365 Real Estate Virtual Assistant

The post, The 11 Commandments of Social Media, was first written by Chris Street and then posted on eRealEstateSocial.com. I thought is to be so clever, I wanted to share it with you…

Whether you’re a creative type, a business owner or an experienced regional marketer, the proliferation of social media recently can confuse, bemuse and excite in equal measure.

It’s no longer enough to send out monthly newsletters or email campaigns to talk to potential customers – now we’re supposed to actually engage with them, talk to them, and respond to them in real-time across social media platforms.

The worst thing? You can’t escape it.

Facebook has more than 400 million users, Twitter accounts have increased by nearly 1,382% in the last 12-month period alone, whilst Technorati currently monitors more than 133 million blogs across the Internet. To survive online, social media involvement appears to be a must-have activity. Go where customers hang out.

There are, however, some basic considerations for effective social media engagement. Here’s my Top 10 Commandments for social media:

1. Thou shall not spam

Whatever you do, don’t spam your customers or target markets. They won’t appreciate a barrage of poorly-researched, irrelevant and inbox-clogging spam emails. Spamming inboxes – whether it’s company email addresses, Twitter accounts or Facebook will win zero brownie points and alienate you from any further contact. Once credibility is lost, it’s not coming back anytime soon, if ever.

Hyperlinking and acknowledging external sources on your blog makes common sense.

2. Thou shall not steal
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It is a challenge to choose a closing gift for your clients that has shelf life and is something the client will use and appreciate. A Closing CD with all of the documents from the real estate transaction, photos of the home and branding for you is the ideal solution. Here are a few examples of what your real estate virtual assistant can do for you:

Get more information on how you can get Closing CDs for your clients.

As a real estate virtual assistant, I stay on top of new marketing techniques and share them with my clients. For example, Mr. Internet, Michael Russer, shared part of his latest coaching webinar ‘How Google’s MyMaps Can Put You Ahead of the Pack!’ on Facebook.

There are some great ideas regarding map useage, how maps can be personalized to your market, how they can be integrated into your website to drive traffic,  the seo benefits and much more. And how to have a real estate virtual assistant create maps for you.

Want help creating your maps? I’m glad to help!

This is a copy of an email that went out to my clients this morning…

“Daylight savings starts this weekend. Would you like a reminder email sent to your real estate database? See sample below…”

A real estate virtual assistant makes your life easier by suggesting marketing ideas and ways to stay in touch with your database.

Contact me anytime to talk about how a real estate virtual assistant can make your life easier.

Many real estate professionals focus the majority of their time generating leads and servicing current clients and are excellent at it, but drop the ball when it comes to staying in touch with clients after the sale.  As your real estate virtual assistant can create and implement an ‘After the Sale’ stay in touch campaign so you stay top of mind consciousness with your closed (I hate saying ‘past clients’) clients.

Management of this plan is best done in your contact management software and might include staying in touch with the following activities:

New home Congratulations card
Monthly online newsletter
Quarterly referral reminder card
Birthday cards to the whole family
Home Anniversary card
Daylight Savings reminder
Holiday greetings
Quarterly phone call
Annual appreciation event
Halloween pumpkins
Thanksgiving pies
Discounts from local vendors
Mother’s Day flower
Father’s Day gift certificate

Have questions or need more ideas? Feel free to contact me at anytime!

If your listing coordination consists of direct marketing, you can have your real estate virtual assistant custom design ‘Just Listed and Just Sold Postcards‘ to market your listings or use template designs for the many online companies offering this service. ExpressCopy.com, QuantumMail.com, and ColorForRealEstate.com are among the most popular.

Some of your contact management and Internet flyer software include templates for your convenience.

One of the first questions to ask yourself is, “Who is my target market?” Do you want to market to homes surrounding your listing, prospecting for more listings? Or are you targeting buyers and want to mail to a move-up neighborhood or apartment complex.

You will get a much better return on your investment if you or your real estate virtual assistant follow-up your postcard mailing with a phone call!

Let’s continue our discussion of Listing Coordination. Yesterday we talked about using Postlets for your Internet flyers. There is another product you will want to consider to having your real estate virtual assistant use when marketing your listings on the Internet…Vflyer.com.

Vflyer has a free version, but you can only have 5 active flyers. Even though there is a cost, it has some great features.

1. It contains a slide show and a link to your real estate website on the first page of a multi-page flyer. Below are examples from a flyer I created for Teri Isner:

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Many of your real estate companies post your listings to Trulia, Backpage, GoogleBase, FrontPage and Zillow and other real estate websites. Usually these postings link back to company websites and pages. One of the benefits to having your real estate virtual assistant create your own Internet flyers with a product such as Postlets.com is it markets you instead of your company.

Postlets is free, but there are some limitations with the free account. Ads run down the right side of the flyer and you can only upload 6 photos. Here is an example of one of Scott Darling’s flyers:

One features I really like on Postlets is the ‘walkability score’ from WalkScore.com. This score indicates how easy it is to walk in  the neighborhood and shows what establishments are within walking distance of the house.

Read more…

Many real estate agents that I know either hate writing descriptions for their properties or don’t have the time to put much thought into it. Guess what? You don’t have to! Your real estate virtual assistant can do this for you with photos and basic information about the property.

We handle Listing Coordination for Mike Manosky in Huntsville. Mike sends us the MLS sheet, photos and a check list he completes when taking the listing. Mike had compliments form a Craigs List prospect from this property description we wrote for him:

Paradise is here and you have arrived. Come take a look inside this amazing ranch with your own private oasis. The one of a kind floor plan makes for enjoyable family living and easy entertaining.  From the moment you enter into the tiled foyer you will see that this specially designed home has something for everyone. Step down into the great room with wood floors, gas fireplace and a wall of windows that brings the lovely outdoors in.

An awesome designer kitchen features wood floors, vaulted ceilings, smooth top range, dazzling window, and an abundance of cabinet space. A beautiful gas fireplace adds ambience to both the sitting area and the great room. In addition to the formal dining room, there is a charming eat-in kitchen area with two picture windows. Need a place to call your own? Check out the sitting room, perfect for a home office as the view is endless. The master suite boasts an 11 foot trey ceiling, dual vanities, walk-in closet, whirlpool tub and separate shower. The additional bedrooms are sized perfectly for guests or a growing family. Relax on your covered patio and enjoy your retreat’s lush landscaping. Summertime is a blast with the inviting super-sized pool with waterfall. The tree-lined property has no neighbors behind and is fenced for extra privacy. Come on out today and start living in paradise!

Getting back to Listing Coordination, your real estate virtual assistant can enhance your listings on Realtor.com.

Do you know you can add a scrolling Headline that rotates between two messages? A great place to promote your real estate website.

You are not limited to just the photo uploaded by your MLS and can add up to 23 photos.

There is also a Custom Message Box. Here you can talk about the home buyer tax credit, a service your offer, free reports and anything you can think of. How about a link to your blog with local events and happenings?