Best Practices to make Property Owl network work for you
Or any other social network for that matter:
Much of this may have been written elsewhere, but I am noticing more of what I would call ‘link posting’. Using a network or a community is so much more than just posting a link. Moreover, it is common ground that to really maximise followers, grow loyalty and get people to actual follow your link in the first place, one needs to build some trust and brand loyalty. Prolific and respected bloggers could get away with one line saying have a look at this widget and then the link because people know them, trust them and listen to them. You have to work at achieving this status. So how do you that? Hopefully the following will give you a little idea:
- Your Profile Picture. People often see this first. If your logo doesn’t fit within the square, try a picture of yourself. Do people actually trust your logo in any event? Remember that whilst your logo may look above your shop, does it look good when reduced to this size and what message does it say. It is easier to use your photo. Many people use cartoon characters or animals (guilty!) but you have to ask what message do they convey. Great if they are fun and understandable,but many are not and can send the wrong message. Again, use your own picture, or use a model and pretend it is you
(only joking) - Promote you and your business. facebook has a fan page for your business. Why? To allow you to push your business whilst retaining your own profile and character. Great, do this! Property Owl does not have such a model, essentially because we are a b2b network, but what you can do is create Groups to promote a number of different facets of your business or just for you. So create a Group (ask us if you want to creat a group).
- Post relevant and entertaining content. We have said it a million tiomes before. It is pointless just posting a link to your site. Write some quality content, write something funny. It doesn’t have to be long, just well written. By association people will visit you and come back for more. Just write from the heart and see how it comes out. The vast majority of blogs are just written by passionate people who want to talk about their given subject. Don’t write for others, write for yourself and they will come (but don’t build a baseball pitch – name that film anyone?)
- Interact with others on the community. Interaction is of course an element of the end goal. You want to interact with customers and whilst some on Property Owl are not direct customers they are all potential introducers. Have fun! Ask questions of others, make suggestions and invite feedback, you want interaction remember. Comment on other’s posts and articles.
- Use Ads. I didn’t want to put this in as seems like shameless advertising, but if you are continually posting links which are pushed down the activity stream daily and this is all you do, why not take a advert and ensure your brand remains within the users sight. When coupled with great content you have built your own mini marketing platform from which to attract new users and give them and older members quality information.
- Get a Blog. Look at Propertyadguru by way of an example. They regularly post and this attracts comments, but it also does very well in google. It is easy to set up and Free and will drive traffic to your brand.
- Dont’t just post a link. Ask your self why you need to do this? Why not write a few sentences summarise what you are trying to get people to see. Link within the summary if you have to, but why not conduct the conversation within the community? Every comment, forum thread you join, interact with is building a connection with followers. Put simply, you don’t have to invite them to see the message elsewhere. The network is designed for you to communicate within it.
Property Pal wrote a post, facebook for beginners, which is worth reading in conjuction with the above.
Above all, have a little fun !
Categories: Help, Property Owl, social media | 
Tags: interaction, links, network, profile, property | 
No Comments »
World Cup Sweepstake Draw
What you have all been waiting for – the Draw! Sponsored by Hufrod Salvi Carr.
Check out the group for your team’s odds and good luck.
Samantha Collett – DENMARK
Phillip Malley – ITALY
Aaron Estates – FRANCE
Shanaka Thanapathy – IVORY COAST
Inge Gaitskill – AUSTRALIA
Geoff Short – PARAGUAY
Kevin Hollinrake – SPAIN
luisa – HOLLAND
Paul Hajek – SOUTH AFRICA
markharrison – URUGUAY
Paul Anthony – GHANA
Parv – BRAZIL
Kyrenia Gross – ENGLAND
James Dearsley – CHILE
graham downie – USA
Belvoir Lettings Sheffield – ARGENTINA
Ben Harris – PORTUGAL
Daniel Hare – SERBIA
Tepilo – NIGERIA
Ben Quiney - MEXICO
Tom – GERMANY
Martin Smith – CAMEROON
Categories: social media | Tags: prizes, world cup | 11 Comments »
Domain names – are they worth it ?
A recent discussion within the community asks whether new domain extensions are worth the money. How many do you have, will you be buying the proposed .co for the UK, is it just another domain name you will never use? Do you have a domain strategy?
Please let me have your thoughts on the subject.
Many thanks
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments »
New Poll – who will win the general election?
I know everyone is polling at the moment, but what do we think in the property industry, who will win the next election?
Vote now on the property owl site. Also on the facebook site.
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: election, vote | No Comments »
Property Owl Index for real estate technology in the UK
A bit of a mouthful, but as threatened in an earlier update, we are building an Index similar to the 1000watt consulting Index
I suspect we can shorten the name to the Property Owl Index 
Please submit property real estate companies you feel are worthy of inclusion in such an index by replying to this post. More to follow.
Categories: Property Owl | Tags: index | 1 Comment »
Property Owl blogs generate traffic
I have just posted on the Property Owl Blog (the big brother of this one) that checking my google analytics account revealed a growing upward trend of decent traffic to the blogs you are all writing. In a nutshell, they are starting to work very well. This is partly because of their url structure and association with the netowrk and when they are filled with really good content (see propertyadguru for an example) they do really well. And I am not meaning here they do well for Property Owl, they are doing well for their creators.
The message is go and create a blog in this space and increase traffic to your company.
But first, consider these helpful tips from FOREM for writing a decent real estate blog.
1. Be consistent. Consistency and commitment are key. Finding the time to write three posts per week is a challenge, but it is one you must overcome, especially in the beginning. Everyone has a way of doing it and I will often write two or three in one sitting and then go back and edit them and drip feed into the mix. The important message is to keep it going.
2. Write for your local market. This is an excellent tip for agents and one that also opens up numerous avenues of content for your posts. We write for the industry and it is sometimes difficult to write new, interesting information. Locally, you have a world of information available. Write about all that is happening in you area, how it could affect house prices etc. We have said it before, become a voice of authority in your area.
3. Avoid too many stats and facts. This is common sense really. Ask yourself the question – would you read pages of facts and figures?!
4. Do not post negative comments. It depends on your writing style, but moaning and whining is not attractive in the blogosphere, unless you are actually writing for moan.com.
5. Promote your blog. Writing your blog is half of the battle, you now have to push it through a number of channels. See the FOREM post for some helpful links that can help you push your content.
I was actually speaking to a young ladythe other day who is just beginning to write blogs and she wanted to know where to start. Having discussed a number of matters with her we discovered a particular issue she was passionate about within the industry, a cause if you like. I believe this can be helpful when starting as it gives your blog focus. On the other hand, I guess one has to be careful that a cause doesn’t turn into a campaign. I think what I am saying is have a theme in mind (for example the online revolution in real estate) and write around this subject drawing in content and information that supports elements of your position.
Alternatively, just go for it and write whatever pops into your head – that is what we all do really
Categories: Property Owl, social media | Tags: blog, tips, work | 2 Comments »
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well
FOREM posts on an old classic, Zig Ziglar. The video is a promotional speech entitled the prime the pump and the general ethos is ‘you have to put something in to get something out’.
Yes, an old cliche, but it remains the truth. We all struggle to devote time and energy to the online cause as it threatens to consume us, but to succeed we have to put more in. As FOREM remarks, dabbling is not enough, you have to jump in, do it and keep doing it until you master it. Enjoy the video:
Categories: Media, social media | Tags: forem, prime, pump, zig ziglar | 11 Comments »
Opening the site to Joe Public
How do we all feel about opening what is currently a B2B community, social network, real estate community, to the masses that are the public?
On the one hand, I feel it is the sensible route to go as customers we be able to communicate with agents and other professionals within the industry. On the other hand, does Joe public really want to be involved in such a community when house hunting/moving or just in general? Maybe they do and they would benefit from the advice, discussions, referred businesses and contact with others going through the same procedures. But maybe they would just rant and rave. I am sure agents would benefit as it will put them in direct contact with customers.
My entrepreneurial gut says go for it and build an environment where we can all communicate, so that is what we are going to do. That is the ‘if’, now I just need to tackle the ‘how’. Any suggestions as to how we attract and manage joe public within the community? Do you want them in here with you?
Any thoughts?
Categories: Property Owl | Tags: communication, joe, public | No Comments »
Estate agent social network
What are we doing?
I am having difficultly labelling what it is we are doing. I know I have posted on this before and one of my earlier thoughts was (and remains) that within the UK it would be easier to refer to the property industry as a whole as the ‘real estate industry’. Of course, many still call agents, estate agents and thus everyone else in the industry has to call themselves property this or property that.
So where does that leave a community of these players? Well, conduct a search for real estate network and we are top (above activerain would you believe), but search for estate agent network and we are not there. This is not a surprise in terms of SEO, if I had wanted to call the community an estate agent network I would have. But look at the results for the ‘estate agent netork’ search term and you will see some of the larger collectives of estate agents.
That said, these are not networks in the sense of what we are doing. So are we a social network for estate agents? Search for this term and you find activerain above us, but moreover one finds real estate blogs discussing social media and social networking. Indeed, yes we are a social network for estate agents, but we are also a network for all in the industry and this comes back to my initial point regarding what we call this industry.
Not that a company should be difined by search terms, but it does beg the quesiton, what would you search for if you wanted to join an estate agency network, real estate network, agency community Linkedin state they are ‘… an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals…’
There is the word network again, but is it a social network? I will let the social media gurus debate that one, but I keep coming back to what we have called it, but then I would
Enjoy the community and call it whatever takes your fancy.
Categories: Property Owl, social media | Tags: esate agent, linkedin, social network | 2 Comments »
Encouraging good use of the network
I am starting to see too many users clogging up the site with solicitations and even listings. When Active Rain started they had such issues and made a similar pleas to members to help clean up specific groups that were subject to solicitations and listings. They succeeded and I hope we can. After all, advertising in this manner is (a) not common sense and (b) not within the guidelines of Property Owl.
I am just trying to keep a lid on this early on and trying not to be a dictator so please let’s all work together to make this the best network in the UK. If you want to advertise let me know and give me some cash, it will benefit you more in the long run, I promise
Categories: Help, Property Owl | Tags: | No Comments »
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