The real cost of social media

Landing prospects through social media requires an investment of time

By David Fletcher, Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

Inman News®

Infinite time image via Shutterstock.

With the help of a marketing professional with a doctorate in psychology, I am gradually overcoming what I thought was an incurable disease: socialmediaphobia.

I fear what I don’t understand, and I have not understood exactly what social media I needed, why I needed it or what it would cost.

Fortunately, thanks to LinkedIn, a social media site known for its business contacts, I met someone who could help.

Barbara Lemaire, owner of Social Media Made Simple.info, invited me to connect with her on LinkedIn. When I saw that she was a Ph.D. with a website that said she was "first and foremost a marketing professional," I practically blurted out my concern about social media and its cost to operate.

"What does a fundamental social media program for real estate agents look like and what does it cost? I keep reading about social media, but no one ever mentions price. Tell me, in order of importance, what you think, please."

Lemaire said this:

"They need, in order of importance, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google and they need to be willing to spend 15 minutes a day working in their social media community. There are only a few tasks they need to do.

"This is your business. This is not a function that can be delegated to an administrative assistant or Internet company, in most cases.

"This why I go on the student’s computer and lead them step by step through the process for each medium, so they are comfortable posting and making connections. If I charged a monthly fee, they would tend not to learn what they need to do and say."

Here’s her take on each tool in the social media package:

LinkedIn is the most important.

Prospects don’t just visit the agent’s website. Many potential sellers and buyers will Google an agent’s name to find out more about them. Because LinkedIn is indexed by Google, their LinkedIn profile will come up in that search.

LinkedIn is an agent’s professional profile — their resume, if you will. Potential clients will read the agent’s profile and get a sense of how they present themselves in a business environment.

"This is one reason I spend two hours on the LinkedIn site helping them create their profile, a company page, contact settings, deciding what groups to join, how to create quality posts, and badges," she said.

According to Lemaire, Facebook is a critical tool because so many people spend a lot of time on the site, and people value their friends’ opinions.

A strong aspect of the psychology of social networking is that you can make real connections online. There is an interesting phenomenon that takes place when you regularly "see" someone, whether it is on TV, in magazines or on you favorite social networking site.

"You begin to feel as if you know them. This familiarity works in your favor to build a relationship and feel comfortable doing business together."

Agents learn how to join the online community and add value by providing important information in the form of articles, blog posts, comments and maybe point out a great buy.

This is how an agent can become a trusted adviser and also stay top of mind.

Lemaire said that the basic strategy of Twitter, from a business standpoint, is to follow the leaders in your industry. See what they are tweeting about, and check out the links they recommend. Also follow your local news media — many journalists use twitter to come up with story ideas. Perhaps they will use you as a trusted source.

"Twitter is a great place for research, an agent can search Twitter using keywords and also to get a pulse on what is happening in the marketplace," Lemaire said.

She charges $450 for the six-hour initial package. Clients can get additional help in two-hour segments for $150. These sessions can include setting up Google profile and business page, Pinterest, You Tube, Foursquare, a Blog and email marketing.

Frankly, I don’t know if her fees are good or bad. I do know that for the first time I found a source that could tell me exactly what I would get for what amount of money.

At my request, Lemaire shared these 10 marketing tips.

1. Your website is the hub of your social media marketing so spread your testimonies throughout your site, rather than all on one page.

2. Place your email address and phone number on every page. Contact forms are cold and not inviting.

3. Don’t depend on your website to do your prospecting. Network as much as possible in person, and use email and social media to drive traffic to you website.

4. Research in your own field. Follow links to third and fourth levels because many times there is news you can pass along in your newsletters and blogs that your prospects need to see.

5. When writing about yourself, make it conversational. No one wants to read business speak — people do business with real people.

6. Always put the price on the house. Prospects cannot make a decision to see the house until they sees the price, so why make them work to see it? We both agreed this is probably not a big issue.

7. Although you can keep your time in social media to 15 minutes a day, spend time at least once a week to go deeper into conversations and make new connections.

8. If you like to write and can stick to a schedule, then blog. If you hate writing or do not have the time or the discipline, spend time in discussions in groups on LinkedIn.

9. Use videos on your website, and post on YouTube. They don’t need to be professionally produced. Talk for two minutes or less about something you feel people need to know when buying or selling a house. Practice a few times, and then just talk to the video camera — you can even use your cell phone. You know this stuff, just act as if you are talking to a client.

10. Take photos and post them on Facebook. In fact, whenever you are posting, try to include a photo or graphic. Your post will be read more often.

If we seriously expect to draw prospects to our website with social media, we need to understand the tools and the real cost. It’s not only good business. It could be fun.

Or, do you think I am running a fever?

David Fletcher, a licensed real estate broker and lifetime achiever, is founder of EMentoru, a company dedicated to helping real estate agents and homebuilders help each other make sales. Contact him by phone or text at 407- 234-2349, or by email at davidf@ementoru.com.

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Ceiling to blame for cottage's musty odor

3 steps to banish the smell

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

Inman News®

Unpleasant odor image via Shutterstock.

Q: I desperately need your advice. We have a cottage in our backyard that was run-down, dirty and smelled badly inside. We gutted the cottage and redid everything except for the all-wood ceiling.

The problem is that, after all our work, the cottage still smells. For a while we used the cottage as a kitchen and at that time I didn’t notice the smell so much. My husband’s great cooking with all the garlic must have covered it up. But now that the cottage has gone unused for a while, it smells again. I put my nose to the wooden beam and it stinks with that same smell.

Is it possible that the smell is coming from the wood? If so, what can we do to get the odor out? We have company arriving soon and I am embarrassed for them to stay there.

A: It’s not only possible but likely the smell is from the wood. Years of neglect and lack of ventilation probably is the cause of the unpleasant odor. It also could be that you’re especially sensitive to that musty smell. We mention this because cooking odors masked the smell. Heavy use of the "stinking rose" covers a lot.

With company arriving soon you probably don’t have enough time to permanently fix the odor issue. To get ready for your guests give the ceiling a good cleaning and ventilate the room before they show up. Your permanent solution is to refinish the ceiling.

Cleaning is a two-step process. First, give the wood a good scrubbing with trisodium phosphate (TSP), which is sold as a powder available in the paint section of your local hardware store. Mix a good handful of TSP in a gallon of warm water and stir until it dissolves. Use the abrasive side of a "scrubby" sponge to scrub the ceiling. This will remove most of the dirt and gunk that is causing the odor. We suspect the water will get dirty quickly so change the solution often. Make sure to rinse the ceiling with clean water.

Use drop cloths if the room is carpeted. Move any furniture out of the way. It’s inevitable that the water will drip and TSP followed by a bleach wash can stain. Also it’s a good idea to wear a long-sleeve shirt and to "glove up." TSP and bleach, even when diluted, are mildly caustic and can irritate sensitive skin.

Next clean the ceiling with a bleach solution. Bleach should kill any organisms contributing to the smell. Make the solution four parts water to one part household bleach. Again make sure any fabrics or carpet are covered or out of the room.

While all this is going on leave the windows open. Fresh air goes a long way in getting rid of foul smells.

You may find that the heavy cleaning is enough to banish the smell. But you’re not done yet. To solve the odor problem once and for all, seal the wood. If the ceiling is only stained and not varnished, the cleaning you’ve done is the preparation needed before applying a seal coat.

After your guests leave, apply two coats of water-based polyurethane to seal the wood. If the wood has a smooth surface, use a sponge brush to put on the sealer. They are cheap, disposable and give a good finish. If the wood is rough-sawn, you’ll need a traditional paintbrush to do the job.

So, to sum up, open the window to let the fresh air in. Give the wood a two-step cleaning with tri-sodium phosphate and bleach. And, after your guests leave, seal the ceiling.

                                     

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Investor participation in the housing market dropped sharply in July, establishing a two-month trend and showing a clear reversal of long-term growth in investor purchases of residential properties, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Investor participation in the housing market fell to 21.9 percent of all transactions in July, from 23.5 percent in June, based on a three-month moving average. Investor participation back in May of this year hit a two-year peak of 25.3 percent of all transactions.

Real estate agents responding to the HousingPulse survey indicated that recent price increases caused the sharp reversal in investor interest. “Investors are dropping out due to the increase in prices,” reported an agent in California. “Prices are too high here for investors,” added an agent in Massachusetts.

“Smart money” is beginning to leave from the market, according to HousingPulse survey respondents. “Investors are having a hard time finding what they want. Starting to see ‘dumb’ investors enter the market, the ’smart’ ones are exiting the buying,” reported an agent from Arizona. “Investors need a deal. There are not as many opportunities as there was this time last year. It seems all the rookie investors are buying now and paying too much,” observed an agent in Florida.

The proportion of distressed properties in the housing market fell sharply to 42.2 pe rcent in July, from 45.1 percent  in June and 46.1 percent in May, according to the HousingPulse Distressed Property Index (DPI). While investors often concentrate their purchases on distressed properties, the decline in investor purchases was also apparent in the non-distressed market. Investors bought 14.4 percent of non-distressed properties in May, but only 11.5 percent in July-a precipitous two-month decline.

In contrast to investors, current homeowners showed strong interest in buying homes, accounting for 43.5 percent of home purchases in July, up from 40.3 percent in May and 42.0 percent in June. Participation by first-time homebuyers was mostly flat. Use of cheap mortgage financing by current homeowners increased strongly during the months of June and July.

“Overall homebuyer demand and home price appreciation is being driven by historically low interest rates,” commented Thomas Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. “But savvy investors are the canaries in the coal mine-they are warning that if rates rise, the high proportion of distressed properties could once again push home prices down.”

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