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Trulia, One of Three Most Important Real Estate Social Network Sites

Recently, I asked Frances Flynn Thorsen and Rudy Bachraty, both Trulia community evangelists, to weigh in on the benefits of using Trulia and, more especially, Trulia Voices. Here's what they had to say.

Frances Flynn Thorsen Frances...

Traffic - 5 milliion monthly uniques

Demographics - 70% of the home buyers who visit Trulia plan to buy a home in the next 12 months and 70% of those buyers are not yet working with a real estate professional. 32% of the homeowners at Trulia plan to list their properties in the next 12 months. (This part makes it a no-brainer.)

Suite of Social Media Tools - Robust profile page links to listings, FREE, easy-to-use blog (lots of built-in SEO), Trulia Voices Question-and-Answer platform, mobile applications, including popular iPhone app. Full-tme, handsomest Social Media Guru in the RE Net

Trulia Pro - Low-cost advertising opportunity gives listings featured placement in search results and offers geo-coded spotlight ads.

Community - 430,000 ... 50% consumer/50% real estate pro. Full-time Community Manager with editorial expertise ... new microsite "Surviving the Housing Crisis" http://trulia.com/voices/marketcrisis

Rudy Bachraty

In addition to what Fran said, Rudy added...

Trulia Voices: Our online community has active home buyers and sellers asking questions on Trulia Voices. We get approx 1,000 questions per day. Real estate agents have an opportunity to directly engage these consumers.

Trulia Profile: A completely filled out Trulia profile gives consumers who find you on our site a snapshot of who you are. All your questions, answers and blog posts are on display here giving consumers an insight into how you think. If they like what they see, they may call or email you.

Brand Your Listings: Add your photo and contact info on all of your listings. for free, receiveemails from active home buyers & sellers sent directly to you, get stats for sellers by showing how many people are visiting their listings every week and you can add your open houses too......

Trulia Pro: Featured Listings – Get approx 4x more page views Spotlight Ads - Target 20 Local Markets by Geography – Zip Code, Community or City and State Stats – Know which ads in which Geography work best Get more exposure for yourself, your clients listings and your brand!

Trulia Mobile: All your listings appear on mobile devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, blackjack and more. Iphone is gps enabled so it automagically finds open houses within a radius of where your standing. All agent contact info appears on the listing on your mobile device and you can get step by step driving directions. Many agents are showcasing their presence on Trulia to potential clients during their listing presentations and are getting clients because of it.

My thanks to Fran and Rudy for their thoughts on the advantages of using Trulia. In the next post, Drew Meyers will tout the benefits of using Zillow..

Posted by Paul Chaney on 10/27/2008 06:07 AM

Comments (20)

Social Media in the Online Marketing Channel

trulia, frances flynn thorsen, rudy bachraty, social networks, social networking

Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies
Post is included in group: Social Media Marketing
Post is included in group: Technology
Post is included in group: WEB 2.0 Marketing on Steroids for Real Estate

20 Comments on Trulia, One of Three Most Important Real Estate Social Network Sites

OCT

2008

Paul: Let me get this straight. You have asked "Trulia Evangelists" about the advantages of using Trulia... and they gave you a long list of the fabulous advantages of Trulia. What a surprise, huh ?

Paul - I will have to do more on Trulia. I know Frances recently joined the organization and I know she is highly respected in the real industry especially in the online marketing area.

Paul, I have "claimed" all my listings on Trulia. I also send buyers there. Trulia has respect for Realtors and what we do, can't say the same about r dot com. As you mentioned in the post you twittered about netscape, the old is sitting there and the new is passing them by. That was a great tweet by the way.

Paul, I have been on Trulia and AR and I will admit that Trulia does get more of our consumers coming on to the website to ask questions. I have gotten more though personally from AR in form of referrals, and tips on everything from SEO, to websites, REO's and anything else. In other words I spend much more time here they I do there.

Interesting. I have the same feeling as well but I donot have any hard data. Now I do.

I use Trulia and got a new listing last month because someone found me there. I have a blog on there, answer consumer questions and post and claim my listings. They actually quoted me in one of their stories recently. I'm a big believer in getting my listings the most exposure I can, it also gives me more exposure. Yes, it's time consuming, but all of this is part of my marketing plan. It works!

Paul,

Great update regarding Trulia - we post some blog entries there from time to time and have answered a good deal of questions. The site is quite user friendly - we have received a couple of leads from Trulia each quarter it seems like.

Paul - I have claimed my listings on Trulia but had no idea there was that much more to it. It's going on the "to do" list for this afternoon!

Paul,

Unfortunately they don't take Canadian registrations.....otherwise I would join as I think they're an excellent site to network and market on.

Paul - well I certainly need to do more with Trulia than I have, like updating my profile. I have found in my local area, though, that there have not been many quiestions being asked by consumers, or perhaps I have just not be paying close enough attention.

Jeff

Thanks for the interview opportunity Paul!

@Jennifer - Wonderful. If you ever have any questions, I'm here for you.

@Missy - Thanks for being such a valuable member of the the Trulia Voices community.

@Larry - It's good to see that both AR and Trulia are providing you with results.

@Jen - Fantastic! I'd love to follow up with about the listing you received from someone who found you on Trulia.

@Christopher and Stephanie - Awesome! Good to see you are connecting with consumers on Trulia. I'd love to follow up with you guys too.

@Connie - Good job on claiming your listings. If you ever have any questions, please let me know.

@Jo-Anne - :( We often get this request. I'll keep you posted........

Rudy

Social Media Guru at Trulia

I didn't know Truilia automatically goes mobile. That alone would be a powerful reason to get your listings fully represented there.

I am personally grateful to the folks at Trulia for providing some really valuable tools for people in the trenches, but I especially appreciate their investment in our industry. Through their consistent participation in events like REBarCamp, they demonstrate a commitment that goes beyond simply offering their products/services. They give back to our industry. Thanks Rudy and Frances!

Thank you Rich!

Right back at ya. You are a true gentlemen. Over the years, many of us have grown together and learned from each other in the online real estate space. It's an absolute pleasure for us to give back to the industry we love.

Rudy

Rich, The feelings are very mutual!! ActiveRain has done a remarkable job engaging people who issue such caring and loyalty! Houston RE BarCamp was a shining example of the reason "collaboration" works better than "competition." What a wonderful chemistry!!!

Karen, I was a Trulia Evangelist loooong before I joined Trulia. Anyone who has ever attended one of my presentations or been a member of my group blog coaching program knows that I have been singing Trulia's praises for a long time. Finding a professional match at Trulia was a very natural process. Rudy has a similar background. We are not evangelists because we work for Trulia, we work for Trulia because our evangelism leaves us no other choice!

@Karen Anne - Yes, in fact, I did. I know both Rudy and Fran personally and trust them to not speak in a hyperbolous fashion.

Thanks everyone for your comments. It's just one of the many reasons I love AR.

OCT

2008

Hello Paul.

I started participating recently on Trulia's Q&A voices and blogging there as well. I have found it to be very educating as well as a great place to connect with comsumers. In fact, I have connected more with consumers in the past month there than AR. Not sure what that means. Thanks for the post.

OCT

2008

Paul - Have used Trulia before successfully; thanks for taking time to do the interview.

NOV

2008

A lot of times we get "comfortable" with the media we are using and forget to look outside the box. Trulia, as I am finding, is another great way to demonstrate our knowledge and engage potential clients. Thanks for the reminder.

NOV

2008

Thanks for your comment everyone. The best part of blogging at AR is not getting to write what I think, but listening to what you have to say in response. Very often the conversation takes on a life of its own. What great fun to be a participant here.

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