5 Secrets to Being Successful on Twitter

Can you sell on Twitter? Sometimes.

Can you get more web traffic? Absolutely.

Can you build a brand? Without a doubt.

Can it be all about you? No way. No how. Never.

The truth is – success on Twitter is so much more than how many followers you have. That only tells part of the story. For a long time, I was focused on those numbers. How many followers. How many re-tweets. How many likes. How many unlikes. If you look at those numbers long enough you start to go crazy. Then something pretty cool happened. The more I tweeted, the more I focused less on the numbers, the more people I met, the more I enjoyed it, and the more I saw the tremendous value of it.

Let me tell you – being an independent contractor in any business, especially real estate, is lonely.

One of the biggest benefits I have seen with Twitter is the camaraderie and support with people who love this industry all over the world. In my eyes, that is a huge benefit. But let’s face it, we don’t just want to sit around and just tweet with other Realtors. There are people right now in your community, in your town talking about things that are relevant to you – local news, local events, hot spots around town, and yes people who are moving to your city or town. Go into Twitter and type “moving to _____” in the search field and you’ll be surprised at how many search results come up. Does that mean you should instantly Tweet them and say “HI! I’m a Realtor!!!!” No of course not – you wouldn’t do that in real life, so don’t do it on Twitter.

Seriously, don’t even think about it!

The point is that Twitter is like the Chamber of Commerce mixer. Remember those? You went, had a drink and came home with 10 business cards. But now, you get to stay at home, be in your PJ’s, and “collect” followers that you can connect with. It’s the same networking we’ve always done – it’s just done a little differently now.

So how do you jump into the conversation? How do you get people to start noticing you and engaging with you? There are definitely a few “secrets” that no one ever told me when I first started on Twitter that can really help jump start your Twitter fame!

1. Don’t use all 140 characters. I was in Seattle earlier this year when my friend Dale Chumbley reminded me, “Katie, I’d re-tweet you more if you didn’t write such long tweets!!” DOH! I had forgotten that so simple but golden rule. Don’t use every single space. I know 140 characters isn’t very much to begin with. So if you fill up that whole space and then someone tries to re-tweet you – there will be too many letters. If it’s a good tweet, some people will take the time to edit it – but most won’t. See if you can keep your tweets to 50 characters max!

2. Re-tweet a lot. We have a joke in the Inman News office – it’s all about the re-tweet! That’s right! You want people to stand up, notice you, follow you, and engage you? Then re-tweet a lot! Re-tweet 15-20 things a day. Re-tweet interesting articles, follow hashtags (like #agentrb or #icsf) and re-tweet things people are talking about. The more you re-tweet, the more people are likely to re-tweet you and take notice of you! Here’s a bonus secret – don’t re-tweet 15 things in a row (unless you want to annoy the heck out of your followers). Re-tweet 15 things but use my favorite app HootSuite and schedule out those re-tweets – once a hour so they “drip” out over the course of the day. Now instead of impacting a few people who happen to be on Twitter at the exact time you are on, you are impacting people at different times of the day.

3. #FF. I love Friday Follow. Every Friday pick 10 people to mention for #FF. Recognize people you enjoy following. Twitter is a very giving medium. You need to give, give, give if you want to receive anything back. Some of the people I have engaged with and talk to the most started with a #FF.

4. Post content you like to read. We all subscribe to email newsletters right? Well before you delete them all every morning, look at one or two in your inbox and make it a point to tweet out a couple things from those emails – interesting articles or tidbits of knowledge.

5. Don’t get so caught up on what to say. Don’t over think things. Post something if it’s interesting to you, but don’t spend too much time worry about everything you post. Be smart, if you wouldn’t say something on stage or in a crowd, don’t say it on Twitter.

Source: Adapted from article by Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News. Posted: 24 May 2011 11:37 AM PDT

Effective Facebook Wall Posts

As brands increasingly make Facebook a key hub for their marketing and communication strategies, it is crucial to understand what drives engagement.

Recent research data published by Buddy Media indicates the following:

· Less is more! Posts 80 characters or less in length have a 27% higher engagement rate. Yet only 19% of all Facebook posts fall into the category; do yours?

· Engagement rates are three times higher for posts that use a full-length URL. Why? It’s likely the “indicators” one would get from reading a full-length URL are missing in a shortened URL. To still keep the “less is more” philosophy, use a brand-specific URL which still provides some brand indicators.

· Brands that post outside of normal business hours (very early morning, at the end of the work day, or very late at night) have a 20% higher engagement rate.

· Engagement rates on Thursday and Friday are 18% higher than other days of the week. Engagement rates on Saturday fall 18% below average. Data recently revealed by Facebook shows the “happiness index” raises 10% on Fridays.

· Business and Finance Industries specifically experience engagement rates that spike Wednesday and Thursday and decline Friday through Tuesday.

· Fans follow instructions well; the simpler the better. Outright requests to “Like” or “Comment” work most effectively. The top two keywords, “like” and “post” both have positive “comment” and “like” rates.

· Posts that end with a question have a 15% higher engagement rate.

· Keywords “where”, “when”, “would”, and “should” drive the highest engagement rates. “How”, “who”, “what”, “did”, and “why” have the lowest engagement rates, with “why” being the very lowest.

Keep these points in mind when creating content to drive higher engagement and to maximize your brand or organization’s presence on Facebook. And when it comes to Facebook publishing strategies, it is imperative that you keep things simple and in line with your fans' needs.

Using Google Keywords To Drive Traffic

Do you know and understand how to effectively use the Google keyword search tool to step things up with your social media?

In this example, we’ve searched the term phoenix foreclosures. It displays that and similar terms, and provides you with some powerful statistics: Local Monthly Searches and Global Monthly Searches columns. These statistics show the approximate number of search queries matching your keywords that were performed on Google for a month (this is an approximate 12-month average).

Also, notice the column labeled Competition. This column shows the number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. The shaded bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword.

How can this information be useful to you even if you’re not buying ad words? Give consideration to your target market, and do a search based on terms relative to that target market. Use (but don’t over-use) these keywords in your blogs, website, Facebook posts, etc. to leverage content and help gain more followers.

When reviewing the results, your natural inclination may be to pay attention to the most competitive terms, however, the more competitive the term, the harder it is for those searchers/consumers to zoom in on YOU in their search results. Consider using terms that aren’t quite as competitive, but still show a good number of monthly searches. In our example, phoenix az foreclosures shows a good volume of monthly searches, but with much less competition than phoenix foreclosures. Integrating the term Phoenix AZ foreclosures into your social media content gives you the chance of 1,300 local and 1,600 global eyes upon you; not bad for a zero dollar investment and a few minutes of your time!


You can find the Google keyword search tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Marketing Tools That Are Paying Off

Jennifer Weller, veteran Sales Executive at Fidelity National Title discusses Marketing Tools that are paying off

Interesting Facts About The REO Market

By Jean Clements
Marketing Director, Fidelity Phoenix

On Wednesday I attended Coffee with Melissa at the REMAX Professional’s Office where I learned some interesting things about the REO market.

Here are Melissa Shapiro’s highlights from REOMAC


1. Chase is has not evicted tenants from there REO's nationwide in 6 months, This was lifted in 9 states this month. Arizona should be lifted within 30 days.

2. Chase has pulling out of the equator system for managing their REO assets.

3. Freddie Mac's Reo inventory grew 145.7% Percent from 2008(29,346 Units) to 2011(72,093). This is why they had to add Atlas and Greenriver into the mix.

4. Wells Fargo will begin Principal Write downs in Arizona through the Hardest Hit Fund(HHF), Bank of America began doing this last month by sending out over 8,000 letters to eligible borrowers.

5. Rep. Maxine Waters, is pushing a bill that would require the Federal Housing Finance Agency to review how FNMA and Freddie add REO vendors and improve the process to keep it local.

6. REO is truly relationship based first.


If you are interested in Melissa Shapiro, FNT’s director of Sales, to come to your office, please send an email to info-fntarizona@fnf.com

Vote Fidelity Phoenix The #1 Title Company in Arizona!

It's that time of year again, time to vote for your favorite Arizona companies for the 2012 publication of Ranking Arizona.

Ranking Arizona is the outcome of the largest business opinion poll in Arizona. Each category is selected by the staff of AZ Big Media for the general public to vote on and are based upon business and leisure activities of Arizona's business professionals.

Please support Fidelity Phoenix by casting your vote, it's simple:

Go to ranking.aznow.biz
- Choose the 'To Vote Search by name' button
- Type in Fidelity National Title
- Enter your email address

Thanks for your support!

On Monday, May 2 Fidelity Phoenix sponsored a Luxury Forum at the Gainey Golf Club. The forum provided an in depth look at Arizona's luxury market. With over 500 million dollars in luxury property sold and lent in the last 12 months the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

The forum was moderated by Bill Gray from the Arizona School of Real Estate. Our own Steve de Laveaga presented a luxury market trend report.

Panelists for the Luxury Forum included:
Walt Danley, Realty Executives
Tom Locati, Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty
Sandra Wilken, Sandra Wilken Luxury Properties
Joan Levinson, John Hall & Associates
Don Matheson, ReMax Fine Properties
Appraiser- Sue S. Miller, SRA Miller Pipher, Inc.
Mark Monson, Primary Residential Mortgage
James Voorhees, PMB Branch Sales Manager,
Wells Fargo Mortgage Banking

Below are some key notes from the discussion and our panelists:


· Flyer attached---Panelists agree, Scottsdale Inventory is dropping although some argue that there is a lack of quality inventory out there.

· When asked how their business has changed in the last 3 years and what are they doing different today, Sandra Wilken, Sandra Wilken Luxury Properties said “she has built a distressed property division and 50% of the business is now bank owned”

· Great to have an appraiser on the panel, as Ms. Miller put it, “from the appriaisers perspective, we can’t forecast, we have to look at the trend. We have to look at the road already travelled, not what is expected to come when it comes to market conditions”. Because of this, it is essential that your appriaiser is knowledgeable about your market area.

· Walt Danley, from the Walt Danley Group, Realty Executives, stated if you are not doing open houses, you are missing the boat. Additionally, Walt shed some light on the Luxury rental market, by noting he is seeing rentals on the market for 48-72 hours only in the 5K-10K range. Sandra agreed.

· When asked is now the time to buy in the Luxury Market: Mark Monson noted, “lots of buyers trying to get out of the cold, weather and fair prices are great motivators”. Susan said “she is concerned about the number of foreclosures, buy now if you don’t mind being close to the bottom” and James with Wells Fargo said “If you like it, buy it”.

· The group also agreed that they were seeing more and more strategic foreclosures; first it was spec homes, then walk aways, those that refied and can’t make payments anymore or overlevearaged themselves. It is much more socially acceptable now.

· When asked where do buyers come from?: Lenders on the panel noted referrals. 50% of the panel agreed that open houses bring buyers and 75% of the panel said they get most of their leads from referrals as well, about 55-70% and the rest come from their website.

· 80% of luxury buyers are cash buyers

Fidelity Profits Jump In Q1 Earnings Report

Thanks to aggressive cost-savings initiatives, a more robust and profitable commercial pipelines and more closed orders, Fidelity National Financial’s title insurance segment brought in pretax earnings of $102 million in the first quarter (9.3 percent margin) and $1.1 billion in revenue. In Q1 2010, the company’s title insurance segment generated $1.08 billion in revenue and a pretax margin of 2.2 percent ($24 million).

“This was our strongest first quarter in a number of years, as our direct operations benefited from strong refinance closings early in the quarter and consistent closings throughout February and March," said Chairman William Foley II.

Order counts were relatively stable throughout the quarter, despite coming in under the open order count from 2010. But the open orders came through at a higher rate.

"It is clear our company's overall focus on the resale and commercial shares of the market has paid dividends, we are seeing a higher Fee Per File, due to the commercial and resale closings and our ability to staff accordingly puts us in a very competitive position over our competition. Also, we have really started to move towards more of a Real Estate Services Company, not just a Title Company" said Steve de Laveaga, SVP of Sales and Marketing of Fidelity National Title Maricopa County.



Source: The Title Report 4/29/2011

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