Special offer

For $99 a Month, They Will Blog for You

By
Real Estate Agent with Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 0225085927

man with lightbulbI recently received a catalog in the mail advertising postcards, new home journals, business cards and other items designed for real estate agents. 

I skimmed through it and noticed a new program that provides social media services.

Yes!  For $199 a month (plus a one time set up fee of $299), they will set up a Facebook Fan Page and put up 10 Facebook posts per month PLUS set up a Twitter account and put out 25 tweets per month. 

Hmmmmm....

Or, if you prefer, they'll set up LinkedIn for $119 and for $99 per month, provide 4 status updates per month.

And, finally, with a one time set up fee for $119 and a $99 per month charge, they will set up a blog account for you and put up two blog posts per month.

Let's see, at approximately $50 per blog post, that means the 31 Days of May Challenge would run you $1,550 (not including the set up fee, of course). 

So, if you are struggling to make the May Challenge, just think how much your posts are worth - and that is not even counting the business that it may possibly generate.  What a bargain we are!

I don't know about you, but I kinda, sorta thought the purpose of social media was to attract people through our words, our thoughts, our ideas, our approach to business. Demonstrating our work ethic, our knowledge, our experience. Putting ourselves out there for people to see and hear so they get to know us a little bit and think, "Now that is the kind of agent I would like to hire!" 

Besides, do you think a company providing blog posts is going to write a different post for every client?  Nope, me neither. 

 

 

Mike Cooper, Broker VA,WV
Cornerstone Business Group Inc - Winchester, VA
Your Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Pro

Wow!  I thought the idea behind a blog was to introduce good material through your eyes.  How can a robotron know how you think, write and relate information?  It does look like a good gig if you're selling it though!!

May 15, 2011 04:37 AM
Kim Brown
Keller Williams Realty - Keene, NH
Keene, NH - New England at its Best!

Oh my, Susan...I enjoy your posts too much.  Resist the urge, busy lady! ;)

And to take Jay's (#24) thought a bit further...perhaps we should put our heads together and compile a Cliff Notes for Relevant Blog Topics, Timely Tweets and FB Status Updates.  It could be a sequel to the ever-popular edition of the Cliff Notes for AR Commenting:

"Great post...Thanks for Sharing!"  That's Social Media genius, I tell you.  Really keeps the conversation rolling, and nobody would ever guess it was "written" by someone else!

**p.s.  love that pretty little gold star!**

May 15, 2011 04:38 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

The sad thing is they will probably find a ton of agents who think this is the best thing ever since sliced bread. Sales people are such suckers. Easiest crowd to sell and market to. Of course I'm preaching to the choir on Active Rain because the bunch who post here are smarter than your average bear and wouldn't fall for something so stupid.

May 15, 2011 04:41 AM
Karen Fiddler, Broker/Owner
Karen Parsons-Fiddler, Broker 949-510-2395 - Mission Viejo, CA
Orange County & Lake Arrowhead, CA (949)510-2395

I think I'm in the wrong business....I'm switching to blog writing and tweeting. Easy cash

May 15, 2011 05:01 AM
Barbara Altieri
Better Homes and Gardens RE Shore and Country Properties - Shelton, CT
REALTOR-Fairfield County CT Homes/Condos For Sale

Susan -- I have heard of bloggers who don't do the blogging themselves. They farm it out to college students or others to do.  I don't understand that because what is going out there is not your own,  which is what readers expect or believe to be the case.  I have seen the canned blogs around on different forums.  Maybe they were copied? or likely they were all purchased from the same source.  

May 15, 2011 05:08 AM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Susan - I can see some of the benefits in this, but I'm not sure a company would work for me. It would probably need to be someone that I hired one on one.

May 15, 2011 05:55 AM
Robert L. Brown
www.mrbrownsellsgr.com - Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids Real Estate Bellabay Realty, West Mic

There's money to be made everyday of the week. I think i will pass on this offer

May 15, 2011 06:25 AM
John M. Scott
BRE # 01442690, Scott Keys Properties - San Francisco, CA
Broker / Owner San Francisco Bay Area

Susan I saw that one too and couldn't believe it! The Century 21 system has automated emails and newsletters that I often use, and they all have valid information in them. But in this business you also have to get personal - I like clients and Realtors I work with to understand the 'me' behind it all.

May 15, 2011 07:19 AM
Ruthmarie Hicks
Keller Williams NY Realty - 120 Bloomingdale Road #101, White Plains NY 10605 - White Plains, NY

Maybe I should go into a new field - writing copy for people.  I have a feeling for that price the content would HAVE to be original.  I know there are mills that do it for about $2 a post.   But that content has been duplicated up the wazoo. So for search engine purposes it could pose more problems than anything else.

This might work for people running bricks and mortar stores where they have the burden of keeping up a store front and being onsite to take care of customers many hours of the day.  For real estate though ....I don't think so.

May 15, 2011 08:50 AM
Adam Mallory
eBroker Real Estate 619-566-ADAM - San Diego, CA
Broker, ABR, e-Pro

Those are some pricey words! Besides, having someone else write for you completely defeats the purpose of a blog.

May 15, 2011 09:13 AM
Shawn King
CBCMA / CBC Mortgage Agency - Los Angeles, CA
Chenoa Fund--Get Signed Up.

There are so many bloggers who don't think they have anything of value to say; perhaps this service would be appealing to them.  Not sure.

May 15, 2011 09:49 AM
Tni LeBlanc, Realtor®, J.D.
Mint Properties, Lic. #01871795 - Santa Maria, CA
Tenacious Tni (805) 878-9879

Susan, 

I'm in the wrong business.  I can start writing post instead of doing BPOs!  LOL.  

I knew it would come to this.  It is a tempting option because blogging, facebooking and tweeting can be time consuming.  But, I don't think it will do as much good because you are just getting generic leads instead of leads based on who you are.  I much prefer those.

Tni 

May 15, 2011 10:16 AM
Angie Boyd
San Rafael, CA

I know this won't be a popular opinion here, but most large corporations have social media consultants that write content for them and manage their networks. If it's done well, it can be well worth it. Usually, these consultants have access to trend tracking software which allows them to post updates that are immediately relevant to the vast majority of your followers. If they are accomplishing all of this for $100 a month, it's probably a great deal. 

May 15, 2011 10:56 AM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Lisa and Robert:  It never ceases to amaze me!

Barbara:  Good question!  Somehow, I think the lack of personality would probably be apparent.

Erica:  Agreed!

Mike:  Exactly!

Kim:  LOL...oh, on some days, it would be tempting, wouldn't it?  LOL

Elizabeth:  Oh, I think you may be surprised, but, in general, the A/R'rs I know would not do it.

Karen:  There you go!  Just imagine "Active Rain superstar available to write your blogs - $1 a word."  You would have a long line of folks waiting for you, I am sure.

Barbara:  And they do sound canned, too, don't they?

Christine:  One on one would definitely be a different product.

May 15, 2011 12:25 PM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Robert:  Yeah, me, too.

John:  Bingo - I feel the exact same way.

Ruthmarie:  Agreed. I just don't see it having the personality of the so-called poster!

Adam:  I think so, too.

Shawn:  I imagine there are plenty of people out there who would subscribe to the service.

Tni:  Exactly!  I want the calls and emails that begin with "I feel as if I know you!"

Angie:  For companies, I see it, but for individual entrepreneurs in what can very much be a personality based business, I just am missing the point of the conversation if it's one sided.

May 15, 2011 12:31 PM
Emily Medvec
eXp Realty LLC - Santa Fe, NM
Broker | Realtor | Serving Santa Fe & Northern NM

I think Abe Lincoln would say if he was blogging today.... "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

 

May 15, 2011 02:42 PM
Mike Mayer
Mike Mayer, Broker/Owner - i List For Less Realty, LLC - Lafayette, LA

I'm always amused by those '1-time setup' fees. Interesting that firms never bother to explain what goes into those fees.

May 15, 2011 06:45 PM
Eric Michael
Remerica Integrity, Realtors®, Northville, MI - Livonia, MI
Metro Detroit Real Estate Professional 734.564.1519

Im' sure what they're offering is a "great deal", but we need to do this ouselves. I missed the May challenge by 1 minute tonight. I couldn't get it to post. Oh well. Challenge points or not, I'm gonna keep blogging.

May 15, 2011 06:48 PM
Raine Carraway (Michelle Carraway)
EXP Realty - Lenoir, NC

What most of these companies do is outsource the blog content to yet another company, where the writers are paid 1-2 cent per word. It would be a good way to make money, but you get what you pay for as far as quality.

Not to knock freelancers, because I do some freelance writing myself, but chances are a paid writer in some other part of the country who does not and most likely never has worked in real estate is going to come across as pretty clueless when trying to wroite a blog for an agent serving a local market.

May 15, 2011 07:48 PM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Emily:  You hit it on the head!

Mike:  ROFL...me, too.

Eric:  Oh, no!  Maybe you can appeal? 

Raine:  I think you are absolutely right about that.

May 16, 2011 12:46 PM