Watch the video

Her new purchase is a humble 8,500 square feet home sitting on a 3 acre lot situated in the prestigious neighborhood of Bel-Air. Designed in 1965 by A. Quincy Jones, boasting a glorious poolside view, many floor-to-ceiling windows, and a perfectly groomed lot, we can really see why (if it’s within your means) this house was worth the hefty price.

photos courtesy of TheRealEstalker and Christian Haugen

Video blogs: If you already have a written blog and have a decent dose of regular postings you’ve clearly shown commitment to the blogosphere. Maybe you want to show off your face a little bit?  A lot of realtors are starting to go the video blog route, and we see great potential with this. We absolutely HATE cliché’s so we apologize for repeating this but, a picture is worth a thousand words. Think about how many words a video is worth… It allows you to show viewers what you’re talking about and get a better sense of your personality. Writing down a joke or two is great, but who knows who might take it as sarcasm or anger. Plus it’s much faster to record a video blog than write one down, especially if you want to do it on the go. If you have charm, always have something to say, or have several tips you want to dole out, you’re an excellent candidate for video blogging. Get yourself on Vimeo or Youtube and have a ball.

QR Codes: Since EstateVue released the QR code option, we’ve been noticing them pop up everywhere, particularly in real estate. They take your print marketing to a new level and give you a lot of options to get creative with them. Here’s our written copy on QR codes, we hope it sums it up for you:

QR’ stands for Quick Response, a technology that enables agents to direct users to specific online listings. By using these codes in print marketing initiatives, potential buyers can find your website quickly and easily just by scanning the code with their phones. In addition, those in the market for real estate can find all the information about a specific property with a quick scan, right on the spot. Making it this simple to find the info they need stirs interest in your listing and your services, making it a highly effective marketing tool.

The QR code drives traffic to your website and makes you even more accessible to interested buyers. Masses of people are now connected to the internet with their mobile phone; why not take advantage of that? Snatch them up while the interest is hot.

If either of these extras interest you, do a quick Google search and read up on them, they may be a perfect option to take your business to the next level.

This is the last post in this blog series, what did you think? Have any other advice you would like to add or ask about? Give us feedback at socialmedia@atomic55.net, or get on our Twitter or Facebook and fire off some opinions. We’ve got another series in the works so stay tuned!

Photo courtesy of John Chroston

So now the question is, where is all this happening?

If the trend continues the way it’s going, we will see a lot of build-up in China and the United Arab Emirates, which stole the show with a total of 39 of the 88 projects. As far as cities go, the three top skyscraper producers (some unexpected) are Panama City, Panama with 10; Abu Dhabi, UAE with 9; and Busan, South Korea with 9 as well. The CTBUH also reports that before 2011, these three cities combined had only six buildings over 200 meters, and have grown to 34 – that’s 567% of growth!

In the coming years we will see many more of these building giants popping up around the world, with 300 projects over 200m currently under construction. This is bringing about rapid change and growth- of the 88 buildings completed in 2011, 17 made the world’s 100 tallest buildings list. At this point we won’t have to change our top five list, at least not until the project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia wraps up construction in the coming years.

Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for more juicy tidbits of information. You know you want to…

photo courtesy of Chris Talbot

Having a Facebook page makes it easier for clients and potential clients to connect with you. It can also save time if notoriously repeated questions are answered right on your page and form an impromptu FAQ. It is also a great place to show off new listings. But most of all, Facebook is huge and a giant bulk of society is on it wasting time and browsing. So should you choose to advertise on Facebook, you can easily reach a huge stretch of people.

We’ve found that Twitter is actually the more popular medium for realtors. The communication is virtually instant. It also gives a great opportunity to get public and personal ‘testimonials’ from loving clients:

“@JohnSmithRealtor just sold my home in a week! I don’t know how he did it, but I’m convinced he’s half wizard”

Now imagine that fabulous comment about you possibly being broadcast to all of that client’s followers, all of your followers and several stray Twitter browsers. See the potential? You might not pick up a new client right on the spot, but a few @mentions like that could have you pushed into Real Estate royalty on the internet.

The difference between social media and a website is that it enables realtors and their clients to interact, clients and other clients to interact, and dare we say it, realtors and other realtors to interact. Oh, and did we mention it’s completely free?

But don’t get ahead of yourself; we’ve encountered so many agents who get fired up about social media maybe after attending some cult-like convention. They make a Facebook page or a Twitter account, maybe type of a couple statuses and Tweet a couple times then ditch their accounts the next week. If you foresee yourself doing this then don’t go through the trouble. Try and commit to social media before you get started, because it can be misleading at times. It’s possible that people browsing Facebook who come upon your dead Facebook page might wonder if you’re still a practicing agent. Or perhaps someone tries to contact you via Facebook and get put off that they haven’t received any response. So as important as it is to be weary of what you do say on your social media accounts, it’s important to think about what you don’t say. If you have an unused Facebook page, deactivate it and go about your life. Social media is not a toy.

Spoiler: Check out our blog next week on more details on this topic!

Did you seriously just read about social media and aren’t one of our followers on Twitter or like us on Facebook yet? Just clicks those links and we’ll pretend it never happened.

Photo courtesy of Geekpulp

We see premium and sub-par examples of marketing strategies every day, and we found an article that really sums up one of the most common marketing issues to date: Make your media work together. This article is a very clear explanation of the importance of the frequency and consistency of marketing materials, which is severely lacking within the real estate industry. For instance, did you know that the average person requires interaction with an advertisement an average of 3 times before acting upon this advertisement if it appeals to them? The article also goes over different realms of marketing techniques that can be effective if used in conjunction with one another, another missing component in many strategies.

Apps are an important realm that is not explored enough, which is a shame, because there are apps out there that have answers to your problems; the trick is to find them. For instance, have you ever met somebody, added their contact info to your phone, but when they followed-up with you and their name showed up on the call display, you blanked on who they were? Ever wished for a solution to this malevolent situation? never fear ladies and gentlemen, meet Evernote. Evernote is a brilliant smartphone app that will solve these devastating problems for you with its detailed contact interface called Evernote Hello. This app allows the user to not only add their new acquaintance’s contact information, but to add where they met, what they met about, and even attach a photo to this information. To learn more about Evernote, please read these following articles we found to help you along the way.

http://next.inman.com/2012/01/hello-evernote-hello/

http://next.inman.com/2011/12/secret-evernote-tip-how-to-save-tweets-into-evernote

Should you be the busiest bee in the industry and truly have no time to scroll down a few notes once in a while and post them online, look into getting syndicated content from other blogs and arrange a “blog-collage.” A mish-mash of your favourite article and blog posts from other writers shows that even though you’re not necessarily writing, you are definitely reading and keeping up with the latest. It also takes care of the issue of providing your clients with some advice or information, even though it didn’t necessarily come from your mouth (or fingertips?). Now don’t take what we said here and go copy/paste some content from the web onto your website and call it a day. If you’re really that busy you don’t need a copyright infringement lawsuit on your hands.  Skipping out on the whole ‘giving them credit’ thing and passing it off as your own can get you into a sticky situation with the writer. That being said, if you know the proper protocol on how to use syndicated content, then it is a great option that doesn’t suck up a lot of time, but still has a great affect.

Here’s a good idea how to get started with this: Call your blog something that makes it obvious that you are not coming up with your own content: Something like “What I’m Reading Right Now,” “Useful Real Estate Blogs,” or “Blogs I Love.” Write a little teaser for a post you found useful and make comments on how you love the funny writing style, how the information has applied to your career or life in one way or another or even quote your favourite line. Share the author’s name, the name of the blog/website you saw it on, then link to the post. It’s quite simple and you might be surprised at the people who read your blog. Readers or clients who share your interests will likely come back to find a collection of writing that they are interested in reading.

photo courtesy of http://photography.mojado.com/archives/2005/02/07/80s_typewriter.php

We’d might as well start with the past and kick off with this great article posted by Zillow outlining their Most Popular Posts of 2011, and this great architecture post outlining some more 2011 favourites. If those aren’t enough to keep you intrigued for a while, this post may prove to be a bit more interesting than expected, as it outlines stories behind famous properties and/or the famous people that have purchased them. Lastly, to answer the begging questions of market stability that have been flying around this past year, please review this article outlining the Top 5′s for the best and worst markets going into this year. Now on to some ideas and advice that could be exactly what you need to kick off your year! After rummaging the internet for quite some time, these results seemed to be the most pertinent in our searches today.

Most people whether they are forced into it or not, set resolutions for themselves going into the New Year, and frankly this is something that can be very applicable in business as much as in your personal life. For instance, you may decide to improve your own home, or read up on some tips that will improve the results of your open houses. You may even decide to become a more effective social media user coupled with these 5 Tips that can improve your Facebook activity quite effectively.

Whatever goals you have set for yourself, whether it be in business or in your personal life, we wish you all a Happy New Year, and all the best going into 2012.

photo courtesy of  suneko

Investing in your website shows clients and potential clients that you take your business seriously and see the value in investing in yourself. If you won’t invest, why should they? Part of a realtor’s job is to market a seller’s home, so if you can’t market yourself properly it gives little confidence that you can effectively market a home. Of course your skills could be top-notch and word of mouth might bring in loads of business despite your lack-lustre website. However, don’t overlook the power of what we call “online drop-ins.” One of the best ways to find a realtor is to ask for recommendations, but many people look to the internet and search for someone in the area.

You might be a top seller, but a bad website might make potential clients scroll right past you. What incentive do they have to read more about you if all they see is your photo (if you learned anything from our past lessons, it better be a good photo!) and a lengthy blurb? The best agent might be overlooked online if you’ve got the ‘rat-infested apartment’ of websites. Upgrade to the SoHo loft and show the public that you are worth investing in. You don’t necessarily have to go full-board and get a fully customized website with every bell and whistle known to man, but hey if you want to, more power to you! If you haven’t already consulted with a reputable marketing company, that’s definitely a good start. And NO we’re not just saying it to plug our own business, whether it’s with us or with someone not as good (kidding!), we genuinely believe it’s an important step. Your marketing company will work with you on what you want to spend and arrange an option that fits into your budget. And regardless of how high or low that budget might be, you will definitely get the most bang for your buck if you let a professional handle the design.

We’re speaking to all the agents who have taken the ugly shortcuts with their websites (if they even have one). There is a lot of value in having a good website; if you don’t believe us do the research, it’s a fact. Period. Now look for a marketing agency that tickles your fancy and ask them to save you from internet junkyard you’ve gotten yourself into.

photo courtesy of Miserlou Behind the Aperture

In the United States, by the end of 2011 (you might want to sit down for this), there is to be an expected loss of $700 billion in housing values. House prices and interest rates are dropping, literally making the lives of people attempting to sell their properties into living nightmare. However, if you are in the property investment business, right now is like having Black Friday sale prices every day!

Seeing as the holidays are around the corner and that we’re in a giving mood today, we’ve hunted down some recent “top 10 bargains” articles out for you to take advantage of the slashed pricing that’s on our hands! Without further ado…Happy Holidays friends:

Top 10 Deals In Canadian Real Estate

Top 10 Deals In American Real Estate

photo courtesy of incompetech