If I’m a true fan of a business (not just in the Facebook sense), I am rooting for that business’s success. I’m an advocate for the product or service. I feel a sense of pride when I see people using the product or I hear of the business’s growth. I’m invested. The business’s success is my success. That connection does not get created with the click of a button.

The volume of real Facebook fans you have is a trailing indicator of how your customers feel about you. You will not earn more real fans with giveaways and coupons. You’ll just build a list as impersonal and generally ineffective as the average non-customer email database. They will ‘hide’ you from their stream quicker than an ‘unsubscribe’ request.

Having a lot of Facebook fans alone doesn’t make you a popular company, just like having stacks of business cards doesn’t make you a good networker.

The businesses I’m a fan of have worked for that type of respect and investment from me. They didn’t give me a coupon in exchange for my allegiance or fandom. They built that respect before I was willing to click the button.

If you’re unhappy with your volume of fans, consider doing more to earn the allegiance of your customers before you ask for it.

Related posts:

1. Don't be Afraid of Customer Criticism
2. Internet Marketing Deja Vu
3. Self-Prospecting with Social Networks

It’s difficult to find a subject that’s less clear to most builders - How exactly do their community listings get distributed to directories on the web, and how do they change or improve their content, accuracy, placement, etc?

New Home Feed is aiming to change all that. By far, it was my best product/service takeaway from the International Builder Show. New Home Feed was put together by a San Francisco based ad agency doing lots of work with builders, Graphic Language. They hear all the complaints about the general mess that is builder listings on the web -

“My listings should be on that site.”
“We’re not paying for that community to be listed there.”
“That community has been closed for a year!”

Thankfully, these guys are talented enough to do something about it.

New Home Feed is a listing distribution service designed to simplify the management and distribution of builder community listings to the largest real estate directories on the web, free and paid sites alike. Its a tool designed for use directly by the builder to manage your presence on the web.

What I like about New Home Feed:

• They’re not a listing site. They have no interest in hoarding listings, leads, impressions, or controlling clicks. They work for the builder, and create a marketplace for directories to compete for your business.
• Independent data. They’re delivering builders metrics, as a third party, detailing what listing sites are getting you the most activity.
• Fresh Listings. That’s their own phrase, but New Home Feed is touting strong commitments from listing sites to prioritze the data from their listings.
• Data Control. They provide builders with community-level control of what information goes where. If you want community A, B, and C to go to Trulia.com, and community C, D, and F to go to NewHomesDirectory.com, but communities A-Z to go to NewHomeSource.com and Move.com, its all possible. This kind of control was previously only achievable for the national builder crowd.

While the service will not be released for a few more months yet, I’m excited about the level of control its going to provide builders. I was fortunate enough to get a full demo at IBS, and hope the guys will be dripping out some more news and maybe some screen shots as the launch draws near, including some firm pricing. At first glance, its going to be geared to the mid-sized regional builder, but I’m hopeful for some small builder options, too.

Its one of the few tools I’ve seen recently that genuinely empowers a builder to become more independent, as opposed to requiring them to become more reliant on a particular service.

Full disclosure: I attended a dinner at IBS co-sponsored by New Home Feed, but I’m in no way affiliated. I genuinely like the concept they’re presenting.

Related posts:

1. A Nearly Free Mobile Website Option for Home Builders
2. Homebuilder Mobile Marketing with Google
3. Self-Prospecting with Social Networks

I captured all but the first few seconds using my cell phone. The audio/video doesn’t line-up perfect, but this video is well worth the watch nonetheless. Have fun, and thanks to Jeff and Jim for the laughs.

Can’t see the video? Click Here.

Related posts:

1. Mobile Marketing and New Homes – A Perfect Fit
2. A Nearly Free Mobile Website Option for Home Builders
3. A Full Day of Brain-Food – TEDx Mid-Atlantic

While the rules vary a little for each event, a few consistent things remain:

• Interaction and conversation is key. This is not an event where attendees go to spoken to, but rather to be spoken with.
• Presentations are brief, but impactful. Sometimes as long as 45 minutes, but many as short as 10. Good news for the A.D.D. crowd.
• Presentations are designed for inspiration. While a 6 hour course may also be inspiring, these short presentations dive right into the heart of a topic and are designed to ignite new ideas in attendees.
• The attendees come voluntarily because of their passion for the foundation of the event. They are there to connect with like minded people.
• They’re generally awesome.

I am fourtunate enough to be a part of the Sales & Marketing Council (SMC) of the Home Builders Association of Maryland. The council has organized a spectacular event in the spirit of the new conference trend, and has aptly chosen the name of SMC SalesCamp. I am also privileged to be speaking at this first SMC SalesCamp, and while yes, I may be a bit biased, I must say that the event is truly one worth attending. The speakers lined up by the board include the current President of the Maryland Association of Realtors, the head of home builder relationships for Trulia.com, two power-brokers, and many more. If you’re anywhere near the Baltimore area, you really need to be there. Its March 9th at the Sheraton BWI, 8:30a – Noon.

Did I mention its free?

Yep, thanks to awesome sponsors like MetLife Home Loans, Cindy Plackmeyer Marketing, and Forty West Builders (with more coming), the event costs absolutely zero to attend. However, space is limited (no joking here), so registration is required. Head over to SMC SalesCamp for more details.

Hopefully I get to see you there.

Related posts:

1. A Full Day of Brain-Food – TEDx Mid-Atlantic
2. How is Twitter Changing Communication?
3. Its 2010, Do You Know Where Your Listings Are?

The opportunities that I recommend paying attention to in 2010 have not changed much from what I recommended in 2009. They have, however, become much more targeted. I think 2010 will be less of the “year of new“, and more of the “year of better.”

In February of 2009, I presented “Internet Marketing: Five Things You Must Know in 2009″ to the Home Builders Association of Maryland. In that presentation, the key items I outlined for builders to focus on were:

• Website analytics
• Search – SEO & Paid Search
• Video
• Mobile Internet
• Social Media

Below you can see the slides I presented then:

Can’t see the slides? Click here

As I’ve prepared and reviewed marketing plans for 2010, many of the topics are generally the same, but in most of the categories, the specifics have gotten a lot more specific – AND the synergies [sorry for the buzzword] between them have all gotten stronger. Here are some examples of the convergences I’m talking about.

• Search Engine Optimization – What shows up on page one of a Google search, now more than ever, is impacted by real-time social media conversations. Additionally, the opportunity to have video results appear on that page have increased. Clearly, any 2010 SEO strategy is fully integrated with the social media and video strategy.
• Video - Moving beyond last year’s basics of high-quality and YouTube, in 2010, video will need to be a driver of traffic via search engines. It will need to be produced faster, and it will need to be available in more places – company website, YouTube, blog, Facebook, mobile friendly options, among others.
• Mobile - The continued proliferation of mobile phones offering a rich internet experience has made mobile a more realistic and justifiable investment. The cost of developing iPhone “apps” are steadily decreasing, as is the cost of developing a mobile website. In 2010, the focus will go beyond just being mobile. The prizes will be found by making the mobile experience fast, relevant, and rich – This means including prices, photos, easy contact options (integrated with the phone), social media integration, and mobile friendly video.
• Social Media – This year will bring out big evolutions in social media – Companies will focus on better integrating social activity into their own website, and everything else they do online, and many tools will simply mature to a level making it easier to recognize their business value.

So what will you be working on in 2010? Anything you think I missed?

Related posts:

1. A Nearly Free Mobile Website Option for Home Builders
2. When the Numbers are Too Big to be Relevant
3. Mobile Marketing and New Homes – A Perfect Fit

So I’ve decided to take a serious dose of my own advice and go through 2009 to share what’s still relevant, and continue to share more throughout 2010.

Have anything in your digital archives to share? Here’s a few good places to start:

Video: YouTube will almost always be (one of) the right place(s), but also consider Vimeo from non-commerical high quality video, UStream for live streaming video, and Qik for brief video updates. Find my new profile on YouTube.

Presentations (PowerPoint/Keynote):  Slideshare is the place for this. You can also add an audio track to turn your slides into an all out presentation. Great to share a recorded webinar. Find my new profile on Slideshare.

Papers: Scribd is my preference for this. I uploaded my “Intro to Social Media for Business” paper there early in 2009 and it quickly racked up over 3000 readers. Find me on Scribd.

Look for upcoming posts to include some of 2009’s media.

Related posts:

1. Self-Prospecting with Social Networks
2. 2010 is Going to Make You Cry
3. When the Numbers are Too Big to be Relevant

I am convinced that the mobile web offers some of real estate’s most exciting opportunities in the next 5-10 years.

Some of the ideas I’m about to share are certainly not the “show me some case studies” type, but most great opportunities are best identified early, no? And as is the case with all impactful technologies, those companies that identify and take advantage of that potential sooner than their competitors, have an advantage. They gain critical “trial-and-error” wisdom that will take their competitors years to learn.

Check out my posts from September and November of 2008 for a primer on my thoughts about Mobile Marketing for New Homes and Home Builder Mobile Marketing with Google. Below I’d like to hash out what I see as the next step (not that, as an industry, we’ve taken the first one yet.)

What we’re just beginning to see is the power of the Internet, combined with location specific relevance, combined with mobility, combined with personal recommendations. Yes, all of this has taken off with a game by the name of Foursquare.

For those of you not familiar with Foursquare, I encourage you to check out their website and even sign-up to play – I was excited when the game was finally made available in my hometown of Baltimore. The short explanation – Foursquare is a game where users who register (for free) use their mobile phones to “check-in” at any location/business to which they travel – gas station, coffee shop, deli, school, etc. Players are rewarded for check-ins based on volume, frequency, and consistency. After regular check-ins at a particular location, a user may be awarded the status of “Mayor.” For example, a Foursquare player may carry the title of “Mayor of Starbucks – East & Main” or “Mayor of BP Gasoline – Downtown.” Players are also connected to their friends, getting to see where their friends have traveled, and even receive notes and recommendations left by their friends.

Why should any business care about Foursquare?

First, Foursquare is building a very reliable local directory. I’m sure more than a handful of people have been frustrated with local business directories online. Foursquare is using its players to build an accurate database of local business and is using the GPS data from their phones to help.

Second, Foursquare players are “early adopters,” meaning they tend to be early users of new technology, and have a lot to do with a product’s evolution into the mainstream. This also means that they have a high likelihood to be influencers within their social circle; i.e. other people go to them for advice.

Third, Businesses can identify loyal customers. Most businesses would like to think they know all their regulars, but for many, it’s not realistic. Businesses can identify those regular patrons and reward them. Many businesses in popular Foursquare cities, like New York, already offer discounts and specials to whomever has been crowned “Mayor” of their establishment – Click here for a sample. What better way to reward customer loyalty, and encourage others to visit more?

Fourth, Research. Where do people go after they leave your business? What competitors are growing/shrinking their popularity? What else do people do around or near your business?

And if those aren’t good enough…

It seamlessly integrates with Twitter and Facebook making it easy for people to tell all their friends where they are, too.

Two great places to learn more about how businesses are using foursqaure:

foursquare.com – Great samples, and the company has made a commitment to provide data to businesses in the future – Like web analytics for real life… Truly, this could develop into the online-to-offline traffic connection we’ve been wishing for since the dawn of the Internet.
Robert Scoble – In a recent blog post he shared quite a few examples of how businesses are using Foursquare. Its more tech and less business, but a great read.

So what does all of this mean for home builders and real estate?

Lets look at the key features of the game/service:
We’ve given consumers a fun tool that encourages them to log the places they’ve visited.
We’ve got a tool that employs geo-location to suggest new places to its users.
We’ve got a tool that encourages its users to leave “tips” (aka reviews at times) for their friends.

Below are just a handful of ideas:

1. A “Parade of Homes” where users would check-in at each model using Foursquare. Reward participants for checking in at all the models on the tour, and encourage them to leave “tips” for future visitors. A little while ago I projected that within 18 months, somebody will do this. I’d love to see it happen sooner.
2. What about organizing a Realtor tour? Encourage agents to visit your models on a tour, or simply encourage them to “check-in” at your models more often (with clients preferably).
3. Reward your regulars. Identify the agents who visit more than one of your communities.
4. Partner with a local business and offering their “check-ins” some type of bonus to stop over for a model tour.

But wait… there’s more

Foursquare recently announced it released an API (Application Programming Interface) – a way for other companies to build on top of its service. This means that almost any company who can think of a creative or useful way to use Foursquare’s service, can now integrate the data into another system. When announcing the release of its API, Foursquare shared that an integration is already under way with the Layar browser for Android powered mobile phones and iPhones. Not familiar with how cool Layar is? You can see an example video here. Mashable.com also has a nice write up on why this API is big news.

Waste of time?

Foursquare has been called a waste of time by some. How many remember when the Internet was called a waste of time? I still hear that from some people today.

Some of the thoughts I shared above use Foursqaure as the basis for the idea, but it may not actually be Foursquare that is eventually used to accomplish them. Like many tech startups, they can be bought in an instant, or their technology duplicated by someone with a better twist. With the release of its API, Foursquare has empowered a new world of possibilities. The eventual tool the home builder and real estate world embraces may not even look like Foursquare.

Who knows, maybe there’ll be a white label Foursquare solution available to Home Builders Associations, Property Management Companies, and Multiple Listing Services?

Most of this is a bit far out (not the concept, but the timeline). I don’t expect to see something like this for a while (maybe 3-6 months in an urban market), but I see amazing possibilities here.

What model home couldn’t use more traffic? What model home doesn’t want more visits from influencers in the community? What home builder isn’t trying to attract and identify active Realtors?

So, what are your thoughts? Waste of time, or real potential? I’d love to hear from you below.

Related posts:

1. Mobile Marketing and New Homes – A Perfect Fit
2. Homebuilder Mobile Marketing with Google
3. Mobile Real Estate Marketing Just got Awesome… thanks to Trulia

I was inspired by a number of the speakers there, but wanted to pick just a couple of them to share.

Sandy Wiggins, the former chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, gave poetic and profound meaning to building green. Unfortunately, his talk is not available on YouTube, most likely because there were some pretty big A/V blunders during his time on stage; none of them were Sandy’s fault and he handled all of them with unbelievable grace. Thankfully (at the very least), I scribbled down his final statement… “Sustainability is preserving humanity’s ability to participate in the dance of creation.”

The other speaker I wanted to share was Tony Geraci from Baltimore City Schools whose efforts to bring whole local foods, and a respect for what we eat, into the school system is making an impact. Tony has awesome stage presence and is an enjoyable speaker. His talk is well worth the watch. You can find it below:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Thanks so much to Dave Troy, all of the speakers, volunteers, and sponsors for a fantastic brain-food filled event.

Related posts:

1. Yes. A Camp for Us.
2. Starting Fresh
3. New Home vs. Green Homes

50 Things to Twitter

Helping them buy
News:
1. Tax credit news article
2. Local real estate values article
3. News of a local restaurant opening
4. News article about mortgage rates
5. News article about kitchen design trends
6. Share an article on the tax benefits of home ownership
7. Share an article about a nearby vacation destination
8. Share an article on green building
9. Share an article on energy efficiency
10. Share details of the local Home & Garden show

Information:
11. Link to the town/city entry in Wikipedia
12. Link to local public transportation map
13. Share a link to a Google map referencing local points of interest

Local Interest:
14. Share a link to information about the local school fundraiser
15. Report on the local high school football game
16. Share photos of a local fair
17. Link to school performance report
18. Link to news article featuring a local school student or athlete
19. Share news about a traffic detour

Help your prospects/owners:
20. Share when you see a local “help wanted” sign
21. Share a link to a local storage space rental place
22. Link to local coffee house coupon
23. Share a link to a business owned by a community resident
24. Direct people to a contingent buyer’s current house listing to help it sell
25. Remind your followers when it’s time to plant bulbs
26. Remind your followers about little league sign-up deadlines
27. Share tips to help contingent buyers/prospects sell their current home

Fun:
28. Share a photo of the trees as the leaves change colors
29. Share photos of the best snow sledding hill in the community
30. Share a photo of a sunset in the community
31. Share photos from a community cookout
32. Tweet about the neighborhood kids’ lemonade stand
33. Tweet about the local babysitting/pet-sitting service
34. Tweet about your resident’s car for sale
35. Invite followers to a community cookout

Community News:
36. Share a photo of the new community entrance monument
37. Share a photo of the freshly planted flowers in the common area
38. Share photos of the new community center under construction
39. Announce that the community pool has opened
40. Announce HOA Meeting

Gratitude:
41. Congratulate new home buyers
42. Congratulate new home owners (Tag them in the tweet if they’re Twitter users)
43. Thank a local Realtor for visiting a community (Tag them in the Tweet if they’re Twitter users)

Promotion:
44. A new community grand opening
45. A new model grand opening
46. A new floor plan being offered
47. A new option incentive
48. A new lot release
49. A new interest rate special
50. A special price on an inventory home

49 Ways to Listen on Twitter

Listen for names:
1. Listen for your company/brand
2. Listen for your community names
3. Listen for your salespeople’s names
4. Listen for your competitors’ names
5. Listen for your competitors’ community names
6. Listen for people talking to your competitors

Listen for home buying conversations:
7. Listen for people tweeting your city and “new home”
8. Listen for people tweeting your city and “move”
9. Listen for people tweeting your city and “Realtor”
10. Listen for people tweeting your city and “foreclosure”

Listen to public opinion:
11. Listen for people’s opinions on the economy
12. Listen for people’s opinions of the real estate market
13. Listen for people’s opinions on mortgage rates

Listen to Realtor conversation:
14. Listen to local Realtor conversation about the market
15. Listen for Realtor mentions of new homes
16. Listen for Realtor conversation about your brand
17. Listen for Realtor conversation about your competitors
18. Listen to Realtor-to-consumer conversations

Listen for news:
19. Listen for mortgage news
20. Listen for financial news
21. Listen to local politicians
22. Listen to local economists
23. Listen to your local Chamber of Commerce
24. Listen to news from local newspapers
25. Listen to news from local real estate bloggers
26. Listen to Wall Street conversation about your brand

Listen to other industry sources of advice:
27. Listen to conference news (International Builder Show, PCBC, etc)
28. Listen to industry new sources (@builderonline, @bigbuilder)
29. Listen to industry associations (@homebuildrs, @nsmcnahb)
30. Listen to industry sales trainers (@jeffshore & My Twitter List of Trainers)
31. Listen to industry technology consultants (*cough* @dennisoneil *cough*)
32. Listen to green building news (@ecohomemagazine)
33. Listen to real estate brands (@trulia, @zillow)

Local Interest:
34. Listen to a local charity

Listen to consumer conversations about design trends:
35. Search for “whirpool tub”
36. Search for “granite kitchen countertop”
37. Search for “Trex deck”
38. Search for “kitchen remodel”
39. Search for “sustainable” & “home”

Listen for opinions about the city/town of a prospective community:
40. Search for conversation about area businesses
41. Search for conversation about area traffic
42. Search for conversation about area schools
43. Search for conversation about area recreation

Use Twitter to ask for feedback:
44. Ask Twitter for feedback on your new floorplan
45. Ask Twitter what’s important in a new home
46. Ask Twitter what would be a meaningful incentive
47. Ask Twitter what community amenities are important
48. Ask Twitter for feedback on a new website design
49. Ask local Realtors for their opinion on a new community location

I will always believe that I get more out of Twitter than I can ever put into it. Even though I gave only 49 listening examples here, good conversation rules apply. You should be listening a LOT more than talking.

I’d love to keep this list growing – Got any other ideas I could add to the list? Share them below.

Related posts:

1. How is Twitter Changing Communication?
2. Self-Prospecting with Social Networks
3. Location, Location, Foursquare. How the Game will Jolt Mobile Real Estate Marketing into Prime-time

I’ve written about social media hype before, and I’m going to talk more about it in a future post, but here I wanted to share just a few thoughts about the numbers.

The media coverage of social technologies lately has been something like “300 million this,” “1 billion that,” and “4th largest country.” The numbers have become too large to be relevant to the individual user, but music to the ears of a spammer.

Telling me 300 million people are doing whatever may be something I find interesting. Telling me 100,000 people share my interest in a topic will grab my attention. Telling me 1,000 people enjoy my favorite past-time every day is intriguing… But telling me 5 of my friends are doing something will make me move.

While we don’t have a tool (yet) to break down online activity by topic in this way, I came across this great counter that does help to make the numbers a bit more manageable. By making the counter start at zero, users can get a sense of the speed of conversation, instead of just the volume.

Thanks to http://personalizemedia.com for making such an awesome tool embeddable.

Related posts:

1. Internet Marketing Deja Vu
2. Are you Sharing Enough? Presentations, Video, Content, etc
3. Self-Prospecting with Social Networks