Mathias Bergendahl's Marketing Blog

We are only days away from a new year and I thought I’d take this opportunity to ask you a question as I’m planning ahead for what I’ll cover on this blog next year: what would you like to see covered here at my marketing blog?

I want to make sure each article I write is relevant to your business. My hope is to provide actionable tips for how you can increase exposure in the community you serve and grow your business through creative marketing strategies and tactics.

I am always open to suggestions for topics you’d like to know more about. Is there an area of marketing you’d like to have explored? Do you have a case study you’d like to share with readers of this blog? Have you implemented something already covered here and would like to share the outcome?

Please help me make this blog a useful tool for you.

Happy Holidays!

Mathias

I’ve been invited to speak at the annual installation of the Women’s Council of Realtors^®, Pinellas County chapter, tomorrow Wednesday. As I prepared my presentation I created a list of twenty steps Realtors^® can take to get started with social media marketing. I thought I’d share it here at my blog as well.

1. Write a description about your process and how it benefits consumers, and include your bio.

Consumers have expectations and they want to get a sense of what the experience of working with you will be like. I suggest you write a description that describes your process when working with buyers and sellers, outlines your particular service model, and briefly highlights your bio as it relates to the needs of the consumers you want to work with – in that order. Once you’ve completed the text you should use it in all the social media profiles you sign up for in order to give a consistent message no matter where consumers first find you.

 2. Set up a blog at wordpress.com.

The value of providing insight and sharing your knowledge on a blog has been covered extensively at this blog. There are a few options available as to the choice of blog platform and two determining factors on which to choose should be price and simplicity. WordPress.com offers a free platform and with easy to use templates that don’t require knowledge of HTML programming your blog will be ready in a matter of minutes.

3. Sign up for profiles at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Sign up for free accounts at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Set up a profile that you’ll only use for business contacts for Facebook. If you already have a Facebook account with a mix of business and personal contacts, click here to read my recent article How to Avoid Mixing Business and Pleasure on Facebook.

4. Use the same username/vanity name for every profile.

Make it easy to sign in to the various platforms you’re on. And, make it easy to share the web addresses to the social media profiles you have. Both Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to have a vanity URL, such as www.facebook.com/mbergendahl and www.linkedin.com/in/mbergendahl. Additionally, my blog address is wordpress.com/mbergendahl and my Twitter profile is www.twitter.com/mbergendahl. As you can see my username is consistent across the board and I encourage you to do the same.

5. Put links to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter on your website.

Once you’re signed up for accounts and profiles at LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter it’s time to drive traffic to them. Make sure to put the logos of each social network at the front page of your website and link to each profile. You can download the logos at each respective network.

6. Put links from all social media platforms to your website.

It’s also important to drive traffic from each social network to your website. Similar to #5, add a link to your website at LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and any other network you’re on.

7. Put together a list of questions consumers never think to ask.

A common question is what to write about when you start blogging. Your blog gives you the opportunity to share answers to questions consumers don’t think to ask, or hesitate to ask. Additionally, you probably have a few topics that repeatedly come up in conversations with the consumers you work with. Most consumers are probably wondering whether this truly is a good time to buy a home – share marketplace statistics to back up your suggestion of buying a home right now. Sellers may wonder about the discrepancy between your suggested sales price and valuation levels provided at various websites – describe the process of how you arrive at an appropriate price level. First-time home buyers may not be familiar with the process of buying a home, including what’s expected from them and what their Realtor^® will do for them – describe the home buying process. As industry professionals we often assume that consumers are as well-informed as we are and knowledgeable about buying and selling a home. For the most part they are not, and it gives you a great opportunity to educate. The more valuable information you provide the more likely it is that you’ll be the one they will want to work with.

8. Compose a list of top ten topics you anticipate you’ll cover on your blog.

Plan ahead. Decide what you’d like to share. Will you cover community events? Are you planning on sharing marketplace statistics once a month? By planning ahead you’ll be more structured and by knowing an upcoming subject you’ll cover you’ll be able to collect materials and data ahead of time.

9. Commit to a weekly update until you’re ready for more frequent content.

I’ve heard from many who seem to believe that as soon as you start writing for your own blog you’re expected to post daily updates. In my opinion, how you determine how often you should write a blog post should be based on your available time, and whether you truly have valuable information to share. With that said, I recommend posting at least weekly or bi-weekly to show visitors that the blog is active. With longer periods of no activity at your blog, visitors may get the feeling that you’ve abandoned it.

10. Take pictures around your community for later use in your blog.

It’s Sunday night and you’ve just completed a blog post about a community within the area you mainly serve. But, you have no pictures to enhance your blog post and illustrate what you described. Bring your camera when you go out on appointments and make a point to stop and take pictures along the way. It will help you build a library of images that you can use when you’re writing your blog posts.

11. Include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn logos, with web addresses, on all printed materials.

“I have a blog, but how do I get people to read it?” It’s a common question I receive when I teach the subject of social media marketing. In short, you have to drive visitors to each platform and while I’ve previously suggested adding logos of each social network at your website, equally important is it to include addresses to your blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter platforms and profiles.

12. Invite leads, prospects and clients to follow your blog.

It’s a common practice to send out postcards, newsletters, and emails as drip campaigns in order stay in touch with those we’d like to work with, and those we previously had helped. For your next campaign, add a note inviting recipients to visit your blog. Many agents report that quite often consumers may follow a blog for several months before making the first connection. Give those you stay in touch with a reason to learn more about what you can do for them – invite them to your blog.

13. Be personable, not too personal.

There’s a fine line between being personable and personal – and we’re seeing that rather vividly at especially Facebook and Twitter. While it’s important to be personable, responding to messages and interacting with contacts, refrain from sharing personal information such as religious beliefs, political views, and especially things you really only share with your spouse, family, and close friends. Comments that may be suitable for the latter are often not appropriate to share with prospective clients. Sure, they want to get to know you, but, I suggest you draw a clear line between what’s personal and what’s personable.

14. Write blog articles based on top questions and concerns consumers have.

Make a point to frequently ask readers of your blog and contacts at Facebook what their top questions and concerns may be. Asking blog visitors questions on what they’d like to read about will give them the impression that you care and the benefit for you is that you better get to know those who follow you.

15. Sign up for a free Feedburner account, allowing readers to subscribe to blog posts.

Many readers may come to your blog once and then never return. One way you can make sure they’ll continue to read what you have to share is to give them the option to subscribe to new blog posts. Consider signing up for a free Feedburner account, which is provided by Google. You’ll need to sign up for a Google account first and then add the Feedburner feature.

16. Syndicate new blog posts to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter as outlets for your new blog posts, and drive traffic to your blog, by syndicating all new posts automatically each time new content is added to the blog. For details on how to do that, click here to read my recent article Sharing Your Messages on all Social Media Platforms: How to Syndicate Your Blog Posts to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

17. Sign up for a profile at YouTube.

I encourage you to start mixing your content on your blog with both written articles and videos. If a picture tells 1,000 words, a video clip may say 1,000,000. First, let’s look at a presentation of yourself. While the written word certainly is effective, a video enables you to share not only your words, but viewers will also be able to see your body language and facial expression – both giving you the chance to expression your passion and compassion for helping those you work with.

18. Create frequent videos, upload to YouTube, and link from your blog.

Consider starting a monthly market update per video. Each month, gather market statistics and devise an analysis. Tape yourself using a camcorder and upload the video to YouTube. Once your video is uploaded, YouTube will give you codes you can use to either link to the video from your blog or embed it inside a blog post. Click here for an instruction on how you can link to a video or embed it. Click here to view how Nick Burrafato, broker/owner of Florida HomeGallery in Lake Mary has replaced email drip campaigns with a Florida HomeGallery Weekly Update using video as described in Lore Magazine.

19. Use your social media platforms as part of your response to leads.

Social media marketing is much more than sending messages through Facebook and Twitter. Consider the following. A consumer responds to a listing at Realtor.com with a request for more information. Consumers are looking for instant information and expect it to be delivered. Consider setting up an email auto-reply that goes out automatically with links to a virtual tour, lots of pictures, videos, and an introduction to the agent. Rather than having to wait for a reply email or phone call from an agent, a consumer can familiarize themselves with you and your business while you’re getting ready to respond to their request. For more information on this concept, click here to read How to Capture the Attention of a Prospect: Build Consumer-Centric Greeting and Response Platforms, an article I wrote earlier this year.

20. Have fun with your blog!

For many, writing a blog post may feel like a chore; one that may always come last in your list of priorities. View your blog as a great way to connect with people, invite their suggestions, and share your insight and knowledge. It may take a few blog posts until you find your own style and I encourage you to not give up.

BONUS TIP

If you’d like to learn more about any of the above tips, and how to technically make it happen, consider attending the free Social Media Marketing program offered in January and February to members of the Pinellas Realtor^® Organization.

Everywhere you turn there’s probably someone advocating that Realtors^® and other professionals simply must get started with social media. “You’ll be left behind and your business will suffer unless you get on Facebook and Twitter,” I recently overheard a speaker tell his audience.

It seems similar messages are heard just about everywhere I go these days. I recently attended a social media forum for communications professionals where just about every speaker was marveling over the latest phone with which you instantly, and with less effort than by using a computer, can keep all your contacts updated with what you’re doing at any given time during the day. New platforms come out literally on a daily basis that will enable us to have everyone in our sphere of influence aware of our daily routine.

A common discussion topic regarding the use of social media is its value. While many simply regard value based on the number of contacts that conceivably will see their messages, others use mathematical formulas by which they determine the return on their investment. Others go into great length analyzing the benefits of broadcasting their messages through Twitter, Facebook, and a myriad of other social media platforms – all considering the value their efforts will bring to their business. A common belief seems to be that any message will do as long as it’s giving you presence in front of those you’re connected with.

Few, though, address the most crucial aspect of social media: is there enough value for the recipients of all those messages?

First, let me share my philosophy on social media as it relates to its use in businesses building relationships with other businesses as well as consumers.

For almost a year I’ve taught real estate professionals how to use social media as part of their marketing mix. Because that’s really what social media is – one component among a mix of various marketing vehicles. I strongly encourage professionals to build a presence on social networks such as Facebook and especially LinkedIn. In my classes I walk attendees through the process of building a blog, and I share how to syndicate blog posts automatically on other platforms. I also teach how to make the most of online videos and photo albums, and of course the value of asking past customers for testimonials that you can showcase.

In short, I definitely believe in the use of social media as part of a carefully developed strategic marketing plan, with a diverse marketing mix and an integrated approach between all on and offline marketing activities.

When I monitor the use of social media for business use in our industry, I’m often surprised how little attention is paid to the value each and every Facebook update and Tweet (as Twitter messages are called) brings to the recipient. Most messages, in my opinion, tend to be agent-centric rather than consumer-centric, and in many cases they are more likely to turn off a consumer than bring the relationship closer.

Consider the following example. A couple hires a Realtor^® to sell their home, and they expect their agent to put all their efforts into their particular sale. Their expectation is that the Realtor will go all out in marketing their home and they will most likely monitor all those efforts to make sure they’re done effectively. A Facebook profile I came across stated on a Monday morning at 11 a.m.: “I’m too tired to work today.” Imagine the impact such a message will have on a customer eagerly awaiting word on the sale of their home. Hardly a positive one, I’m sure. Similarly, I often notice how the vast majority of messages on Facebook and Twitter describe personal details, opinions, and various points of view rather than give thoughtful insight into their business and process as a real estate professional.

It seems these platforms have become little more than our own personal billboards through which we share messages that focus only on ourselves. On top of it, we’ve lost our inner monologue, now sharing things from our personal lives we would never share in person. Being personable is certainly important, but being too personal may simply be too much information.

I thought I’d share a suggestion on how you can turn an agent-centric message into a rather consumer-centric one. Let’s say you have a listing presentation on any given day. That’s certainly good news, but a brief note online with the text “I have a listing presentation today” will offer nothing more than a promotional line.

Let’s take a look at what you’d like to accomplish with such a statement. Essentially, you’d like to show that you in fact are active with sellers.

Rather than providing a Rodney Dangerfield style one-liner, consider adding a bit more information. Here’s a sample text you could instead share at your blog and then link to from your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts:

Are Homes Selling?

Earlier this week a person next in line at Publix asked me if the market is improving. I shared with her the same information I just presented to a couple looking to sell their condo in Gulfport. It’s a common question given today’s much-discussed housing market. I thought I’d share some information about current sales, media price level, and other statistics you hopefully will find helpful.”

Such a brief article will show that you serve the Gulfport area, that you service the condo market, that you met prospective sellers, and that you are knowledgeable about your immediate marketplace. And, most importantly, the message provides value to the reader.

While you certainly should be engaged in social media marketing to benefit your business, make sure your driving force is the value you provide those you’re connected with. In return, I promise you’ll establish yourself as the knowledgeable professional they’ll think of when they need someone to assist them with a sale or purchase of a home.

Consumers have changed. Gone are the days when they’d be content waiting for a reply to an email for 24 hours as the previously followed general rule of email etiquiette would stipulate. Gone are the days when consumers
would wait for their Realtor® to handle their transaction independently without collaboration.

Gone also are the days when consumers would accept a carefully crafted marketing statement as the sole determining factor of why they’d hire a
professional.

Quite often we hear the catch phrase: ”consumer-centric,” but what does that really mean to consumers? What does it mean to Realtors®?

We set out to learn what today’s consumers base their decision on when hiring a Realtor® and the expectations they have when working with a professional to sell or buy a home.

Hopefully this article will help you answer this question: Are you prepared to assist the new consumer?

Click here to read the article Meet the New Consumer.

Meet the New Consumer is the November/December 2009 feature article for PROView Magazine, member magazine of the Pinellas Realtor® Organization.

Earlier this week I came across an ad in one of our major newspapers. A home builder offered what they advertised as great interest rates for homes in the local area. A map showed the locations of their respective communities, price indications, and how to reach them by phone. Oh, there was even a rush as the promotion would only last ten days. A website address was listed, but the font size was so small the text virtually got lost in the ad.

Curious about what I’d find I visited their website. With the mind of a marketer I anticipated an abundance of photos, virtual tours, videos, testimonials and maps. Here’s the message I found: “Complete the form to learn more about this offer.” Before I could access even the slightest of information I had to register my name and email address.

Reflecting on the ad, it struck me how so many companies – large and small – continue to rely on traditional advertising even though the climate around us has changed so dramatically. We talk about how consumers have changed, yet often I find proof that the ways to get their attention haven’t. Today’s consumers expect information instantly, and when they don’t find it, they move on somewhere else. Yet companies still withhold information in order to have prospective customers either visit a location first or call for more information. Truth is, advertisers will often receive little response to such marketing campaigns.

A traditional advertiser would say: “we need to sell homes and we want home buyers to come to our sales center first before we give them any information.”

An advertiser in tune with the way consumer preferences have changed would say: “let’s use this ad to drive traffic to our website, provide them all the information consumers would possibly want, focus on educating rather than selling, and then hear from them in the manner they prefer.”

The new consumers want all available information upfront, instantly and online without having to specifically request it. And, they want to remain anonymous until they’re ready to make contact. If they’re left unsatisfied, they’ll find it elsewhere.

The great news is that we have tools available to us that will meet the needs of the new consumer. We can upload videos, for free. We can post limitless photo albums on the Internet, for free. We have the means to convey the value we provide, for free. We can build the best resource center available for consumers, for free. We can educate consumers, for free. We can post testimonials, for free. We can access emails, and respond immediately no matter where we happen to be, inexpensively. We can make our response be automatic in case we’re not accessible, and even better, hire virtual assistants to make sure each response is handled by a live person.

Ten years ago I expected ad agencies and corporations with large ad budgets to integrate the use of the Internet, print ads, and television and radio commercials. Surprisingly, it took several years until they fully embraced the power of an integrated campaign. Now marketing executives and advertising professionals are facing the challenges of new consumer preferences and an even larger abundance of available tools. I wonder how long it will take until the traditional ads will be replaced by those meeting the expectations of the new consumer.

Most social media presentations I come across appear to focus on the bigger picture. While I mostly find arguments for why Realtors^® should use social media at webinars, seminars and in articles, I rarely find resources that share actionable tactics on how to actually develop social media platforms.

In a couple of days I will once again teach the class Integrated Social Media Marketing Strategies and I thought I’d share a few outtakes from the presentation I’ll give. While I certainly will continue to share the big picture on social media through this blog, I want to make sure readers are provided solutions they can implement immediately. That’s why I thought the focus of today’s article would be to share how you can syndicate your blog posts directly to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. By following the steps below you’ll be able to have your articles published at each network without having to manually add them.

Hopefully you can get some ideas you can put to use immediately if you’d like to use your blog as your news source and share your blog posts at Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Overview of Blog Post Syndication

In previous articles I’ve shared how important it is to make sure your website and social media platforms are connected through links. For example, your website should have links to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube accounts, and each of those should feature links back to your website. Similarly, your website and social media networks should link to your ratings profile. You never know where a consumer will find you first and that’s why it’s crucial to link to other resources on each of your platforms.

In addition to offering links you can syndicate all new blog posts for immediate posting at Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Once you’ve done the initial setup all new articles will automatically appear at each platform. Below are descriptions of how it works for each network.

Make Blog Posts Appear on Your LinkedIn Profile

First, let’s take a look at how you can make all blog posts appear inside your LinkedIn profile.

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile and click on Edit My Profile in the top left navigation bar.
2. Scroll down until you see a box with the headline Featured Applications. Click on the right arrow button until you see the W logo, which stands for WordPress (for those who use a WordPress.com blog).
3. Select Add this application followed by clicking on the Update Settings button on the right side of your screen. Make sure to check the box Display on my profile.
4. Type your WordPress blog address, which for most users will be http://YOURBLOG.wordpress.com*.
5. Once you click on the save button your blog posts will automatically appear on your LinkedIn profile.

 Sharing Articles through Facebook

 Similarly, blog posts can automatically be posted at your Facebook wall once you’ve set it up.

1.  Locate the panel at the lower right side of your screen once you’ve logged on to Facebook.
2. Click on the Notes button.
3. At the prompt giving you the option to import your blog, type your blog address in a similar way you did above for LinkedIn.
4. New blog posts will appear automatically on your Facebook wall. Additionally, you’ll see all your blog content under the Notes Tab in your Facebook menu.

 Using Twitter to Share Your Stories

Syndicating your blog posts to Twitter require a slightly different process. Essentially, you’ll enable the distribution of links to your blog articles by signing up for a free account at twitterfeed.com.

1. Go to Twitterfeed.com to create your account.
2. Once your account is created you’ll have to verify the connection between Twitterfeed and Twitter, essentially allowing the transfer of information between the platforms.
3. Next, create a new feed by typing in your blog name. For twitterfeed, you’ll need to add the word feed, though, and the final web address you need to type is http://YOURBLOGDOMAIN.wordpress.com/feed/*.

Once you’ve created the feed between Twitterfeed and Twitter you’ll see tweets (as messages through Twitter are called) with links to your articles. While the concept of syndication in essence is the same for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, Facebook is the only platform that actually incorporates the entire article onto your Facebook profile. LinkedIn and Twitter instead provide links to the full articles at your blog.

Syndication allows you to effectively reach your audiences at all respective platforms without having to manually add them each time. Such a set up will help you minimize the time you spend managing your networks. For other tips on how to carefully manage your time commitment to social media marketing, click here to read Ten Ideas for Creating an Effective Social Media Marketing Time Management Routine.

* The web addresses you use should be the ones you used when you signed up for a blog. In my case the web address for my blog is http://mbergendahl.wordpress.com/ for Facebook and LinkedIn, and http://mbergendahl.wordpress.com/feed/ for the connection between Twitterfeed and Twitter.

Click on images for a larger view.

A compilation of articles from the PRO Marketing Blog is now available. Please click here to download.

“I want to stay connected, but I feel Facebook may be too personal.”

Following a recent presentation I gave on the topic of social media marketing, a Realtor^® spoke about her hesitation to connect with consumers at Facebook.

“I want to continue to build my sphere of influence and I know the use of social media platforms will help me do that. I’m just not sure most of them want me to see the personal things they share on Facebook. As a result they may turn down my friend requests or worse, I may even alienate them.”

The main purposes of networking are to build awareness of what you do, build trust and credibility, and especially be the one they think of when they need a Realtor^®.

To put the importance of remaining easily accessible to consumers into perspective, I thought about something that happened many years ago. As a newly appointed Executive Director for a local museum, I was asked by a newspaper reporter what I planned to do to increase attendance. I shared my desire to attract more families with young children. A week later I received a letter from a mailing list vendor. Having read about my plan, she sent me information about available mailing lists for any upcoming marketing campaigns, and she even attached a copy of the article so that I would connect the dots. I thought it was brilliant as she clearly provided me exactly what I had expressed that I needed. However, I didn’t need it at the time. Months later, as I was ready to do a mailing, I couldn’t find her contact information. I searched my cabinets. I searched online. I searched the yellow pages. In spite of all my efforts, I couldn’t find a way to connect with her. For her it was a lost opportunity. For me, it’s an example of how important it is for professionals to give recipients of a campaign a reason to stay in touch for when they need you. Similarly, imagine a consumer wanting to get in touch with you months after you first met, only to find that they can’t find you.

These days social media can help build a virtual rolodex of sorts, thus eliminating the risk of losing or not finding a printed business card. Similar to how you’d add a business card to your collection, you can now instead suggest a virtual connection. But, should it be through Facebook?

If the social media platforms we now have access to had been available at that time, would I have added the mailing list vendor as a friend at Facebook? Since we had no other relationship other than her contacting me the answer is most likely no. I would, however, have suggested that she become a connection at LinkedIn.

Don’t get me wrong; Facebook is a great networking tool. However; others may not feel that your connection is close enough to warrant a connection on that particular platform. Consumers may not want you to see their pictures, videos, and anything they would only share with those they know closely.

While the main social media “buzz” seems to center on Facebook these days, consider joining the online network at LinkedIn.com. Here are the top seven features you can use to make your LinkedIn profile become an essential part of your online networking efforts.

1. Get Online Exposure

Search for my name at Google and you’ll find that my LinkedIn profile is listed among the first few listings. Similarly, your name will most likely show up at the top of the search results once you’ve signed up. I’m not sure why, but it seems LinkedIn is favored by search engines, and having a profile will virtually ensure that you’ll be found when someone searches for you.

2. Share Presentations and Blog Posts

Did you know that you can add a Power Point presentation inside your LinkedIn profile? Through the website slideshare.net you can display presentations by adding an application. Consider posting a value proposition slide show or maybe a description of your process. Similarly, you can have articles from your WordPress blog featured at the center of your LinkedIn profile by adding the WordPress application.

3. Showcase Value through Recommendations

LinkedIn provides an easy to use tool by which you can ask your connections to write a recommendation on your behalf. Let others showcase your expertise – ask them to describe what it’s like to work with you.

4. Provide Links to Your Website, Blog and other Platforms

LinkedIn allows you to add three links, and I suggest you use them to give visitors to your profile additional resources. Consider adding links to your website, blog, and maybe your Facebook profile.

5. Show Your Professional Background, Affiliations and Awards

Essentially serving as your virtual resume, you can list your current and past brokerage affiliations and prior employments inside your LinkedIn profile. Additionally, you can list any awards you’ve received and designations you’ve earned. Affiliations with professional groups such as the National Association of Realtors^®, Florida Realtors^® as well as groups available to ABR, GRI, and CIPS graduates only can also be displayed.

Every consumer you meet may not need a Realtor^® at that particular time. Asking them if it would be appropriate to connect on LinkedIn will give you the opportunity to be found when they do.

“What do you do?” The question I was asked during a recent east-bound flight across the Atlantic Ocean began a several-hour long conversation about the real estate industry.

Never slow to seize the opportunity to speak with consumers about real estate, and especially the importance of having a Realtor® assist with the process, I found myself listening to a Clearwater couple, soon-to-be empty-nesters, tell their tales of past home buying and selling experiences. Some were great, they shared. Others were, well, not very satisfactory. What’s even more interesting was that they currently are in the market for a condo. Asked whether they’d contacted a Realtor® yet, they responded that they wanted to start their search online on their own initially, but that they eventually would seek out someone to assist them.

During the course of our conversation, inspired by listening to how they’d prefer to go about finding a Realtor®, I came up with a response process by which Realtors® can capture the attention of prospective customers in a non-intrusive way. First impressions certainly do last, and here are two steps you can take to make them a positive one.

Step One: Make a Positive First Impression to Anonymous Visitors

With well over 80% of buyers starting their search for a home online, there’s a significant possibility that your website, blog, Facebook page or LinkedIn profile effectively becomes your virtual first handshake. In fact, if consumers find the information you’re providing on your blog helpful and informative, it’s likely that they’ll come back to read more, anonymously, without contacting you until they’re ready to do so.

So, what can you share in order to make a positive first impression that will bring visitors back? Consider creating a description of your process. From pricing, marketing, and market research to negotiation, provide a bit of insight as to how you typically go about assisting clients. Make sure you effectively describe your value proposition. Describe your service model, and how you assist your clients from start to close. Spend one day looking through the eyes of your customers, and define which messages you most likely would respond to if it were you looking to buy a home. Avoid the urge to sell, but rather focus on making all content focused on meeting the needs of consumers. Describe how you work with other professionals for the benefit of the consumer. Are you using a text message system integrated with your Realtor® signs as described in this recent blog post? Make sure to describe such innovative solutions as they definitely will make you stand out in your marketplace.

A key consideration when you develop your various online platforms is to decide the depth of the information and materials you’ll provide at each given step in the process. Those engaged in social networking expect to be given in-depth information upfront. Materials we previously guarded until we had a chance to sit down with a prospective client in person are now expected to be available online.

Here’s an example: Present tools you’ll make available to consumers you work with, but don’t give away the details just yet. Describe how you’ll provide a free account through which they’ll receive morning reports with a marketplace activity update (Listingbook) and share with readers how you initially set up an account for your customers through which they easily can bookmark properties they find online that you later can do the research on (Dwellicious).

By describing your services without the details you’re increasing the likelihood that you’ll hear from those visiting your online platforms as they’ll ask for more information. Once you’ve captured their attention, and more importantly left them with a positive first impression, I’m certain you’ll hear from them – when they’re ready.

Step Two: Create a Powerful Response Platform for Consumer Requests

The first message you receive from a prospective client may be as brief as “I want to know more about this home,” arriving by email in response to a listing at Realtor.com or maybe through your website. How do you typically respond? By giving them a call? The couple I spoke with suggested that the response should be in the manner the initial contact was made; in this case an email would be more appropriate.

Consider this:

Create a landing page at your website or blog with the following features:

1. Post a brief video, or write an introduction if you’re not comfortable using video, thanking the visitor for their response and welcoming them to your webpage where you hope they’ll find out more about the property they’ve indicated interest in.

2. Provide a link to additional information about the property they’re inquiring about. Since most online listings only provide limited information, possibly just one image, additional information should include a link to a virtual tour, a link to a Google map to show the location of the home, additional photos, and any other information you’d like to share with the consumer.

3. Share a compelling message, in a video or written text, in which you briefly describe your process, focused on meeting the needs of those you serve. Discuss how you’re going to market their home. Describe the tools you make available to sellers and buyers.

The key message I took away from our conversation in the sky was that the couple looked for valuable information provided in a non-intrusive way. Before they’d be willing to meet with a Realtor, or even hear from someone over the phone, they would want to have a sense of what they can expect. Before making the first contact, they want to feel as if the Realtor® will be able to assist them and that they’ll receive the service level they expect. By building consumer-centric greeting and response platforms you’ll be prepared to assist those who like the couple I spoke with begin their search online.