Virtual Assistant

If you’re looking for a virtual assistant in your real estate biz I wanted to share this company with you.

The company is Still Virtual Assistants.  Here’s the website: http://ht.ly/2zNZo .

Please check it out when you have a chance.

Brodie

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An easy way to fail with social media

I’m not going to mention the company name here out of a sense of professionalism.  But I was followed by a company on twitter this morning.  Before I follow anyone back, I take a look to see what they’re about.

I was followed by a social media management company this morning.  When I went to check them out before deciding if I would follow back, I quickly decided not to follow.  There was nothing profane or anything like that.  It was their business philosophy that I disagreed with on a massive level.

Their business mission statement basically said that you and I don’t have time to deal with any social media items.  So they do it for us.

The whole point of social media is to build relationships.  If a commercial worked that well, then dvr’s wouldn’t be so popular.  Social media is all about relationships, not mass advertising.  The goal of any business when they use social media should be to start a conversation and build a relationship.  Not to just bombard enough people with enough junk messages that eventually one may buy.

Forgive the sarcasm, but this kind of business model and those selling it really go against everything that I believe in.

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Social media consistency is key

I’ve been in business and in social media long enough to be able to read between the lines.  I’m not 100% accurate, but I can usually get pretty close to the truth.  I can usually tell if someone is having a slow business time because of their actions, no matter what their words may be.

They’re the ones that you don’t see on Facebook for three months and then suddenly they pop back up.  They don’t pop up asking for business though, they’re constantly talking about how great business is.  How busy they are and how they just can’t keep up.  Life is wonderful, or so it seems.

Maybe I’m way off base, but I think I’m pretty close to the truth.  This is my version of reading between the lines.  If things were going as great as they say, then by default they should be too busy to actually be spending that much time on social media.  For most people, unless they have a good handle on the tools available, if they’re busy they have a hard time fitting social media into their schedule.

This is one reason why consistency is so crucial to social media success.  A person can’t wait until business is down to start reaching out.  By then it’s too late.  You’ll spend a lot of time building an online reputation instead of already having that lifeline in place.  It’s extremely important to stay connected in the bad times and the good.  This will lead to a much smoother road.

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Read in bed and blog about it

Ok, so don’t literally blog about the fact that you read in bed. Or do if you can make it interesting.   I like to read when I first lay down. I get a lot of blog ideas when I read.  I guess reading makes my brain work.
When a blog topic comes to me I need to write it down or i’ll loose it. I now keep a notebook by the bed so when a topic hits me I can write it down.
the next day I add it to my blog as at least a blog draft title. This helps me keep a working list of blog topics to choose from.

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Blackberry versus Droid

I’ve been a long time blackberry user.  I had a short time with a windows mobile phone, but had too many problems with it.  I love the blackberry as long as I had a bes.  A bes is a business enterprise server.  It’s what blackberrys were truly meant to work on.  It does all of the email, calendar, contact sync.  I could still sync by using google sync or plugging it into the computer, but it was anything but seamless.

Today I switched to a droid phone.  It made all of the difference.  I use google for just about everything.  Gmail, google calendar, contacts, etc.  The sync was seamless and actually I didn’t even know it had happened until I saw that everything was already done.  All I had to do was put in my google sign on info and viola!  It was done.

Not to mention all of the available apps and the overall speed.

Like I said, I haven’t had it more than a day yet, but already I see what I’ve been missing.

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Every question is a potential blog topic

If you blog or have attempted to blog, you know that it can be a daunting task.  When I first started, the hardest part was just knowing what to blog about.  The more I’ve blogged the easier it has gotten.  I promise it’s true.

I still have times when I run into a dry spell where it comes to knowing what to blog about.  In those times I turn to reading other blogs, magazines, news stories, etc.  Over time I’ve simply learned how to see things as potential blog topics.

If you’re in business one of the best blog topics is answering a question.  We all have questions from clients or potential clients.  We either know the answer or we find it.  Either way, almost every one of those questions has the potential to be a blog topic.  Simply state and answer the question in your blog.

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What’s a QR Code?

Don’t know what a QR code is?  Here’s a good post from Matt Fagioli on what it is and how to get it.  It’s basically a more complex bar code that can be scanned by cell phones with cameras and the right program to get whatever information the person that made the code put in it.  For example your website, contact info, etc.  Here’s mine for Browntree Home inspections:

Here’s the link to Matt’s post: http://forwardslashlife.com/2010/08/qr-codes/

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Do you read blogs?

I like to read other people’s blogs, but I must say that it’s one are where I fall short.  It’s good to read other blogs for several reasons.  You learn about other people, learn new ideas, get ideas for your own blog, etc.  It’s just simply a good thing to do.  It’s kind of like reading a newspaper that’s written by individuals.  I use Google reader mostly for the blogs that I subscribe to.  It helps me organize them rather than going to a bunch of individual sites, which would be very time consuming.

So my question is do you read blogs?  What are your favorites?  And most importantly, what keeps you reading a blog?  Is it the topics they cover?  The way they cover them?  Or some other reason?

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Too old for bookface

One thing that I don’t want to happen to me is for technology to get to far ahead of me.  Just this morning I got a forwarded email.  To be honest, I normally don’t read forwarded emails but I was bored so I read.  It was an older person complaining about all the new technology and how they don’t need it or understand.  I understand the sentiment, but I don’t want to become them.  My goal is to keep up with new technology as much as I can.  But I think I’m already falling behind.

Just yesterday, I had a member of the Geek Squad at the house to diagnose a problem with our LCD TV.  The HDMI ports had stopped working.  He said we would have to order a part, but that in the mean time I could hook it up with a ‘blah blah blah’ cord to still get the HD picture.  He asked me if I had one of those cords and before I knew I simply said “no, I don’t have one”.   What I should have said is “I don’t understand the words that are coming out of your mouth”.

I guess I’ll have to try harder from now on and above all, when the geek squad guy starts speaking in klingon, I’ll ask him to clarify.

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The power of a Facebook friend

You may or may not know, but along with social media I also own a home inspection business.  I have run the inspection biz marketing on social media alone for quite some time.  With excellent results I might add.

I did a home inspection this morning for a client that was a referral from a former co-worker of my wife.  I don’t have the co-worker on a mailing list or a phone call schedule.  Not even on an email list.  We are connected solely on Facebook.  That’s how he remembered me when his friend needed an inspector.

That’s the power of Facebook.  You stay connected without pushing your business on someone.  You are friends first and the business comes from it.

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