New vs. Old Twitter – How to Search and Save Searches

Sometimes you might have a need to do a search and find all tweets related to a certain term. Perhaps you heard about a new product related to your niche (area of expertise) and you want to see what’s being said on twitter. No problem!

Old Twitter:

In the old version of Twitter, the search box is on the right side of the screen. Enter your search terms and click on the magnifying glass.

On the search results page, Click on “Save This Search” to keep a record of your search.

Your saved searches will appear in the right menu whenever you want to view them as shown below:

New Twitter:

In the new version, the search box is at the top of the screen to the right of the Twitter logo. Enter your search terms then click on the magnifying glass to search and click your mouse.

On the search results page, you can click “Save this Search” Just like in the old version, you can click on “Save this Search” to save your search for future use. However, as you can see, the button to “Save this search” is larger than in the old version.


Then your saved searches will appear in your top menu anytime you want to access them. For example:

Twitter is known for being a great source for news so if you hear of something going on in the world, do a search and you will most likely find some tweets about it.

Twitter is also a great tool for doing research. Thinking of writing an ebook on “weight loss for women”? Search Twitter periodically to find out what people are saying about your topic and what questions they are asking.

 

Knowing Your Social Media ROI

Do you know what your Social Media ROI is? Most people don’t, but we can help you track it. Our monthly Social Media Metrics package can help you determine what works, where to spend, what to dump and how to move forward.

Here is a clip of Gary Vaynerchuk talking about how it’s all going to be based on your Social Graph:

Social Media Marketing Rap!!

Facebook Marketing Giveaway Report

Facebook Marketing Secrets - April Sullivan

2010 Top 10 Most Searched Real Estate Markets Released by Realtor.com

From Realtor.com

Sunshine states searched most by consumers interested in real estate

CAMPBELL, CA (January 11, 2011) – While many real estate markets in 2010 experienced extraordinary highs and lows in response to tax credits, low interest rates and price swings, consumer interest in real estate remained consistent. Las Vegas and Los Angeles came in as the first and second most searched markets every month in 2010, while Orlando, San Antonio and Miami vied as the third, fourth and fifth most searched cities respectively. Phoenix, San Diego, Austin, Chicago and Tampa held the sixth through 10th positions respectively as the most searched markets in 2010.

The top 10 most searched real estate markets in 2010 were established based on the number of visitors that viewed properties in each Metro Service Area (MSA) in the United States from January 2010 to December 2010 on Realtor.com, the No. 1 homes for sale web site operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ:MOVE), the leader in online real estate. Realtor.com was the No. 1 most visited real estate web site in 2010 in the online real estate web site category.

In early 2010, home sales and prices rose throughout the country faster than they had for several years. This was largely in response to the Federal home buyer tax credit for first-time and repeat buyers. After the Federal home buyer tax credit expired at the end of April 2010, sales dipped throughout the country in summer and fall 2010 — even though mortgage rates remained low and dropped below 4 percent in the fall. List prices continued to fluctuate in response to sales and foreclosures trends throughout 2010.

Despite changing market conditions in 2010, the nation’s top search destinations remained remarkably stable and focused on the sunshine states of California, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Arizona.

“Online search is a critical measure of interest in real estate, especially now that more than 90 percent of buyers search for their homes online ,” said Realtor.com President, Errol Samuelson. “As the number one homes for sale web site, searches on Realtor.com show us where the highest potential for activity is across the country. Changing conditions throughout 2010 in the sunshine states resulting from foreclosures, the tax credit, interest rates and other factors created more interest in real estate compared to other states that we hope leads to increased activity and sales in 2011.”

The top 10 most searched real estate markets in the United States in 2010 each month were:

Rank Jan Feb Mar Apr May June
1 Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas
2 Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles
3 Orlando Orlando San Antonio San Antonio Orlando San Antonio
4 San Antonio San Antonio Orlando Orlando San Antonio Orlando
5 Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix Miami Miami
6 Miami Miami Miami Paradise Valley Phoenix San Diego
7 San Diego San Diego Chicago Miami San Diego Phoenix
8 Tampa Tampa San Diego San Diego Austin Austin
9 Chicago Chicago Tampa Chicago Chicago Fort Worth
10 Fort Worth Fort Worth Fort Worth Fort Worth Beverly Hills Chicago
Rank Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1 Los Angeles Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Los Angeles Las Vegas
2 Las Vegas Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles Las Vegas Los Angeles
3 Miami Orlando Orlando Miami Orlando Orlando
4 San Antonio Miami San Antonio Austin San Antonio Phoenix
5 Orlando San Antonio Miami Beverly Hills Miami San Antonio
6 Phoenix Austin Phoenix Orlando Phoenix Miami
7 Atlanta Phoenix Beverly Hills San Antonio Atlanta Tampa
8 San Diego San Diego San Diego Phoenix Tamp Atlanta
9 Austin Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago San Diego
10 Chicago Tamp Henderson Henderson Austin Austin

Each month, Realtor.com displays for sale and for rent properties fed to it from more than 933 multiple listing services (MLSs) across the country. Properties listed on Realtor.com include single family homes, condos, townhomes, co-ops, mobile and manufactured homes, multi-family homes, farms and undeveloped land. Approximately 75 percent of all property listings on Realtor.com are updated every 15 minutes to provide consumers with the most up to date information on price changes, property status changes, sold price information and more. The remaining properties updated every six to 24 hours.

ABOUT MOVE, INC.

Move, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOVE) is the leader in online real estate with 11.6  million monthly visitors to its online network of web sites. Move, Inc. operates: Move.com, a leading destination for information on new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden and home finance; Realtor.com(R), the official web site of the National Association of Realtors(R); Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet; Top Producer Systems, and ListHub. Move, Inc. is based in Campbell, California.

ABOUT REALTOR.COM®

Realtor.com®, where the world shops for real estate online, is operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ:MOVE) and is the official web site of the National Association of Realtors®. Ranked as the  No. 1 homes-for-sale site, Realtor.com® currently offers potential home buyers access to over four million property listings, as well as the most brokers and agents. It also provides Realtors® and the home sellers they represent with the Internet’s largest real estate marketplace, reaching more than 9.984 million consumers in October 2010. Agents and companies have the power to customize Realtor.com® resources to maximize their brand and productivity.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management’s view of Move’s future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the results of Move, its subsidiaries, divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents Move files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Move’s future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Move cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, Move expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Contact: Julie Reynolds Move, Inc., 818.264.5594 / Julie.reynolds@move.com

Danielle Ferris, AccessPR, 415.904.7070 / move@accesspr.com

How to Use Facebook – 12 Tech Savvy Agent Tips

Tech Savvy Agent has been an amazing resource for me over the past year, and I’ve introduced many of my clients to them as well.  They always share the best of the best when it comes to real estate “stuff”.

Today they posted 12 ways to use facebook properly as an agent.  I’m going to go through each of these to make sure that I’m not missing any thing myself!

Facebook.  It’s a whole world of it’s own, isn’t it?!  I could honestly spend 4 hours a day working on articles and videos on how to make the most of it within your Real Estate business!  But alas, I do actually do other things than just post a blog or two on our site…   :O)

It’s always a good idea to take a look back and make sure that the items we have covered up until now have been put into practice – so with that said, here are 10 posts that you may have actually missed that you should really dive into before you start reading our next 10 articles we write!  Chances are, we won’t be writing about the same things again for quite some time!

1.   How to Add Contact Forms in Real Estate Facebook Fan Pages

2.   ROI and Real Estate Facebook Fan Pages

3.  Top 3 Facebook Apps for Real Estate Business Pages

4.   HOW TO: Create a Facebook List Real Estate Edition

5.   The Purpose Driven Strategy Test – Facebook Lead Generation

6.   Advanced Facebook for Real Estate Agents Webinar

7.   Top 3 Tips on How To Get More Fans on your Facebook Fan Page

8.    Why Is Adidas Doing That?

9.   How To Add the Facebook Like Box to your Blog

10.   How To:  Be Notified When Someone Posts on your Facebook Page

11.   Facebook Business Page Auto Notifications

12.  Facebook Messages Review

Here’s to another year of outstanding implementation and superb results from the business use of Facebook (and beyond)!

Adding Real Estate Search to Your Facebook Page

This was originally posted by Ross Hair and is titled The Cheap & Easy Way to Add Real Estate Search to Your Fan Page. I didn’t want to copy.  I learned a lot from Ross, as usual, durring SMMCamp last week.  A lot of it can be viewed on my Facebook Page.

Here’s the cheap and easy way to add real estate search to your Facebook Fan Page – and you don’t need to hire a developer.

This technique needs zero technical skills. It’s not quite as good as a full blown real estate search box application but it works almost as well and it has the advantage of getting the visitor to your website and not a general listing site.

I created a short report to give you a step-by-step guide - download the report here! (Please post a comment below if you like the report)

First let me tell you that there are a number of good search apps that you can use to show listings on your Facebook Fan page. Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Roost, Altos Research and a number of other large listing sites all have a Facebook app. The problem is that they take your visitor to their site and then poach your business by showing advertising from your competitors. Read more..

7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Boost a Real Estate Agent’s Business

I Need a Virtual Assistant!We post it on our blogs, we tweet about it on Twitter, we write about it on our Facebook walls – all the ways that a Real Estate Virtual Assistant can help a Realtor® boost their business.   (Update:  You should also read my post titled Partnering with a VA to Grow Your Real Estate Business.

Here are my top 7:

  1. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant can help an agent appear to be more efficient. Yes, I said “appear”.  I know you’re already efficient, and most likely effective as well, but when you’re busy you can’t be in more than one place at a time.  A VA can help give your clients the illusion that you can do it all.
  2. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant can help you become more consistent. A good VA puts new systems into place in order to get all of your work done.  A great VA will also teach you these systems (if you’re willing to learn) and show you how to implement them.
  3. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant will show you what other agents are doing. We’re surrounded by different agents and VA’s all day long.  We know what other people are doing, what works for them and what has failed miserably.  We also take a look at your individual market to determine which programs will work best for you and your clientele.
  4. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant will help you keep in touch with your contacts and SOI. That being said, we can lead the proverbial horse to water but we can’t make the damn thing drink.  There WILL be work on your part to get this done properly (your voice) and consistently.
  5. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant will help to keep you relevant in this ever-changing online world. Blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, LinkedInning, Active Raining, webinaring, Googling, whatever, it’s important that you stay on top of it all.  Why?  Because home buyers and sellers are online A LOT and they want to learn something.  And they want to learn it from someone as tech savvy as they are.  Maybe that’s not you, but it’s a VA’s job to be on top of the latest trends and pushing gently guiding you toward them.
  6. A Real Estate Virtual Assistant does not require training. Period.  The end.  If you hire a VA that doesn’t already come with an entire tool box and tricks up their sleeve, move on.  They haven’t been around long enough to help in the way that a great VA should, and they shouldn’t be charging very much either.  That being said, if you’re using some outlandish program or are doing something new, then yes, expect to need to teach your VA how you are using it.  But most VA’s “get” programs very quickly, and are often the go-to person when someone has a question.
  7. Virtual Assistant’s (not just Real Estate VA’s) are generally lifelong learners and will enjoy teaching you what they know. My work is my absolute passion, and {when I have the time} I absolutely enjoy teaching my craft to my clients.  I learn from attending seminars, other VA’s, other agents, and just from life in general.  I am constantly looking at new and innovative ways to do things and love to pass on this information to others.

How To Auto Post Real Estate Listings To Your Facebook Business Page

I have for you today, step by step instructions on placing the “See My Listings” tab from Realtor.com on to your Facebook business page.

The tutorial is fairly simple, but if you just don’t have the time it takes to take care of it yourself, my chicks and I are happy to help!  Just fill out this Online Facebook Listing App order form and consider it done!

The finished product will look like this:

Step 1:  Go to http://apps.facebook.com/SeeMyListings

Step 2:  I’m going to assume that you already have a Business Page.  Click “configure” on the one you’d like your listings to show up on

Step 3:  Select your MLS, add your MLS ID and click “Add”.  If you are a member of more than one board, repeat these steps until you’ve added all boards.

Step 4:  Fill in your information and then click “Save and Configure Another Page”

Step 5:  Check it out!  If you see this page with the green check mark, you’ve done it correctly!  Go ahead and click on the name of your business page to view your listings.  If you’re still confused about how to create a
business page, click the bottom link.

Step 6:  Once you click the link to your business page, you’ll need to configure that properly as well.  Click “Edit Page” under the main picture.

Step 7:   In the tabs area, click on the double arrow tab so that it opens up and shows you the new “See My Listings” tab.  Click and hold it to drag it over just to the right of the “Info” tab.

{I’m sorry, I don’t have a picture for this right now.  When I tried to drag it, the tabs created 3 separate lines of tabs.  I have a feeling this is because Facebook has been changing tabs lately. }

Here is a picture of another completed Facebook Business Page that we did, with the tab in the correct place:

If you just don’t have the time it takes to take care of it yourself, my chicks and I are happy to help!  Just fill out this Online Facebook Listing App order form and consider it done!

My {Short} Review of RockMelt

From my Facebook business page

I finally got a chance to use the new browser RockMelt for a little while. First thoughts:

1) It’s cool if you don’t have work to do and you WANT to be distracted
2) It never properly imported my bookmarks
3) I couldn’t add an attachment in Gmail
4) It looks like Facebook tried to remake Chrome

I’m sticking with Chrome for now. I’ll mess with it a bit more to see if I can find actual benefits for Realtors to use.