Common Mistakes on Twitter

When it comes to Twitter, mistakes lie in the eye of the beholder, or the tweeter. But if you’re serious about blogging, you need to understand the role Twitter plays in your online presence.

First of all, it’s a communication tool. We make friends, we follow celebrities, we network. We have fun on Twitter, offer support, provide a laugh. We help spread news, both good and bad. And we come together in a crisis.

To make Twitter valuable build your following the old-fashioned way. Follow people you like and then follow the people they follow. Engage in conversation. Start it or jump right into it.

Common communication mistakes on Twitter
1. Begging or bragging about followers

“I’ll follow you if you follow me.”

“Wow, I just hit the 8000 follower mark!”

Exceptions:

If you have a new friend who has just joined Twitter, invite your followers to welcome them.
“My friend @John finally joined Twitter. Follow him so he can finally see what the fuss is all about.”

Also, if you are approaching a significant number and want to round up, it’s okay to ask for followers.
“I’m at 798 followers. I only need 2 more followers to achieve my lifetime goal.”

2. Never answering back

My mother is on Twitter. She’s actually starting to get the hang of it. Since she is following so few people, she sees it more like a direct line to me and my tweets (Note to self: be careful of what I say online).

When I recently asked for a shout out for my mom’s birthday, I wonder why she never responded to any of her tweets. She never knew about checking her “Mentions.” I know she’ll kill me for admitting this to you but she had an excuse. Most of you don’t.

If you’re using Twitter for your own little circle of chit-chat and never respond to anyone except those that you already know well, don’t expect your followers to follow you to your blog. Your blog should be a community and Twitter is a great place to welcome people into it.

Twitter can be a lot of fun. But make no mistake, it’s also a powerful marketing tool. If you haven’t figured that out, let me know and I’ll fill you on the basics. In the meantime, there are lots of mistakes being made in this arena too.

Common marketing mistakes on Twitter
1. Tweeting only links.

A good rule of thumb, if you really get down to the business of it, is nine non-business tweets for every one business tweet. For a blogger, your blog post links are your business tweets. Don’t overload people with them. Typically, tweeting them three times per day is effective. Otherwise, they’re just annoying.

2. Setting up an automated Facebook feed

Don’t worry. I’m not entirely against this practice. I use it on several of my Facebook pages. It ensures at the very least that my page updates are tweeted. It updates my followers and also can help drive my followers to my Facebook page.

However, I have seen many Twitter accounts set up simply as a feed. And that’s it! It doesn’t make much sense to push content onto Twitter which encourages engagement if you are only on Facebook and never on Twitter. I know that sounds overly logical but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this. And yet these people follow me!

3. Not monitoring your content

When I say monitoring your content, I mean monitoring YOUR content. What are you saying on Twitter? What kind of language do you use? How much are you sharing (or oversharing)? Are you drinking and tweeting (a sometimes deadly combination)?

I’m not suggesting you should become someone you’re not. Be your silly, goofy, sexy, funny, passionate, raunchy self. Just understand that your Twitter stream is a big part of your online presence. Don’t say something you don’t want a brand, business, boss, or even your mother to read. Sometimes too much is too much.
Did you catch all that? Are you doing it all correctly? There’s a lot more to learn even if you’ve been on for years. For those of your just getting started, I recommend you read one of my all-time favorite posts at the new Momcomm.com blog, Making Sense of Twitter – It’s the Never-ending Cocktail Party.

Now go tweet your heart out!

Adapted from an article by Fadra Nally on May 3, 2011 on socialdialect.com

Fidelity Phoenix Celebrates 3 Year Anniversary in The Hayden Ferry Building

Yesterday Fidelity Phoenix celebrated 3 years in one of the most recognizable buildings in Tempe on the shore of Tempe Town Lake, The Hayden Ferry building. In honor of our anniversary the Administration team hosted an employee recognition luncheon to celebrate and say "thanks" for a job well done.

The corporate offices for Fidelity Phoenix reside on the 11ths floor of The Hayden Ferry Building. Over the course of a month, the average traffic including staff and visitors is in the thousands.

REO Expo Recap

By Melisssa Shapiro, AVP Director of Sales Fidelity Phoenix

The mood was optimistic last week at the big REO conference in Dallas, REO EXPO. Experts believed that we are nearing the bottom of the housing crisis, with a long way to recover, but starting to move the needle north.

Banks and outsourcers alike believed inventory was going to increase by end of third quarter and into the fourth quarter, steadily all the way up to the holidays. Releasing toxic assets, getting them on the market and liquidating them is the only way to begin our recovery. There has been such a stop and go across the nation with releasing assets and then pulling back. Much of this has been due to the moratoriums put into place caused by the national loan modification push, the robo signings and the MERS issues. Banks want to be sure that they are crossing all t’s and dotting all i’s. The banks that are consumer backed with banking and depository relationships are especially sensitive to their image and “doing the right thing”. What everybody does realize is that our problem is not getting any better. The message between the banks is that they are committed to moving these assets any way they can, either with short sale, deed in lieu or foreclosure. There were more panelist at the REO EXPO speaking of an aggressive push toward short sale than ever before. Each of the big banks, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Chase have all placed time and resources into call centers and education on how to successfully close short sales. In many cases, a home sold as a short sale is a better price than a foreclosure and the realtor is paid higher commissions.

The problem still remains that homeowners are still not paying their mortgages and housing prices are still upside down. In Arizona 1 out of every 4 loans is seriously in default (more than 60 days late). There are still over 40 thousand properties with no running water, no electricity and not claimed by the bank. Inventory on MLS in Maricopa county is just under 22 thousand, an all time low. The positive side to this is that due to the elementary theory of supply and demand, prices are going up with multiple offers on most listings.

With the big push of releasing inventory, aggressive stands on closing short sales and home prices at an all time low, a push toward recovery is sure to be near in our future.

Jay Butler Discusses Economic and Real Estate Activity

ASU Professor of Real Estate, Jay Butler discusses economic and real estate activity.



To view the entire power point presentation visit our Facebook page

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

Only 40 more days to vote for the 2012 publication! Thanks for your support!

Utilizing Social Media Marketing For Your Real Estate Business

We are pleased to introduce Matthew Coates as our next contributor in our Guest Blogger Series. Matthew is an Agent with West USA Revelations, a blogger and social media guru. We asked him to provide his thoughts about utilizing social media in the real estate industry. Please enjoy his article below.

Real estate has been one of the slowest adopting industries for taking on social media as a marketing platform. Why is this? I believe that since average Realtor has been in the business for a long time, maybe 10 or more years (I see from statistics that the median age of an agents is in their 50s), they believe they have pretty much got it figured out and don't need to change their model or make adjustments that will improve their game.

That being said I tend to see the young-spirited agents (notice I didn't say young as in age) embracing social media as a way to expand their sphere of influence and capture more sales. These "early adopters" I believe are going to leave traditional agents in the dust as they wonder "what happened"?

You can no longer argue that social media is a fad. The fact that Facebook is approaching 700 million users globally should be a huge wake-up call that people want to connect in ways other than phone and in-person. Social media is a way to bridge the gap in time with those you care about during the off hours, not to mention those that live far away.

Notice I didn't say that social media REPLACES what you are doing, rather complements it in incredible ways. If you are still working expireds, knocking doors, printing flyers for your listings, using call and text capture.

First and foremost the goal of social media is to get more clients, right? So if you are using it why aren't you pointing people to your website? Why are you marketing your listings ALL the time? Big mistake - unless someone is in the market right now at this moment you are going to annoy them with constantly posting your homes for sale.

So let's talk about a few social media platforms and how they can enhance your current real estate business:

Facebook
Facebook has got to be the foundation of your social media. If you don't have a Facebook account, get one, immediately!

Facebook helps connect you with those you know and those from your past. Regardless of how you feel about people you attended high school with you need an account. You also need to be active. What does that mean? Probably posting a status update once a day would be appropriate - the level is up to you.

But equally important is jumping into your friends lives. Do you read your news feed? I don't mean everyone, but do you scan back on previous updates of those important to you and comment when they said their kid was admitted to the hospital. It goes back to the old addage

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

So you say "I'm too busy to do that, it doesn't make me any money." That may be true for the short term, but how about the long term? That person could send you 5 clients over the next 10 years. How about that expired listing that you cold call? Not likely. By the way, if you complain about using social media and that it's too much work, how's your current plan working for you? If you are doing what you think you should be doing in business, perhaps a change is in order.

LinkedIn:
In my opinion the most unless of the 3 social media platforms. I'm sorry if that offends but I can't think of one client that has come from it. It seems to be a static billboard, a way to connect with those you value in the business world, but the social interaction is extremely limited and cumbersome. Yes, people post status updates, but they are very rarely read. Of the last 10 updates I did to my LinkedIn page, I would be hard pressed to say that even 3 people said something, and I have over 1,000 connections!

That being said I believe LinkedIn to be more effective in companies that do business with other companies. In real estate we do business with individuals. So perhaps if I was a graphic designer, it would be more effective.

Although at this point I don't see alot of value in LinkedIn, I believe you should still have the page. After all, clients may check you out online and if you don't have LI page, they may doubt your professionalism. It is interesting the opinions that others form based on your online presence, or lack thereof.

Twitter:
Twitter is the most misunderstood form of social media, yet I believe the most powerful. The beauty of Twitter is you can make a one-sided connection with someone. What does that mean? You can stay in touch with them without them having to reciprocate. Unlike Facebook, where both parties much agree to be friends, on Twitter only one party must do this.

As a result you can digest valuable information straight from top global marketing figures like Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, and Chris Smith ( @chris_smth). I read several blog posts every day about marketing, the changing real estate market, building relationships, and social media. The amount of valuable information is immeasurable.

Combine that with the vast networking potential and the ability to get a message out in seconds and you have got a potential gold mine, if you use it properly. That's another topic altogether.

YouTube:
YouTube is a very interesting platform. An attention-grabbing video will be watched millions of times, where an ok one might only get 15 hits. While I use YouTube to an extent with about 50 videos up ( My YouTube channel), I haven't had much success there yet. As my wife says "Unless I see 3 or more people share a video on Facebook I probably won't watch it" Bingo.

Videos have to be extremely entertaining combined with wildly informative for them to work in real estate. I do know of a couple of local agents I believe are doing well with video, but that is the focus of their marketing campaign, whereas it is just a piece of mine.

I also believe the average person doesn't have the patience to sit through a 2-3 minute video unless it's a topic they feel strongly about. And typically real estate isn't it.

I do plan on revisiting this campaign in an attempt to create more interesting videos, and this will take more time and effort.

To sum up social media has revolutionized my business. I have clients that would never have come about without it, and I don't miss old/ traditional marketing methods, as I believe consumers are becoming less receptive to them as technology advances. Just yesterday I had a client in the car that came from one of my Facebook high school friends that I have kept in contact with the last few years since getting on Facebook.

Just remember anything worthwhile takes time and effort. Social media is no different. You are just "working" in a different way. It's not enough to have a social media presence - you have to engage with others. And don't throw in the towel if you don't land a million-dollar buyer within 3 months. It works if you work it.

With warm regards,
Matthew Coates
West USA Realty Revelation

Keep up with Chandler real estate http://livingchandler.com/
602.332.3321 cell
866.715.9284 fax
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/realtormatthew
LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewdcoates

"King of Lead Generation" Craig Proctor Live Training Session Sponsored By Fidelity Phoenix

On Tuesday, June 7 Fidelity Phoenix hosted a very special live training event with North America’s leading Real Estate Coach and “King of Lead Generation”, Craig Proctor. Over 300 Realtors attended the intense six hour event that was held at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and raised over $1200 to benefit The Boys and Girls Club.

The training session conducted by Craig Proctor highlighted the least expensive and most effective strategies, ads and systems Realtors must be using right now that will guarantee at least two new escrows in the next 30 days.


A panel of top Agents were interviewed and lot of great information was provided, attendees left with a wealth of new knowledge. Below is a video of Steve de Laveaga's opening remarks and some key takeaways from the training we’d like to share.





· Realtors are in the Marketing business, not the real estate Business

· It is important to drive all traffic through a 1-800 hotline or website to capture information

· The biggest Realtor mistake is not setting themselves apart from the crowd

· It is important to know your Unique Selling Point and what makes you different

· Consider creative “guarantee” programs in which you guarantee to sell or buy the home

· Use the “triple M” formula: right Message, right Marketplace, right Medium

· Do you have a “library” website or a “lead generation” website- must have a lead generation site to capture visitor info

· It is important to have a website that tracks visitors so traffic can be measured, if your site doesn’t track visitors it’s useless

· Small twist on an old idea: Creative open houses in which multiple homes held open for 15 minute increments

· Group homes together and offer transportation

· Must haves: system for attracting prospects, for converting appointments to clients, to provide clients with superior service and to turn them into lifetime clients

· Live your life not just your business

· Show your value

· Offer your clients “ key benefits” free of charge

· Buyers really want choices and ACCESS, not an agent



For information about our other upcoming events visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/FidelityPhoenix?sk=events

9 Reasons To Use Brand Advocates

What would you say if you could add 5, 10, 100 or 1000 marketing reps to your team? For free?

What if these marketing reps would freely write about your brand and tell their friends and all they expect in return is recognition and access to insider information?

Who are these free marketers? Brand advocates. By definition a brand advocate is any customer who has been officially commissioned to speak on behalf of your brand without compensation.

Who are brand advocates and what motivates them?
A recent study identifies many attributes of brand advocates. Below are nine of the attributes that will help you think through how to effectively engage advocates for your business.

#1: Advocates are prolific creators of information
Internet users are becoming increasingly comfortable sharing their experiences with products and services through social media. What makes a brand advocate stand apart is his or her prolific communication about these experiences.

The survey found that brand advocates create and curate more than twice as many communications about brands as the average web user. They are savvy in writing meaningful content and sharing it on highly visible sites.

#2: Advocates influence the opinions and purchases of their friends
In Malcolm Gladwell’s classic book, Tipping Point, he identifies three unique kinds of people who make social movements possible: connectors, mavens and salesmen.

Brand advocates blend the strengths of a connector and a maven. They love connecting people with others of similar interests. But they are also information storehouses who love to share their knowledge.

The study found advocates are 70% more likely to be seen as a source of reliable information.

Additionally, brand advocates are 50% more likely to create content that influences a purchase.

#3: Advocates love to talk and are probably already talking about your brand
Brand advocates are 83% more likely to share information than the average internet user. What’s more, 54% of advocates view information-sharing as a form of relaxation.

Notice that brand advocates are also motivated to make decisions, solve problems and contribute to a pool of information.

Smart businesses make it easy for brand advocates to share information about their brand. Provide relevant information through your blog, Facebook page or through exclusive emails and watch advocates share it.

Find the people who are already talking about your company (here’s a great article for tips on seeing who is talking about you), find out what motivates them (survey them?) and give them valuable information worth sharing.

#4: Advocates like to use social media to help people
At their core, brand advocates like to help others. They don’t hoard information to inflate their egos; they want to be seen as useful.

Advocates love to meet new people through social media. In fact, they are 2.5 times more likely to use social media to expand their circle of friends.

In case you’re skeptical, be forewarned that advocates are not purely altruistic. They also want to get something out of this. Be willing to give them what they’re looking for.

Notice that receiving free products and other incentives rank at the top of their list. But deep satisfaction also comes from helping others make good decisions.

Not all advocates will be enticed by discounts and rewards. Some of them will even find it offensive and inauthentic. Word-of-mouth marketing expert Andy Sernovitz says that you shouldn’t mix love and incentives. Make sure your advocates don’t feel like you’re forcing them to praise you without having freedom to voice concerns and critiques.

#5: Advocates want to be known for their valuable insights
Advocates like helping people and getting free stuff, but they’re deeply motivated by recognition. In fact, they’re 150% more likely to value being seen as a reliable source of information.

Find creative ways to recognize your most valuable contributors.Social Media Examiner does this well through their Fan of the Week program.

#6: Advocates are most likely to use social media for sharing their opinions
Advocates are twice as likely to share product information on social networks than average web users. In fact, social media is their first choice for sharing their insights.

Solicit feedback from your advocates where they’ve already built an audience. Don’t expect them to go somewhere else.#7: Advocates have a broader reach
Here’s something that sets brand advocates apart from the crowd: advocates are 3 times more likely to share brand information with someone they don’t know.

Brand advocates love meeting people online. Given their desire to influence people and share information, it’s predictable that their messages will reach a much broader audience than the average web user.

#8: Advocates like talking about their product choices.
Advocates love to talk about their daily product and service decisions. Their top three topics to discuss are: food or dining, personal care products and household products.

How do these topics relate to your products or services? If your company’s deliverable is not on this list, you may need to work harder at giving advocates a reason to talk about you.

#9: Advocates are loyal to brands with which they have a relationship
Why do advocates do what they do? They appreciate the incentives and rewards, but at the end of the day, they want to be known as a trusted agent of the brand. The relationship is important to them.

Advocates are your friends, not your employees. They want to know you value their friendship as a mutual exchange. Show them love in as many ways as you can and let them be themselves.

Source: Adapted from an article by Phil Mershon on jeffbullas.com, published 6.13.11

Fidelity Phoenix Welcomes New Director of Marketing

Fidelity Phoenix is pleased to introduce Chelsea Peitz, our new Director of Marketing. As Director of Marketing Chelsea will be responsible for overseeing and managing the Fidelity Phoenix Marketing Department, including all the marketing tools and services we offer our clients. Fidelity Phoenix offers comprehensive Realtor marketing tools and market trend reports, which will fall under Chelsea’s supervision.

Additionally Chelsea will work to create advertising and marketing pieces with key partners, gather and interpret available data and anticipate market trends, and grow the Fidelity Phoenix brand through social media, public relations and strategic focus. It’s a big job but we have no doubt Chelsea is up for the challenge and will excel in these efforts.

Chelsea brings 10 years of business management and administration experience with her as well as 8 years of residential resale experience. Her real estate background and experience insures Chelsea keenly understands the needs of our clients and is able to provide the best solutions to meet those needs.

Originally from Southern California, Chelsea moved to Arizona in 1993 and is graduate of ASU. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and 2 Chihuahuas.

Please join us in welcoming Chelsea to our Fidelity Phoenix team, we are thrilled to have her join us. You can reach Chelsea via email at Chelsea.peitz@fnf.com or by phone at 480.214.4540.

Craig Proctor Live Training Event

Are you getting beat up by real estate market? Are you fed up with the real estate recession and tired of its bad news controlling your life and your income?

You should know there ARE Phoenix agents “refusing to participate” in the majority’s pain and suffering, who are enjoying good incomes and success right now by following some simple strategies (battle-tested in good and bad times). Join us for a very special event Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 12:00 to 6:00PM, where we’ll reveal how you can implement strategies in your own business on a poor-man’s budget. This special live training event is with North America’s leading Real Estate Coach, Craig Proctor. No other coach, trainer or consultant will tell you the unvarnished truth about what it takes NOW to work with buyers and sellers — without cutting commissions or otherwise being abused.

In today’s market, it’s not enough to learn theory, or ideas that may have worked in boom times but just aren’t cutting it in the current recession. During the six intense hours of this event, we’ll highlight the least expensive and most effective strategies, ads and systems you must be using right now that will guarantee you at least two new escrows in the next 30 days.

This 6 Hour Seminar Will Teach You How to:

• Generate 3 highly qualified, motivated prospects EVERY day consistently and predictably without spending a dime!

• Stop making the 3 HUGE mistakes that are responsible for 80% of failure in 2011

• STOP wasting money on advertising that brings ZERO $ in return

• Properly track your advertising so you know what’s working and what’s not (Stop doing what’s not working, do more of what is and watch your business triple without spending a penny!)

• Easily attract the best buyers and sellers by giving them what they really want vs. what most agents think they want (This allows you to CHOOSE who you want to work with and discard the time wasters!)

• Deliver listing and buyer presentations that don’t just get you the client, but position you as the EXPERT!

• Leverage strategic partners to multiply your bottom line

• Walk out the door at 6pm armed with ads and strategies you can use RIGHT AWAY to make you NOW MONEY!

Craig Proctor (the top agent for RE/MAX Worldwide for several years) is known within the industry as the King of Lead Generation, and not only sold over $1 Billion of real estate himself in his 20+ year career, but he’s also coached more agents to millionaire status than any other trainer. By openly sharing his step-by-step approach, he teaches agents not only how to dramatically increase their results, but also how to vastly improve their quality of life.

Seats are limited for this sponsored event. $25 OR RSVP to events-fntmarketing@fnf.com to reserve your seat and receive the specially discounted rate of $10 at the door. Full Proceeds to the Boys And Girls Club of Arizona. Event held at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa 5350 East Marriott Drive, Phoenix.

State of the Market - June Update

Steve de Laveaga, SVP of Sales & Marketing, Fidelity National Title discusses the positive changes we're seeing in the market .

Dustin Gaskey Honored as The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals Member of the Month

Hearty congratulations to Dustin Gaskey from our Fidelity Phoenix team, for being honored as The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) Member of the Month, for June 2011.

NAHREP is the "voice of Hispanic real estate" and a champion for homeownership for the Hispanic community. As the largest minority trade group in the real estate agency, NAHREP is influential at both the national and local levels. Over 16,000 members across 48 states belong to NAHREP. This national organization is dedicated to empowering Hispanic families in their quest for a piece of the American dream: sustainable homeownership.

A founding member of Fidelity National Title’s Strike Force, Dustin Gaskey and his team of professional sales executives have produced record profits while growing REO, Investor and Short Sale Markets. His 12 years of sales experience and his commitment to providing exceptional customer service has led to his success in a declining market and the growth of Fidelity’s market share every year since his hire.

With a prosperous background in real estate development, Mr. Gaskey shifted to the other side of the real estate industry focusing on Sales and Marketing Management, where he gained instant success helping Valley developers sell their new home product. Faced with a distressed real estate market in 2007, Mr. Gaskey rose to the challenge and joined forces with Fidelity National Title, a Fortune 500 company. An integral member of Fidelity National Title’s Sales Team, Mr. Gaskey is responsible for building dynamic relationships for Fidelity National Title’s REO and Investor Division while generating significant earnings to shareholders. A strong desire to help individuals in the real industry accomplish their goals, while being part of the solution, has earned him both personal and professional success.

A resident of Scottsdale, Mr. Gaskey plays an active role with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, NAHREP Arizona and Scottsdale Association of Realtors. When he’s not working, he enjoys travelling with his fiancee, spending time with his dogs and enjoying the outdoors.