Today I am going to be teaching a Social Networking class at my office, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove. If you are not a Keller Williams agent but would like to attend, please join us. We have great classes at our office and if you would like a monthly calendar of all of our classes send me an email to Lori@ModeandDurhaM.com.
Sorry for the long post, but there is just so much to cover for a beginning Social Networking class! As I have done before when I teach a class, here is an outline of what we will be covering today.
What is social networking? According to Wikipedia - A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, sexual relationships, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade.
Why use social networking? Through social networking, people can use networks of online friends and group memberships to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends or create real-life friendships through similar interests or groups. Besides establishing important social relationships, social networking members can share their interests with other like-minded members by joining groups and forums. Some networking can also help members find a job or establish business contacts.
Times change; markets change. With the changing times and markets come new ideas and business practices. Either we learn to adapt to these new ways or we are left behind. Your choice...
According to Top Ten Reviews at http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
The top 10 social networking sites are: Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, hi5, Orkut, PerfSpot, Yahoo!360, Zorpia, and Netlog.
For a list of social networking sites, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
Facebook is a social networking website for you to connect with your friends, including old friends that you may have lost touch with. According to Facebook, it gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
How does Facebook work?
When you register on Facebook, you will be asked where you work now and in the past, where you went to school - high school, college and post grad and where you live. This information will be compared with others and friends will be suggested to you.
When your "friends" add "friends", it will alert you that there is a connection in the event that you may know them too.
Facebook and MySpace are very popular with search engines, so you want to make sure your post information, pictures and videos in a way that is appropriate. Make sure to set the appropriate security controls on your profile.
On Facebook you can post photos, post videos, post links to your blog or other articles of interest, join groups, and post events.
How are you going to use Facebook?
This is an important question. Remember Facebook is about networking socially. You can create a separate page for your business. Facebook is a great way to help you build your sphere of influence.
•· Find those you went to high school and college with, along with those you used to work with.
•· Connect with other KW agents across the country.
•· Promote your blog - you can automatically post your blog posts to your profile via RSS
•· Promote your listings
•· Promote a client workshop
•· Promote an open house
•· Create community groups to showcase your expertise.
Ways to find out more about Facebook
Here are a few blogs written on ActiveRain about using Facebook:
How To: Adding Content to Facebook
How to Make Twitter and Facebook Relevant to your Business
So what is twitter?
Twitter is a microblogging application that is more or less a combination of instant messaging and blogging. twitter has quickly established itself as a powerful tool for communicating news, market trends, questions and answers, links, and a whole lot more with numerous benefits for business and personal use.
You can communicate with "followers" via 140 character messages.
The messages can contain links and even be disseminated via text messages. Twitter is public so Twitter users can follow you through the service.
Your home page on Twitter will display the updates from people you follow including news feeds . Who is using Twitter in business - celebrities - Ashton Kutcher, Brittney Spears, John Mayer; news media - Fox40, New York Times, USA Today, Sacramento Bee; travel - Carnival Cruise Lines, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines, and retailers - Amazon.com, Dell, Lowes, Home Depot.
How are you going to use Twitter?
•· Promote your listings -share a link to your HOT new listings (from Postlets you can automatically put your new listings on Twitter).
•· Promote the hot find you just ran across while you are out searching for properties - make sure you tell your buyers to follow you on Twitter to watch for these hot buys
•· Promote your blog posts (some blog platforms - ActiveRain, for instance, have a plug in for Twitter that alert your followers of your new blog post and along with the URL instantly.
•· Promote your open house
•· Promote your community events or fundraising events
•· Use TinyURL.com to convert a long URL to work on your tweets
Ways to find out more about Twitter
How to use Twitter properly: A follow up to my Twitter Blog
How To Use Twitter For Real Estate Lead Generation
TWITTER Tutorial 101 - VERY BASIC - Beginning of Twittering
Linkedin is a social networking service for professionals. You can connect with clients, colleagues, and friends. When you connect with someone you can then see their personal network. Their network becomes your extended network for you to make more connections through.
Make sure to set up your personal profile. This is done resume style. Also you can ask for recommendations from your past clients.
How are you going to use LinkedIn?
•· Set up or join local referral networks - do this with local professionals, attorney, CPA, property manager, home inspector, etc.
•· Promote your blog
•· Join a variety of groups and participate - join business related groups as well as hobby groups
•· Promote your business - you can do this through a slide show
•· Give and get recommendations from coworkers, clients, associates, etc. to help you show up on the newsfeed
Ways to find out more about LinkedIn
11 Ways to Effectively Use LinkedIn As A Realtor®
LinkedIn Recommendations Key to Building Trust - How To Get Recommended
You can create a channel for free on YouTube. Make sure to add your profile information. You can showcase all of your videos this way. From RealEstateShows.com you can upload your virtual tours as a video to your YouTube Channel. From the Flip Video Camera you can upload your videos directly to your YouTube Channel.
How are you going to use YouTube Channels?
•· Upload videos of your hot new listing
•· Upload videos for buyers of REO listings
•· Upload community videos
•· Promote your business
•· Upload videos of interviews with lenders, home inspectors, etc.
Mobile video can be accessed by blackberry software. Make sure to subscribe to the Keller Williams Realty channel.
Ways to find out more about YouTube Channels -
Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 1
Branding Your YouTube Channel: Part 2
Free & Easy Photo Tour! Post on YouTube IN less than 10 minutes
Plaxo 
Plaxo is an online address book that you can use to sync up with everything from your Outlook, and Google Calendar. You can share pictures, connect websites you use, and use your address book. It also has a calendar that syncs with Yahoo!, Gmail, and Outlook to make sure you don't forget what you're doing. Make sure you complete your profile.
Ways to find out more about Plaxo -
There are many more social networking sites - below are a few blogs written about other social networking sites you may want to check out.
Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs on Mashable - The Social Media Guide
Social Networking Overload - How to Manage 50 Social Networking Sites with 1-Click Using Ping.fm
Social Networking Groups on ActiveRain
Lori Mode & Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty, Elk Grove
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