Today we take a look at how to use social media to your SEO advantage. As the internet becomes more social and interactive, it’s becoming ever important that our online marketing strategy has a social approach as well. Did you realize Facebook has over 850 million users, Twitter has over 465 million, LinkedIn has over 130 million and Google+ has topped 100 million users? This is a huge pool of potential visitors that you should be taping into.

Social media outlets allow you to easily distribute your content quickly from person to person. As one user shares/tweets/likes your content it automatically increases the potential for conversion rates of your website. This also increases your importance in the eye of the search engines. There are several reports that Google is putting more emphasis on Google+ data during the search engine spider’s crawl. So be sure you claim your Google+ business page.

Include a Photo of Yourself -Yes, including a photo of yourself in your profile picture can increase your network on various social media outlets. Social media is just that… social. Let others see just who they’re interacting with.

Be Active - It’s important that you set aside some time to engage with your users. Offer them something worth reading. Offer a nice mix of business and non-business content. Reply to user’s comments, re-tweets, etc. Share what other people have to say if you find it useful.

Call to Action - Don’t hesitate to ask people to follow you. When posting a link, ask users to give it a visit. When posting a house listing, ask your users to pass the listing along to anyone they feel may benefit.

Social Media Buttons - Make it easy for others to find your social media profiles by including buttons on your website, on your blog posts and includes links in your email address. The easier you make it for people to find you the more users you will have.

Be Consistent - Have you visited a Facebook page only to realize the owner of the page hasn’t bothered posting in last eight months? Why would you want to return? You probably don’t. It’s important to post regularly. I’m not talking once every hour, but taking 30 minutes to an hour a day is not too much to ask. Even if you’re not posting new content yourself each day, at least respond to your users and share content.

“But I’m too busy to tweet!”

We hear this all the time when we coach clients through social media strategy. Many of us are on Facebook frequently, for social and business reasons, but the thought of logging into Twitter and trying to figure out what to say once we get there, wears us out.

Here’s a little secret: you can set up your Facebook account to load your business page posts over to your Twitter stream! If you don’t have a Twitter account, go get one. Now. It’s easy and it’s free.

Here’s how how to cross-post from your Facebook business page over to your twitter account:

• Log into Facebook with your personal accout, then type http://www.facebook.com/twitter into your browser.

• On the far top right corner of your home page, click the drop down arrow next to the “Home” button.

• In the drop down menu, click on the “Use Facebook as Page” link.

You’ll see a screen pop up that will show your personal profile and your business page. It will also show the twitter account associated with it (you fill this in when you set up your Facebook Business Page.)

I am an admin. on the Real Pro Systems Fan Page. I’ve already pressed the “Link to Twitter” button in this screen shot, below. Once I pressed the button, the link goes live, and says I’m linked to Twitter!

Once you’ve linked your Facebook business page to Twitter, whenever you’re logged in as your business page, your posts will automatically appear in your Twitter stream. If they’re longer than 140 characters, they will be shortened, and the first few words plus a short link to the rest of the post will appear in your Twitter stream. Viewers will see part of your post, and can click it to read the entire post.

I’ve been using Twitter and Facebook for many years, and I’ve found that I have different audiences on each platform. So cross posting works well for me. It allows me to engage both audiences at once, and spread the content that I’m pushing, and content created by others that I think my readers will enjoy.

Happy Facebook Tweeting!

Let’s face it: Facebook fans can be picky and self-absorbed. It’s all about them! You want them to “Like” you, and they know it, but how do you get them to press that little blue button? You have to impress them, Intrigue them, indulge them, engage them and keep them coming back for more.

Your potential fans may be surfing the web for new homes and top notch Realtors, or they could just be scrolling through breaking news and funny LOL cat videos when your business page pops up on their radar. Boom! There you are. Are you likeable or not? Remember these five steps to get and keep the Like:

Impress them: 96% of people who visit your biz page will never return. You’ve got one chance to make a good impression. You wouldn’t show up to a first meeting with a potential client wearing your worn-out bathrobe and fuzzy slippers right? (Ok, I’m just assuming you wouldn’t, but I’m not here to judge!) Your Facebook business landing page is a big part of your brand’s persona, so wrap it up in a professionally branded package that’s consistent with the rest of your brand identity. If you don’t already have a Real Pro Systems Facebook Business Page, it’s time to get one (but you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?)

Intrigue Them: When you ask Fans if you can market to them, they want to know what’s in it for them.  Are you interesting because you sell homes? Of course you are, but there are a lot of Realtors out there. Be memorable.

Think about what makes you interesting to a new fan. Is it your industry experience and knowledge? Your involvement in the local community? Your sense of humor? Your dog? Show us! Post pictures, videos, and links that help your fans get to know you on a personal level.

Yes, you want to keep your business page on the professional side (probably best not to post those lampshade-on-the-head pictures taken at your brother’s birthday party 10 years ago) but there’s nothing wrong with showing your fans your personality, and talking about your life, not just your work. People want to work with real people, not airbrushed headshots with perfect hair who push listings on them all day.

Engage Them: Create content, start a conversation, and get social! The more you interact with your audience, the more relevant you become, and the more they’ll remember you when it’s time to buy or sell their home, or refer a friend. Ask questions to inspire dialogue, and always like your readers’ comments, and respond to them personally. Stay current; check in several times a week. Even spending ten minutes a day on your page will make a big difference in building your Facebook fan community, and your client base.

Indulge Them: Pay attention to your fans, and make them feel special. Spend some time on their pages, liking their content, too. Go the extra mile and find interesting links that are relevant to them, and share it on their pages. Work to establish an active community on your page that supports each other. You don’t have to be everyone’s best friend, just be their best Realtor.

Keep Them Coming Back for More:

Once you’ve gained trust and credibility with your fans, keep talking! Real Pro Systems integrates your website activity into your Facebook wall feed, helping you stay current with your Facebook visitors. Updates and images from your latest blog posts and featured listings are shared automatically, keeping fans informed and up to date. Make sure all your business correspondence includes a “Join us on Facebook” button or page link, and gently remind them to “Like” you. But try not to be too needy! Friends don’t spam friends, so be mindful of how much marketing information you send or push to your fans.

Focus on building real conversations and relationships with your fans, but most importantly, just be yourself (or a slightly better version of yourself!) on Facebook. If you’re a good friend in real life, you can be a good friend online. If your fans appreciate you and remember you on Facebook, they’re more likely to turn into clients when they need help with all things real estate. And they’ll like you in real life, too.

image via www.allwelike.com 

Search engine optimization is a moving target, a continually evolving field that is changing faster than most of us have time to keep up with.  So how much do we really know about SEO? What should we focus on to increase our online exposure?   Take a few minutes to ask yourself the five questions below and find out how much you know about SEO.

1. How much search engine traffic comes from “organic” results versus paid results?  60%, 70% or 85%?
2. Is it better to have inbound links to your home page, or to several pages throughout your site?
3. Can reciprocal links help SEO?
4. Does a blog really add value to your website SEO?
5. Does real estate jargon improve search ranking?

How do you think you did?  Read through the answers below, some might just surprise you.

Question 1: How much search engine traffic comes from “organic” results versus paid results?

Answer: 85%. That’s right, over 85% of search engine traffic comes from “organic” results. Search Engine Optimization should be an important aspect of every Web site’s marketing efforts.

Question 2: Is it better to have inbound links to your home page, or to several pages throughout your site?

Answer: It is better to have inbound links to many pages, not just one.  You want to have as many relevant and authoritative pages as they can list in their index. By having all inbound point to your home page, the engines think that your site is nothing more than a single page wonder. They may think your site offers very little content and is, therefore, unworthy of being considered an “important” site.

Question 3: Can reciprocal links help SEO?

Answer: No, reciprocal linking strategies are a thing of the past and provide no link authority. In fact, if your trade links with known link offenders (via link farms, web rings, etc.) it is possible your Web site will be penalized by the engines.  Instead, your linking efforts should be spent on obtaining one-way inbound links. You can do this by writing good content and blog posts that will make your website stand out.

Question 4: Does a blog really add value to your website SEO?

Answer: Yes! Blogging does several things for you and your Web site. When you’re blogging it shows your site visitors that you are active and have something worth saying – they’ll tend to come back to your site more often. Not only will your site visitors see you’re being active, but the search engines will too.  Search engines want nothing more than to have fresh content and useful websites in their index.

Blogging also offers an easy way to promote pages and/or articles within your website.  You can drive visitors deeper into your website and make use of added internal linking juice for the search engines.

Question 5: Does real estate jargon improve search ranking?

Answer: Not necessarily. You want to use language the general public will understand. When entering a search phrase in the search engines, customers will enter what they know.   To build traffic, you want to use terms that attract customers, not colleagues!

QR Code- Give It a Try!

These funny looking images that remind you of barcodes have been popping up seemingly everywhere these days, in just about every industry you can imagine.  QR codes on hamburger wrappers in Japan give nutritional information; codes in magazines give ‘behind the scenes’ content.  Wine bottles, album covers and many, many more applications are making QR almost common place.

A QR code is nothing more than a machine-readable two dimensional image, not unlike a barcode.   These are read by scanners or by applications on smart phones  to direct the user to a number of things including, text, images or any URL.  They are a fast and easy way to connect offline marketing with online initiatives.  QR codes make it much easier for people to visit you online.  But what’s more, you can  actually track the effectiveness of a print campaign through web analytics!

What are some of the real estate applications and how to incorporate them into your marketing strategy?  We have a couple of ideas:

Using QR Codes- Sign Rider

Sign riders- Adding a QR to your sign rider can be a fast and convenient way for buyers to get additional information about the home as they are standing out in front of the house.  No more lost opportunities when the home runs out of property flyers!  For example, you could have a QR code that directs the reader to a website page that provides photos, detailed descriptions, and even documents about the property.

Stealth Site Ads- Looking to drive additional traffic to your stealth sites? Why not try using a QR code?  You can create postcards for your farm area, place the code on the back of your property flyers, your business cards or even in your banner advertising!  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Property flyers- Provide a QR code on your property flyers directing potential buyers back to your website for more information, additional pictures, documents and even the virtual tour.

Property Flyers with QR Codes

Real Pro Systems just added auto generated QR codes to the PDF property flyers for all of our systems.  That means without your having to do anything, your property flyers generated by your Real Pro Systems solution already have a QR code integrated and ready to go!  These auto-generated QR codes send users to the specific web page that provides the details for the property.

Event or Open House Information- You can create a QR code to provide additional information about upcoming events or even directions and the date and time for an open house.

The list goes on…  Think of QR codes as your way to make print clickable!   Use QR codes to help direct people to the information they are looking for, whether it is property information or promotional materials or directions- prospects and clients alike will appreciate the direct access to the information they were looking for!

Want to use QR codes and need the 411 of getting going?  The process is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. First you need a QR Code generator.   There are many to choose from,  we suggest QRreateBuzz because it provides superior tracking.
2. In order for you and your clients to read the QR codes you have generated, you need to download a QR code reader to your smart phone.   Go to the Market or to your iTunes account and download one.
3. You’re ready to go!

Are you already using QR codes in your marketing?  Share with us some of the clever ways you have used them!