a place for one hit, viral videos are gone. If you’re interested in building a successful channel on YouTube, you’ve got to consider your channel’s long term plan. And that requires developing a viable programming strategy.
Programming means creating a cohesive viewing experience across videos on your channel, where each video fits into the larger channel vision. It includes both what type of content to produce, as well as when to publish it.
And this extends to video advertising campaigns.
Social video grew up in 2012. It is the year when social video advertising proved it was the hottest trend instead of a passing fad by reaching heights usually reserved for Austrian space-jumpers. (Click on the Top 5 Trends for Social Video Advertising in 2012, to download Unruly’s report on the topic.)
But you can’t begin to harness this trend unless you know which brands were the top performers in 2012. You can’t develop new strategies unless you can see which advertisers seized the opportunity to engage with their consumers at scale.
That’s why Unruly has compiled a list of the top 10 social video brands of 2012. And that’s why you should pay more than casual attention to it.
The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index is your new yardstick for measuring the top 10 brands – instead of the top 10 individual videos. These are the brands that “get it.” Many of these brands have gone beyond creating one-hit wonders. Most of these brands are worth emulating next year and the year after that.
In other words, this is a chart worth getting on.
Get it? Got it? Good.
via reelseo.com
The Foreclosure Iceberg is Slowly Melting | North Salem NY Real Estate
The shadow and visible inventories of foreclosures accumulated during the processing slowdown in the wake of the Robogate scandal are slowing shrinking, absorbed by healthy demand so health that distress sales are actually rising faster on a national basis that full-priced homes.
CoreLogic reported Monday that October prices that exclude distress sales rose only 5.8 percent while prices that include distressed sales increased on a year-over-year basis by 6.3 percent in October 2012, the biggest increase since June 2006 and the eighth consecutive increase in home prices nationally.
In a separate report, CoreLogic said that despite the demand only 58,000 foreclosures were completed in October, a year-over-year decrease of 17 percent and a decrease of 25 percent from September.
There are still 1.3 million foreclosures in the visible inventory, a decline of only 13 percent from a year ago, when there were 1.5 million backlogged in the final months before the AG settlement was reached. Some 3.9 million foreclosures that have been completed since the housing crisis began in September 2008.
With demand strong and new standards in place, the pace of foreclosure completions could pick up next year. Where this will happen is very import to investors. As time passes, the differences between markets in judicial and non-judicial states continue to increase, and a handful of markets, largely in the Midwest and Northeast, today are the hotbeds of foreclosure activity
Here’s how CoreLogic sees the geography of foreclosure completions:
- The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49.0 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.
- The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).
- The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (11.1 percent), New Jersey (7.7 percent), New York (5.3 percent), Illinois (5.0 percent) and Nevada (4.8 percent).
- The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.7 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and South Dakota (1.0 percent).
Luxury Prices Fall Despite Tight Inventories | Waccabuc Real Estate
Though inventory shortages began at the lower price tiers, tight inventories have worked their way up to the luxury levels in the past two quarters. Expensive homes are selling faster than they were a year ago but third quarter prices are down in many markets compared to a year ago.
The median luxury property is taking nearly 200 days to sell this week, far above the 5.4-month supply for all price ranges. However, this is the time of year when inventories traditionally increase, especially in the upper price tiers. Last year in December, the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing reported that homes in its market profile were spending an average of 231 days on market and luxury properties in all markets it tracks were averaging 215 days on market at the end of the year, a year-long high.
During the spring buying season, luxury homes were selling much faster. Days on market for luxury homes fell to 120 days, down from 155 days at the outset of the buying season in February.
Luxury agents and brokers around the country report brisk activity up to the onset of the holiday season, an indication that demand is strong. Tighter inventories are not translating into higher prices at the million dollar plus end of the spectrum, however.
In the Hamptons, Town and Country Realty reports the greatest gain in third quarter activity was in the $3.5 million to $4.99 million price range and the only price range to see a statistical decline was the $5 million to $9.9 million range. Total number of sales in the Hamptons was up 17 percent.
Luxury home sales in the Denver metro area almost doubled in October compared to October 2011, according to John Rebchook of Inside Real Estate News, citing a report by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. However, the median sale price $1.31 million of a luxury home closed last month in the Denver market was off 4.8 percent from October 2011 and 3.9 percent from September. Homes also sold at a much faster pace year over year and sellers on average received a higher percentage of their asking price.
In Lake Tahoe, homes under and over the million-dollar mark both experienced significant increases in sales (37 and 33 percent, respectively) while overall prices fell around the lake. The median price of a home in Lake Tahoe is $330,000 (down 11 percent) and the average price is $538,289 (down 15 percent), according to Chase international.
Overall there was a 49 percent quarter-over-quarter and 39 percent year-over-year improvement in Lake Tahoe-area home sales, according to Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. In the third quarter, 122 homes changed hands, up from 82 homes sold in the second quarter and 88 homes sold in last year’s third quarter. In another sign the market is recovering, the average number of days a home was on the market before attracting a contract to purchase declined from 162 days a year ago to 101 days in this year’s third quarter.
In the greater Truckee area, the median price of a single-family detached home declined slightly from $451,129 in the second quarter to $450,083 in the third quarter, although it was up 3 percent from $437,261 in the third quarter of last year as the local real estate market continued to show signs of a recovery. Locally, a change in the mix of homes sold boosted the median sales price in Donner Lake by 50 percent year over year while low inventory pushed sales prices slightly higher in the Town of Truckee (+12% for the quarter and +7% for the year) and the Glenshire Area (+4 percent for the quarter and +3% compared with a year ago).
In Atlanta, while most of the real estate market is enjoying a nice rebound this year, luxury real estate is going backward. Sales of $2 million-plus single family detached resale homes are down 33 percent from 2011 (33 sales in 2012 vs. 49 during first 10 months of 2011) while sales of $3 million plus homes are down 67 percent (5 sales in 2012 vs. 15 in 2011). The average sales price for $2 million-plus homes is down 11 percent from 2011, while the average for $3 million-plus is up 1 percent. There are 112 single family detached new and resale homes in Buckhead currently on the market that are priced more than $2 million, which translates at the current rate of sale to a nearly four-year supply, according to Beacham and Company Realtors.
New York City is suffering from an acute lack of inventory throughout the sales marketplace, according to Warburg Realty. Foreign money is snapping up the high and mid-priced condominiums all over Manhattan. But the profound shortage of inventory which has developed in the co-op market defies expectations. Throughout the city, resident New Yorkers are hamstrung month after month in their new home searches. At $20 million, at $10 million, at $5 million, at $1 million – few new listings appear. The customers, hoping that there is still seasonality in the market ask, “Won’t there be a lot more inventory hitting the market in September?” Sadly, the answer was no. Many of these customers asked the same questions in April. There was no major spike in inventory in the spring and not much more in the fall. And we don’t anticipate one any time soon, at least not on the resale side, not even with the almost certain increase in the capital gains tax burden for sellers looming on the 2013 horizon.
Short Sales Overtook REO Sales in Q3 | Cross River Real Estate
For the first time ever, sales of properties in some stage of foreclosure (pre-foreclosure sales) outnumbered sales of bank-owned properties (REO) in the third quarter, as short sales continue to gain market share at the expense of REO and sales of completed foreclosures at auction.
Pre-foreclosure sales, largely short sales, increased 22 percent from the second quarter and were also up 22 percent from the third quarter of 2011, while the average sales price decreased 3 percent from the previous quarter and was down 5 percent from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac. A total of 98,125 pre-foreclosure sales occurred during the quarter compared to a total of 94,934 REO sales.
By contrast, REO sales increased 19 percent from the previous quarter but were still down 20 percent from the third quarter of 2011. A total of 193,059 U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned (REO) were sold during the third quarter, an increase of 21 percent from the previous quarter, but still down 3 percent from the third quarter of 2011. Foreclosure-related sales accounted for 19 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the third quarter – down from 20 percent in the previous quarter but the same level as in the third quarter of 2011.
Pre-foreclosure properties sold for an average price of $191,025 in the third quarter, down 3 percent from the second quarter and down 5 percent from the third quarter of 2011. The average sales price of a pre-foreclosure residential property in the third quarter was 27 percent below the average sales price of a non-foreclosure residential property, up from a 25 percent discount in the previous quarter and a 19 percent discount in the third quarter of 2011.
The average REO sales price decreased 7 percent from the previous quarter but was still up 7 percent from the third quarter of 2011. REOs sold for an average price of $161,954 in the third quarter, down 7 percent from the second quarter but up 7 percent from the third quarter of 2011. The average sales price of a bank-owned home in the third quarter was 38 percent below the average price of a non-foreclosure home, up from a 33 percent discount in the second quarter but down from a 39 percent discount in the third quarter of 2011.
Homes in foreclosure or bank owned sold at an average price that was 32 percent below the average price of a home not in foreclosure, up from a 29 percent discount in the second quarter and a 31 percent discount in the third quarter of 2011.
Short sales of properties not in the foreclosure process increased 15 percent from the previous quarter and were up 17 percent from the third quarter of 2011. These non-foreclosure short sales accounted for an estimated 22 percent of all residential sales, bringing the total distressed sale share to an estimated 41 percent for the quarter. Non-foreclosure short sales prices in the third quarter fell short of the total amount of loans outstanding by an average of $82,312 per short sale. For all short sales, including non-foreclosure and in-foreclosure properties, the sales price was short of combined loan amounts by average of $94,896 per short sale.
“The shift toward earlier disposition of distressed properties continued in the third quarter as both lenders and at-risk homeowners are realizing that short sales are often a better alternative than foreclosure,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. “However, the scheduled expiration of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act at the end of this year could stifle this trend toward short sales. If that law expires as scheduled, homeowners who agree to a short sale could see their income tax jump significantly because the portion of the unpaid loan balance not covered by the short sale proceeds will be considered taxable income in many cases.
Pre-foreclosure homes that sold in the third quarter took an average of 359 days to sell after starting the foreclosure process, up from an average of 319 days in the previous quarter and up from an average of 318 days in the third quarter of 2011.
Third parties purchased a total of 94,934 bank-owned (REO) residential properties in the third quarter, an increase of 19 percent from the previous quarter but down 20 percent from the third quarter of 2011. REO sales accounted for 10 percent of all residential sales during the quarter, the same as in the second quarter but down from 11 percent of sales in the third quarter of 2011.
Separately, Lender Processing Services reported yesterday that foreclosure starts declined significantly foreclosure starts over the last two months – down 21.9 percent in October and almost 48 percent on a year-over-year basis – leading to a nearly 7 percent drop in overall foreclosure inventory.
“LPS observed a drop-off in foreclosure starts in September that accelerated in October,” Blecher said. “This decline coincided with the implementation of new procedural changes outlined in the National Mortgage Settlement, which requires, among other things, that mortgage servicers provide written notice to borrowers 14 days prior to referring a delinquent loan to a foreclosure attorney. This has resulted in what is likely a temporary slowdown in foreclosure starts that we do not believe is indicative of a longer-term trend. However, we will continue to monitor this activity closely in the coming months.”
The LPS Mortgage Monitor reported that September loan originations were down, likely due to the shortened number of business days in the month. However, prepayment speeds (historically a good indicator of refinance activity) rebounded in October, and as such, LPS expects to see overall origination numbers pick up for that month. LPS also found that mortgage spreads remain elevated, averaging 197 basis points above the 10-Year Treasury rates, with interest rates consistent across all product types.
Homeowners’ Equity Reaches Highest Level in Four Years | South Salem Real Estate
In the third quarter, homeowners’ equity rose nearly 18 percent over the level of a year ago to reach the highest level recorded since the second quarter of 2008.
Homeowners’ equity reached $7714.3 billion, a 5.2 percent increase over the second quarter and an 18 percent increase over the level of $6526.9 in the third quarter of 20011. In 2007, homeowners’ equity reached $1.02 trillion, but fell to $7050.9 billion in 2008, according to the quarterly Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report.
CoreLogic previously reported that as of the second quarter, improving equity helped the number of underwater homeowners fall to 10,779,000, a 5.2 percent decline from the first quarter and 8.1 percent less than a year ago. About 22.3 percent of all homes with mortgage owed more on their homes than those properties are worth. That was an improvement from the first quarter, when there were about 11.4 million underwater homes, amounting to about 23.7% of all mortgaged homes. The number of underwater homeowners in the third quarter has not yet been reported.
The value of real estate owned by households increased about $370 billion over the second quarter as more and more markets reported improving home values. The Federal Housing Finance Administration reported earlier that home prices through the third quarter are rising at an annualized rate of 4.34 percent and rose 1.08 percent over the second quarter.
Total household net worth-the difference between the value of households’ assets and liabilities-was about $64.8 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2012, $1.7 trillion more than at the end of the second quarter. Household debt decreased at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter. Home mortgage debt contracted 3 percent, continuing the downtrend that commenced in early 2008. Consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 4 ¼ percent, the eighth consecutive quarterly increase.
19 handy Google tricks that you were not aware of | Katonah NY Realtor
After covering everything that Google Search has to offer, you can easily forge that search only forms one small part of the Google behemoth. With so many different features and clients available, it’s very easy to use the basic features for each and leave it at that.
However, if you delve a little deeper, there are many tricks hidden away that will help improve your experience. To help you out, here are a number of tips and tricks that you can use for four of Google’s more popular features: Gmail, Maps, Google Drive and Google News.
Gmail
Use Filtered Search
Gmail’s search bar is very handy for finding that message you got months ago, but most people don’t realise how easy it is to access advanced search. Just click the downward facing arrow on the right-hand side of the search bar and you will be presented with a number of different search options. You can narrow your search down to the person who sent it, the subject, words used, and the dates it would have been sent.
Activate Starring Feature
Sometimes you will come across important messages, but the only way you can mark them is with the yellow tab or star icon. Thankfully, there is a feature in settings which lets you mark your inbox with different symbols to help you. Start by clicking the gear icon in the upper right hand corner and scroll halfway down the general settings page to find the “Stars” setting. Here you can drag different stars and icons into the “In Use” section to activate them. The next time you’re starring an email, you can cycle through the different colours by clicking on the icon repetitively.
Cut Down Text In Email Replies
The annoying thing about email threads is that if the messages are long and numerous, it’s very easy for the context to get lost among the many paragraphs of text. There’s a handy way to get around this as blogger John Graham-Cunning recently discovered. Before you hit reply, highlight the block of text you want quoted and then hit reply. This ensures that only that text you highlighted will be quoted in the email below your message.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Like all Google features, there are keyboard shortcuts that you can take advantage of. Simply go into the gear icon on the upper right general settings and activate the shortcut. You can find a list of the different keyboard shortcuts by visiting this link.
Sign Out Remotely
If you’ve signed into Gmail on different computers and forgot to sign out, you can sign out remotely through the details section. If you scroll down to the bottom of Gmail, you will see your last activity at the bottom right hand corner. Click on “Details” underneath this and you can sign out of all other sessions.
Emphasise Important Words In Gchat
If you want to add extra emphasis to your comments on Gchat, you can add some basic formatting as you type. To make text bold, surround your text with asterisks (*bold*), use underscore to add italics (_italics_) and hyphens to add strikethrough (-strikethrough-).
See Which Emails Were Sent To You Directly
If you want to keep track of what emails are sent to you directly and which ones were sent to a group, you should activate the “Personal Message Indicators” setting. Found near the end of general settings, activating it will place arrow icons within the important tab. One arrow signifies emails sent to you and others, while double arrows indicate emails sent just to you.
Activate Gmail Remotely
If you’re a Chrome user, you can download a handy app which will allow you to work on Gmail without an internet connection. It allows you to read, respond to, search and archive mail without network access. For those interested, you can download it through the link here.
Google Maps
Remove Side Column
Not really a tip per se, but handy to know when you’re viewing a map. If you want more space to work around with, simply click the small arrow on the right of the printer and URL icon (the chain). This will minimise the column so that you have more space to view the map.
Adjust Your Route
When you’re searching for directions and you want to avoid a particular road or street, you can adjust your route by dragging it to a different path. This will create a new white marker which Google will use to calculate a new route and timeframe. You can create as many of these markers as you wish.
Add/Remove Layers
Depending on your location, you can add or remove layers to your map. Depending on your location, you can see terrain, traffic, weather reports, Wikipedia entries, bike trails and when you zoom in close enough in satellite mode, 45 degree mode. You can access these modes by hovering on the box located on the top right-hand corner and expand it by clicking the arrow button at the bottom.
Drag and Zoom
Google Labs has some incredibly handy tools, but it can be very easy to miss it considering its location. When you open up maps, you will find Maps Labs at the bottom left hand corner of the screen. One of the options you can choose is ‘Drag ‘n’ Zoom’ which lets you zoom in by drawing a box on the map. Click the magnifying box underneath the original zoom to activate it. The smaller the box, the further you zoom in.
Measure Distances
Another Google Labs tool that you can activate. Clicking the ruler tool at the bottom right hand corner of your map will let you measure the distance between two points in metres or feet. The fun part behind this option is you can choose the geeky option and measure the distance based on the size of American football fields, Olympic swimming pools and light years among other more useful measurements. This feature will only let you measure in straight lines, however.
Google Drive
Keyboard Shortcuts
It’s probably no surprise that Google Drive has its own set of keyboard shortcuts which you can find through the cog icon. Scroll down the menu and you will see an option for keyboard shortcuts. Clicking this will bring up all the different key combinations available to you.
Access Revision History
If you’re creating or viewing a document on Google Drive and you want to see what changes were made, go into file and select “Revision History.” This will bring up a list of previous versions of said document that you can restore or use to view differences between that version and the latest. If the document is shared by more than one person, all changes are colour coded to show which person was behind each change.
Attach Drive Files To Your Email
When you’re writing up an email, you can insert a file directly from Drive through your Gmail account by clicking the Drive icon at the bottom of the new compose email format. It will appear when you scroll over the attachment icon at the bottom. This option isn’t available if you’re using the old compose format, in which case you’ll have to add in your files manually.
Google News
Personalise Your News
Google News is a handy way to find articles when normal search isn’t enough, but you mightn’t be aware that it can also be used as a news portal. Going to the News homepage will present you with all the major news stories, local and national, for you to read. However, if you’re not happy with the articles you’re presented with, the customise section is what you’re looking for.
By clicking on the cog icon at the top right-hand corner, you can adjust the sliders for a number of topics to determine how often they appear. Also, you can add specific news sources to the list and adjust how often they appear on your feed, allowing you a more personalised experience.
Adjust Appearance Of Blogs & Press Releases
In its search function, Google News also incorporates blog posts and press releases to give you a more comprehensive view of the news and what’s happening. If you only want major media outlets and sites to appear on your feed, you have the option to lessen or get rid of blog posts and press releases from your feed. When in the customise section, go into settings (found underneath adjust sources) and you can adjust the frequency they appear.
Add Specific Topics
If you want to have a stream that related to specific search terms, then create your own section. In the customise section, go into advanced (found underneath the Personalize Google News section), and select “Create A Custom Section.” Here you can add in any search term and you will be presented with a feed correlating to that. Remember if you want to add more than one term, separate them with a comma.
This article is published in association with SimplyZesty, a digital marketing agency.
Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images
via thenextweb.com
The Instagram-Twitter Saga, and Other Marketing Stories of the Week | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
via blog.hubspot.com
Lessons From Nate Silver On Filtering Out Housing Noise | Bedford NY Real Estate
Do Your Emails Annoy Your Co-Workers? | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate
via mashable.com