Real estate and relocation professionals from around the country are gathering in Orlando, FL this week for ERC’s National Relocation Conference. The 3-day event kicked off yesterday and hopes to provide attendees the tools and resources needed to shape the future of the industry. During the conference, attendees will learn best practices and identify cost savings to help grow their business while networking with other like-minds in the industry. By exploring methods for increasing revenue and competing in today’s market, the conference will prove to be an invaluable learning experience for those in attendance.
Looking for a Kentucky house of your dreams? Look no further. Today Enterprise Network Member, Milestone Realty Consultants, launched their new website in collaboration with Active Website. With the addition of new cutting-edge technology, Milestone’s goal is to create a user-friendly environment that engages customers and provides top-notch services to those looking for Louisville, Georgetown, and Lexington homes – plus other communities in the surrounding area.
Keeping the customer at the forefront of their design, Milestone believes they are now better positioned to be the leading real estate company in the region. The new website features a variety of user friendly enhancements including advanced Individual Property Websites, the integration of multimedia services, and the ability to access real time data from mobile devices.
Milestone’s website platform also includes:
The integration of the “Where do I Go Next?” button that provides users with a pre-engineered path option for relevant browsing.
Established Agent Websites to aid in each agent’s individual branding while utilizing features from the home site.
The inclusion of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and a corporate blog.
The ability for customers to create a Property Alerts account in order to receive emails when properties match their listed criteria.
Tour our cities videos that stream community overviews directly from the homepage.
Community information pertaining to neighborhood statistics, school information, and links that may be of interest to users.
By focusing on the customer’s needs, this one-stop shop real estate company is dedicated to providing quality service. From their real estate division to their rental and relocation divisions, these experienced professionals will help consumers find a home with the help of the new website while increasing their SEO standing. To find out more about the company, visit www.milestoneky.com.
Continuing with our discussion on SEO and ways your company can increase your standing, we’d like to point out another crucial element to your success. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, the concept of social networking has not gone unnoticed. More than likely you’ve experimented with some form or another, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube, there is no denying the impact it’s had on our culture. As we all know, social networking is not just a fad, so it’s important for the Enterprise Network to keep up with these changing trends and evolve to meet the needs of our customers.
In the real estate industry, there is this notion that we don’t need to adapt to these trends because of the current demographics of homebuyers. Well, we’re here to say that’s not true anymore. Besides the fact that even my grandma has a Facebook account, keep in mind that by 2010, the number of Gen Y-ers will outnumber Baby Boomers. This new age customer is highly tech savvy, so we shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. By taking advantage of these free sites, you’re able to stay in front of the customer and help build your business- with no cost to you except your time and effort.
Earlier this year The Nielsen Company reported that time spent on Facebook increased 700% in the span of a year. Statistics also show that if Facebook alone were its own country, it’d be the 8th most populated country in the world. Imagine what that would be if we were to combine statistics from all outlets! To see a more comprehensive breakdown of social networking statistics, check out this article Nielsen posted online.
Still not convinced that social networking is an important aspect of a company’s success? Below is a video on YouTube created by Socialnomics that reiterates the importance of social media and ROI.
There are many opportunities that await us if we open ourselves up to social networking, so we’ve come up with a few simple ways your company can use 4 of the most popular social networking sites.
Post Twitter updates! The retweets, video tagging and other features are new ways to market your company. By including keyword terms, people who use Twitter search are more likely to find you as well.
Create a Facebook profile for your company. Include information about your company and update your account with new property listings, events you’re hosting, press releases and more. You can also syndicate your blog to Facebook which is yet another way to bring traffic to your website!
A great social networking site for professionals is LinkedIn. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know- which helps you connect to others in the same line of business as well as potential clients. Not to mention, if others make recommendations on your business, you’re appeal to customers will increase.
Posting engaging videos to YouTube is very useful to real estate professionals. Create a channel and customize it to feature properties currently for sale.
Think of social marketing as a way to setup your own content distribution plan. Using social platforms helps increase the circulation of quality content you’re producing and is a great way to increase readership and link bait. When you build the bridge to these sites and develop a following, you establish a distribution network that circulates your content to thousands of potential clients. Thus increases your chances that someone will comment or link to your site.
At our conference this year, Tom Flanagan, Director of Information Technology at Residential Properties, spoke about the importance of unique and engaging content. According to Tom, last year 200 of the top Real Estate sites accounted for 95% of the real estate traffic online. Because of this, it’s crucial to find ways to set yourself apart from the competition.
By providing sticky material to our websites, we are able to enrich the user experience as well as improve our company’s SEO. Today, we’d like to showcase Residential Properties and a few of the ways they’re reaching customers through various platforms and reinforcing the importance of content.
Earlier this week we posted a blog discussing the need for telling a story in regards to our property listings. We showed a great example of how good writing can increase SEO and create an emotional connection with consumers. At Residential, they’re taking this a step further. Below is a video posted on YouTube that provides a great description of not only the property listing, but the community as well.
Yet another way Residential is providing content to consumers is by hosting a radio talk show called, Real Estate Insight. Every Sunday morning at 10am Eastern Standard Time Sally Lapides and her team discuss today’s hottest real estate topics. By going to their website, you can listen to the live show or catch a past airing in the archives section on Podcast. This not only allows users to hear more about the world of real estate, but is another way Residential can keep people on their site. You can also find a more in-depth discussion on the show’s blog, www.realestateinsight.com.
Finally, we’d like to mention what Residential is doing to get the entire company involved in the process. Every Season, they hold an internal photo contest and everyone in the company is encouraged to submit a photo they have taken of the community. The winning photos are then displayed on their homepage slide show as well as the blog. Your blog is a great publishing platform and is a vital way to engage your consumer. Click here to see this year’s spring winners.
So take these examples as advice for advancing your company’s website. Social networking, blogging, and contests allow for dialogue with the consumers and are just a few of the ways you can reach them. The longer you keep a user’s attention, the better your odds that they’ll remember you!
You may have read our months worth of blogs in June talking about social networking strategies, solutions, suggestions and more- and this month we have a great Social Networking success story from a member of the Enterprise Network, Residential Properties. Many brokerages struggle to grasp the power that social networking can have for their company as a whole. For individual Realtors to use these methods seems common and basically necessary; but for a brokerage to use Social Networking, there seems to be a question of how impactful it can really be. So, why do it?
93% of Social Media Users Believe A Company Should Have A Presence In Social Media
-Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008.
Residential Properties has a presence on 9 social media outlets, establishing more control over their identity, brand awareness, and a modern interaction with consumers and agents alike. They recently utilized Social Networking as the main outlet for a marketing campaign of Open Houses. Residential Properties achieved great success with an increase in blog and website traffic as well as a higher than average number of attending couples at the open houses.
Residential Properties has a presence on 9 social media outlets, establishing more control over their identity, brand awareness, and a modern interaction with consumers and agents alike. They recently utilized Social Networking as the main outlet for a marketing campaign of Open Houses. Residential Properties achieved great success with an increase in blog and website traffic as well as a higher than average number of attending couples at the open houses.
