Real Estate Professional Network

What? Internet Marketing is NOT about Technology! This is a very hard concept for many Technology-Savvy agents to truly grasp; – Internet Marketing and SEO live within the intersection of Marketing and Tools, but are NOT layered on top of each other. Technology is but the glue to all these layers – Not the heart beat of Marketing Success. You can use a piece of paper and pencil and create the Best Marketing – the computer makes the delivery easy; you can even use your iPhone to write a novel – but it is the ideas that matter not how many thumbs you ended up using to produce it.

Let me explain with examples: HootSuite and Engage121. (many other technology tools are available; I am only using these two illustrate a point.) Before I go on I must share that I love both tools and find them quite useful, and I do recommend them.

1. The tools offer those who wish to view their Social Network and Influence great insights; you can view all the noise you are creating with your followers and friends. So, if you are a Brand Manager, this is critical to reaching your agents, brokers, and their network of followers.

2. I say that Real Estate Agents are Not Brand Managers – they are Local Marketing Experts who go about getting more Listings and more Sales. Yes, Yes, there is this noise that says that Real Estate Agents are the Brand and ought to manage it like a National Brand – I disagree; that statement maybe true for one thousandth of percent of agents who work nationally; but Agents who learn to generate Local Listings can do so independently of the Brand they work for.

3. Tools like Hootsuite allow you to view your Analytics, and may help you make you sense of what type of posts are working for you versus those that may not.

4. When you visit http://hootsuite.com/about you will see how many tools and how much thought has been put into it… it is quite lovely…

5. You can even use Engage 121 and Ping.fm to post to multiple social media channels - and this ease of technology is quite wonderful for Brand Managers

But here is the point: This level of Technological Understanding is NOT the purest form of Internet Marketing – this is at best called "Friend Marketing" or "Managed Social Marketing" – some give it a sexier title like "Social Media Marketing!"

If your Marketing is focused on those you know then this is the right platform for you – say you are Stephen Colbert with a huge following, then these types of Social Media Tools are perfect for you; You are marketing to a huge fan base.

But, you and I, are not celebrities – we work mostly with people with don’t know. Therefore we must reach beyond Social Media and into Internet Marketing, SEO, and Search Based Visibility. (Those of you who have a deep book of business and all the clients you ever need, do NOT need to worry about new clients and SEO – you need to worry about nurturing those relationship; and in that case a certain amount of Social Media Marketing can be helpful to you…

This reduction that the Thinking required to succeed with the Internet must be Technology, and an understanding of tools can lead many astray from their primary focus; I recently saw an example of a very technology-based blogger, with a major Real Estate Brand, who has integrated a sub-domain-based blog within their national platform. From a technology point of you this integration works fine; but from a Strategic SEO and Marketing Visibility – oh my…

I will share with you one tip that works all the time: Tell your story, become a Blog Writer, become an avid video poster, and make sure they all reside first in your website with strategic links – then let technology be in charge of the delivery; NOT the reverse - you will then win the race of Internet Marketing…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIXjprU6Ucc&feature=player_detailpage]

Happy Blogging – Key Yessaad, Real Estate SEO Strategist

Posted by Key Yessaad on June 11, 2011 at 5:49 PM

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