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Allan Dalton!! RISMedia’s 2010 Real Estate Social Media Summit
Winding down here from what, for me, was one of the great real estate conferences ever – RISMedia’s 2010 Real Estate Social Media Summit!
More impressions and notes on cool new products I saw, and vendors I met, but this post is dedicated to Allan Dalton and his Keynote Address on ’Leveraging Your Social Media Links!’
If you don’t know Allan, he’s a brilliant guy: one of the most on topic, articulate and also entertaining people I have ever had the opportunity to listen too and know. When Allan speaks, people stop in their tracks! Today was no different as he brought forth a heavy dose of ’social networking reality’ for real estate agents everywhere. And he certainly deserved the standing ovation he received.
Here is Some of Allan’s Wisdom from, ‘Leveraging Your Social Media Links!’:
- Gets it rolling by quoting John Wooden, “Never mistake activity for achievement.” And by the way, we couldn’t agree more about focusing on converting activity!
- Content is the asset: social networking is a tool, but irrelevant without content.
- “Without content there is no trust, without trust there is no relationship, without relationship there is no transaction, without transaction thee is no fee, without fee there is no career and without career there is no security.”
- Social networking and content [social media] must be integrated. Relevant content solves problems. You must solve problems for consumers or your networking is irrelevant. How many friends you have solves no problem. Fail to solve problems, you make no money.
- Allan coins the word ‘contentsequences’.
- Apply the ‘long tail’ theory to your web presence and be relevant for lots of key words and phrases. Some depth here on, and an example of, how the ‘long tail’theory can apply for business including how a business may generate less search discovery per individual variation of it’s most sought after key phrase, but how the collective impact of those variations can be much greater.
- Real Estate Agents should think more like politicians. They should triangulate on local events and pressing issues. Some one opens a restaurant, be the one to announce it. You have a voice [blog] and an audience [see disintermediation], use them.
- Use social media as links back to your brand!
- If your goal is to make good change and to help people it will be reflected in your social networking.
- Focus on Creating Your Own Real Estate Social Network!
chris@kineticknowledge.com
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Tips For Creating Effective Online Business Content
I recently encountered an article written by Nicole Nicolay on MyTechOpinion that I thought was well worth sharing. The article is titled, “The New Rules of Content Creation & Curation“. Nicole embarks on a journey to educate business bloggers about the importance of creating and sharing good content:
“while some “experts” may be leading you down their automated paths or filling you up with hope of launching a comprehensive social media marketing plan in 5, 10 or 12 days….my advice is “think for yourself”. There are no quick fixes with social media, it takes work and it takes drive….just like with any successful marketing or business plan. Most importantly, it begins with content.”
This is such an apt statement! I was especially thrilled with her breakdown of “content creation” and “content curation” – a nifty thought and some nicely coined terms. She explains – a content creator is someone who identifies target market needs and seeks to create original and highly relevant content. A content curator is someone who identifies relevant and valued content from third party resources on the web and passes it on to their network via links, tweets, etc (much like i’m doing with this article). You can be sucessful attempting either or you can certainly be both. We strive to do the latter.
To be effective in the spaces of business blogging and social media it’s always going to come down to how much of yourself are you willing to share. The more you put in, the more you will get out. The more you strive to provide good, relevent, timely information to your sphere – the more they will appreciate you. And, most importantly – the name of the game is not always about search engine optimization. What? Yes! What happens if you optimize a bunch of articles using key word after key phrase and reciprocal link after reciprocal link but don’t think much about the value delivered by your content? Sure, you’ll get visibility and traffic – but will you get leads and followers, will you build that sphere into anything meaningful, will you connect with people, no.
In an effort to be not only a curator of Nicole’s great info but a creator of some of our own – I’ll leave you with some easy tips that I hope will be helpful with efficient content creation. I like to see folks new to business blogging start out with a brainstorming session and a plan. Here’s a quick overview:
- Gather your colleagues and peers for a short brainstorming meeting
- Determine who your “online” target audience is (keep in mind there might be several groups especially if you are niche marketing)
- For each target group, ask yourself the following questions
- What are their needs and wants?
- What are their pain points?
- What kinds of problems might they need to solve?
- What kinds of topic interest them?
- What might they realistically be searching for out there in Google or Yahoo?
- What language do they speak when they search (I don’t mean english or french – but more importantly, are you using the same vocabulary? This is imperative – you must use the same terminology as your target audience to get the opportunity to connect with them in the search engines.)
- Make a list of all these things!
- Review your list and come up with a plan to use your answers as a guide for the creation of business blog articles and content.
- Make a plan (create a blogging calendar) about how and when you are going to release content and get the team involved!
Another thing that I often see pretty regularly is the idea that you must start big when it comes to SEO, “if I can’t get the number one spot for my main keyphrase, then i’m not sucessful”. No offense to anyone out there, but this is BS. True search optimization comes with time and diligence. There is no magic and it won’t happen from Day 1. It WILL however happen over time if you put in the time.
So… another nice thing to do when you are getting started is to start small. Choose a niche or a point of interest you’d like search discovery around and start your blogging career in a focused manner. Plan your first 30-day cycle around a very specific goal – don’t go for the whole enchilada right out of the gates! You are likely to be disappointed if you do. On the other hand, if you start with some specific terms for a specific niche with a specific timeframe goal in mind – you just might see some results right away!
It’s a great way to get acquainted with the process of how consistent, relevant and organic content creation can become a very effecitve online marketing tool. And once you’ve mastered the process – then by all means, tune your methods to hit some of those higher level terms. But never forget the small guys – remember when you connect with someone around a very specific subject, it’s likely those folks know exactly what they want and are more qualified buyers or sellers anyway.
Anyway, Nicole provided some great inspiration – please do yourself a favor and go read her article on creating effective online business content as well!
PS. For those of you using a service to create content for you – don’t stop, just be sure to consider this a supplementary program. You can’t blog every day or even every week – it’s nice to know something is still happening to keep your site active. The best content is always going to come from you – the expert in your field and the true author that your readers identify with.
If you need help getting started with your business blog, social media campaigns or even creating relevant business content – Kinetic Knowledge can help! Give us a shout anytime.
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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Blogging Optimization Techniques
As we all know, blogging takes time and effort – especially blogging for your business as a search marketing tool. What some of you may not know or remember is that you can spin your wheels creating just any old content. A blog post should be created with a few best practice techniques in mind so that your articles pack a punch and have the best chance to resonate out there with the search engines. The following video on blogging optimization is twenty minutes long and provides a review of four simple things you can do to optimize your posts for search. You’ll find a review about:
- Using specific blog post titles
- Using links and photos effectively and tagging them properly
- Creating categories
- Creating useful tags
One reminder: While these tips will help you out in the search engines it is always important to remember the value proposition delivered by your blog post! If your post is found by the search engine but does not resonate well with your readers, you are back to square one. Some simple tips to help deliver value and provide post “stickiness”:
- Make sure the post is formatted well and is easy to read (use bullets, paragraph breaks, and keep them fairly short)
- Try to offer your reader something of value – education, tips, valued links, free tools, helpful downloads, interesting news, good reviews – make these things easy to find and/or download
- Use photos to break up the text and peak visual interest
- Offer links to related posts offering additional tools/tips of value
With a good combination of best blogging practices and valuable information, your business blog can be a highly valuable search marketing tool!
Blogging Optimization Techniques Video
Do you need help creating or optimizing a business blog? How about connecting your blog to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? We can help! Take a look at Kinetic Knowledge business blogging products and services or contact us today.
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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Real Estate Social Media Icon and Friend Joe Ferrara In Need!
We’re going to link to Jay Thompson’s description of the situation with our friend Joe Ferrara here as we couldn’t begin to describe it any better than he has.
Bottom line, Joe has been a friend, a client and we’d like to bring awareness of his situation for those who know him.
Sandra, his wife, has granted permission to get the word out about Joe’s condition, and has graciously allowed folks to try and raise some funds for his medical expenses, which are probably getting a little crazy.
Jay has set up a PayPal account to accept donations for Joe’s expenses. You can donate by clicking on the donate button at the top of the sidebar upper right on his site. You can donate via credit card, or “eCheck” (electronic draw from your checking account). If you have a funded PayPal account, you can also use that.
Get better soon Joe!
Contributed bychris@kineticknowledge.com
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Free Calls to Anywhere, Anytime – Skype Mobile Now Offered via Verizon Network
Skype Fans… for those of you that have been wondering when you’d be able to use Skpye from your mobile phone via your regular cell service plans – the time is here! Verizon recently inked a deal with Skype to provide Skype Mobile for Blackberry Phones and Android 3G Smart Phones.
Most anyone with a Smart Phone can install a Skype application and use it regularly. However, this method has always required that you be within range of a viable wifi network. For Verizon users this will no longer be necessary – you can use your Skype applications directly via your wireless network. Sorry iPhone users – we’ll have to wait for AT&T to get with the program.
Verizon Skype Mobile now allows users to do the following without a WiFi connection:
- Free Skype to Skype calls from your Verizon Wireless smartphone with anyone in the world.
- Skype Mobile is “always-on” so answer your Skype calls anytime from anywhere within the Verizon Network.
- Call internationally without using your wireless plan minutes! Call global landlines and cellphones using Skype rates (very inexpensive!)
Download Skype Mobile for Verizon Smart Phones now – it’s free!
For those of you that have no idea what we’re talking about – take a first look at Skype. Skype is a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol – technology that allows telephone calls to be made over computer networks) service that allows you to dial regular phones locally and internationally using your internet connection. Just like any regular phone service you can have a phone number for people to call you at, voicemail, call-forwarding, even regular phones using Skype. Calling rates are very inexpensive – locally and internationally. When you call anyone else that also has the skype service, your calls are free anywhere in the world.
We use this service exclusively in our business. Call clarity is typically great (speaker phones sometimes throw a wrench) and very few calls get dropped. If your internet service is reliable or if you are a Verizon smartphone user, take a look at Skype. It might save you a bundle.
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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