Inman Launches Broker War Room Facebook Group

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It’s a forum for advice and mentorship where brokers in the real estate industry can share best practices.

Inman has launched a new Facebook group for for brokers, franchise executives and real estate company leadership. Inman’s Broker War Room is a forum for advice and mentorship where brokers in the real estate industry can share best practices, help each other solve gnarly problems and become better owners.

Members are limited to broker-owners, executives and franchise team members.

It’s a closed group, but brokers and their employees, as well as franchise members, can join here.

“We created this group for brokers, by brokers and with brokers,” said Inman publisher Brad Inman. “The best advice and counsel can come from one another, not consultants, gurus or, god forbid, journalists.”

Real estate broker Raj Qsar and Stacy Stateham, vice president of marketing at Bloom Tree Realty, are serving as volunteer administrators for the group

“With so many Facebook groups geared toward agents, there is a void for real estate company leadership,” said Stateham. “Until now! As much as every real estate brokerage and company is unique in how we go to market, we have a lot of similarities in the common challenges that we all face, and my hope is that the Broker War Room gives us a place to collaborate and share.”

Upgrading The Real Estate Experience | 3 Tech Tips from Raj Qsar

This week, we have a guest post from Raj Qsar, principal and owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County, CA,  a contributor for Inman News, and one of the Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders for 2013. His company is one of the most dominant real estate firms in Orange County. They focus heavily on utilizing technology to provide more complete and convenient service to all of their customers. 

@RajQsar

 

Digitize the Real Estate Experience

We had out “ah-ha” moment back in 2008 as technology and social media found Real Estate. We knew there had to be a better way of not only marketing residential real estate but there also had to be a better way of managing the mountain of paperwork and people involved in a real estate transaction.  So in a sense our team has digitized the real estate experience.

Do not get me wrong….We are not robots.  We still care, are empathetic and truly love our clients.  And because of this love and passion for our clients you will never find our clients running to a fax machine and most likely never even pick up a pen to sign anything. We are a 99% paperless office.  Our agents & staff are completely mobile and can run an entire real estate transaction from our iPads and iPhones.

Our technology does not require our clients to be tech savvy – it only requires our agents to understand the benefits of technology and to implement that technology with our clients.  Our commitment to technology has even allowed us to bring in an in-house Chief Technology Officer, Jeremy Lehman, who can train our agents and enable them to provide this luxury service to our clients.

Connect More Intimately With Clients

The world is now on the web – advances in technology are changing the way businesses interact with clients and we understand this process.  People are on their smartphones, heads down and focused.  The next time you are in line at your local coffee shop just look around.  Everyone will be head down and in their phone checking emails, scrolling through a news feed on a social platform or just listening to music.  We know we need to be where our clients are, so we can be at the forefront of their minds, and more importantly, not forgotten.

Our clients are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Linked In, Pinterest, Twitter and Four Square. However, the Facebook user is different than the Linked In user, who is totally different than the individual on Instagram.

Learn more about social media for real estate marketing here.

The Facebook user is more likely to be someone you know so the posts there are geared more like a friend to friend discussion and allows for a targeted ad campaign.  The posts on Twitter are 140 characters so its “in & out” with a specific message to an audience.  Instagram is one of our favorites and allows a more intimate connection. Newer platforms likeRESAAS allow us to engage with an international audience of real estate professionals.  You will see that our content strategy is different depending on the platform, who we are trying to reach, and what message we are trying to push.

Streamline the Process

When it comes to in-transaction management the mountain of paperwork that needs to happen is insane.  You have buyers, sellers, lender, escrow, title, transaction coordinators, home inspectors, termite inspectors and many others who are involved someway or somehow in your transaction.  They all have their paperwork and it all needs to be reviewed, understood and communicated to everyone in the transaction.

How do we create our paperwork?  What do we create it on?  How do we eSign? How do we store this info?  How do we share it with everyone?  This is the beauty of technology: our ability to create a REAL estate experience like no other with our clients and co-operating brokers.

This is real estate’s new normal for communicating and engaging with our clients to create a streamlined, easy to use & understand process.  It did not happen overnight but required dedication, time, and resources devoted to tech to make it happen.

Technology allows us to be a smart office, engage with our clients in positive manner and allow us to create an experience that is evergreen.

You can connect with us at www.theboutiquere.com.

If you’re interested in learning more about Raj, check out our From the Trenches interview with him. 

You can find Raj on FacebookTwitterLinked In, and Pinterest.

5 Ways to Build a Pinterest Following With Facebook

By 

Published August 7, 2012

Are you looking to build a strong Pinterest following?

Did you know that you can integrate your Facebook and Pinterest marketing?

Yes, there’s a way to get Facebook fans to create exposure for you on Pinterest.

Establishing a large audience of followers on Pinterest is one of the most important aspects of a successful Pinterest marketing campaign.

Here’s the skinny: Although during the setup process you can choose to link yourPinterest account to your Facebook personal page, there is currently no way to automatically hook up to your Facebook fan page.

So what’s a business to do?

The truth is most business owners have not figured out a solution. They are failing on Pinterest because they think that they have to build a new following from scratch. Well, that is patently untrue.

Here are five ways to use Facebook to build your Pinterest following.

#1: Get a Pinterest Tab for Your Facebook Fan Page

The easiest thing to do is just go to Woobox and create a Pinterest tab for your Facebook fan page.

woobox
Easily get a Pinterest tab for your Facebook fan page from Woobox.

It’s very simple to do and requires little to no technical skills. Within minutes, you can have your Pinterest account in front of thousands of your fans! This way, whenever people come to your Facebook page to either check out your latest posts or learn more about you, they can also see that you are on Pinterest.

The Pinterest tab allows fans to view all of your boards and even your pins while staying on the Facebook platform. They will not be transferred over to Pinterest until they try to repin or comment on one of your pins.

pinterest tab fb fan page
Within just a few clicks you can easily create a Pinterest tab for your Facebook fan page.
inside the pinterest tab
Inside the Pinterest tab as seen on the Facebook fan page.

#2: Post Pinterest Links as Updates on Your Facebook Page

There are a few different ways to use your Facebook status updates to promote your activity on Pinterest.

One way to build your follower base is to share the direct link to your Pinterest page as a status update and tell your fans WHY they should follow you on Pinterest.

What helpful information or cool contests will they have access to? Are there exclusive promotions? Why should they follow you on Pinterest AND Facebook?

facebook status update example
Example post of a Facebook status update promoting a Pinterest business account.

The more specific you can be about the type of value you are creating for your followers on Pinterest, the more likely your fans will join you there too.

#3: Promote Specific Boards on Your Facebook Page

On Pinterest, people can choose to either follow all, or just a few, of your boards.

Because of that feature, you may find success promoting specific Pinterest boards on your Facebook fan page.

I recommend you promote a few different boards throughout the week.

That way, you have the opportunity to showcase your Pinterest account to a wider audience on Facebook, and you can introduce them to the diverse areas of value shared on your Pinterest page.

There are two ways you can promote a specific Pinterest board on Facebook.

  • Update your status by uploading an image of a pin to Facebook. Add a description and include a link to the board on which that pin is featured.
facebook pinterest board example
Example Facebook post promoting a particular Pinterest board.

This works well if you have a really compelling image, because it will be granted more space on the Facebook newsfeed than a link.

  • Post the link to your Pinterest board as part of a status update. An image of one of your pins on that board will be automatically generated.
full board view
Generate a full board preview (photo and all) by posting the board’s direct URL .

Posting the link will also automatically include the text in your board description.

Make sure that you add proper descriptions of the content when setting up your boards. I’m always amazed by how few people take advantage of this opportunity.

Look how brilliantly realtor Raj Qsar utilizes this space for his branding purposes.

His board description reads:

“Raj Qsar & Premier Orange County Real Estate – is one of the most dominant Real Estate Teams in the Orange County Real Estate Market. For over 15 years Team Raj Qsar has held the philosophy to give the best service and most qualified advice to both buyers & sellers.

Implementing honesty and integrity at the highest level possible and to enjoy the entire process along the way. We are truly passionate about real estate.”

raj qsar team | christine thomas | social pepper
Take advantage of the description area below your board titles for adding value to your brand and board.

To add a description to one of your boards, simply click Edit Board and fill in the Description field.

edit board
Add a description to your board by clicking the “Edit Board” button at the top of your Pinterest board page.

#4: How to Promote a Particular Pin

Sometimes the best way to really serve your Facebook community is to highlight the value that you are providing in one particular pin.

This is a great way to get maximum exposure when pinning your own original content. Remember these posts can and will be shared across Facebook by your fans.

The same two strategies apply here, as they do to promote a specific board above. You can either upload the image of the pin as a status update (or include a link in the image description), or you can just include the direct link to the pin in your status area.

promote a particular pin
Promote a particular pin by pasting the pin’s direct URL into your Facebook status update.

When you post a direct link to a pin as a status on Facebook, the following information will be automatically added and visible:

  • The image of your pin
  • The name of the board that includes the pin
  • The caption that has been added to your pin

So make sure you have fully optimized both your board title and caption for maximum impact. Focus on creating intriguing board titles and including a further explanation of value in the caption.

#5: Promote Your Pinterest Contests on Facebook

Contests and promotions are becoming all the rage on Pinterest. They are a very effective way to quickly add a lot of new followers and drive a ton of traffic to your site.

Unlike Facebook, there are no real restrictions regarding the way contests are promoted and hosted on Pinterest. A great way to leverage both platforms is topromote your Pinterest contest on your Facebook fan page.

pinterest contest facebook fan page
Example of how Bergdorf Goodman promoted their Pinterest contest on their Facebook fan page.

Bergdorf Goodman recently promoted their Pinterest contest on their Facebook fan page by posting an image of one of the prizes with a brief explanation. They included a link to their blog within the description of the image where fans could find more details about how to enter.

Hopefully you’ve found these five ways to use Facebook to build your audience on Pinterest helpful. I know from personal experience that introducing your fan base to your presence on Pinterest is an effective way to get more followers.

Despite all the hype surrounding Pinterest, Facebook is still the largest social media network. Why not leverage the audience you have already built there and let them fast-track your success on Pinterest?

So what do you think? Can you see the benefits of using Facebook to get more followers on Pinterest? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.