We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this NEWS story…

Can you believe Facebook killed The Official Real Estate Referral Group? Without warning, without notice on Wednesday July 14th, 2010 the page was shut down.  If you didn’t know about the page, let me give you some quick stats:

• 47,000 + members
• 1,419 referrals provided
• 21 months old

As upset as I was I didn’t realize how this page had impacted the community.  Luckily, Chris Smith from Tech Savvy Agent recognized this as a big story and did an interview with me to let our community know what happened.  Check out the interview below:  (if you don’t see the video player, Click HERE to watch it.)

What happened next?

Into the night the story was picked up by Mari Smith (thanks to Naomi Trower) and gained major momentum on Twitter.  By the next morning there were hundreds of Facebook shares and Tweets spreading the word.

After the community rallying behind us (THANKS!) Facebook reinstated the page and allowed me to change the vanity URL from Facebook.com/SocialREALTORs to Facebook.com/RealEstateReferralGroup.

Lessons Learned

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  If I only relied on Facebook for my business I would have been dead (more on that in a minute.)
2. When you add value to your network, they will add value to you.  If it wasn’t for my network we would have never gotten the page back.
3. Most importantly:  Before buying a domain or naming a page, do your research so you can avoid these types of hassles.

What can you do to protect yourself?

1. Cross Pollinate:  Don’t rely on just one network.  If you have influence on Facebook, move over to other networks (like You Tube & Twitter) to see if some of your community members are there.  Communicate and interact with them there as well so if you loose one network you’re still tied in together in other networks.
2. Build REAL Relationships:  The number are meaningless if you don’t make a real connection.  Social Media is just a tool to help us meet more people and actually connect.  Luckily, in my situation I had real relationships with some people in my community who helped me spread the word when things went wrong.
3. Build a list: Facebook is great, but sometimes we forget that even “our pages” really belong to Facebook.  the idea is to leverage the interactions and connections to move people off the page and onto your list where YOU HAVE CONTROL.

I want to help you avoid this & Give you a gift

The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to start building your own email list right now.  Luckily, we practice what we preach and we had email addresses of 8% of our members.  You can call this an insurance policy just in case all hell breaks loose.

My gift to you is a report on how to build a list using Facebook Pages.  I am working on this report as we speak and will have it available to you on Thursday.  It’s the least I can do to thank you for the support.

I want to make sure you don’t miss this report, so I recommend you subscribe to the feed so you don’t miss it.

The web is on fire with the news of Facebook’s Open Graph.  But the real question is, What do these changes mean to us as Real Estate Agents?

My thoughts on Facebook’s Open Graph

The web has been social for ages, Facebook just made it mainstream (with over 400,000,000 users.)  As an agent, this is the hottest place to be.  The open graph will open doors for us to build communities.

It’s about time someone has stepped in to help us make the web more social, and the new plugins available are going to make it easier.

New Facebook plugins you should keep an eye on

The Like Button:  I’ve already got an email in to my webmaster to add this one to my site.

Why?  This button not only makes it easier for users to share content back to their network, but also creates a profile of things they have “liked.”  Facebook compiles this information and makes suggestions of other similar content (can you say Personalized web experience?)

The Recommendations plugin: Is going to be a great tool for Real Estate Agents.

Why?  This plugin will recommend content to your user (website visitors) based on what their friends have liked on your page.  Savvy agents building community centric networks can leverage this tool to increase viral visibility.

The Activity Feed Plugin: It’s social proof.

Why?  This plugin will show users what their friends have liked and shared on your page.  This creates “Social Proof” that your network is both active and engaged.  When people see this proof, they are more likely to get involved.

What do these new changes mean to you?

Chances are that many of the people in your sphere are already using Facebook.  These new changes make it easier to bring the “Social” part of social networking to your site.  Used properly these tools will increase your sphere online while also increasing your web traffic.

Have you got questions about these changes?

I know you have more questions on this topic, that’s why Doug and I have decided the best thing to do is host a webinar this week to answer them.

Topic: What do the new changes to Facebook mean to You?

Date: Thursday April 29th

Time: 7:00 pm EST

To join this training just click the blue button below and RSVP

Guest post by Chris Brogan

You are probably reasonably good at your job. I know this without knowing you, because you’re reading articles and blog posts that might offer you insight into how to up your game, how to improve your results, and this means that you’re already better than all those people who know what they know. Because of this, I want to offer you some thoughts from someone outside of your game.

You know how to be you in person. Translating that into your digital self is the next step. I don’t mean this in any weird video game way, or maybe I do, but let’s talk about that.

First, accept that everyone is connected

Doug liked Mitch Joel’s book, Six Pixels of Separation. He knew you could take advantage of it. Jonathan and Doug also read my book, Trust Agents, with Julien Smith. We talk about that, too, about how you’re nothing without your network. But now that we accept this, let’s realize that how we conduct ourselves online is every bit a reflection of how we are perceived, and that most people don’t have the first inkling of who you are offline, so they won’t realize your motivations, your nuances, and the like, without a bit of work.

Your digital self has to be human first

You can’t lead with a pitch. You can’t lead with a pounce. Instead, you have to take that step you know so well from the real world: get to know your prospective client. How do you get to know them? First, listen. What do I mean? If you Google the phrase, “grow bigger ears,” I’ve set out the steps for how to build a free listening station.

Listening is at the heart of all things that are worth a damn in the social web

It’s a way to find new prospects. It’s a way to help other people out long before they become prospects. It’s a way to keep your community warm. For instance if you spent 25% of your online time here’s what I’d do: search via Google BlogSearch and find out when people are blogging about starting a new job in that company in your town that’s hiring. If you scan Twitter Search, you’ll hear the chatter of someone scouting out a new neighborhood. It takes a little bit of tweaking, but finding out what people want is the best way in the world to help them. Think about it: you’re not pushing people to check out your listings or even visit your site. You’re listening to their needs and gently/politely responding. Piece of sweet cake.

You could do well to spend about 50% of your time on line connecting

And when I say this, I mean comment on local area blogs, spend time talking with folks on Twitter. Answer questions in LinkedIn that pertain to your locale or your special niche. Use these social web tools to connect and build relationships before you need them. Then, you’re top of mind when people are thinking about making a move. Connecting with people about themselves, on their turf, and not always about you is the “hamburger helper” of social media. It stretches out relationships and makes them more filling.

Finally, spend about 25% of your time on line publishing

By this, I mean consider posting blog posts, photos from Flickr, YouTube videos, and whatever else you think might help people achieve their goals (theirs, not yours). Make sure folks know how to work with you. Make a page about it. Make all your contact information visible. On your blog, make sure your “about” page has a photo of you: not that weird “Glamour Shots” photo they use on your signs and newspaper listings. Take a nice new candid photo. Not used to this? Get used to it. People want to see who they’re doing business with, and even more so on the web. You’re old? Who cares? You’re fat or toothless? No worries. Work with what you’ve got, but do it.

You might not have a decent blog. You might not have the first clue what to do next. You have a few options: look for a REBarCamp in your area. Put up a simple ad in Craigslist requesting help getting a blog set up. Work inside your network to figure out who can help. They don’t often cost much (unless you get all tricky with your design). Why? Because this can be a home base. It’s not always your selling space. But it’s always the place where people will get a better sense of who you are. That’s why you read Jonathan, right? Same thing.
By thinking of all this as an extension of who you are in the day to day, you’ll get closer to the mood and mindset required to do business with people via the social web. We’re not there to be sold to, but we do love when people help us buy. See the difference? To me, that’s the whole opportunity in a nutshell.

What do you think? What other advice would YOU add to this? How can you pitch in and extend the learning process of others in your space so that they can catch up to you?

–

Chris Brogan is the New York Times bestselling author of Social Media 101, available at bookstores everywhere. He is president of New Marketing Labs, LLC, and writes daily at Chrisbrogan.com

With the year rapidly heading to a close I wanted to give you guys the “Best of 2009.”

Next month will be the Real-TechGuy’s first birthday.  I couldn’t have told you a year ago whether or not anyone would be interested in what I had to say, but here you are.  As a community we REALTORS are growing.  Together we’re learning how to take on this new challenge in marketing and communication.  Each day I’m inspired by your questions to create new and better content to help you succeed.

I’ve learned so much in the last year and I owe it all to you, my readers, friends, and fellow REALTORs who have given me so much great feedback.  You’ve guided me in the right direction enabling me to help you better understand this New Media.

Next year is going to be another BIG year in SM.  In fact, I’m willing to bet you that by this time next year we won’t even be calling it Social Media anymore, it’ll just be New Media, maybe even just MEDIA.

Alright, without further delay here are my top picks for 2009.

Social Media for REALTORs | Best of 2009

1. Are You Using Social Media to Listen? : In this post I challenged people to rethink how they were using SM.
2. Social Media is an Attention Economy : This post reveals the secret currency of new media.  If you want people to “pay attention” to you, you have to “pay attention” to them.
3. Do You Really Have Friends? :  This was an eye opener for some people.  What’s more important, Quality or Quantity?

Facebook for REALTORs | Best of 2009

1. You Could be Using Facebook Wrong :  I think this one turned a lot of heads, I remember people actually getting offended just because of the title.  I guess the truth hurts.
2. Facebook tips for REALTORs: Friends List and Privacy Settings :  This was one of my first video posts and the most successful with over 1,700 views to date.
3. Building Facebook Fan Pages that Stick : This was an excellent netcast where I revealed ALL the steps I took to create the Official Real Estate Referral Group.

If you think this stuff was good, wait until Next Year…

Don’t miss a single thing!  Get every helpful post, cool video, and great podcast delivered right to your mailbox by subscribing to our feed.

The year is winding down and before you run off to “Holiday-ville” I wanted to to give you one more push.  Marketing is changing and if you’re not keeping up you may fall off the face of the planet….OK, maybe not the planet..but if no one can find you online then you may as well have.

Get ready to embrace new media beginning with the 350,000,000 member nation of Facbeook.  Your first lesson in new media is the “7 Things You Must Do to Use Facebook Successfully in 2010.”

While everyone else is winding down we’re ramping up to make the next year a profitable one.

1. When REALTORs start out in Facebook they forget one key factor.  Who they’re trying to reach.  If you don’t identify your target market BEFORE you get started how on earth do you expect to find them when you get online?  More importantly, how do you expect them to find you??

OK, so you got tip number one of seven.  If you want to start off 2010 with a BANG, I suggest you listen to the entire training call.

Listen to the “7 Things you must do” Training Call

Good news for you, we recorded this entire 47 minutes of training and we’re making it available to you right now.

Don’t make the mistakes that other REALTORs are making on Facebook, this call will outline a full strategy to help you integrate Facebook into your marketing plan for 2010.  And just in case you were wondering, “How Much?”…the cost is ZERO.  So now what’s your excuse not to listen in?

Get your copy of  the “7 Things You Must Do to Use Facebook Successfully in 2010″ by signing up below.

In yesterdays post I broke the news, “No One Cares About You.”  I wasn’t trying to be mean, I was just setting you up for todays post about naming your Facebook Page.

If you’ve already created a Facebook Page I’d like to know what you named it?  Did you name it after yourself??  Who’s Bright Idea Was That???

I know, I know….you’ve put a lot of time into branding your name as a part of your Real Estate business.  You’re name and your face are your ticket to the REALTORs hall of fame.

Branding

If in fact people are looking for “Your Name” online chances are very good that they will find your personal profile on Facebook.  Right now Facebook is one of the hottest properties on the web, you should take every chance you get to claim some of that while you still can.  Naming a page after yourself is a waste of valuable web real estate.

If you’ve already created a brand around your name offline, that’s fine.  Just be sure to include your Facebook Page address in your marketing collateral.  Chances are that wherever your brand is offline, your phone number is not too far.  That means people are more likely to call you rather than look for you on the web.

Let me put it to you this way, the people that already know your name are probably going to be customers any way.  The web gives you a chance to meet even more people.  Unless you have enough business and you don’t want any new customers, but if you’re online reading this post chances are that you want or need more business.

I don’t use my personal profile for Business

Yep, I hear the next objection…My personal profile is private, I don’t like to use it for business.  That’s a great reason to have a facebook page, but it’s hardly a good enough reason to name that page after yourself.

Even if your personal profile is locked, you can tweak the privacy settings to allow people to view which fan pages you belong to, so it’ll lead them right to where you want them to go.

I already have a Facebook Page

AND—-Cue the whining.

Now I can hear you saying, “But I already created my page and there’s no way to rename it.”  I’m going to tell you something very important about Facebook Pages that you might not already know, but you have to promise me to keep this a secret….YOU CAN CREATE ANOTHER PAGE!!!

Yep, that’s right.  If you’ve already named one page after yourself why don’t you just create another one with a GOOD name?

What’s a good name for my Page?

This brings me to the purpose of today’s post.  How to name your Facebook Page.  The interwebs are all about WORDS.  When someone has a question they run over to Google and type their query into the search box.  Low and behold the magic Google engines return answers directly related to their query.

People are looking for answers online and it’s up to you to find out what their questions are so you can find a way to answer them.  Luckily for us Google has created a magical keyword tool that helps you understand what people are looking for.

The idea is to find out what the people in your market are searching for and then design your page around it.

How do I find Keywords for my page?

Today’s your lucky day because I’m going to give you a sneak peak at one of the many videos from our all new Social Media Academy for REALTORs.  Watch this video to learn how to use keywords for naming your page.

Remember in the movie Field of Dreams when they said, “Build it and they will come?”

Most people think that’s the Secret to a Successful Facebook Page. Unfortunately that’s not the case.  Any REALTOR can build a page, but it takes someone really savvy to make a page buzz.

You can’t expect people to just come to your page because you built it, there’s lots of planning that goes into a making a page work.  Some of the things you need to consider are:

• Page Name
• Target User
• Intended Use

The first question you should ask yourself when designing a Facebook Page is, “Why would someone want to come to my page?”  If the only answer you come up with is, “To see my listings” you will be at a great disadvantage.

Not to worry, I wouldn’t leave you hanging.  I’ve put together a 35 minute podcast to teach you EXACTLY how I planned the launch of the Real Estate Referral Group.

To get a copy of the podcast all you have to do is fill in the form below.  If you don’t see the form, CLICK HERE.

Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla in the room.  If you’re not using it because of privacy concerns you need to get a Business Page set up immediately before your competition beats you to it.

In my humble opinion a Facebook Business Page is the greatest marketing opportunity for REALTORs today. Pages are like mini websites (actually, they aren’t so mini) inside of Facebook. Some of the benefits they offer are:

• Sharing Photos
• Sharing Videos
• Forums (discussion topics)
• Sharing blog posts (notes)
• Updating your fans
• Customizing (branding)

Basically, it’s a profile for your business.  Pages show up as “friends” to the people who are fans.  For all you privacy fanatics out there, a page is separate from your personal profile.  That means you can have all your REALTOR clients as fans without them knowing what’s going on in your personal life.  If you use it properly you can leverage the viral power of Facebook to its full extent without compromising any privacy.

In this video I’m going to show you how to build your very own Facebook Business Page in less than four minutes.

With Thanksgiving behind us we’re officially in the “Holiday Season.”  It’s easy to get caught up in shopping and holiday parties, after all isn’t that what all REALTORs are doing?

Every December I wind down to asses my business for the year, then I start planning for next year.  Since everyone is caught up in the Holiday hype I figured this was the best time to do it.

This Thanksgiving I decided to take a few days off from the internet since I spend most of my waking hours glued to my computer.  When I finally got back to Facebook I found that my friend and business partner had posted this video from Chris Brogan.  Chris is one of the top “thinkers” in the Social Media space.  Few people “get it” like he does.

In this video he shares The Secret to overnight Success.

How can you become an overnight Success?

Like Chris said in the video, you need to kick it up a notch while everyone else is slacking.  Guess what, you’re not alone.  After watching this video I’ve decided that I’m going to end this year with a bang so I can head into 2010 like a bat out of hell.

Want to join me?

Of course you do.  So what I’ve decided is put together some amazing content on how you can use Facebook Business pages to take your online marketing to the next level.  Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be delivering some exciting new content in the form of videos, posts, and even a webinar next week to help you bring in the new year with a bang.

It all starts RIGHT NOW.

I’ve got a little present for those of you who are ready to take this journey with me.  I put together a 30 minute presentation on how to properly build a Facebook Business Page and I want you to have it so you can get ready for next weeks webinar.  All you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below.

Are you tired of using Facebook and not generating any leads?  Are you doing everything you can to get people to notice you even though it seems like they’re not listening?

I’m Jonathan, The Real-TechGuy and I specialize in using Facebook business pages to generate more leads.  In the past 12 months I’ve been able to generate 400 Real Estate leads using nothing but a Facebook fan page.

If you’re even thinking of using a Facebook business page you won’t want to miss next weeks call where I’ll share the five things you MUST do to start generating business from your page.

To reserve your spot you need to RSVP.  All you have to do is leave your name and email address in the form below and we’ll put you on the guest list.

As an extra bonus for the first 100 people that RSVP I’ll throw in a copy of my latest report, “The 7 Mistakes Every REALTOR makes using Facebook.”  This is a MUST read for anyone using Facebook.