Web 2.0 and Social Networking Testimonials

“My daughter just dragged us all on to Facebook… and we are enjoying it… she put up an LI Village Realty page and added her new co-op listing as an event …she showed it last night to a couple that came in off that Facebook listing and they are very interested in it… needless to say we will be inputting the rest of the office inventory in the next week for the free Facebook exposure!”

   --Marilyn Urso

“I started my Facebook page a very short time ago and a friend I had lost touch with over the last couple of years just found me there. Turns out they ended up buying a home in my area about 4 years ago. They are about to have a 3rd child and are now looking to sell their current home and buy a new one.
We were friends while in college but hadn't seen each other since we were married. My free Facebook page (minus the value of my time that I took creating it) will get me about 3/4 million in sales volume.”

   Later on…

“The Facebook transaction has closed and there are actually a few more in the pipeline now that I have devoted some time to really using it as a marketing tool to the “friends” I have gathered on Facebook.  I was recently contacted through Facebook by some of my fellow high school graduates to begin to plan a reunion. 
One of them said that he was going to be moving out of state after he finished taking his Boards, I have listed their house and referred him to an agent where he is moving.  Our reunion is coming up and I will be sure to use this great face to face networking opportunity as we gather with folks that I haven’t seen in years.  I am very grateful that I started Facebook when I did.”

   --Andrew Himes

“Facebook has been an excellent resource for me to reconnect with friends from my past, current friends, co-workers, clients, and local people in the field of real estate. I have friends from past experiences from all over the country, as well as the Bahamas, Denmark, and Italy. I have a friend from college who I did not know was a Realtor in a town about 2 hours away from me. We have been able to reconnect after 10 years and share encouragement in this current market, as well as sharing referrals-- more than once. He has started posting descriptions of his latest listings as his "status update,” then he posts his website for people to get more information. If you have 200 friends, one of those people might just have a friend or family member looking for real estate in your area. What a great creative way to advertise listings and get your website in front of more people.
We have great opportunities in this world of technology!”

   --Sarah B. Long

I am an over 50 (barely : )) and I LOVE the social networking sites. I have taken a web design class so I know just enough html to be dangerous! I not only post my full color flyer on Craigslist, after hosting it on my active rain blog, I also add links to my website, the listings virtual tour and the listings webpage on the Prudential site. This shows up in the weekly email my clients receive from their virtual tour and prudential. The amount of traffic I get from craigslist is phenominal. I add any open houses to my postings and it has worked well. I now only use free online advertising for my open houses and my traffic has improved greatly! I post them on Craigslist, Realtor.com, my website, TourFactory, our MLS open house website, prudential's site. Last year I spent over $3000 on print advertising and got nothing! I also love Facebook. I started it a few months back for "networking" and have had the added bonus of connecting with "kids" I went to high school with over 30 years ago. I also keep up with what my extended family is doing. I try to post a link to a real estate article several times a week. I also use those same articles as "tweets" on twitter. I have been on linkedin for a couple years, but I haven't done much with that. The important thing to remember is that this needs to be done in your "off" time. Do not lose your "face" time.
We have great opportunities in this world of technology!”

   --Jodie Carpine

 “Have you tried www.Twitter.com? It's more like a stream of consciousness type micro-blog.
Also, you might want to try www.FaceBook.com - it's more social than business, but that's probably where more and more of your customers and sphere of influence will be. They can learn a little bit more about you as a person - it humanizes it, and still keeps you top of mind - it would be the equivalent of showing up to a local party.
I was really surprised to find 20+ of my friends on Facebook within that last 3 months - it's absolutely exploding!”

   --Sean Goerss

“I have been using Facebook for the past year or so - primarily for personal use to post pics and video's and share them with family and friends. What I've noticed is that everyone is now using Facebook to do the same thing and just having fun interacting with each other too. Now I'm seeing that my personal and business contacts and just plain acquaintances are all becoming more of a single integrated online network. Sharing personal info with a new acquaintance or business contact helps the relationship bond faster, and they will reciprocate too, so know you'll know key things about them, you'll begin to like each other, and trust each other and that is the perfect recipe for a business transaction!
Give it a try, create a profile, and take your time with it - it will grow on you and you'll grow too.”

   --Donna Williams

“I have a lot of people that I have re-connected with recently on facebook and myspace. It is nice to be able to re-introduce yourself to old friends and let them know that you are a Realtor. This has helped me build up my contact list, while also catching up with old friends.”

   --Pamela Post

“I use MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Plaxo regularly. In my opinion, most agents have the wrong idea about how they work for business. Here's my take:
When ever I make a new contact, I search to see if I can find them on each social network. If I do, I ask them to "be my friend." My pages have personal info as well as business info. I update my status regualry -whether it's "Steph is going shopping", "Steph is headed to a listing appointment", "Steph is off to hula hoop class"....whatever it is I may be doing. That way the person gets to know and trust me on a social level AND keeps me top-of-mind in real estate matters.
I also have a "homes I've sold" photo group and links to my website and blog. Occaisonally I will repost real estate related articles that I find interesting. I don't syndicate listings on FB, I think it's the wrong place for it.
If you are expecting stragers to contact you on a social networking site - it's NEVER going to happen. The only strangers that will contact you are other agents. I do accept their friend requests and I place them in a separate group. You never know when you might get a great idea or possibly a referral from one of them.
Bottom line is that social networking is a tool to keep you top-of-mind for people who already know you or have at least provided you with some type of contact information at some point. These networks are NOT a direct selling tool.”

   Later on…

“So I had a good Facebook experience today.
I had gotten a lead from my website (just some basic info- a girl who registered with my IDX). She had found my site through a Goggle Adwords campaign.
At the end of every week I take an hour to search Facebook to see if any of my recent registrations were connected. If they are; I befriend them.
Well this girl sees that we have a couple of mutual friends already. She commented on it and asked how I knew them. It turns out I had represented them both on their last purchases! What a small world. I hooked her up with a local lender for pre-approval and for now I'll send her my monthly e-newsletter. I can't imagine that she won't call me when she's ready to purchase in August.
Without Facebook, we might not have ever made that strong of a connection! Cool huh?”

   --Stephanie Lawrence-Crawford

“Here's where I find value in Facebook. Notice that every time you log in, your home page gives you updates on all kinds of things your friends are doing - their status, things they've posted, comments they've made on other people's pictures, etc. Well, think about what your friends might see about YOU when THEY log in. I go on almost every day and do something related to real estate - either change my status to something like "John is happy they expanded the first-time homebuyer tax credit, or post a link to an article I think people will find interesting/helpful in real estate. Most website that post news articles now have some kind of link "usually a button that says "Share" that lets you post that article to a number of different social networking sites like FB. For those that don't, you can actually add a "Share on Facebook" button to your web browser's links menu. Then, ANY website you're on, just click the link button, and it will post to FB, allowing you to add comments. As I sift through the NAR emails or other news items I come across, I post anything I think is positive and interesting about real estate.
Every time I post, I know some of my friends will see this the next time they log on (not everyone, because it only shows the most recent updates). This keeps my name in front of all these people constantly, and more importantly reminds them that I'm in the business! The trick is to have lots of friends - especially locally.
I also use it to catch up with high school friends, etc. I join or create groups like "I hung out at Haulover Beach in the 80's" etc. It's fun and shows you've got a personality and aren't all business. But be careful, you can get addicted and spend all day looking for old buddies or finding people with similar interests. You really need to watch this!”

   --John Laibson

“Facebook can be an excellent way to reconnect with people as far back as High School. Facebook can be very time consuming if you get caught up in the everyday posting as many poeple do, but you can use it to generate new leads. In a matter of hours you could be connected to over 50 people who you haven't spoke with in decades. Then you turn that into a marketing campaign. Gather all of there email addresses and start sending monthly e newsletters and reminders that your in the busines and can help them."

   --Brian Pastore

“I heard [someone] talking about being on Facebook a few weeks ago. I was curious so I became a member, built my profile and within a matter of days I had reconnected with most of my high school class. I haven't kept in contact with anyone from high school since I moved 30 miles away from my hometown. Since joining, I have already met with one that is starting the process of looking for a new home and they have already referred me to to one of their relatives. I can't believe that after 20 years there is still a sphere to tap there. That being said...I have to agree with Andrew that while it may not be for everyone, there is certainly potential for success.”

   --Carol Jackson

"I have only just started to use some of these sites such as Facebook, My Space, Reunion.com, and I have to say, to me they seem like an excellent way to get in contact with people...many of which you may have known and lost track of throughout the years. I was pretty excited to get started finding old classmates, and other people. Thats the best way to prospect right, is by building your list of contacts with people who already know and like you?"

   --Angela Brown