Along my journey to this success of mine I have been asked over and over again
“How did you get here?”
Which I follow up with
“How much time do you have?
In a former life for about 10 years I was a Web and Social Media Strategist. I loved doing it and learned a lot of valuable information along the way. As I left that life and went on to other things, those tools stayed with me and the knowledge that I gained not only helped me in MY business, but has allowed me to help others on their path to success as well.
Here are a few tips and tricks I would like to share with you for now…
- Buffer This is similar to Hootsuite but IMHO (in my humble opinion) WAY better. Buffer has already done all the research to know how many algorithms one needs to post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other Social Media so you don’t have to worry about it. I love how easy it is and how friendly the team is. If you need anything, they all take care of you and I mean right away! Which is awesome. Speaking of Awesome, they have an Awesome Plan once you decide to break free from the FREE plan. This is great for Start Ups, Entrepreneurs, Organizations, Non Profits and anyone who is currently a “One Man/woman Band”
- Pablo by Buffer is my next rocketfire tool I love and adore. I am a Motivational Speaker as well as a “few” other skills I have and perform and so with this skill and Motivational Speaking and Empowerment session, using pictures for Twitter and Pinterest, pictures are an essential tool I have found for engaging users and helping with my Conversion Rate and to gain Followers. I would swear by this tool for anyone who wants to take the next step in their business.
- Commun.it Communit is great tool to help you mange your Twitter account. It keep track of who follows you, comments, retweets and basically anyone who engages with you. Then it helps you to prewrite your Thank Yous and Tweets to those people and acknowledges those new followers on Follow Friday. Again this is a FREE option but you can upgrade to a paid plan to allow more connection.
- Canva Think Canvas with out the S. Consider it a series of pre-done designs ready for you in your personal and business life. Guy Kawasaki is the Evangelist for this great site! WE have even chatted via Twitter (which was way cool) and I love the fact that he took into account the things that I needed as an Entrepreneur and planning a wedding. I asked for Info-graphics, I got info-graphics. I love that! I love the response from him and other Customer Service requests that seem to streamline with my life personal and professional as I need it.
- WordPress By now I assume you have heard of WordPress. One BIG things I love about WordPress is that it is free. When I was in Web and Social Media Strategy I ALWAYS turned my clients to this method first. Pay for a domain on Go Daddy then go to your dashboard and then Forward with Masking to your WordPress site. This saves you dollars and cents of Monthly hosting fees that are generally unwanted and unneeded. I have hosted a variety of sites on other platforms and always come back to WordPress. Free themes, Tutorials, and Easy to Use interface.
- Go Daddy I buy and manage all my Domains through Go Daddy. They have 24/7 customer service and if you WANT, you can have them design the website for you, use one of those, or do as I said above and forward your domain to WordPress.
- Meetup Recently I just moved to Denver and ironically this is one of the most used Networking Sites I have found. In Iowa and before when I was in California, I barely remember anyone using this. Here, EVERYONE seems to use this. I think some haven’t’ quite got the grasp on it and how great it is, but I see this taking off for more and more others in the industry. It is great as a New Kid in Town or to find Chamber meetings and even more so, in my world, Startup and Entrepreneur meetings. In addition to finding and connecting with other Women Who StartUp.
- 123Print I use 123Print for all my Stationary Needs as Much as I can. If they don’t have it I go to BuildASign which I will talk about next. 123 has shown me superior quality and superior customer service. I never hear what others hear from using another brand. I NEVER want people to say “Or this is a __ card” and know where I got them. I will tell them however, your card should speak for you, not where or what company you used to get them.
- BuildASign I use this company for all my Banners, Car Magnets and Bumper Stickers. The more you order the better deal you get, as like with others, but they have even called me to tell me my design is off center and wrong and a desire to help fix it. Other copies just sent you crappy quality and don’t care. I now have two banners by them and two sets of car signs. I order one bumper sticker first to make sure it is what I want, and then I order away with the rest once decided.
- PicMonkey If you are making or using pictures in anything you do, motivational quotes or even for a LinkedIn picture, this is a great tool to update it, add features and have some fun with photos.
- Portrait Professional For a more professional look and higher class of editing, consider this tool. It really makes those pictures on LinkedIn pop! (hee hee Graphic Designers hate that word)
Services
- Hire a Graphic Designer Do yourself a favor and spend the money to hire a Graphic Designer. You can use a College Intern perhaps in the beginning, but if you are serious about your work, your brand, your company, pay the money for the good one. Make sure your agreement with them allows you to obtain or have the EPS files as well as PDFs and JPEGs so that you can use that collateral for your cards, social media etc. The eEPS gives you the reign to change Designers later on if needed.
- Interns I have leveraged the use of Interns in MANY of my businesses. For one thing, many times you don’t have to pay them. They need hours, you need help. that IS their pay. No matter what your need, I am sure there is a college or high school that has an intern twitching to get their hands into work, experience, and knowledge from a professional. Call or email high schools or interns in your area and find one that works for you.
For Realtors:
This past year we were selling our house in Iowa because we had moved to Denver. I was amazed at how “little” the Realtors utilized Social Media to sell the clients homes, such as my own. With all these tools and advances in technology and yet my house sat and sat with no showings. Taking matters into my own hands to assist, I grabbed the link and picture off the REaltors website and added it to my Buffer.com. I set it to Add to Queue and had it go across my Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, and even my Facebook Business Pages (though they had nothing to do with Realty)
Ironically, I noticed, every time one of my buffered posts would launch, my realtor would contact us for a showing. So then I started setting multiple Buffer.com posts. I had one going to Zillow, I had one going to her Berkshire Hathaway link, I had one going to her Facebook Page. I set them all to Queue. You can schedule posts, but since Buffer already knows the algorithms and the amount of times a post needs to be posted across social media, I just
“Set it and Forget It”
That’s my little thing I say when I do it, but I know it works. It’s a great reminder of what to do.
The next thing I knew, I had people sharing my posts without asking (which is great because more shares mean more people see the House for Sale), others would comment or ask questions and we had way more showings than before.
Though we still had other issues that you often dealing with selling a house, such as our asking price was too high, it was a newer house in an older neighborhood and it just wasn’t the right season. Regardless, I kept the buffered posts going.
When all the buffered posts were empty (Buffer lets you know) Then I would go back into my old ones through Buffer and then just reset them all again.
I would tell all realtors that the #1 tool they need in their arsenl is Buffer.com
SECOND, I love WordPress.com It offers you FRee hosting and for startups, people beginning businesses or just starting out Realtors, I would say this is the best to start with.
Here is my Formula:
Go to WordPress.com and type in a anem for your site (leave off the extension)
Just pick a simple theme and add a little or a lot of content (I like to add the About Us, and any main info. A few pictures and maybe one extra page , depending on my client so when I choose other themes in WordPress I can see how they will look. You can add the rest later)
Go to Godaddy.com (They have the best customer service in my opinion) and buy a domain name for yourself. They always are running specials and honestly it doesn’t matter anymore if the extension of your site is .com, .net, or other. Just get one. A year is usually cheaper, sometimes two. Don’t worry about getting all the other site names it suggests. Just get the one you want.
Then go into Domain Manager and Forward with Masking. (CAll customer Service or hire a Web person to help you or pay them to do but Godaddy has free customer service so why would you)
Forward with masking to the URL of the wordpress you just created.Enter in the Title you want others to see when they go to your page.
Add Description.
Add Keywords. These are the words others would most likely use to find you. Then add some extra keywords for the type of client you want to reach, i.e divorced, single, family dwelling, New, etc.
For ideas you could google “Keywords used on Realtor or Broker sites” and you will find some examples.
Then hit save and in an hour or less, the domain name you bough on GoDAddy will forward to the WordPress site you created. And using the Masking, no one seeing your site knows the wiser.
Now for those of you ready to step into the big leagues, ignore the above or move your data when ready to a site MADE for Realtors, by Realtors….called…
Ubertor.com http://ubertor.com/
Ubertor pulls Mls listings, had Google tracking, and so much more for Realtors and those in that line of business.
If you have the money and you can justify the expense, start with Ubertor. But if you can’t start with the above.
These few steps will really help launch and grow your business.
If you are not on Social Media, get there.
As sellers in any biz we want to be where the people are and the people are on Social Media. Stop wasting your time knocking on doors and one off things and do the best steps for your biz.
Get a Website
Get on Social Media,
Get on Ubertor if you can.
Use Buffer to post your info AND your homes you are selling or brokering.
Then you will have the time to do the networking and lunches and other things that help your business.
Doing these things for me is like having a Virtual Assistant.
When you are a one woman show like me and like most of you men and women, these tools will help your life.
And if it seems too cumbersome and overwhelming, you can always hire a Social Media guru.
Here are some suggestions for that:
Darrel Stern Stern Storming http://sternstorming.com/
David Gardner http://webconnectioncolorado.com/
Steven Held http://www.stevenheld.com
Tips, Tricks and Tools by Social Media Guru for Trisha Trixie and Company
email: trisha@trishatrixie.com
*Disclaimer I no longer am a Web and Social Media Strategist, however from my past experiences and successes with this and other Social Media and Web info, I am happy to share my knowledge. To hire a Social Media or Web Person, please contact one of the above and tell them proudly… TRIXIE SENT ME!!” *
To connect with me you can find me online go to
https://about.me/trishatrixie
and all my Online and Social Media Connections are on there or you can reach me at…
www.trishatrixie.com
www.justeetre.com
https://www.twitter.com/TrishaTrixie
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