Dude, Blog Your Business!

A few weeks ago Tom and I did an impromptu interactive social media seminar at the 3000 Club Friday networking meeting.  It went so well that we decided to get together with our friend, Christine Springer, an expert and teacher on all things  LinkedIn, and create a seminar series on social media.

The first of that series – ‘Social Media Idol‘ starts on April 20th. Jasper is the seminars’ Simon Cowell character and the event and series have been designed to be interactive – in other words, you do all the work and we stand there and give our critique!  Only kidding –  don’t worry, Jasper isn’t nearly as harsh as Simon Cowell can be!  This first seminar is based on the premise that you need to know what the job is before you choose which tools you are going to use, and covers lots of interesting subjects like ‘purple cows‘, ‘buyer personas‘,  ’inbound marketing‘ and Web 2.0! 

This first seminar provides the groundwork for the later seminars in which we look at some of the specific tools of social media, such as Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, and Video Blogging – yes, even the video blogging will be interactive!  

Join Christine, Tom Hinchey and myself on Monday, April 20th OR Monday, April 27th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Catch 22 Sports Grill in Phoenix . (Food and drink specials will be available!) The cost is $34 in advance for the initial seminar – register here or at Christine’s site  www.LinkForSuccess.com.

Dave and I and Tom Hinchey  went to the SEVRAR Tech Conference yesterday at the Mesa Convention Center. I have to say it was a great event and well attended – a big thanks to the organisers with a special nod to our friend, Robb Gibbs for putting this event on. We shall definitely exhibit there next year.

This is a game-changing year for the real estate industry and, from what we observed, social media is going to be one of the big new marketing tools for connecting property buyers with property sellers. The two speakers we saw had some useful insights into the emerging trends of technology use in the real estate industry. The first, John Peckham (pictured above) of the Real Estate CyberSpace Society   documented the progression of technology use from the days of the typewriter and provided two great quotes which are worth sharing and are relevant to any business -

“Without promotion something terrible happens – nothing“. PT Barnum

and

“The principle mark of genius isn’t perfection but originality” Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple

Social media, and video blogging in particular, especially for the real estate industry can answer the needs of both those quotes.

The second speaker we saw was Jay Thompson – the PhoenixRealEstateGuy  - who has probably the best know blog in real estate circles, especially in Phoenix. He gave a superb insight into what blogging can do for a business but also highlighted the commitment that it takes. Indeed, it can do – but for those who want someone to do it all for them, or at least would like a nicely designed blog and the tuition to get them going, there is Dude Blog Your Business.

Like we say – customers buy more from people they know, we help your customers get to know you.

We have a particular plan for real estate blogs, one we would be happy to share with any real estate companies that are interested in finding out more.

Here’s an event I recently saw advertised in smallbiztrends.com which might be of interest to you if you live in the New York area. Courtesy of Anita Campbell for the story:

The ‘Taste of Technology’ Small Business Series, presented by smallbiztechnology.com will take place on September 16, 2008.

Topic: “Beyond Web Sites and Email: How Social Media Can Grow Your Business.”

Descripton: Social media is the use of online tools, such as FaceBook, Twitter and blogs, that enable communication to your audience, from your audience and within your audience. Social media tools also enable easy communication from, to and between websites, cell phones, blogs and email.

When: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Samsung Experience, Time Warner Center | 10 Columbus Circle 3rd floor – NYC

Tickets: $49.

In a very useful article for entrepreneur.com Jon Rognerud spoke to one of the Masters of Social Media, Brent Csutoras, a leading internet marketing consultant who primarily specializes in social media, viral and search engine marketing strategies. (See the full article here.)
 
I wanted to highlight a few of the many important points that Csutoras made in the interview, particularly in respect of the commitment that you are making when you take on a marketing strategy using social media such as blogging. It is very important to understand that these marketing strategies can be very effective, but they do take time and considerable effort.

“Social media is *not* about just bookmarking your sites all over the place and joining Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, and posting some “pitchy” links. I hope that’s not what you’re doing. Social media marketing (SMM) is serious business, and you must have the same attitude about everything you do”, Csutoras states.

If you read any of the books on blogging they all say that blogging is about authenticity. It has to be real and it has to be interesting. It is essential that the content on your blog is of good quality. Csutoras continues, “After strategy signoff, start by participating in the communities. Provide real and useful comments, no spam obviously. Do not try to game this; build your presence online over time”.

Blogs are a powerful medium to connect with your audience because they are a two-way process. Your audience can talk to you through them – you can have a conversation. That is why social media are so much more successful than a purely static website.
 
The important thing, Csutoras emphasises, is that you must “make your site social media-friendly. No funky popups or hard to read/use sites. Blogs are commonly used, but make sure it’s professionally designed. Lately, I’ve found that authoritative sites can and will do better–and even commercial sites. Think about this: “Where do you want to be sourced from?” Even unique content on a crappy site will not get the respect it deserves.” It … “can take a long time, but the results are worth it!”

These are very valuable ideas to understand if you are looking at social media to market your business, which is why we have set them out in our informational links. This is why we have set up Dude, Blog Your Business. We believe in the importance of a professionally designed blog as well as the power of this medium. If you think that a blog can work for your business then we are here for you.