First rule of real estate management, don't ever discuss Floor Time in a sales meeting. If you have ever stepped into this mess you know it's true. So, at the risk of stepping into a pile of controversy... do you think a company blog can be virtual floor time?
I have started writing in my other blog about building a company blog - an endeavor we are well into at this point with an August launch. Never heard of a company blog? Let me explain. In kicking around Active Rain one day, I started to contemplate why not have a company blog? We have a great website which we are always tinkering with and have been researching SEO solutions and then it hit me... what if I could get a decent number of our 750 agents to participate on a company blog?
I poked around the internet and saw some nice company blogs - but they read more like a streaming press release. Many of them looked like they were being written by a staff person - only one voice. Then, there are some great blogs with the broker and 1 or 2 agents and some outside contributors - all great stuff, but not much on local content.
My idea was to build a blog that would allow every agent to post freely. Think of an Active Rain type site for your company. (AR Gods - remember imitation is the most sincere form of compliment). Our company is not massive but big enough that there should be more than enough contributors to keep the posting current and interesting. We already have some great bloggers in our midst with Maggie Dokic and Kevin Tomlinson and who knows how many more will emerge?
Since each post will feature that agent - any lead generated will go to the agent - so, in my mind, it becomes like virtual opportunity time. The more you post, the more leads you will get. The more leads you get, the better the word spreads and more content builds the site.
You might ask why would someone who already has a good blog post on the company site? To me, this is a fundamental example of how to stand on your company's marketing shoulders. Our site has a well established track record with google, any blogger can benefit from the traffic and content that the site generates - build readership faster and gain those coveted backlinks. It is a symbiotic relationship - you scratch the company's back and it will scratch yours. Just like floor time - the more signs that are out on the street, the more often the office phone will ring - and you will be getting all of the sign calls.
I began this journey by having all of our managers join Active Rain. I am now doing the same with my agents, one office at a time. So far, I can say about 15% of the people have joined and contributed - that is actually more than I would have thought. They are already storing posts on the new site for the August launch.
Active Rain is a great training tool for the blog. So many great posts to absorb in a relatively short time. Bet you never thought you might be training agents in Florida how to do virtual floor- but you have and they are going to be great.
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