Compelling Media + Design

Build Your Own Social Network of Influence

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:50:06 -0500

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about social networks and social networking lately. Not so much the established sites people generally think of like ActiveRain, Linked In or Facebook.

More from a personal business or corporate perspective - like a social network as a delivery platform, or an intranet, or a private client area. Or all of these wrapped in one.

Specifically I've been testing the IGLOO Software platform - a white label corporate social network solution. And there are lots of others in this space too.

From a real estate perspective, I think there are many compelling opportunities in creating your own personal social network - to connect with potential clients, and more importantly, keep your current clients happy and engaged with your brand.

The term "Sphere of Influence" is often used on ActiveRain. Working with your sphere is a great way to help grow your business, and a sphere is nature's strongest structure. If your Sphere of Influence is your family, friends, clients and bussinesses you associate with, what does that sound like?

So replace the word Sphere with Social Network.

And imagine the possibilities of your sphere as a social network:

every interaction with your sphere (social network) is an extension of your brand
create networking opportunities for your sphere, within your sphere
increase your sphere with the features and functionality inherent to social networks
empower every client to be part of your sphere by providing a network
provide a virtual wlecome wagon for clients relocating to your area
efficient content delivery with subscriptions and feeds
virtual, private office environment (online) for sharing material with clients
collaborate with partners for shring documents in a secure work space
stay top of mind with personal and exclusive content and special offers or deals

The barriers to entry for creating your own, personal (branded) social network are coming down pretty fast.

If the members of your sphere were also members of your own social network, that would be pretty cool. And good for business.

It's Victoria Day, and I AM (a) CANADIAN

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:55:05 -0500

Today is Victoria Day in Canada, a national holiday honouring Queen Victoria's birthday, and our national connection to Britain and the Royal Monarchy. Queen Victoria was in charge of things in the UK from 1837 to 1901, and was the first sovereign - though more ceremonial - head of Canada too.

After spending some time on Wikipedia, I learned that the first Victoria Day was celebrated back in 1854, thirteen years before Canada was even a country. In my own province of Nova Scotia (which means New Scotland in Latin) we have many close ties to our British and Scottiish ancestors - we love our kilts and tartans - and who doesn't love a statutory holiday?

On the other side of the country in British Columbia - many would probably assume that Vancouver is the capital city. But in fact, it's Victoria. Another little known fact is that I was born in Victoria, and lived there for about two weeks. Military dad.

Victoria (the city, not the Queen) has some really nice Parliament Buildings - the Provincial Legislature is pictured below:

Photo by Ryan Bushby - Creative Commons 2.5

So have a great Victoria Day whatever country you're living in.

Please Join Me in Welcoming New ActiveRainer: Marta Anderson

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:50:08 -0500

I recently started to do some work with a new real estate client, Marta Anderson of Del Mar Realty in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.

Now that I'm fully addicted to ActiveRain, one of the first things I talked about with Marta is how great the AR community was for meeting like-minded real estate professionals, sharing her experiences and learning from others.

I warned her that she might become addicted too, but that it was a manageable problem when recognized, and could be easily justified as a business time expense because it would be helping her brokerage.

Marta was also interested in learning about new ways to connect with potential clients - and especially those from outside Nova Scotia. I mentioned some of the success stories I'd read about on ActiveRain, and how I'd met many new friends, colleagues and even some clients on the site - and probably 99% of them have been from outside our little corner of the East Coast of Canada.

So Marta was excited, and quickly accepted my invitation to join the site. Here's Marta's Profile, and her First Post on ActiveRain.

Over the next few months we'll be working together on her new web site, as well as some cool ways to highlight her community as a relocation destination and connect with clients from across Canada, the United States and even farther abroad.

And part of that will be accomplished with AR Localism - because I've seen it work for others on the site.

And if Marta finds she's losing time (and sleep) to ActiveRain... we'll, all due respect, I've got my own AR addiction to worry about.

So please join me in Welcoming New ActiveRainer Marta Anderson! (say Hi in her comments)

Have fun, Marta! You've been warned...

The Blog Post That Changed How I Do Business

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:40:20 -0500

On May 9, 2005 - three years ago today - Seth Godin published a post on his blog called What Every Good Marketer Knows.

I didn't know who Seth Godin was at the time he wrote it. I might have recognized his face. Maybe not. It was only three years ago, but a lot has changed in that time. In May 2005 there was no Twitter, Facebook was The Facebook, and YouTube had been online less than three months - the founders were not Googlerich yet. Blogs were seven or eight years old, but did anyone beyond a few know what they were?

So a lot has changed. A lot more attention grabbers out there.

But through all the clutter, after reading probably thousands of blog posts, there's one that I return to time and again. And it was published three years ago today.

It's essential reading for anyone that is in the business of marketing, and marketing themselves. Which is basically everyone in the real estate profession.

The list of 30 insights and observations and things good marketers know - will have you nodding. I printed and highlighted the first time I read it.

Here's my favorite ten:

Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.
Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you're viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
You're not in charge. And your prospects don't care about you.
Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.

Bonus #11

Marketing is not an emergency. It's a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn't end until you're done.

Hey Seth, thanks for that great list.

Read the original post Seth Godin published three years ago today.

May 1st is RSS Awareness Day! Get Your Feed On

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:44:01 -0500

May 1st is May Day in some countries, and it's known as International Worker's Day in others.

But in the vast depths of cyberspace - May 1st is now RSS Awareness Day!

This isn't your typical Hallmark Holiday and you probably can't get a greeting card to mark the occasion at your local drug store. But you can get some blog badges and banners. I guess these are the new digital awareness ribbons.

RSS Awareness Day is an initiative of Daily Blog Tips, and blog I've recently discovered. The content on DBT looked pretty useful, so I subscribed to their RSS feed. Now I won't have to go back to their blog, and I'll get their feed (most recent posts) delivered directly to my reader. It's way easier than going back to check for new content, and that's the whole point.

Subscribing to RSS Feeds has changed my web reading habits, and I can now read more, faster.

The main Feed Reader I use is the one built right into Internet Explorer. When I'm on a blog I like, or find myself constantly returning to, or constantly being referred to... I hit the orange RSS box (top right area IE) and save the feed into one of my selected categories. Done.

Next time they have fresh content, their blog name in my Feeds panel will be bold.

And that's just from the Subscribing perspective. Flip the coin and Feeds are the most efficient way for you to distribute content and information to your clients, prospective clients and readers. They've asked for you to supply them with info. Give them what they want!

To find out exactly what RSS stands for, and other technical definitions, visit the RSS Awareness Day site, watch the Common Craft video "RSS in Plain English"(recently featured on AR!) or do some further reading on Wikipedia about Web Feeds and Really Simple Syndication(RSS).

Spread the Word with badges and banners, and have a great RSS Awareness Day! May is going to be huge! I can feel it.

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85,000 Great Reasons to be a Member of ActiveRain

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:28:46 -0500

Congratulations to ActiveRain and all its Members for reaching this impressive milestone.

From the very first post on ActiveRain - Blast the Bubble - back on June 25, 2006, to passing the 25,000 Members mark on April 12, 2007... 'Rainers have known something special was going on around here from the beginning.

Soon it was 50,000 Members... then 59,997... and then on March 3rd, 2008, AR surpassed 75,000 Members!

Now we're mid way through the 80's. I'm predicting 100,000 by July 1st. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Here's to The Community - Join me in raising a glass of Rain!

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The Google Goods - A Wrap Up of Notable Google Products News

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:46:00 -0500

Google has had a busy month - do they ever not? When they're not serving up a gazillion web search queries, they're doing cool things with their other products and services. Here's a round up of notable Google news from the last few weeks, compiled from the too many Google blogs I subscribe too.

Google AdWords Agency Blog: Google product info at your fingertips - April 8th
Here's a great reference guide to Google Products - this handy PDF is accurately described as a "one-stop shop for brief descriptions and benefits of relevant Google products". Includes links and advertising applicability for products and services like Google Earth and Maps, Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, and Google Groups and Docs.

Google Analytics Blog: Graduation Day for Website Optimizer and Urchin Software! - April 18th
The Google Website Optimizer is now a standalone Google product (formerly an AdWords feature). What's a Google Website Optimizer? It's a "free website testing and optimization tool"...which " allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent." Not bad. Check it out at www.google.com/websiteoptimizer and get the latest news on the Optimizer Blog

Google Lat Long Blog: Dynamic data in Google Earth - April 18th
Google Earth is now at version 4.3, and the latest release allows for some cool new viewing features like switching from Day to Night, and adding Clouds and Weather. Business applications? It's a stretch, but with the Pro version you could record a movie of the sun rising and setting over your town or community. If you've got nice 3-D mountain terrain in the background, it's pretty cool. Google Earth / Download Earth 4.3

Official Gmail Blog: 9 reasons to archive - April 18th
Archiving your Gmail (or email in any program for that matter) can lead to better organization, time saved, and better overall communication. Need some specific reasons why you should archive? This blog post gives you nine, including #2 "Becuase You Can: clean inbox = clean mind." I agree Gmail blog.

Google Webmaster Central Blog:
Always lots of great reading on Webmaster Central - here's three posts that are interesting, and useful:

April 14th - Webmaster tips for creating accessible, crawlable sites
April 16th - Best practices when moving your site
April 23rd - Where in the world is your site

The Official Google Blog: What makes a design "Googley"? - April 23
Read this post - but here's the 10 things that make for a Googley design - and really, I think Good Design:

1. Focus on people-their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people's trust.
10. Add a human touch.

I love #1, #3 and #10.

If this is what Google wants, I say give it. On your web site, on your blog, the photos you take and share, the maps you create, the videos you produce. Everything is worth of good design.

And don't forget to submit your web site URL to Google, and then ping Google Blog Search when you've got a new post to index.

Which reminds me...

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My ActiveRain Friends on My Google My Map

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:35:48 -0500

It's been just over a year since Google released the My Maps feature within Google Maps that allows users to easily customize, brand and take their own user-created maps to a new level and publish them on the web.

At the time, I wrote a few posts on the topic - Creating Google Listing Maps: Part One & the follow-up post Part Two.

In the past year Google has added some new features, like the ability to collaborate with multiple users, export your maps to Google Earth (cool & efficient), and to add and incorporate other data like Picasa and Panarimo photos, The Weather Network info, or Places of Interest. Searching - or creating maps - by the Places of Interest is pretty cool because you can check off five different "layers" - or search parameters and have the map pull up local schools, places of worship, hospitals, coffee shops, etc. Creating custom local maps is easier than ever!

But the the most amazing update they've made since launching is the ability to Reorder the items on your map. This was a key feature to release because it allows users to easily update their maps and present information that they find is most important at the top, and in the exact order they want.

For a listings map, you can reorder by price as new listings come in, move Sold listings to the bottom for awhile, then delete. Or you may want to present the info arranged by community. You have the options, and with the ability to rearrange the order, you can show what you want in your preferred order with a few drags and drops of your mouse.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of Google making maps extremely easy to create and customize, I wanted to make my own My Map of ActiveRain Friends - to highlight the friends, associates and subscribers I've met through ActiveRain and give some link love to their AR blogs.

Here's it is:

View Larger Map

Thanks to the ActiveRain Community for making the site such a great place to hang out, learn, make friends and do business.

And if you need the help of a real estate professional, consider one of the fine people above!

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Who Spilled the Paint Too? ActiveRain Gets Even More Colorful

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:30:12 -0500

In my last post Who Spilled the Paint? - I highlighted some of the new custom blogs on ActiveRain. The site has become rather colorful lately, and I'm not talking salty language.

All this fun is due to Brad Carroll and his AR Custom Blog Builder.

The AR community has been busy using this new tool, and fresh blog designs are coming out fast and furious! I have a feeling this is going to become one of the most popular tools/features on the site once word spreads.

Here's the second round up of new designs:

The blogs featured above were customized by:

Kevin Tomlinson & Veena Grover
Leslie Prest & Steven Odierno
Dorene Shirley & Doug Garner
Kris Wales & Brad Andersohn
Jonathan Washburn & Jeff Turner
Maureen Henry & Gina Landis
Cindy Bryant & Alan Kirkpatrick

Special mention to Julie Neerings - she got a new background, and made my old screen shot obsolete. These customizers work fast!

Special Thanks to Brad Carroll for sharing this knowledge with the community, and then taking it to the next level by making the process automatic so everyone can have fun.

I've been spending all my time checking out all the new designs, so I guess it's time to get going on my new header image.

Got a new design on your blog? Post it in the comments.

HOT UPDATE! Get on the list while can!

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Who Spilled the Paint?

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:48:56 -0500

Change was in the air this weekend around the ActiveRain playground, and it had nothing to do with the hamsters going on strike.

If you subscribe to Brad Carroll, you may have done a double-take when you went to his blog this weekend. Or at least checked the URL to make sure you hadn't left ActiveRain. Brad found a way to give his blog a totally unique look, made some modifications, and then shared it with the community.

Fast forward a day from discovery, and Brad had turned this process automatic - check out The Active Rain Custom Blog Generator

The ActiveRain community moves fast, and the look and feel of the site and member blogs is changing before our eyes. Here are some of the early adopters:

What do you think of these new developments? Will you be changing the color scheme of your AR personal space?

From the comments so far, this seems to be a popular idea. What's your take?

UPDATE - Here's links to all the blogs featured above:

Brad Carroll - The Original... & Missy Caulk
Doug Newby & Nicole Nicolay
Bobby Carroll & Leesa Finley
Marti Garaughty & Lane Bailey
Kim Carpenter & Susan Milner
Julie Neerings & Don Rider
Teri Ellis & Cyndee Haydon

UPDATE 2 - See more custom designs in Who Spilled the Paint Too?

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Now Playing on YouTube: The ActiveRain Video Contest Playlist

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:36:02 -0500

The ActiveRain Video Contest closed with a flurry of activity yesterday... check out all the videos tagged ActiveRain video contest 2008 here.

YouTube was the most popular video player used by the entrants - though most of the sharing sites got in on the action including Vimeo, Veoh, and Brightcove. There were also a few WellcomeMat shows, a Flash video player, and few hosted on Mixpo.

Bonus points to Michael Pierce who posted his contest entry using Vimeo, but also added the same video on YouTube. That's the kind of efficiency I wrote about in Get Ready for Video with You Own Branded Channel. His video is also very creative, now it's playing two locations.

In the end, almost 80% used YouTube, and with some of the sharing features you can use on YT, I created a Playlist of all the contest entries. Check out the AR Contest Playlist on YouTube.

You've probably also noticed the giant orange YouTube Video Player below... it's hard to miss.

This is another sharing feature on YT. The ability to create your own custom video player, load it with the videos you want, and then share it on your blog, site, etc. I added all the videos to a Playlist (link right below the player) and then set the player to show only the Playlist.

This could also be used to separate your property listing videos, your testimonials, community shows... a different Playlist for each subject.

Unfortunately you can't load non-YouTube videos into your player... so to the other entrants that used other platforms, I did search :) If you add your video to YouTube too, send me a email and I'll add your video to the Playlist.

Congrats and good luck to all the entrants!

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Connect With Clients, Wherever They Are

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:00:37 -0500

Real Agent Blogs - Connect With Clients from Jason Todd, Real Agent Blogs on Vimeo.

My name is Jason Todd. I build personal, branded blogs for real estate agents to connect with their clients - wherever they are - from Alaska to Wyoming.

I also do community slideshows and videos. I hope you enjoy my entry in the ActiveRain Video Contest - I had a lot of fun making it!

- - - - - - - - - -

For those that are interested, here are the tools and resources I used to put the video together:

Royalty Free Video Clips: iStockvideo
Royalty Free Photos: Can Stock Photo
Royalty Free Music License: The Music Bakery

Segments edited in Windows Photostory 3
Arrangement in Windows Movie Maker

Promoted video hosted on Vimeo

Copies on YouTube and Veoh

Shared on Facebook and Flickr

Also showing on ActiveRain and Real Agent Blogs

Outside snacks are permitted.

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Vimeo Sets the Bar for Video Sharing

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:25:43 -0500

It must be Video Week on ActiveRain. A post about branding your online video channels... then a post about setting up your YouTube profile and one for customizing your YouTube channel design.

And tomorrow is the AR Video Contest deadline. And this post is about Vimeo, which is great for sharing your videos.

So if it's not Real Estate Video Week, maybe it should be? Any takers? First week of April to be Real Estate Video Week to kick of the Spring season?

Anyway, this is a post about Vimeo.

And when comparing Vimeo to YouTube - Vimeo wins hands down, from almost all perspectives that count for online video marketing.

YouTube has more recognition and sheer volume of content (which doesn't matter for our purposes) - and of course the Google search results that are starting to happen.

Everything else goes to Vimeo:

Most Importantly - the video quality is much better than YouTube

12 thumbnails to choose from, or upload your own image (yes!)
No more blurry, best of 3 bad choices

Second Most Important - Sharing Features

Resizable, customisable embeds
Puts YT embed to shame
One click distribution to Flickr, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, Digg, MySpace

Easier to sign up, easier to customize your page, albums and channels
Site is actually... beautiful? It's clean, fairly sparse, award winning design, and the text is huge and it just looks right

Coolest Log In Screen Around...

Vimeo has had to work harder because they're smaller, but they've come up with a better final product, and much better user/end user experience.

Give Vimeo a try and upload a video. If you've already got a video made, why not syndicate it to more than one site? And then to Flickr, and Facebook, and your blog...

Here's what their video embed looks like - 700 pixels wide!

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Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 2

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:44:08 -0500

In my last post - Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 1 - we went through the steps to setting up your new YouTube Directors Channel.

Now you're ready to start branding your channel.

Once you've logged into the site, click the Account link at the top of the page. You'll be taken to your account page where you'll be presented with lots of options.

The section we'll focus on will be Manage My Channel. The first item on the list is Channel Info.

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Channel Info:
Your URL has already been decided (username at sign up), but take note so you can tell people your custom YouTube address. You can also fill in a Title, channel Description, and set your Comment options. Be sure to click the Update Channel button, and the new details will be saved.

* all these options can easily be changed in the future, so don't sweat the decision as to whether or not to accept comments or not, or the bulletins feature, etc.

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Channel Design:
This section is a big one - lots of color options, radio buttons - it looks scary.

The first choice is to Select a Theme - which is basically the main colors. Choose your colors based on your own personal branding or your agency. If those aren't available, or are the wrong shades - don't worry, the advanced customization is below.

Next is Layout Properties. The options are on the left, and a preview window is on the right to view your changes as you make them.

Make your own decisions as to what you want to keep, but if you're looking to keep it simple and basic (good), I'd uncheck almost all of the options. Remove the contests, bulletins, video log box - all unnecessary and distracting.

I'd keep the Featured Video and the Videos Box - Grid. Maybe Subscribers.

Halfway down is Advanced Design Customization.

This is where you can really take the look of your channel up a notch. If the nine color options (from theme) aren't working working you, you can edit the background color, text and link colors, box properties and text colors. Use the color picker, or punch in your color codes for bonus branding points.

One of the great features is that you can add a background image to your channel. It's only partially great because the image needs to be hosted somewhere else... you can't upload your background. But if you've got an image online somewhere, plug in the URL and it will start showing up as your background image.

There's also an option to Repeat Background Image - and a Yes or No radio button.

BONUS -If you don't want your image to repeat, click the yes option??? Not a typo. It's reversed for some reason. Or I'm misinterpreting. But if you want the background image to appear just once, on the left of the screen, just say yes.

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Organize Videos:
If you chose the Video Box - Grid option in Channel Design, and if you have more than one video, this is where you can arrange your videos in the order you like. A particularly useful feature if you have lots of videos. Put your most important or featured ones at the top, rearrange the order whenever you like. The grid holds nine videos, if you've got more then the rest will be accessible through Videos link on your channel. You can always swap selections in and out of the grid once you've got a lot of content.

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Personal Information:
In this section, you can add in more personal information about yourself, your agency or your community. Much more than the general channel description.

The first option is your channel Profile Picture. You have two choices - use a thumbnail from one of your videos, or upload your own image. I've found the images end up a little choppy, so you may want to experiment with sizes. Or stick with a video thumbnail if it works.

There's more fields for you name, bio, occupation, interests... fill in what you're comfortable with. I usually stick to copies or modifications of my other web profiles. Good branding, and people aren't looking for that much info. Keep the full bios for your web site or blog.

Speaking of blogs... there is a place for your web or blog address - be sure to fill that in - free link!

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Performer Info:
You can fill in your "Director Details" here if you want, but I'd skip over this section. Redundant.

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Location Info:
All real estate is local. Location, location, location. This section explains itself.

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Advanced Options:
This is one of the Director bonuses - another chance to add an external URL, and a separate URL title. You deserve it, you're a Director.

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Channel URL:
This is the last option on the list, and is actually a non-option. It's more a reminder of what your custom URL is, because it's been decided with your username. Still good to know, and besides, you're probably sick of options at this point :)

Here's my custom URL: http://www.youtube.com/realagentblogs

Have some fun, and remember: it can always be changed later. There's no harm in experimenting.

Start broadcasting yourself!

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Get Ready for Video With Your Own Branded Channel

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:44:31 -0500

With the ActiveRain video contest just a few days away, there's bound to be quite a few more real estate themed videos floating around the internet just waiting to be viewed.

Besides posting your creation here on AR, what do you with this video now that's made?

Start distributing! You're multimedia now, it's time to grow your video audience.

Your web site or blog is a great place to start, but you still need to get your video there somehow. That's where the video sharing web sites come in. Vimeo and YouTube are my favorites. Both of these sites allow you to set up profiles, add hyperlinks, create personal branded channels and of course, upload your videos.

YouTube's great for watching UFO's in Haiti or amazing animal videos like the Battle at Kruger - but it can also be your own distribution network. Same with Vimeo. And I think that's where their power lies.

What's Your Strategy?

There's pros and cons to both sites mentioned, but the strategy I'm taking in the future is to utilize both for different reasons.

YouTube has the bigger audience, name recognition, and it's owned by Google which is now indexing videos into regular search results more and more. Vimeo is not as well known, but it does everything YT does, but a little better. It's more customizable, more elegant in general and the embed options are great - resizing, colors, text info .

In my next few posts, I'll go through the steps of setting up your own branded YouTube and Vimeo channels, and some tricks I've learned for using these sites effectively and efficiently.

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Video Tip: If your community has a great local music scene, why not highlight that fact by posting a video of a local band or musician on your blog?
Just make sure there's a local tie-in, and that the music is appropriate to your audience.

And without further adieu, here's a great band from my hometown of Halifax: Weighty Ghost by Wintersleep

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Customer Service, Media Monitoring, Twitter, Blogs - A Story With Everything

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:48:53 -0500

A recent post on the Advertising Age blog caught my eye: "Marketers Struggle to Get a Firm Grip on Social Media".

As a marketer and someone who helps others market themselves and their business, this piqued my interest. And who among us isn't overwhelemed (at least partially) by all the social networking choices and options.

The article is about a panelist discussion at the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference. The panel topic was Making Social Media & Marketing Work, and I found one paragraph/section particularly insightful, and several lessons that pretty much any business could learn from.

One of the panelists named David Armano talked about a marketing experience he had with Southwest Airlines on his way to the conference.

"It took me two touches on the kiosk to get my boarding pass on Southwest on my way here," he said.

It was a very basic interaction that didn't even include people. He interacted with a kiosk. It was quick and efficient, and in this case, a kiosk was obiously the right way to make him happy as a customer in that particular situation.

In fact, Mr. Armano was so happy with the quick service, that he broadcasted his feelings on Twitter. I don't know what he said in the message, but it was noticed by someone at Southwest Airlines.

Within three hours Southwest had responded back with a quick message -

"Glad to hear you a good experience."

Now that's personal marketing.

Several things have happened here, and in terms of marketing dollars, it hasn't cost Southwest a dime. Except for the kiosks, and I'd guess they're expensive - but this isn't a viral campaign dreamed up by an agency.

It's great customer service being promoted by someone without strings attached. So it's even more trusted. David Armano is happy (he was to begin with) and now he's a little happier from the personal response. And it was worthy enough of an experience that he went beyond his original Twitter message and it became part of a panel discussion. Which got reported in a blog.

Which got shared in this post.

And we don't even have Southwest in Canada so I have no stake other than I think it's a great story. It's got customer service, media monitoring, Twitter, blogs - everything.

The main lessons I've taken away:

1. Give your customers and clients a great service / product / experience, and they will tell others
2. Watch what's being said out there about you, your agency, industry - and learn from it, respond to it (good or bad) and become better because of it

Have a great weekend!

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Want to update your bio this weekend? Check out:

It's Time to get Personal: Part 1

It's Time to get Personal: Part 2

The Smart Way to Research a Smartphone

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:04:47 -0600

Cell phones are a communication and organization tool that most real estate professionals probably wouldn't (or couldn't) want to live without. The mobile world just wouldn't be so mobile without them.

But as these devices become more and more sophisticated -- they're smart phones now, ya' know - choosing the right model with the features you need or want can become a daunting challenge.

Wouldn't it be great if someone had already road tested a bunch of these phones, and compared them, and then shared the results in one convenient place?

Pierre Khawand of the The 81-day experiment blog has done just that - and he's turned it into a book.

On his introduction to the "The Smartphone Experiment", Khawand writes:

Call it insanity or naivety, but for 81 days, I have switched to a new smartphone every 9 days-from Treos, to BlackBerries, to Windows Mobile devices, and one of the Symbian devices. It sounds as if I was on a search for the perfect smartphone...
Actually, it was an experiment-an 81-day Experiment which included 9 devices for 9 days each. In a way, I was on a search for the perfect device. But let's face it, there is no such a thing as the perfect device for everyone. It all depends on what one's needs are. It actually goes beyond needs to involve style, personality, and maybe even self-image. So I was on a search for determining which devices are best for which needs and preferences.

If you're in the process of researching your next phone - or like to stay up on the latest smartphone offerings, give The 81-day experiment blog a test read.

It's packed with info on all the most popular models, case studies, and free online training modules for several phones - and even some MS Office programs.

Thanks to Everything TypePad for featuring and sharing this useful resource.

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Want more Smartphone related posts? Check out:

TypePad + Facebook + BlackBerry = Mobile Listings Network on Real Agent Blogs

Facebook and Microsoft and BlackBerries on Compelling Design

Flickr Calendr 2007 - A Year of Photos

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:17:00 -0600

365 days, 365 photographers.

Featuring this photo taken by Jeff Turner of Joel Burslem of the FoREM blog... Look for August 1st, but don't blink!

Music by His Boy Elroy.
Photos by the Flickr Community.
Arrangement by Compelling.

Full credits and attribution here.

Watch Flickr Calendr 2007 on YouTube
Visit the Compelling Design Channel

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For more on video sharing web sites YouTube and Vimeo, and setting up your own custom branded channel, check out these postson Real Agent Blogs:

Get Ready for Video With Your Own Branded Channel

Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 1

Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 2

Vimeo Sets the Bar for Video Sharing

Say Hi to the Search Engines

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:23:11 -0600

According to Wikipedia, there are a lot of search engines. I stopped counting at 100.

With all the search engines on the internet, you'd think the market share would be more fragmented than it actually is. But month after month, the top three search destinations are consistently Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft . In September, they combined for 91% of the searches according to comScore.

One of the easiest - and cheapest - ways to get your web site noticed by the search engines is to simply let them know you're online! This can easily be overlooked with all the online marketing opportunities that exist.

Here are the "Site Submission" pages for the top three search engines - All Are Free

Google: www.google.ca/addurl/?hl=en&continue=/addurl

Yahoo!: https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

Microsoft: http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

Bonus! Blogs & Feeds Submission

Use these links to submit Blog & Feed Updates...

Google Blog Submit: http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

Yahoo! Feed Submit: https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

Feedburner: http://www.feedburner.com/

Say Hi to the Search Engines!

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Agents Have an Audience - Blog Action Day

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:59:14 -0500

This post is dedicated to the environment - and Blog Action Day.

As real estate professionals, you're often in the public eye - meeting with clients, at open houses, recognized through your advertising or networking, etc.

These are great things for your business... so why not use this exposure to send an environmentally friendly message? I'm not suggesting you make a movie and go for a Nobel Peace Prize - you can be a bit more subtle and affect your own style of environmental awareness.

Here are some quick ideas that can benefit the environment while extending your brand...

1. Start an Office Recycling Program - if you haven't already, why not start now? A few blue or green bins, and a concious effort to recycle what you can is all that's needed to get going. It tells your clients that you care without actually saying anything.

2. Sponsor or Support a Beach / Park / Trail Clean Up - Imagine if you could leverage the people-power of all your co-workers, clients and friends to clean up something? It would probably get clean... Get some garbage bags, organize a carpool and attack a litter problem in your neighbourhood. Then reconvene for a BBQ in your office parking lot to celebrate your efforts. A difference has been made, and you're now associated with a great event.

3. Reduce Your Paper Output - The internet has made digital marketing a reality and necessity, but are any of us using less paper? The paperless society will only come when we actually run out of paper, so cutting back is good thing - environmentally and economically. How can you reduce? Easy. Make the decision to use less paper, and then do it. Replace it with more cost-effective digital marketing.

4. Join a Worthy Organization - Big, overwhelming problems won't get solved with one big solution. The environment, like health care, human rights, poverty... these will only get better with many small solutions, with many people working togther, working on many fronts. So join the fight in your community, and work on a small picture that improves the bigger picture.

5. Promote a Worthy Organization - After you've joined a worthy organization (see #4), start promoting that organization. It's win-win. As an agent, you've got marketing and advertising forums and platforms that most people don't have. You've got web sites and print ads, TV commercials and blogs - you've got an audience. Use it!

Ranking The Search Engines: March 2007

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:23:48 -0500

Extra! Extra! Google is still popular.

Nielson/NetRatings, a company that measures internet audiences (among other things), recently released its March 2007 U.S. Search Share Rankings. The top three engines were Google Search, Yahoo! Search and MSN/Windows Live Search, respectively.

See the press release here.

Google has dominated the rankings since Nielson/NetRatings started publishing monthly results in July 2006 - and by healthy margins. A quick scan of the last six months of results shows that Google has never dropped below 49.5% of total searches (November '06), reaching it's peak in February of this year with 55.8% of total searches.

Eating Google's dust is the perennial bridesmaid of search - Yahoo! - which has owned the #2 position going back several years. In the last six months, Yahoo! has remained steady, hovering in the low to mid 20% range for total search share, almost cracking the 25% barrier in November 2006.

At least Yahoo! can celebrate beating MSN/Windows Live Search on an equally regular basis. Even with last years roll-out of the the new Live platform, Microsoft has failed to make a dent the status quo for search. They have only recently broken the 10% threshold of total searches (March 07) would need to more than double their query requests to get out of the third place rut.

Here's the Top Ten for March 2007:
1. Google Search - 53.7%
2. Yahoo! Search - 21.8%
3. MSN/Windows Live Search - 10.1%
4. AOL Search - 5.8%
5. Ask.com Search - 1.8%
6. My Web Search - 1.0%
7. Comcast Search - 0.5%
8. BellSouth Search - 0.5%
9. EarthLink Search - 0.4%
10. My Way Search - 0.4%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, April 2007

Other Fast Facts:
- The top ten search engines had an estimated 6.8 billion queries in March 2007
- This is up from approximately 6.1 billion searches in February
- Google accounted for an estimated 3.8 billion of search queries in March
- The rest of the top ten had just over 3 billion queries combined in the same period
- Though Google's overall share dropped 2% from February, it's queries were up 200 million
- This increase alone is significantly higher than Ask.com (#5) had for total searches
- These stats mean absolutely nothing without compelling content on your web site

Submit Your Site to the Big 3
Make the sure the top three search engines know you're out there...
Submit to Google Search
Submit to Yahoo! Search
Submit to Live Search

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Creating Google Listing Maps: Part Two

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:58:58 -0500

A Unique, Customized Google Map is a Useful Tool Your Clients Will Love

In my last post - Creating Google Listing Maps: Part One - we barely scratched the surface with the new Google Maps feature called "My Maps". It's easy to get started (with a Google Account), and in this post I'll go through some of the steps for 'populating' your map with Placemarks, and content within those Placemarks. Content which can include photos, text, hyperlinks, even video.

Where Will You Map Today?
After you've come up with an accurate and descriptive search-engine-friendly "Title" and "Description", and tagged your map as "Public" or "Private", it's time to decide where your map will actually be. Most likely this will be your home town or service area, but it could also be very specific like a neighbourhood or sub-division.

After opening up Google Maps, position the map to the area you want to cover. Use the "Zoom In" and "Zoom Out" controls to position the map you see on the screen to the general perimeter. This isn't a defined setting, but the map will open at the largest view possible including all the Placemarks. This is something to keep in mind because if you have one Placemark far away from all the others, it will create a larger map. The image below illustrates this point.

Both screens below are shown as they opened up when the map loaded. The first map is at a much lower "elevation" but shows more detail of the actual area. In the second map, the fourth Placemark has greatly increased the "territory" shown.

Adding Placemarks
Once you've found exactly where you want add a Placemark, click on the blue Placemark icon, and "drop" it on your map at the desired location. A "Google window" will open and this is where you can edit your Placemark. There are three editable options: title, icon and description.

Title: This what will show up at the top of you Placemark, and also on the left side as the hyperlink to the location. This will identify the location and your viewers will use it for reference, so choose your words wisely. You may want to identify the specific location like "123 Smith Street", or use a descriptive term like "Four Bedroom on a Large Lot".

For this map I created for a client, I referenced the number of bedrooms for each listing and the local area/community. For some, I included additional info if it was relevant, like "investment property".

Title Bonus Tip: Google is now indexing "user-created" content. Like your map. At the bottom of search results, you may noticed a link that invites you to "search for user-created content". This is where your map will show up if you let Google know how to find it with descriptive language, relevant content etc. All the stuff Google likes anyway for its search results.

So what what's the Bonus Tip? Google will index your individual Placemarks, so choose your titles carefully. This is the same for the main title of your map.

Here's a link to a Google Map search for "Halifax Real Estate" in the "user-created" results.

There are 13 results - 11 are from my map, and the top two results were already there (before I created this map on April 6th). So... in less than two weeks Google has found my map, and it's returning results. These are for pretty exact search terms, but those are the words you want to show with around here.

Placemark Icon:
The default Placemark Icon is a blue balloonish shape. This can easily be changed by clicking on the icon and selecting an alternative from this provided. These can help to identify what's at the Placemark - a property, landmark, school, airport... it's a great way to make your map stand out.

Description: This where you can really make your map stand out and provide useful information. The window is defaulted to "plain text", and I guess plain is better than nothing. But why be plain when you can be rich-text?

Setting the panel to "rich-text" will provide options to dress up your text. They're very basic options - but less is more when it comes to text formatting anyway. You can also add in a hyperlinks and images. When adding an image, a pop-up window will ask for web address. Google Maps isn't hosting any images, so the photos you show must already be hosted somewhere online.

For example, if you're linking to a listing photo on your web site, put your cursor over the photo and right click on the image. Click on properties, and you'll see the URL of the image. Paste this into your map, and it will show up in the description.

In addition to plain text and rich text, you can also edit your Placemark with HTML. This option will be discussed in the next post, and would definitely be taking the customization up a notch. You don't necessarily have to know HTML either - I don't. With tools like Google Page Creator, or any WSIWYG HTML editor, you can really make your map a destination in itself.

A final tip - alway remember to SAVE your map - the button is top right in the My Map panel.

Next Post - HTML, Adding Video, Other Good Stuff

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For Additional Background Reading... check out these blog posts for additional info on Google's My Maps:
> Google Blog Announcement: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/map-making-so-easy-caveman-could-do-it.html
> Joel Burslem - future of real estate marketing - on Inman Blog: http://blog.inman.com/inmanblog/2007/04/social_mapping_.html
> Google Maps Mania Blog: http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-google-maps-feature-my-maps-build.html
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Creating Google Listing Maps: Part One

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:18:31 -0500

Customized, Branded Maps For Your Clients

It's been almost two weeks since Google announced the "My Maps" addition to Google Maps, and I've had a chance to create several of these custom maps on behalf of my clients. They're easy to make and you can learn on the fly.

This is a great tool for real estate agents to use and show your clients. Create a personalized map to show where your office is, identify current listings, or highlight community landmarks, schools and points of interest. You can also convert your map to a Google Earth file.

These new features are a great addition to Google Maps - the best mapping web site for the masses that I've found. Now with the ability to save and add information with placemarks, it's a much more comprehensive and useful product.

Because it's editable, you can create a map and continue to build upon it in the future.

For a real estate listings map, this is an essential feature. As listings get sold, delete the placemark. As new listings come on the market, add a new placemark.

Getting Started

To create a customized Map, you must have a Google Account. After you've logged in, go to Google Maps and you can access the My Maps feature by clicking on the right tab within the left side panel.

Click on "create a new map" link and you're ready to get started.

For the purposes of this post, I'll be referring to a map I created for a real estate client based in my home town of Halifax, NS. The map can be found here

The first step is to name your map with a "Title". I called this map "Halifax Real Estate" - primarily because I'd love for this to show up (for my client) on a Google search of the same term. This map will be used as an ongoing marketing tool, linked from several web sites, so the title is appropriate for traffic specifically directed to this map, and also if someone stumbles across it.

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The Real Estate Repairman

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:47:49 -0500

He is the new face of bored repairman everywhere - and yesterday he was marketing this condo.

Clay Jackson, a real estate agent with Prudential Slater James River was recently selected by Maytag to be the new face for their under worked repair division.

Chosen from hundreds of hopefuls, Jackson, a third generation Realtor had what Maytag was looking for - a symbol of dependability and reliability. The candidate also had to be "energetic, young-at-heart, outgoing, and trustworthy". Pretty much what home buyers are looking for in an agent.

Maytag ran an integrated marketing and advertising campaign to promote the contest to select the next spokesperson. Like real estate agents promoting themselves and their listings, Maytag used traditional advertising methods like print media and bus stop ads, as well as taking advantage of new media opportunities.

They have a really nice branded web site where you can watch audition tapes and Meet the New Guy. Maytag also created a YouTube Channel to promote the contest, and pumped in audition tapes, a great example of using what you've got on different platforms.

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agent beta is online

Jason Todd (Compelling Media + Design) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:05:06 -0500

Greetings to the Active Rain Community!

If you're a real estate agent, then marketing is already a big part of your life.

All day, every day, you're marketing; every meeting, every phone call, every email. And I'm not talking about logo branded templates.

Each time you connect and interact with the public is an opportunity. Make the most of it.

Welcome to agent beta: adventures in real estate marketing.