new Lake Nona site portrays extensive evolution in programming and design. Visually compelling the site positions Lake Nona as the ultimate community—highlighting neighborhoods, amenities, education, dining and entertainment

• Most fans never return to a page after they like it.
• Most posts by pages are seen by less than 10 percent of their fans.
• Many fans will never see your welcome tab.
• When fans create new posts on your Facebook page, other fans don’t see them.

Those facts run counter to most people’s assumptions. They go to their fan page a lot, so they think their fans do, too.

They assume that all their fans are seeing all their posts, which we’ve already discussed. They also assume their fans are seeing posts made by other fans to the page’s Wall.

More info here http://www.allfacebook.com/how-to-get-more-likes-and-comments-on-facebook-book-excerpt-2012-01

Here are a few programs to try out and create floor plans for your property listings:

1. Floorplanner.com. With this program, you enter the dimensions and create the 2-D, 3-D and interactive floor plans yourself using the online tools.  Add your logo and print in hi-res for print marketing pieces.  The interactive floor planner offers a huge library of textures, fencing, and furniture.  Pricing starts at $29/month and you can try the service by creating your first floorplan for free.

2. Diakrit.com. Diakrit is an online tool where you upload a sketch of your floor plan and Diakrit’s designers create 2-D, 3-D, 3-D Special (with light and shadows), furnished or unfurnished renderings per your request.  Turn-around time is next business day.  Prices start at $19.95 per floor plan.

3. Sweethome3D.com. A free, open source program that you download and save to your computer.  The user then enters the dimensions of the home and can then view 2-D and 3-D versions of their floor plan.  A limited library is available for furniture placement.

4. Gliffy.com. Gliffy is a free online diagram software where you can create floor plans as well as flow charts and technical drawings.  It also features a “share” tool where you can invite friends to view your creation or blog about it.  Gliffy can also be added to your Google Apps.  Basic accounts are free for up to 5 floor plans and premium accounts start at $5/month.

5. Floorplanonline.com. This program gives you the option of self-service or full-service floor plan creation.  You can choose to sketch the floor plan and take your own pictures, or have someone come out and do it for you, or a combination of both.  You can link your creation to Realtor.com and/or other sites.  Prices start at $59 for a self-service floor plan and $179 for full-service.

Are you using any floorplan technology solutions? Which ones? Any tips?

1. On the lockbox’s keypad, press and hold ENT. This will "wake up" the lockbox.
2. When the lockbox lights up the keypad, enter your 1 day code , and press ENT.
3. The lockbox will open the key compartment.

• If the CODE and ERROR lights alternate after you enter a 1 day code, you’ve entered an incorrect code. 
• If pressing the ENT key in step 1 above does not wake up the lockbox (that is, the lockbox keypad does not light up), You can unlock the keypad by inserting a credit card or business card into the lockbox instead. When the lockbox beeps and lights up, remove your credit card. Wait for the lockbox CARD and ERROR lights to go out, and then start over with step 1 by pressing and holding the ENT key.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to get the most out of LinkedIn: from Katie Lance the Marketing Manager for Inman News

1.   Update your profile. Log into your account and make sure you have the basics in there – updated photo, work history, dates, experience and education. Sounds simple – but if you haven’t been in there in a while, it’s good to dust off that resume!

• Add your specialties. This section is key (located under the ‘Summary’ section within ‘Edit Profile’) – this is the section google is going to pull from. Think of this section as the ‘keywords’ or ‘meta tags’ for your profile. Pick 7-10 key words to describe your specialties and/or areas of expertise.
• Add 3 additional links. Under websites – select the drop down ‘other’ – this allows you to add 3 different links and name them whatever you’d like. Instead of being limited, you can add specific links within your site or blog. A few ideas here: link to a market stat page on your blog/website, link to your property search (IDX feed) page for a specific area/county, link to your Facebook page, link to community info on your website or blog.

2.    Add your public profile link to your email signature. If you are using Outlook, edit your email signature in the Edit>Options menu. If you are using Gmail or another free email service a great free service to use is WiseStamp. WiseStamp will allow you to add all your social media channels into your email signature.

4.    Write 10 testimonials. One of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn are the testimonials you can generate. How do you get people to say nice things about you? Say nice things about them! Write 10 testimonials – do 10 a day for 5 days and by the end of the week you should have at least 10 from people ‘returning the favor.’  A testimonial does not have to be an essay – simply 2 or 3 sentences of how you know this person and why you would recommend them. A great example of this is a Realtor I worked with at Empire Realty in the SF Bay Area – Sue Rubin. Sue aggressively added her contacts into LinkedIn and wrote testimonials – she now has 10 fantastic testimonials on her LinkedIn account. How is this different from the testimonials on your web site or listing materials? To the average consumer, LinkedIn testimonials are more authentic because you did not touch or alter them in any way – they are truly from a past colleague or client.

 

Bonus: If you are on Twitter make sure you add your Twitter handle and note that you can link your LinkedIn status updates to Twitter

See the rest of the tips here on the Inman News Blog “The Future of Real Estate Marketing” one of the most informative sites on the net…

Do you have any Linked-in tips to share ?

Google announced yesterday that they are throwing their hat into the social media ring. Google indicated the new Google Buzz tab will begin showing up on about 1% of Gmail user accounts starting right away. Google says the rest of Gmail users will be able to see a new Google Buzz tab in their accounts within a week.

Downsides:

1.    Google Buzz is only integrated into Gmail. Granted there are 150M+ Gmail users but there are still quite a few people who are not. ( although I have a Google  Gmail account I don’t use it )

2.    Google Buzz does not integrate into Facebook. I think this is going to be a HUGE factor in whether Google Buzz is successful or not. It should be interesting to see how this plays out and If Facebook will one day integrate into Google Buzz. As Facebook sneaks past 400M users – this is certainly not a number you can ignore.

Here’s a quick ‘cheat sheet’ of what Google Buzz is:

1. Integrates with Gmail. Below your Gmail  inbox, there will be a tab for Buzz, allowing you to read status updates, photos, and video. The 40 people you converse with the most in Gmail and Gchat are automatically added as friends. Buzz updates also appear in your inbox if someone comments on your updates or comments, or someone directs a Buzz to your attention by using the familiar “@” symbol

2. Integrates with Other Channels. Photos from Flickr and Picasa and video from YouTube appear as thumbnails in Google Buzz.  You can pull in tweets from Twitter but you can’t send your Buzz updates out to Twitter or other social networks.

3. “Page Rank” for Status Updates. To compensate for posts that many people don’t care about (like what you just ate for lunch) -  Google Buzz lets you like and dislike status updates, and learn over time whether to show or collapse status updates from your friends. It also looks for conversations outside your direct group of followers and adds them to your feed as recommendations.

4. Private and Public Updates. Private updates can go to all of your Buzz followers, or just a select group. Public updates are posted on your Google Profile page and are immediately indexed for Google Search.

5. Mobile App. Google Buzz has a mobile app ( I just installed on my Droid)  that  dictate status updates by voice and geotags your posts. On Google Mobile Maps, Buzz updates appear directly on the map, so you can read location-based updates. You can also look for any recent Buzz updates posted near your current location.

So what does this mean for real estate agents and brokers? I think at this point Google Buzz is too new make any predictions about what Realtors will or won’t need to do. I do think that if Google Buzz stays as is – it will be somewhat limiting to agents due to the fact it is just available to Gmail users and that it does not integrate with Facebook.

However – as social media evolves, it is imperative that agents keep an eye on where people are gathering and where they are communicating. Today it is primarily Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Will Google Buzz be the next big thing? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s a quick video Google put out yesterday that explains Google Buzz:

What are your thoughts? Would love to hear your comments – please post your feedback below

From this Eric created his “Top 10 Human Aggregators

His goal was to streamline his daily Blog reading/ twitter following time . He has found that time spent was reduced by 60% .While maintaining, and maybe even improving his exposure to quality Blog posts. Posts that were informative, educational, humorous, and down right entertaining. He now has more time to dedicate to other useful activities like; family, friends, golf, coaching little league, and so many other things.

It’s not that I am telling everyone to do this, but if you are one of the 4.2 million Real Estate Agents struggling to get a handle on Social Media, give this a try! think of it as your “Training Wheels”, when you are ready, take em off and fly!…

here are Eric’s (and mine)  “Top 10″ “Human Aggregators” (in no particular order)

@tcar – Todd Carpenter – SM Dir. for NAR – **Warning, his Tweets may be hazardous!

@ResPres – Jeff Turner – Pres. of ZeekInteractive – 6 kids, 1 wife! (love that line)

@FrancesFlynnTho – Frances Flynn-Thorson – AZ Real Estate Blogger – Trusted RE Source

@PhxREGuy – Jay Thompson – Phoenix RE Broker – ”Tell it Like it is Blogger”

@BHGRE_Sherry – Sherry Chris – Better Homes & Garden – A true “Forward Thinkers”

@MLBroadcast – Mike Price – MLBroadcast.com – Zillow’s Blog(s) Editor & Nice Guy

@EricStegemann – Eric Stegemann – Dir of Biz Dev @ Tribus – Brilliant & RE Focused

@pkitano – Pat Kitano – Co-Founder of Domus Group – Well Informed SM Strategist

@jburslem – Joel Burslem – 1000Watt Member – Founder FOREM Blog “Original” RENet’er

@nik_nik – Nicole Nicolay – CCO AgentRevolution – Editor @ MyTechOpinion.com

** With nik_nik, you get “egg-roll”…meaning you also get the guy she sleeps with, @ReggieRPR - Reggie Nicolay – Dir of SM for RPR. Together they form one of the finest Duo’s in The RENet!

And of course Eric Bryant The Coach – @TheRECoach

You can follow me @MrWilliamsburg although I am in no way suggesting that I should be included in the list.

If you are new to twitter after you setup your profile, click on each hyperlink and then click follow once you get to their Twitter profile.

Once you get the hang download TweetDeck where you can create your own lists of influential visionary people you want to follow , learn from and interact with..

Feel free to ask for help if this doesn’t make sense. Register for the next Virtual Rebar Camp that is announced. These are quite possible the BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT THE RE.NEt  Try to attend a Barcamp if one is scheduled within driving distance.

Sounds like an odd thing to say but the reality is in the consumer-to-consumer marketplace, the truth surfaces about products, services, ideas, and companies. For instance, when looking at reviews for bed and breakfast options recently, some friends of mine showed up with a very bad review from a disgruntled customer. I wondered, how could this be? This place is gorgeous and the hosts warm and courteous. I wanted to find out from them what happened so I asked them. They had no idea about this review but had noticed a dip in their bookings and when they looked at the review, they quickly knew what was going on and told me the other side of the story.unionstreetmedia.com, Managing Your Online Reputation, Feb 2010

You should read the whole article.

See the list here

1.    Post good content daily. This is the #1 one thing that I see agents NOT doing. They spend time calling or emailing clients, but they drop the ball on their Facebook page. You should be posting 2-3 times a day. A good formula for Realtors on Facebook is: 2 parts personal and 1 part business. Corcoran does a great job of this – they post interesting real estate and market data but also sprinkle in really cool and unique links to New York city, little known facts, places to eat, etc.

2.    Have a plan and stick to it. Make a list of the top 10 sites you like to visit – include news sites (i.e. Inman News, NY Times, etc), recreational sites (gardening, travel, etc), and of course your website or blog. Visit this list daily. This makes it very easy for you to link to interesting stories and post good and relevant content daily.

3.    Do it yourself. As a Realtor you can’t hire out someone to manage your Facebook account for you. You have to make time – every morning and every evening to manage your account. You can however hire someone to enhance your page and make custom tabs with HTML. Mike Mueller is a great resource for this.

4.    Comment on what others post. This is KEY! It is not all about YOU!    Take 5 minutes out of your Facebook time each day to comment on what some of your friends or fans have said.

5.    Be engaging. Ask questions, post photos, be a part of the conversation. Remember Facebook is like the ultimate dinner party. At a dinner party you wouldn’t sit in the corner and not talk to anyone right? Nor would you JUST talk about real estate.

Here are some great examples of Realtors doing many of the right things on Facebook:
Sue Adler
The GoodLife Team
Julie Ziemelis

Do you have a great Facebook page you’d like to share? Leave me a comment here!