Social media marketing plan

10-Day Social Media Plan

Here’s the 10-Day Plan that you can use as your Social Media Blueprint

1. Investigate and Learn

2. Set Up Social Network and Technology Accounts

3. Set Up Your Free WordPress Blog

4. Complete Your Blogging Planner and Write Your First Post

5. Find Prospects on Facebook

6. Set Up a Community Fan Page on Facebook

7. Find Prospects on Linked In

8. Find Instant Business on Twitter

9. Manage your Profiles with HootSuite

10. Review and Connect all your Profiles

www.smmcamp.com www.rosshair.com www.socialmediaadvocate.com

www.smmcamp.com www.rosshair.com

About the 10 Day Social Media Success Plan

I want to make full disclosure about the 10 Day Social Media Success Plan.

I want you to know that this is version two of the plan.

In version one the plan was full of theory and ―how to‖ type information.

Since I wrote version one I’ve trained over 100 real estate professionals in my
Social Media Marketing course. I discovered that there are two hurdles that
most new social marketers struggle to overcome. The first is technology and
the second is that there is just too much information.

Frankly speaking most people are simply overwhelmed.

As one of my students described social media marketing – ―It’s like drinking
from a firehouse‖.

As a result I’ve completely revamped version 2 to create a fast start action plan
and focus exclusively on the things you need to do to immediately get business.

Instead of explaining all the theory and giving you loads of choices I’ve
changed my approach to flat out tell you what works the best for each social
network and give specific instructions as to what to do. You can pretty up your
sites later and add other techniques but for now I want you to do the things
that work right now.

I want you to do exactly as I say.

The 10 Day Plan is designed to get the absolute beginner up and running and
to get the intermediary marketer focused on the activities that provide an
immediate return on investment.

Now don’t think this is a SMM 101 course – it’s not.

It’s a highly focused plan that will make sure you get up, running and
producing new business in just 10 days. It does away with all the frills, bells and
whistles and zeroes in on real tactics and strategies that will immediately get you
clients and quickly drag you to the closing table.


Overview of the 10 Day Social Media Success Plan

The 10 day Plan is designed to get your social media marketing plan operational
and productive in just 10 days.

On Day 1 you will identify your real estate social media strategy.

On Day 2 you will set up all your essential social network and technology
accounts.

On Day 3 you will build your blog and add the most important widgets.

On Day 4 you will map out and plan your blogging strategy and publish your
first blog posts.

The purpose of your blog is to provide a venue to receive thousands of new
social network friends. Traffic to your blog will come from the social networks
and you can expect an avalanche of prospective clients.

The most important function of your blog is to convert your visitors into
contacts.

On Day 5 you will start making friends on Facebook and building your
network.

On Day 6 you will create a fan page on Facebook for your local community.
This is currently the single most successful tactic for rapidly growing your
friend network on any of the social networks.

On Day 7 you will start making connections on Linked In and will learn how to
send a message to 50 connections at a time.

On Day 8 you will learn how to ―listen‖ for business on Twitter by tracking
keywords that identify ready and willing buyers and sellers.

On Day 9 you will set up your control panel on Hoot Suite to monitor and
manage all your social networks in one convenient dashboard.

On Day 10 you’ll review your entire social media marketing plan and make sure
that your networks are all connected and your content is syndicated.


Day 1 – Investigate and Learn

Day 1 is a study and education day. It’s going to take the whole day so I suggest
that you start on a weekend day.

The whole point of the study day is to build a foundation to your social media
knowledge base.

I’m going to share my social media strategy with you. It’s different to what you
will read from most social media gurus as it focuses less on being social and
more on marketing.

It’s a strategy that works for me as I now have over 350,000 social network
friends and followers.

In particular it’s a strategy that will help you quickly find hundreds if not
thousands of friends on social networks (I like to think of my all social network
friend as potential clients).

In this course I’m going to share the exact tactics I use to build my network of
friends.

Before you start investigating social media you need to ask yourself the
following questions:

You need to clearly answer all questions.

There’s no right or wrong answer, just write down your thoughts.

At the end of the 10 Days I’m going to ask you the same questions and you can
compare your answers.


Write your answers in the space below:

a. What is the relevance of social media to my real estate business?

b. What do I want to get from social media?

c. How will I measure my return on investment from social media?

d. How much time per day do I have available for social media?

e. Which social media sites will help me?

f. Who are my main competitors?

g. How am I going to get the contact details and email address of my new
friends?


Understand Social Networks

I love social networks.

I use three primary social networks that are relevant for real estate professionals
plus two niche real estate networks.

The reason they are relevant is because that’s where you will find your next
clients. The membership numbers are staggering, an estimated 500 million
members, and people are spending more and more of their time on social
networks.

The primary social networks are:

 Facebook

 Linked In

 Twitter

 Active Rain

 Bigger Pockets

You need to join all five networks and at a minimum create a profile. Even if
you don’t ―work‖ all the networks you should set up a profile as they all pass
great search engine juice and rank highly in search results.
I told you that I wasn’t going to drown you in theory but I want you to
understand one simple concept.
Social Networks are Viral


Metcalfe’s Law explains why social networks are so viral and grow so
exponentially. If you grasp the concept you can use it every day to power your
real estate social media marketing.

In simple terms Metcalfe says that if you have 1 friend this represents 1
connection. If you have 5 friends this represents 10 connections and if you
have 12 friends this represents 66 connections. Do you see the exponential
growth in connections as you add friends?

Here’s a more scientific explanation – Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a
telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of
connected users of the system (n2).


In short Metcalfe says ―Go send out more friend requests on Facebook
already!‖

The great news is that Facebook and the other social networks are incredibly
viral and you can simply piggyback on their network to virally expand your own
personal network. In the Facebook Economy you can reach and connect with
so many more people than in the ―old days‖ of door-to-door or tele-
canvassing.

My Three Main Discoveries about Social Media Marketing
It took me a while to work out that my social media strategy wasn’t working. I
was spending countless hours in front of the computer and getting no real
results. Sure I was making friends and interacting with people but I wasn’t
closing any business.
Basically I had it all wrong. I was going round and round in circles and getting
nowhere.


When I took a step back and analyzed my efforts at social media marketing I
came up with the following key discoveries:
Discovery Number 1
It’s easy to make friends online
Discovery Number 2
It’s difficult to sell real estate online
Discovery Number 3
It’s impossible to manage thousands of relationships on social networks
My Social Media Strategy
I used the three key discoveries to create a very simple real estate social media
strategy based on 3 Golden Rules:

 Make as many friends as possible
 Don’t try to sell real estate online
 Communicate en masse

Everything that I do online is designed to follow my 3 Golden Rules.
My Main Social Media Goal
I have one simple goal by which I measure all my social network marketing:
Get an email address.
That’s it.
Basically I view social networks as a phenomenal lead generation tool where I
can meet an unprecedented number of potential clients. But I also recognize
that selling real estate is still a very personal one-on-one business so I accept
that while I can find clients online I still need to close them the old fashioned
way – offline.
In addition I’ve discovered that the only way to manage thousands of new
friends and followers is to get their email address and communicate with them
through mass email marketing.


Basically I build an email list of prospects and create a drip marketing program.
The drip marketing program sends free information to my email list (like this
eBook) and then looks for buying or selling signals. An example of a buying or
selling signal would be when a social network friend asks a question about loan
modification or the effects of a short sale on their credit. I view this as a selling
signal and immediately personally contact them.
Here’s how I do it:
iv. The Process of Converting Strangers to Clients
I’m going to give you the simple five step plan to becoming a social networking
superstar. If you follow all five steps you will succeed and convert your social
networking into more real estate closings.

1. Step 1 – Identify Prospects
2. Step2 - Convert Strangers into Friends
3. Step 3 – Convert Friends into Group Members or Fans
4. Step 4 - Convert Group Members into Contacts
5. Step 5 – Convert Contacts into Customers

1. Identify Prospects

The first step is that you need to identify members of the social network who
are prospective clients.

This is quite easy to do.

I do a great deal of work with investors. The good thing about investors is that
they congregate in the same place making them really easy to find. All you need


to do is join a real estate investor group on any one of the main social networks
and you’ll immediately find more than enough potential clients.

It’s a little more difficult to find home buyers and sellers.

The main tool that you can use is a search tool for everyone in your local area.
If you work in Atlanta you can simply search for all members who live in
Atlanta. It’s a pretty wide demographic but everyone needs shelter so just about
everyone in your area is a potential customer.

2. Convert Strangers into Friends

Most social networks limit your ability to communicate with strangers. If you
want open communication with another member of a network you need to
convert that stranger into a friend.

Step two is to establish a relationship with your prospects by inviting them to
become your friend.

It’s a really simple process – all you do is send a friend request. If your prospect
accepts your request you will be linked to each other and can communicate
directly.

3. Convert Friends into Group Members or Fans (Likers)

Step 3 is to convert friends into group members or fans. The main reason you
want people to join your group is that each group has a mass message function
that allows the group owner to broadcast a message to every group member.


This is a huge step as now, at the click of a mouse, you can mass communicate
with all your group members. Fan Pages offer a different communication tool
by which you can update all your fans.

4. Convert Group Members and Fans into Contacts

The problem with being a group or fan page leader is although you can
broadcast a message to the group, this is done through the network’s internal
messaging system, and you don’t have a copy of your members’ contact details.

This is the fatal flaw in social media marketing because the network controls
the communication channel. The network determines how you communicate
and can easily simply switch off the channel.

To overcome this flaw the next step is to get the contact details of every group
member or fan.

This is where things get more difficult and a little complicated.

If your network provides you with contact details for your friend (most don’t
but you can pick up some contact details on profile pages or forum signatures)
you should add them to your email database.

Mission accomplished!

If you don’t have contact details you need to convince your friends to give you
their contact details. The best way to do this is to drive your friends out of the


social network and into one of your websites. You can use your blog, your real
estate site or a squeeze page.

The key for me has been to give away good quality but free information.

You can use IDX search, local market reports and real estate articles that have
value to your friends. In exchange for the information you’ll get their contact
details.

Here’s the really important part – once you have their contact details you have
a way to mass communicate with all your friends – anytime and for free!

5. Convert Contacts into Customers

The final step is that you need to get a pay day by converting your contacts into
customers.

I use email marketing as my primary sales tool.

You will need a good email manager and you will need to build a sales
campaign to sell your services or products to your contacts.

I regularly communicate with my contacts and send them loads of free
information and a number of sales offers. You’ll quickly identify the contacts
that are ready to buy or sell and be well on your way to a return on your
marketing investment.


This is a unique skill but it’s useless if you haven’t gone through the process of
identifying prospects and getting their contact details.

v. Your Social Media Marketing Funnel

I call this process the Marketing Funnel.

I like to learn things visually so I developed the diagram below to help explain
how I use my blog as the foundation of my social marketing funnel.


Think of a huge funnel.

At the top of the funnel sits your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, You
Tube, Linked In and Active Rain. Their role is to help you find identify
prospects and make new online friends.

Twitter sits on top the funnel and acts as a huge billboard where you can
broadcast your message to thousands of people.

With Facebook and Linked In you can make friends and use their
communication tools to accelerate the process of converting your friends into
customers who will buy or sell real estate.

WordPress is your blog. It’s your backyard barbeque where you can entertain
people and establish yourself as a real estate expert.

The ―Money Bag‖ is your email database. You know that if you can get your
friends’ contact details it’s like putting money on the bank.

That’s the social media marketing funnel. It’s designed to convert your online
friends into contacts.

Remember, your immediate challenge is that you don’t have contact details for
your new online friends.

To get contact details you need to drive your friends down the marketing
funnel and direct them to through your blog into your contact database.


That’s the short version of my social media marketing strategy.
Find prospects on social networks; connect with them and bundle them
together so you can mass communicate with them; drive them to your blogs by
giving away free information; get their contact details and market to them
through a drip marketing campaign. As soon as you hear a buying or selling
signal immediately build a highly personal relationship and close the deal.
Recommended Reading

To help you get off to a quick start I’ve created a reading list.

Social Media Mind Map

The Social Media Mind Map is an eBook I wrote that clearly lays out my social
media marketing strategy. It was written specifically for the real estate industry
and explains how I use social media to get new real estate business.

Social Media Advocate

Social Media Advocate is a free social media guide for the real estate industry.

Mashable

Mashable is a website that features dozens of guest bloggers who write about
social media. It’s the best social media blog to follow and is packed with an
endless number of good ideas.

Copy Blogger

Copy Blogger is a blog about blogging.

TwiTips

TwiTips is a blog about Twitter.


Day 1 Checklist

1. If you haven’t already done so, go to
www.facebook.com/realestatesocialmedia and
www.facebook.com/rosshairmedia and hit the LIKE button (become a
fan).
2. Download the Social Media Mind Map and read it.
3. Take a blank piece of paper and write down the 3 Golden Rules
4. Below the 3 Golden Rules write down the words ―Conversion,
Conversion, Conversion - Get an Email Address‖
5. You can read more about Converting Visitors into Contacts in this
Report.
6. Go to www.mashable.com and subscribe to their newsfeed.
7. Go to www.copyblogger.com and subscribe to their email feed
8. Go to www.twitips.com and subscribe to their email feed.
9. Go to www.socialmediaadvocate.com and become a member.
10. Go to www.rosshair.com and subscribe to the RSS email feed.
11. Optional – if you’re a real estate agent or work with real estate agents set
up an account at www.activerain.com
12. Optional – if you’re a real estate investor or work with investors set up
an account at www.biggerpockets.com


2. Day 2 – Set Up Accounts

Day 2 is the day you will set up all your social media and social networking
accounts. You will use the accounts to build out your social media marketing
plan.

It’s not an exhaustive list but it’s all you need to become a successful social
marketer.

You can make your accounts look all pretty and nice later but for now here are
a few essential tips:

 Add a professional picture. A head shot works best.
 Use the same picture for every social network
 Complete your profile in full with an emphasis on your critical keywords.
You can view my profiles as an example:
o www.facebook.com/rosshair
o www.twitter.com/rosshair
o www.linkedin.com/in/rosshair
 Write your profile from the perspective of a client reading your profile.

I want you to set up accounts with the following websites:

 Go Daddy (free)

You will need to register one or two domains.

Write down the code NING1 as this will get you a domain for just $7.67 a
year.

Having the right domain name is a huge boost for your business. If you
haven’t done so already you MUST reserve your own name, if it’s available.
Your name is your brand – don’t let anyone else take it from you.
I’m fortunate that I was able to get my own name and now have a website
at www.rosshair.com.


If it’s not available try your name plus real estate. Other good real estate key
words include home, house, condo, apartment, land, foreclosure,
investment property and realty.
The second type of domain you want is one that includes keywords with
your local area. If you live in Atlanta you would try to get
www.atlantarealestate.com or www.atlantahomes.com. Unfortunately it’s
unlikely that these domains are available so you will need to broaden your
search by adding words like my, best, hottest, bargain etc. An example
would be www.myatlantahomes.com or www.hotatlantahomes.com.
A few quick tips:

 don’t be afraid to use hyphens in your domain. If
www.atlantahomes.com is not available, try www.atlanta-homes.com

 search is becoming more and more local so look to register more local
names like a name for a neighborhood or even a sub-division

 only register .com names

 a free tool that you can use to find keywords is Google’s keyword
tracker. It will show you how many searches are done for a particular
keyword plus similar descriptive keywords. You can get the tool at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Here are Google’s results for a search using the keyword ―real estate‖:


You can see how many times the keyword is searched and you can see the
popularity of similar keywords.
You now have a list of keywords that the public uses when conducting a real
estate related search. You can use the most popular keywords in your domains.

Next you need to check if the domain is available.


I use Go Daddy to register most of my domains (I have hundreds of
domains), but I don’t host my domains with Go Daddy. The reason for
this is that if I ever have a problem with my Go Daddy account I still have
complete control of my websites.

When you get ―big‖ on the internet there’s always a chance that you may get
too many spam complaints or someone may hack your accounts. By
keeping your domains and websites at different providers you add an extra
layer of security to your business.

Here’s a discount code I use to get cheaper domains – NING 1.

I pay $7.67 including all taxes for a new domain or to renew a domain.

One of the best features about Go Daddy is that you can bulk search for
domains by using their bulk search tool. This is a great time saver.
Go to www.godaddy.com and hover over the Domains tab or click on the
Bulk Register Tab:


This will take you to the bulk register tool. Enter a list of potential domains
in the bulk registration tool to check if they’re available.

Another cool feature is that you can forward domains so that when
someone types in the domain address they’re sent to a different website.

This is especially useful for when you use a free blogging platform. You can
register your own domain and forward the domain to the blogging platform.

Here’s an example:

If you have a free website on Word Press at
http://marysmith.wordpress.com but you want to build your own name
and brand (and not WordPress’s) you can register a domain like
www.marysmithrealestate.com and simply forward it to
http://marysmith.wordpress.com.


First it looks more professional and is easier to remember.

Second, it’s your own domain so even if you decide to leave the free site and
build your own website you won’t lose all the value you’ve built by branding
the domain.

What is means is that you can use all the free platforms and still create your
own professional brand. You can put your brand on your business cards
and flyers. All it will cost you is the cost of the domain – under $10 a year.
This is obviously very important if you’re budget is tight right now as you
get to use thousands of dollars’ worth of software and technology for just
$10 – and no one can tell the difference.

Here’s an example of how I use domain forwarding.

I have a domain called www.MLSDonkey.com that I created as a brand to
promote myself to real estate investors. My basic idea was I wanted them to
use the MLS Donkey to search the MLS for hidden deals. I use the slogan
―Let the MLS Donkey do the Donkey Work‖ and I unleashed it on
Facebook and Twitter. I had thousands of clicks on the URL and I was able
to accurately track my marketing.
If you click on www.mlsdonkey.com you will actually end up at a search site
where you can analyze properties on the MLS and search for deals with
huge discounts.

You can do exactly the same thing with your real estate domains.

You can use different domains for each marketing campaign. Let’s say you
want to attract home owners interested in creating curb appeal for their


property. This would be a good target market as one of the main reasons
that home owners want to add curb appeal is because they’re thinking of
selling their home.
You could register a domain like www.maximizecurbappeal.com and then
promote that brand in all your marketing. It’s a good name as it sticks in the
mind and its keyword rich. You can then forward the domain to a page on
your website that contains a free report on ―The Top 10 Things That Create
Curb Appeal‖.
That’s a very effective use of a $10 marketing tool.
If your marketing gains traction you can build out a curb appeal website and
even host the website under your curb appeal domain.

 Feed Burner (free) www.feedburner.com or you can log in through
your Google account at http://feedburner.google.com
Feed Burner is a distribution tool that you can use to set up a feed for your
blogs and websites. The reason you want to set up a feed is so visitors can
subscribe to your site and have new content added to their favorites or
emailed directly to their inbox.
Feed Burner is owned by Google and is free.

You probably recognize the orange feed button.

 WordPress (free)

Word Press is the most important tool in your toolbox.


You need to learn how to use Word Press just like you know how to use
Microsoft Word or Excel. It’s going to be that important to your real estate
career.
This is the free hosted version of Word Press. It’s different to the self-hosted
version that you can download at www.wordpress.org.

You can sign up for a free account at www.wordpress.com.

We’ll cover WordPress in great detail in this course.
To get started all I want you to do is register the same blog usernames as the
domain that you purchased.
As an example if you registered WashingtonParkRealEstate.com then your
username on WordPress should be WashingtonParkRealEstate.

 Facebook (free)


Facebook is the big Mac Daddy of all the networks and you need to set up an
account.

i. How to Set Up an Account on Facebook

It’s very easy to set up a Facebook account. It’s free and anyone can join.

You need to set up an account under your own name. Use your personal name
and not a keyword rich name (like real estate) or a name that reflects your local
area. Facebook is very strict about non-personal names and may suspend or
close your account if you don’t adhere to their policies. You will be able to add
a business page later so just keep things personal for now.

All you need to provide is your first name, last name, a valid email, password,
your sex and birthday. That’s it, just six simple pieces of information.

As soon as you hit the Sign Up button you’ll be prompted to enter a Captcha
verification code to confirm that you’re a real person and not a machine
creating an autobot account.


As soon as you hit the Sign Up button, you will have an account on Facebook.
Facebook will send you a confirmation and welcome email. The welcome email
will take you through the process of inviting contacts, finding friends already of
Facebook and creating your user profile.

At the bottom of the welcome email you’ll see a link to the ―New User Guide‖.
One cool thing about Facebook is that the Help Guides are well written and
easy to read. I highly recommend that you take a look at the ―New User
Guide‖ which you can read by going to
http://www.facebook.com/help/new_user_guide.php?


Next Facebook helps you find friends on their network. When you sign up for
your new account Facebook will prompt you to invite your friends. In
particular Facebook has a tool that allows you to search your email account to
add friends to your Facebook account.


All you need to do is add your email address and password for your online
email account with Gmail, Yahoo or AOL. This feature does not work for your
corporate email account.


Here you can see that I have 282 Gmail contacts that already have accounts on
Facebook. If I select the ―Select All Friends‖ tab then Facebook will
automatically send an invite to all my contacts asking them to be my friend on
Facebook. If they accept the invitation they will be linked to my Facebook
account.

You also have the ability to add another email account. You should invite
everyone you know to be your friend. The whole purpose of Facebook is to
allow you to keep in touch with your network, including your friends, family
and co-workers.

The next step is to fill out your profile.

You profile is extremely important as it’s how people will find you and make a
decision about being your friend. Facebook will ask you a number of profile
questions about you past, including your education and work history. Make
sure you include all your past information as this will help Facebook find
former co-workers or college classmates. Include all your past real estate
companies, like Re/Max or Keller Williams, as this is a good way to build a
referral network.

Next Facebook will suggest a number of people that they believe are connected
to you as friends. You can click on the people you wish to invite and send a
friend request.


The final step is to add your profile picture.

You should use the same professional profile picture that you use with your
regular real estate marketing. Your profile picture is a large part of your online
brand and it should reflect the way you want to be perceived by people. Don’t
use a picture of you drinking beer at the beach or a cute picture of a kitten.
People will make an instant decision about you based on your profile picture so
make sure you put your best face forward.

I also recommend that you don’t use the webcam option to upload a picture as
webcam pictures are rarely flattering.


When you upload your profile picture, note that the maximum size of the
picture is 4MB.

As soon as you load your profile picture you’ll be taken to you home page on
Facebook. The last thing you will need to do is add more information about
your work history and experience and you’ll end up with a profile page that
looks something like this:


How easy was that? You now have an account on Facebook.

Now the work begins. Now you need to grow your Facebook network and
start to convert strangers into friends.

P.S. – If you haven’t done so yet please connect with me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/rosshairmedia

 Linked In (free)

Linked In allows you to set up a personal profile. Your personal profile is the
foundation of your Linked In membership and is the first step to becoming a
Linked In member. After you’ve set up your personal profile you can then set
invite people to connect, send messages to connections and set up Groups.


It’s free to set up an account although you can upgrade to a paid membership.


I must admit that I only know one person who has a Business Plus
membership. When I asked him if the benefits were worth it he answered that
he didn’t really know. He’s a LION (Linked In Open Networker) and the
reason he upgraded his account was to ingratiate himself with Linked In for the
day he had a problem with his account.

Ten Tips on Building a Strong Profile

Linked In provides you with ten tips to building a stronger profile. I’ve taken
the ten tips and added my insight and advice.

1. Don't cut and paste your resume.

LinkedIn hooks you into a network, not just a human resources department.
You wouldn't hand out your resume before introducing yourself, so don't do it
here. Instead, describe your experience and abilities as you would to someone
you just met. Also, write for the screen, in short blocks of copy with visual or
textual signposts.

2. Borrow from the best marketers.

Light up your Profile with your voice. Use specific adjectives, colorful verbs,
active construction ('managed project team,' not 'responsible for project team
management'). Act naturally: don't write in the third person unless that


formality suits your brand. Picture yourself at a conference or client meeting.
How do you introduce yourself? That's your authentic voice, so use it.

Take a look at Brad Hanks’ profile. Brad is a former real estate broker and
employee of Re/Max Corporate. Brad is also a LION and has over 17,000
Connections. He’s a Linked In expert and a speaker at SMM Camp.

Here’s a snapshot of his public profile.

You’ll notice that Brad has changed his privacy setting to make most of his
detail public. He has added a great deal of content about his current and past
employment and has made it very easy to connect or contact him.

Now take a look at my public profile. I’ve geared my profile towards the
keywords ―real estate social media‖.


3. Write a personal tagline.

That line of text under your name is the first thing people see in your Profile. It
follows your name in search hit lists. It's your brand. (Note: your e-mail address
is not a brand!) Your company's brand might be so strong that it and your title
are sufficient. However, you might need to refine your professional personality
into a more eye-catching phrase that describes who you are at a glance.

4. Put your elevator pitch to work.

Go back to your conference introduction. That 30-second description, the
essence of who you are and what you do, is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in
the Summary section to engage readers. You've got 5-10 seconds to capture
their attention. The more meaningful your summary is, the more time you'll get
from readers.

I have a very simple elevator pitch and I always start it with the following
introduction:

―Hi, my name is Ross Hair and as you can see I’m completely bald …‖


It’s the perfect ice breaker for me and always gets a laugh. Self-deprecating
humor is a very powerful tool to use when you first meet people. It puts them
at ease and opens the door to a more personal relationship.

5. Point out your skills.

Think of the Specialties field as your personal search engine optimizer. It is an
avenue to refine the ways people find and remember you. This searchable
section is where that list of industry buzzwords from your resume belongs.
This is also the place to display particular abilities and interests, the personal
values you bring to your professional performance, or even a note of humor or
passion.

6. Explain your experience.

Help the reader grasp the key points. Briefly say what the company does and
what you did or do for them. Picture yourself at that conference again. After
you've introduced yourself, how do you describe what you do, what your
company does? Use those clear, succinct phrases here and break them into
visually digestible chunks.

7. Distinguish yourself from the crowd.

Use the 'Additional Information' section to round out your Profile with a few
key interests. Add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. Then edit
the default 'My Website' label to encourage click-throughs (you get Google
page rankings for those, raising your visibility). Maybe you belong to a trade
association or an interest group; help other members find you by naming those
groups. If you're an award winner recognized by peers, customers or
employers, add prestige without bragging by listing them here.

8. Ask and answer questions.

Thoughtful questions and useful answers build your credibility. The best ones
give people a reason to look at your Profile. Make a point of answering
questions in your field to establish your expertise, raise your visibility, and most
important, to build social capital with people in your network. You may need
answers to a question of your own down the road.

9. Improve your Google Page Rank.


Pat your own back and others'. Get recommendations from colleagues, clients,
and employers who can speak credibly about your abilities or performance.
(Think quality, not quantity.) Ask them to focus on a specific skill or
personality trait that drives their opinion of you. Make meaningful comments
when you recommend others. Also, mix it up because variety makes your
recommendations feel authentic.

10. Build your connections.

Connections are one of the most important aspects of your brand. The
company you keep reflects the quality of your brand. What happens when you
view a Profile and see that you know someone in common? That Profile's
credibility increases. The value of that commonality works both ways. So
identify connections that will add to your credibility and pursue those.

A final note: As you add connections and recommendations, your Profile
develops into a peer-reviewed picture of you and of your personal brand. Make
sure it's in focus, well composed and easy to find. Edit your public Profile's
URL to reflect your name or tagline. Then you can put it to work by adding it
to your blog, linking to it from your website, and including it in your e-mail
signature.

 Twitter (free)

It’s really easy to set up a Twitter account or profile.

Simply go to Twitter.com and click on the Sign Up Now button.


This will take you to the sign up page. You’ll be prompted to enter your name,
create a unique username or profile, check if that name is available, enter a
password, enter a unique email address and open an account.

The whole process will take about a minute and it’s absolutely free.

The sign up process is very simple but it’s also very important. Let’s break it
down:

a. Your Name – Your name is very important because it is your brand and
it is searchable. It is not unique so you are guaranteed the use of your name
even if there are a thousand Mary Smith’s. We highly recommend that you use
your real name for your first Twitter profile and a keyword rich name for your
second Twitter profile.

Make sure that you separate your first and last name. This means you need to
write your name as mary smith and not marysmith.

I’ve created a new account just to show you how to register an account.


b. Your Username – You should use the same strategy for your username.
Create two accounts and use one for your personal name and one as a keyword
rich name.

Your username is unique so you need to check if it is available. Twitter will do
this for you automatically. I already own the account @rosshair so I registered
a variation of my name by using the underscore sign to separate my first and
last name. First prize is to get you exact name but if it’s not available you can
use the underscore sign to register something that looks just like your name.
Here are a few examples:

rosshair
ross_hair
rosshair_
_rosshair

Power Tip – you should register every variation of your name for defensive
purposes. That way no-one can grab your name or if you get one account
closed by Twitter you have substitute accounts.


Your second account should be a keyword rich account that includes your
geographic area.

Once again I registered an account to show you how to set up your new
account.

I used the username ―denverproperty‖ as it was difficult to find a username
using the keywords ―Denver‖ and ―real estate‖. I know property isn’t the best
term to describe real estate but everyone knows what it means and I’m actually
very pleased to have registered the name.

You will also notice that I was very clear about my full name and was able to
use ―Denver real estate‖. This is a very descriptive and keyword rich name and
anyone who searches for Denver real estate or reads my profile will
automatically know that my account is all about Denver real estate.

c. Email Address – you need a unique email address for each Twitter
account. This sounds like a simple issue but it creates a number of problems
when you have multiple profiles. I don’t want to tell you how many profiles I
have except to say I have a large number. I had to set up a new email address
for every profile. The easiest way to do this is to open a Google account and
get a number of gmail email addresses.

Invite Your Contacts to be Your Friend

As soon as your account is opened you’ll be prompted to invite your current
contacts to follow you on Twitter.


Just like Facebook, Linked In and Ning, Twitter also uses an open source sign
up protocol so you can import all your contacts from your email accounts, like
gmail, and invite them to follow you on Twitter. If you don’t have a gmail
account then open one immediately and export your outlook contacts to your
gmail account.

Build Out Your Profile

The purpose of your profile is to let people know who you are and how you
can help them. You have a limited number of characters (160) to make sure
that you can be easily found and followed by other Twitter users.

The first part of building your profile is to finish setting up your account.


The extra information that you can add allows you to add your website or
URL. This is important as it creates a live link back to your website. In this case
I’ve put my website as my personal website but you can link to any website,
including your blog, a landing page or an idx search page.

Notice also that I didn’t use the www in my URL. The reason for this is that
there is very limited space on my profile page and I want people to see my full
website address. If my URL is too long the website address gets cut off.

Your one line bio is very important. It’s only 160 characters so you need to
pack it with keywords that accurately describe who you are and what you do.


Finally, you can add you location. I used both my city and state as I want to
make it as easy as possible to find me.

Next you should click on the tab named ―Devices‖. This allows you to get
updates sent to your mobile phone. Do not allow this and make sure that you
don’t enter your phone number or check the box. You will be flooded with
SMS messages, usually at a cost. I have an iPhone and use a Twitter app, called
Tweetie, to get my updates at no cost.

The same applies to the tab ―Notices‖. This regulates how Twitter sends you
emails about new followers, new direct messages and the latest Twitter news. I
unclick all the boxes as the flood of emails is simply overwhelming. I get over
3000 new followers a day and hundreds of direct messages so you can imagine
how crazy my inbox would be if I had notices turned on.


The one exception I would make to this is getting a notice when you receive a
direct message. A direct message is a private message that one of your friends
writes to you. It can be a very valuable message, like a request for information
on a house, or it can be spam. Unfortunately most direct messages are canned
auto responses or straight spam.

Your decision goes back to whether you want to engage your friends in
conversation through the social networks or outside of the social network.

I made the decision to not engage in conversation through the social network
and to only communicate with people who have given me their contact details.
This strategy works perfectly for me as I have hundreds of thousands of
followers but it may not be right for you if you have a small follower list.

I suggest that you start by monitoring direct messages and if it becomes too
much work, you can always switch the notices off.

Next you need to click on the ―Picture‖ tab.

You can replace the stock Twitter picture with your choice of picture. For your
personal profile you must use your personal picture. It’s always good to keep
your branding in alignment with your overall branding on your business cards
or yard signs.


On your keyword rich accounts you can use either your personal picture or a
picture that represents your keywords. I like to use an image of a house or
something that immediately identifies me as someone in the real estate industry.

Whatever you decide, do not leave the Twitter image. You can hardly expect
people to follow you if you don’t take the time to put up a decent profile
picture. It’s a real turn off to most potential followers.

Here’s the picture I used for my Denver real estate profile:

The final thing that you can change is the design of your Twitter site. Click on
the ―Design‖ tab and you will be given a choice of 16 themes. They’re all very
nice. You also have the option to change the background image and the design
colors.

A great feature is that you can custom build a Twitter background. There’s a
whole cottage industry of Twitter designers who can build your background.

That wraps up setting up your Twitter account and profile. It took me about
five minutes to set up my account and in that time two people started to follow
me.

Here’s a look at my newly set up profile and one of my eRealEstate.com
profiles:


You can also take a look at my personal profile at www.twitter.com/rosshair.

 Hoot Suite (free) (you can also use Tweet Deck)

Hoot Suite is a free social media tool that allows you to manage all your social
network accounts from a single dashboard.

 Activerain (free) (option to upgrade to outside blogs)

I’m not going to cover Active Rain in this course but you should join Active
Rain if you’re a real estate professional or work with real estate professionals.

 Bigger Pockets (free) (option to upgrade to pro)


I’m not going to cover Bigger Pockets in this course but you should open an
account if you’re a real estate investor or work with real estate investors.

 Real Bird (free plus option to upgrade to professional)

Real Bird is a listing widget that you can add to your blog. It’s not as good as
IDX but it more than serves the purpose of allowing your visitors to search
current listings. If you have an IDX site you don’t need Real Bird.

 Aweber ($19 a month) – If you already have an email manager you can
use your own (popular email managers like Top Producer, iContact or
Mail Chimp).

Aweber is an absolutely essential piece of your social media toolkit. I’ve
managed to avoid recommending programs that aren’t free but in this case I
highly recommend Aweber. It’s the critical tool that allows you to put email
capture forms on your blog and convert your visitors into contacts.

Very few real estate professionals know how to use an email manager and as a
result their blogs fail to do their most important job – get an email address.

If you have the budget, you absolutely should buy the following products and
services:

 The Flip Video Camera ($150) – The Flip is an inexpensive video
camera that allows you to record video. It’s very portable, plugs directly
into your laptop and is compatible with any operating system. Get the
HD version.


Day 2 Action Plan

I created this step-by-step plan to make things really simple. Just follow the
steps and you will be able to set up the core accounts to start marketing
through social networks.
Set Up Social Network Accounts
1. Open one account in your name at www.facebook.com
2. Open one account in your name at www.linkedin.com
3. Open two accounts at www.twitter.com
a. The first account must be for your name
b. The second account must be for your local area
4. If you are a real estate agent open an account at www.activerain.com
5. If you’re a real estate investor open an account at
www.biggerpockets.com

Real Estate Domains
6. Open an account at www.godaddy.com and register a real estate and / or
personal domain ($7.67 per domain per year)
a. The domain must use the keywords your ―local town or
neighborhood‖ and ―realestate‖.
b. Do not be afraid to go ―long Tail‖ and focus on a neighborhood
or even a sub division.
c. Use the code NING1 to get a discount.

Software and Services
7. Open an account at www.hootsuite.com (free)
8. Open an account at www.realbird.com (free version)
9. Open an account with www.feedburner.com

Email Manager
10. Open an account with www.aweber.com ($19 per month)

Reports


11. Publish a 3 to 5 page report on your local market (here are a few ideas)
a. Recent Sales and Statistics
b. Neighborhood report
c. Schools and Parks report
d. Curb Appeal Report

That is all you need to do.


Day 3 – Publish Your Blog

Today you’re going to set up a free blog on WordPress. Don’t worry, it will be
really easy.

Remember that the purpose of your blog is to provide a place where you can
send all your new social network friends and convert them into contacts. Your
blog is the foundation of your entire social media marketing strategy.

Note – we’re using the free hosted solution at www.wordpress.com.

If you already have a blog you can skip this step and just add the
recommended widgets to your blog.

You should also read the Conversion Report and audit your blog to see
how it converts visitors into contacts and clients.

If you have technical expertise or you can afford to hire a developer (around
$100) you should download the WordPress software (free) and host it on your
own server ($20 a month).

When you host your own blog you have the ability to customize your blog and
add essential widgets, plugins and tools.

I highly recommend that you host your own blog. If you need help hosting and
setting up your own blog you can get it set up by my webmaster for just $99 by
sending an email to blogs@realestateadvocate.com.

The huge advantage to this is your blog comes fully loaded with all the essential
plug-ins and widgets and is 100% SEO and SMM ready.

If you’re going to get a blog you might as well get one that’s search engine
friendly, social media marketing ready and built for the real estate industry,
right?

Back to the 10 day Social Media Success Plan.

For the purpose of this 10 day plan I’m going to show you how to instantly get
your own blog hosted by WordPress.

The software and hosting for your blog is free.


Build –a-Blog

How to Set Up a Blog with WordPress.com
WordPress is free blogging software. You can also host your blog for free at
WordPress.com.
In this tutorial you will learn how to open an account on WordPress.com and
set up a blog on WordPress’s servers.

Step 1

Open an Account on WordPress.com at www.wordpress.com.

Step 2
You need to select a username, password and email address. Your username
will not be viewed publically so select a username that you will easily remember.


You will also be asked if you want a blog or just a username. Select Gimme a
Blog.

Step 3

This step is a very important step. The previous step registered a username for
your WordPress account. In this step you will register a blog and WordPress
will allocate your blog a sub-domain on the wordpress.com domain.


Choose your blog domain very carefully as it can’t be changed. WordPress will
allocate you a unique sub-domain so it may be difficult to get a great sub-
domain if you live in a large metro area.
You should use a good keyword rich name. I live in a small town called Niwot
so I selected Niwot Real Estate (all one word). It was available!

You also need to select a blog title. You should use strong keywords as the
title will be indexed by the search engines. This is my real estate blog so I called
it Niwot Real Estate. The blog title can be changed later and it is not unique so
many people can have the same blog title.
Also make sure you check the privacy box to allow you blog to appear in
search engine results.
Step 4
You will receive an email confirming your blog. Click on the confirmation link
and you will be taken back to WordPress.com to log in to your new account.


Step 5
At the top of the page is link to your new blog. Click on My Dashboard to
access the admin panel for your new blog.

Step 6
Congratulations! You’re now the proud creator of a brand new WordPress
blog.
You can view your admin dashboard:


And you can click on the visit site button at the top of the page to view your
default template blog. You can change the look of the blog by changing the
theme.


You can also view the site by typing in the unique URL or sub-domain
allocated to your blog. The URL for my blog is
http://niwotrealestate.wordpress.com.

Map Your Domain to Your New Blog

On day 2 I showed you how to forward a domain but now I’m going to show
you how to map a domain.

If you map a domain to your new blog you’ll be able to use a domain name of
your choice. Instead of your domain being http://yourname.wordpress.com
your domain can be anything you want it to be.

You can map your personal name to your new blog or another keyword rich
name like http://yournameyourcityrealestate.com.

Domain mapping will actually cloak your URL or website address to look
exactly like the domain you own. Your visitors won’t know that they’re
really on a free blog platform.

Here’s an example:

I use a domain called www.erealestatesocialnetwork.com for my real estate
investor social network. The URL is mapped to the free social network
platform company that I use to host my site. The company is called Ning
and the real address of the website is http://realestateadvocate.ning.com.

Now go type in www.erealestatesocialnetwork.com.

Look in the address bar at the top of the page. Do you see the address? It’s
http://erealestatesocialnetwork.com.


Now type in http://realestateadvocate.ning.com.
Do you see how it maps to www.erealestatesocialnetwork.com despite the
fact that the website is really located at http://realestateadvocate.ning.com?
I get to use hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of technology for just
$10 and most visitors think that the technology is mine. They see a
professional, attractive site and assume I built it.
There is a cost to map a domain with Word Press. It’s $10 a year if you buy
your own domain or $15 if you buy a domain through Word Press.
In case you’re wondering, that’s really cheap.


The good news is that Word Press has made it really easy and very non-
technical to map your domain. All you need to do is go to your Site Admin,
Click on Settings and then click on Domains:

Then simply add your domain URL:

That’s it. Your domain will be mapped and ready to use.

Add Feed Burner to Your Blog

Go to www.feedburner.com and get your feed URL. You then need to add the
feed URL to your blog. Your blog theme must have a feed widget.


Add Real Bird to Your Blog

Go to www.realbird.com and get the code for the free version of the Real Bird
widget. Then add the code to a text widget on your blog.

Add an Email Capture Form to Your Blog

Go to www.aweber.com and get the code for your email capture form. Add the
code to a text widget on your blog.

That’s it! Your free WordPress blog is set up and ready to go.

Remember that your blog is built and hosted on the free WordPress platform.
This gives you limited ability to customize your blog by adding real estate
themes, plugins and settings.

If you host your own blog it will convert more effectively and look more
professional.

Here’s a sample of a few blogs:

This is my personal blog using the Frugal Theme


This is my real estate blog for my home town of Niwot Colorado. I built it
using the same Frugal theme as my personal blog.

This is a customized real estate theme built for real estate professionals.


This is a squeeze page that you can use to target motivated sellers.


Do you see how much more customization you can add by hosting your own
blog.

I highly recommend that you host your own blog. Remember, if you need help
hosting and setting up your own blog you can get it done by my webmaster for
just $99 by sending an email to blogs@realestateadvocate.com.

To round off day 3 you need to do a little homework in preparation for Day 4.

Homework

Now that your blog is set up I want you to do your homework by visiting and
reading a number of award winning blogs.

In particular I want you to notice how they write about hyper local content
including local events and news, report on market statistics, provide detailed
neighborhood content and fast easy tools to search for listings.

Here’s a short list of blogs and resources that you can use to help you with your
own blogs:
www.copyblogger.com – good technical advice on how to blog.


www.phoenixrealestateguy.com – I listened to Jay Thompson at the last Virtual
Real estate Bar Camp. Jay clearly understands how to use his blog to drive new
business in the Greater Phoenix Metro. You can use his blog to get ideas for
content for your blog.
I’ve attached a copy of his entire home page for you to view.


www.raincityguide.com – a Seattle area blog. What’s different about this blog is
that it’s written by a community of bloggers who all agreed to share in the blog
– something you can do with other real estate professionals in your area.

―Our mission at Rain City Guide is simple. We want to be the best resource for
real estate information in the Seattle area.

With that in mind, a group of dedicated real estate professionals has decided to
work together to provide you with a constant stream of updates about the local
real estate market. Unlike other sites that are simply focused on giving you data,
the group at Rain City Guide has organized around a ―blog‖ in order to
provide context to the vast amount of real estate information that is available!‖

www.ianwatt.ca – Ian Watt is a Realtor based in Vancouver, Canada. Ian uses
video to create a very effective video blog or vlog. Here’s a short blurb on how
Ian uses video:
Video blogs - Ian Watt takes a new approach to marketing - the vlog or video
blog. It’s candid, it’s raw, it’s opinionated, it’s unedited and it is original and it’s
becoming what blogging was 3 years ago. With thousands of views per month,
Ian Watt's video blog has become daily anticipation for fans and critics around
the world and these original videos are being embedded in real estate websites
everywhere with links to the www.ianwatt.ca website creating increased traffic


and unparallel exposure. As the Vancouver Sun newspaper says "Ian Watt is
the star of his own business video, transforming his blog into a live show in
which he tours Vancouver dispensing advice, hitting real estate hot buttons,
winning over fans and enraging critics." Love it or hate it, its great marketing.

www.curbed.com – Curbed has expanded into a number of large urban areas
but kept a unique neighborhood focus.

Since its launch in May 2004, Curbed has established itself as the center of the
virtual conversation about real estate in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and
beyond. Sales and rental prices, celebrity deals, new developments, amusing
broker stories, hot restaurants, and the latest neighborhood gossip—it's all on
Curbed. Updated a dozen or more times throughout the day, and liberally
spiced with reporting and dish from readers, Curbed has become a daily fix for
tens of thousands of NYC residents—and the most-trafficked neighborhood
and real-estate weblog on the web.

Curbed is the flagship of the Curbed Network, a collection of neighborhood
blogs. Our other sites are Curbed SF and Curbed LA; the restaurant blog Eater;
the retail and fashion blog Racked; and, during the summer season, The Beach,
which covers the Hamptons.


Day 3 Check List

1. Set up a blog at www.wordpress.com
2. Choose a theme that is widget ready
3. Add the Feed Burner code to your blog
4. Add Real Bird code to your blog
5. Add the Aweber code to your blog
6. Map the domain you purchased from Go Daddy to your WordPress
blog
7. Subscribe to Jay Thompson’s blog at www.phoenixrealestateguy.com
8. Subscribe to Jonathan Kauffman’s blog at www.nestrealtygroup.com
9. Subscribe to Ian Watt’s blog at www.ianwatt.ca
10. Subscribe to the Rain City Guide at www.raincityguide.com
11. Subscribe to the Curbed blog at www.curbed.com
12. Subscribe to Ross Hair’s blog at www.rosshair.com


Day 4 – Your Blogging Planner and Writing Your First Blog Post

On day 4 I’m going to share the how, why, what and when of blogging.

Then at the end of the day you need to write your first three blog posts and
publish them on your blog.

You also need to make sure that you’ve finished your three to five page report
as you need to give it away to everyone who completes your email capture
form.

It doesn’t matter that they may not be literary masterpieces as it’s more
important that you ―just do it‖ and seed your blog with content.

Before you write your first blog post you need to have a very clear plan to
make sure your blog is highly focused on your target audience.

If you have an existing blog or just started a new blog I still want you to
complete the Blogging Planner. You must periodically update the planner and
use it as a tool to stay highly focused and targeted at your audience.


My Blogging Planner

Name of Blog

Domain

Title

Description

Meta Tags

Notes on the Blogging Plan
This Blogging Plan is a mash up of the best content from the 5 sessions at
Social Media Marketing Camp 3 – Blogging for Real Estate (SMM Camp).
You can view the video recordings of each session if you join SMMCamp
University.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Setting Up Your Blog

a. Choose your Blog Platform (select 1)

Blogger

WordPress

Active Rain

Social networks


b. Select Theme

If you are using a hosted blog you can’t add your own theme and must use one
of the templates provided by WordPress.

The only requirement is that the theme is widget ready.

c. Add Plug Ins

If you are using a hosted blog you can’t add any plugins

d. Add Widgets

Realbird

Google Analytics
Aweber

Feedburner
Text widget

2. Target Your Blog
You need to focus your blog on your target audience.
a. Choose Your Audience

I want to work with: (select one - don’t three-way)

Buyers


Sellers

Agents (referrals)

b. Specialize (Don’t be a Generalist)
I want to specialize in the following niche(s)
i. Choose Your Content Niche

Golf

Vacation
First time Buyers
Active Adults
Retirement Communities

Luxury Homes
Condos

Land
Investment Properties

Commercial
Other
ii. Choose your Area Niche

Include a list of your target City, Neighborhoods and communities. Remember
that hyper local blogging is very effective so don’t be afraid to go down to the
local level.

City


Neighborhoods

Communities

iii. Profile Your Ideal Client
Demographics

Age
Sex
Area

Income
Occupation
Other

3. Keywords
You need to clearly identify the best performing keywords for your target
market.
a. What are my target Keywords

Area keywords


Neighborhood keywords (long tail)

Niche Market Keywords (long tail)

b. What tools will I use to Research Keywords?

Try Google’s keyword tool at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

4. Conversion

How will I convert Visitors into Contacts?
You can download the Conversion Report at Social Media Advocate.
List of tools to use to get visitors to contact me or give me their contact
details.
Email Capture Form

Pop Over Subscription Box

Feed

Email Feed

Comment Registration

Listing Widget

IDX plugin
Contact Form


5. Why Blog?

Track your Performance. Don’t just say ―I want more closings‖. It is better to
determine your return on investment by measurable milestones:

Number of Visitors

Number of Comments

Number of Subscribers or Contacts

Number of Registration for Events
Number of Listings
Number of Closings
Other

6. What to Blog?
What Content will I write for my Target Audience? You should read the
recommended blogs and make a list of the subjects and topics that they wrote
about.
a. Write out a list of topics that will appeal to your target audience

Buyers

Sellers

Referrals


b. Write out a List of topics that will appeal to your target content
niche (i.e. - golf communities, condos etc.)

c. Write out a list of topics that will appeal to your target area.

City

Neighborhoods

Communities

7. When to Blog

a. Create a List of Evergreen Topics (how to articles, educational)

b. Create a List of Timely Topics (new legislation, tax credits)


c. Create a list of local trends, events and activities in your target
neighborhoods?

d. Create a list of the media you will use to track local events and
activities

Local Newspaper RSS Feed

Local Newsletters
Twitter Search

Google Alert Keywords

8. How to Blog

Use this checklist for your Blog
a. Is my blog?

Entertaining
Transparent

Memorable

Convincing


Conviction

Real

Passionate

b. Use this Checklist for each Individual Blog Post

Page name

Does the page name include the main keyword?

Eye Catching Title
Does the Title Include the Primary Keyword?
Compelling First Paragraph

Does the First Paragraph include the Primary Keyword?
Is the Primary Keyword Bolded?
Does the Primary Keyword Link deeper into your Blog?

Visually Attractive
Good White Space
Complete all Titles, Descriptions and Tags

Add a Title, Description and Tag to every Image, Video or Map

Include at least one Comment

9. Competitors


List your favorite competitor blogs (that you need to follow).

10. Local Blogging Super Stars
List the best local blogs (that you can partner with).


Write Your First Blog Posts

Your next task is to write your first three blog posts.

Go back to your Blogging Planner and select three topics. If you’re still a little
unsure about a topic then go to one of the recommended blogs and select an
article to re-write in your own words and style.

Each blog post must be around 300 to 500 words long.

Include an image with each blog and add a full description to the image.

As I mentioned earlier, just do it. Every top blogger admitted that at the
beginning they were terrible bloggers.

Congratulations. You’ve now set up the main tool you need to accommodate
all your new social network friends and convert them into clients.


Day 4 Checklist

1. Complete the Blogging Planner
2. Write 3 blog posts and publish them on the site
3. Check the blog posts against the Blogging Planner.


Day 5 – Find and Make friends on Facebook

Facebook is the most important social network so we’re going to spend 2 days
on Facebook.

First you will start to find and make friends on Facebook.

Then you will set up a Community Fan Page to really accelerate the networking
process.

On Day 5 you need to immediately start making friends on Facebook. To do
this you need to find targeted prospects, send out 100 friend requests and
convert prospects into friends.

ii. The Power of Friends

The single most important thing that you can do on Facebook is make friends.

The most important thing about a friend is that it creates a direct relationship
between you and your friend. Facebook recognize this relationship and
effectively opens all the communication channels for you to pass information
to your friend.

This means that you can freely communicate with your friend within
Facebook’s internal communication structure.

Most communication is direct communication through a private messaging
system. This system only allows your friend to see the message.

iii. Finding and Making Friends on Facebook

The obvious question is how do you convert a stranger into a friend.

For now all you need to do is send an invitation to be friends (also known as a
friend request).

But first you need to identify potential friends.

Here’s little trick to get you off to a fast start.


Power Tip # 1

When you set up your account, Facebook allowed you to import contacts from
your web based email accounts like Gmail. However, after you sign up you can
also import contacts from Outlook and any file on your computer.

This is a very important tool as it allows you to add your client lists and just
about any other mailing list and Facebook will send each contact an invitation
to join you as a friend on Facebook.

There are some limitations but Facebook will allow you to import the following
types of files:


Power Tip # 2

The most important file for me is the Comma-separated values (.csv) which is
very similar to an excel spreadsheet. It’s very easy to convert excel spreadsheets
into csv files.

Upload all your files and invite people to join you on Facebook.ta and actually
suggest friends who worked in the same company or went to the same school.

Another tool that Facebook offers is the ―Suggested Friends‖ tool. Facebook
will analyze your profile and actually suggest friends who work for the same
company or went to the school. All you need to do is click on the ―Add as
Friend‖ button and an invitation will be sent to that person.

Facebook also has a number of ―Friend Search‖ tools. In particular you can
search, by name or email address, for former high school classmates, college
classmates and co-workers.


Go Viral and Post Your First Public Messages

Earlier I emphasized that the most important thing about making friends is that
it opens the lines of direct communication between you and your new
Facebook friend.

Well, there’s a second huge benefit to having friends.

Facebook is inherently viral in nature in that when you post an update on your
wall, that update will also show up on all your friends’ walls.

This means that your message can be seen by all your friends.

That’s an incredibly viral tool.

That’s why having a huge friend list is so important because the amount of
people you can send a message to is directly related to your number of friends.

You message is sent as an update that is posted on your friend’s wall.

I want you to send out a message and to start to add content to your wall.


Day 5 Check List

1. Write a new blog post
2. Import all your contacts and invite them to be your friend and connect
on Facebook
3. Import your Outlook address folder
4. Convert your email lists into Comma Separated Value (.csv) files
5. Import your csv files into Facebook
6. Do a search for a group or fan page for your area
7. Send Friend Requests to the members and fans.
8. Invite 100 people to be friends


Day 6 – Start a Local Community Fan Page

Note – Facebook recently made major changes around Fan Pages. I’m
referring to a business page where people can become a “fan” and “like”
the page.

The next step is that you need to start a Fan Page for your Local Community.

This one tactic has been extremely successful on Facebook and will generate
hundreds and thousands of new contacts.

The most powerful way to leverage social networks to generate more business
is to build local communities on Facebook.

A local community can be a Group or Fan Page. It is a geographically based
community that focuses on a city, neighborhood or even sub-division.

Why Facebook?

The first question you need to ask is why building a local community on
Facebook?

The answer is very simple – because that’s where you will find your clients.

Why Build Local Communities?

The second question is why build local communities?

Content and Geo Communities

Your communities can be focused on either content or geographic area.
An example of a content based community is a fly fishing, young mothers or
home schooling based community. It’s a collection of people with similar
interests. It can cross any geographic boundary.

A geographic based group is defined by physical boundaries. It can be a
country, a city, a neighborhood or a sub-division. All it needs is a defined
geographic boundary.


In late 2009 Facebook eliminated local networks and removed the ability to
search for people based on geographic area. This has opened up the
opportunity for you to create and build local communities.

The Holy Grail

The holy grail of marketing is to find an effective and efficient channel to
market to your target market.

Now imagine you could send a message to every homeowner in your target
area – absolutely free.

Just imagine the benefit in terms of saved direct marketing costs?

I know that it costs about $1 for each piece of direct mail that I send to my
target market.

Let’s use my little town of Niwot Colorado as an example.

We have around 4,000 residents and a total of 1,500 housing units.

In order to send a direct mail shot to 1,500 homes it will cost $1,500. If I mail
every 2 months that adds up to $9,000 a year in direct costs.

I can do the same thing for free using social media marketing.

Just to be Clear!

You need to be absolutely clear as to why local communities work.

Local communities work because they allow you to connect with your target
real estate market – local homeowners and home buyers.

Your goal is to meet every resident in your local real estate market and to
communicate with them en masse and at no cost.

Here are a couple of Community Fan Pages that you can follow and mimic:


www.facebook.com/niwot

www.facebook.com/365inSeattle


www.facebook.com/pembrokeconnect

The next step is to set up your Community Fan Page.

I just started a new Fan Page for my neighboring town of Boulder Colorado.

Here’s a step by step guide to how I set it up.

The page is located at www.facebook.com/boulderconnect.
Setting up a Fan Page is really easy. Simply log in to your Facebook account
and click on the Ads and Pages icon in the left sidebar or you can also go to
www.facebook.com/pages.


Now go to the top right of the page and click on the Create Page icon.

The next step is to create your page. There isn’t really a category for a local
community so you should select the Brand, product or organization category
and select professional services. I’m not sure this is the best choice but when I
figure out the best category for a local community I’ll update this post.

The one thing you need to do is name your fan page. You can name it anything
you want so use the keywords that best fit your local community. I chose not
to include the words ―real estate‖ as the city of Boulder is relatively small, just
over 100,000 residents, and I want to make the site attractive to the entire
community. If you’re in a large city you should focus on a smaller area like a
neighborhood.


My community is Boulder, Colorado but the username Boulder and Boulder
Colorado is already taken so I named my Fan Page Boulder Connect. It’s a
short easy name that contains my main keyword ―Boulder‖.

I want my name to match up to available Facebook usernames.
Note – I’m using the word Connect as it is a word that has been successfully
used by many of my students. There are now a few hundred Connect sites all
across the nation. You can take a look at Sharon McNamara’s site at
www.facebook.com/pembrokeconnect to see a good example.
Again this is all very new but I think the ideal name for my site would be (in
order of preference):

Boulder
Boulder Colorado
Boulder Connect
You can use other names like Connection, Buzz, 365 Things to Do in Boulder,
Boulder County. The main point is that you need the keyword Boulder plus any
word that gives the site a community focus.

When I’m assigned a unique username the URL for the site would be:
www.Facebook.com/boulder

www.Facebook.com/bouldercolorado
www.Facebook.com/boulderconnect

Just so we’re clear – the reason we want a community focus is because this is
the quickest and easiest way to appeal to all members of the community and
grow the fan base. I think it is a mistake to name the group after either you or
your company as it is not about you. It’s about what’s in it for the community.
Your Fan Page will be created as soon as you hit the Create Page button. You
will need to customize the page and add information about your community.
Take time to do it properly and pay attention to important keywords like the
name of your town.


I’ve marked 8 basic steps:
1. Become a fan of your own page
2. Change the picture to something iconic about your town
3. Write something about your town that includes your top keywords and a
call to action
4. Edit the contact details on your page
5. Immediately invite all your local friends
6. Write your first post
7. Adjust your settings to allow all posts by you and fans to be visible on
the wall
8. View posts by you and all fans

Here’s a look at my page Boulder Connect:


The next step is to start inviting your friends to join the site.

The quickest way to get fans is to invite your current Facebook friends.

This is where the quality and size of your friends list comes into play and why
it’s so important to build your friend base. The more friends you have the more
likely you’ll be able to quickly grow your fan base.

Facebook has an invite function that allows you to send a mass message to all
your friends. The only problem with the invite function is that you need to
manually click on each friend’s profile to add them to the invitation list. This is
a time consuming program although there are scripts available that you can use
to automatically invite all your friends. Facebook doesn’t like these scripts so
I’m only going to tell you that they exist but I’m not going to tell you how to
get them.

Let’s use my eRealEstate Fan Page as an example:


On the left hand side of the page you’ll notice that I can ―suggest to Friends‖.
This is the invite function that allows me to suggest my Fan Page to my
Facebook friends. I can’t suggest the Fan Page to a stranger, only a friend.

The next step is to click on the ―Suggest to Friends‖ link.


You can hover your mouse over every friend’s profile picture and send out an
invitation to your friend to become a fan of your Fan Page. I have thousands of
friends so it takes ages to click on each friend’s profile picture.

Notice also that you can’t add a personal message when you suggest a Fan
Page. You can send a personal invitation when you promote a Group or Event.
The personal message usually improves the conversion or acceptance rate.

Congratulations. Your Community Fan Page is up and running. Be patient and
add fans every day.


Day 6 Checklist

1. Invite 100 people to be friends on Facebook
2. Write a new blog post
3. Set Up your Fan Page as per the tutorial
4. Post on your Community Fan Page wall
5. Invite your Friends to become Fans.


Day 7 – Make Connections on Linked In

I want you to pay special attention to Linked In if your target prospect is any
one of the following:

 High net worth individual interested in luxury homes
 Second home or vacation home buyers
 Young professionals like doctors, lawyers and accountants
 Commercial property owners

The reason for this is because Linked In is the largest social network that caters
to a professional business audience.

It has over 40 million registered users, with an average age of 42, average career
tenure of 9 years, and an average household income of $109,000. The users
that are on Linked In understand that it’s a site for business and all the
applications and plug-ins on the site are business tools.

Unlike Facebook, Linked In was designed as a business network and a tool to
communicate with fellow professionals.

If your target prospect is first time buyers, condo, apartments or low end
housing then I recommend that you maintain a profile on Linked In but give it
minimal attention. I would much rather you spent more time on Facebook and
Twitter.


Two tactics work well on Linked In.

1. Linked In allows you to send a message to 50 connections at a time so
it’s worth your while to make as many connections as possible.
2. Linked In allows you to set up and manage a group and then send a
weekly announcement to all the Group members.

I’m not going to show you how to set up a group on Linked In. This is an
advanced topic that requires a significant amount of time and work. It’s a
project that you absolutely should do when you have the time and when you
feel comfortable with your social media marketing skills.

I’m only going to show you how to make friends and send out messages to 50
friends at a time.

Now I don’t know about you but I’m online to meet people I don’t know so I
want to connect with strangers that I profile as potential clients. Linked In
makes it a bit risky to do this as they have a penalty system based on the
number of times your connection requests are declined.

Linked In also has a number of tools and benefits that encourage open
networking. An open networker on Linked in is called a LION (Linked In
Open Networker) and it’s like carrying a badge that tells other members that
you will accept their connection request.

There’s a process you should follow to build your connections.

The first step is to invite as many people as you can to network with you and
become a connection. You need to play by the rules and don’t arbitrarily send
out invitations. Profile your connections very carefully and pick people with
mutual connections and similar interests. Also make sure you send a message
with your request to connect that clearly established some common ground
between you and your connection.

An example would be to say ―we both belong to the same real estate group on
Linked In‖ or ―I saw your post about the Dallas market on the discussion
board and share your opinion that the market hasn’t bottomed out‖.


Invite People to Connect

Linked In provides you with two ways to invite people to connect with you and
become a friend. You can import lists of existing real life friends and contacts
or send connection requests to other Linked In members.

Linked In is like all social networks in that it’s a popularity contest. The more
friends you have the easier it is to make friends. There’s a huge benefit to
inviting your friends to connect with you on Linked In as it boosts your
number of connections and keeps you in touch with clients.

You can invite people to connect by adding their email address or importing
your desktop email contacts from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL.

You can also invite your existing contacts to connect by importing your
Outlook contact list and uploading contact files.


The really powerful tool is the ability to import your desktop email contacts
and the ability to upload an excel (csv) file.


You can use the import tool to invite all your contacts to connect with you on
Linked In. Linked In will send the invitation so this gives it credibility and
ensure deliverability. This is an incredibly powerful tool as it allows you to
grow your connection quickly and creates a link to so many more people.

When you upload your list Linked In will tell you how many of your contacts
are Linked In members.


Social media marketing plan

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