So what are some of these “unwritten rules” that you can guide your Facebook Page posts? Here are some good general rules that you may find you need to adjust for your audience:

• Post every day. That may seem excessive to you but as people make more friends and Like more pages, your posts may be missed. If you are only posting once or twice a week then it could be a long time between posts if your community misses one or two of them. There are studies that show posting between 3-5 times a day can be good amount for Pages (make sure you are varying your posts and also watch your statistics to see what works best for your community). You can decide that you might take the weekend off but also realize that the weekend is when many people are on Facebook.
• Focus on engagement. You are trying to connect and get response from your community. Ask questions, post helpful tips, links to articles that your audience will Like and Share. When you make the posts about your audience and what they need rather than selling, you will develop a richer and deeper relationship with your community. You will sell more as a byproduct of that deeper relationship. Set aside time to follow up on posts and respond to questions on your Wall.
• Have a call to action. Tell people to click the Like or comment on the post. Or have them watch your video or go to your website.
• Don’t oversell or undersell. No one likes a never-ending sales pitch. By the same token, make sure you do highlight your wares from time-to-time! Use the 80-20 rule for sales messages vs. content/connection posts. So if you decide to post five times a week, one of the posts should be a sales message and four posts will be other helpful or fun content for your community.
• Make it fun. Facebook is a social community. People are there to have fun. This is a place where you can let your corporate hair down a little. Stay true to your brand but think of ways to entertain your audience.

Click here to read the free HubSpot White Paper yourself!

• Calls-to-action do best “above the fold” – the space where your webpage is viewable to the user without having to scroll down. Accord to heat map analysis, anything “below the fold” will only be viewed by 50% of people who visit the page.
• Your web designer might kick and scream about this, but if your call-to-action blends in too much with your site design, it won’t stand out as much. You want as many eyeballs to land on that call-to-action as possible, so use contrasting colors to make the CTA stand out.
• Whenever you create a new blog post, choose an offer that’s most relevant to the content of the post. Then add a call-to-action to the bottom of that blog post linking to the landing page for that offer. Informational offers such as ebooks, guides, and webinars do very well in this space, because people reading your blog likely are eager to get more free information from you.
• Make it clear in your brief paragraph and/or bullet points what the benefits of the offer are. It’s more than just listing what the offer is comprised of; it takes a bit of spin. Instead of “Includes specifications of product XYZ,” say something like “Find out how XYZ can increase productivity by 50%.” In other words, convey the value of your offer clearly and effectively.
• When creating a thank you page, not only can you bring back the navigation, but you can provide other links to keep the lead engaged. You can include calls-to-action to the next step in the buying cycle, link to your blog, encourage them to follow you on Twitter, ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, and more. You can do a lot more with your thank you pages than just adding tracking code!

Click here to read the free HubSpot White Paper yourself!

Introducing RAINMAKER SOCIAL, the one-of-a-kind collection of tools to enhance your RAINMAKER MEGA SITE and bring it into the Social Age. Social Media and “social search” have arrived. And, the future is now. Here’s why:

• “Inbound links are a good measure of authority, but they are slow. In a social media world, a relevant piece of content on a subject could become outdated in minutes.” – RAINMAKER SOCIAL users love the easy-to-use share tools in the new system compared to the out-dated (and slower) inbound links. With the share tools, you can constantly share content and stay relevant without the wait!
• “Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter are battling over the future of search. It is clear to all of these internet giants that social search is the future.” – These companies basically decide what user’s search. As they enhance Social Search, we all will be taken along for the ride too. That’s why it’s important for RAINMAKER SOCIAL users to hop on the bandwagon now so you get an early start on the future ahead of your competition.
• “Google+ is the fastest growing social network ever.” Google+ is not important – not yet — in the inherent contact database sense like Facebook. However, going forward Google will be using Google+ as its main source of social search data. Because Google is the #1 search engine in the world (no surprise there!) that makes Google+ an important tool in Google’s Social Search Rankings. Bottom line: Social search is coming on fast. Ride the wave…don’t get drowned by it.
• “Facebook’s current share of the search engine market is miniscule… why does Facebook not have at least a negligible portion of the search market? Simple: Private data. … The limitations of private data make Facebook a weak search engine and subsequently resulted in very little usage.” – This however has changed recently with the inclusion of the ability to select your own privacy settings with each individual post. RAINMAKER SOCIAL users are now sharing via the PUBLIC option that is now included. Use this public option as much as possible and you will build a pool of data and results that optimize your chances of being found through Facebook search.
• “Social search is really about more personalized search engine results.” – Search in the future will be personalized. That’s why RAINMAKER SOCIAL users are building their personal search network today.

Don’t miss out on the future. Check out www.RainmakerSocial.com for more information and order today to get a jump on your competition!

For more about integrating search and social marketing read this excellent, free whitepaper: www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-whitepapers/

Jesse Hickman

If you’re looking for content for your content marketing efforts, you’ve come to the right place.  Gooder Group prides itself on providing useful content for real estate professionals to find new prospects.

Gooder Group brochures and handbooks are designed to be included as a free offer for a “special report” in your marketing.  Prospects respond for further info and you engage the home buyer or seller in further discussion to assess their needs, timeline and exact situation.

For the month of January, Gooder Group is offering brochures and handbooks for 50% off — essentially, buy one, get one free.  Check out the 19 buyer, 28 seller and 11 general brochure titles and see which ones work best for your market.  REO, Foreclosure, Sell Fast, Short Sale and #1 Best Seller TAXES are moving fast!  Check out the in-depth 24-page handbooks for buyers, sellers, financing and relocation too!

Let us know how you use Gooder Group brochures and handbooks in your content marketing.

But, if you’re not putting the right planning and thought into your marketing — or enough of either — and not taking the time to make sure you’re targeting the right groups who might be ready to buy or sell a home, you’re likely firing too early.  You’re sending out marketing before you aim, before you’re ready.

If you don’t plan, you aren’t going to hit your target and your marketing isn’t going to produce the results you want — or possibly any results at all.

What are your resolutions for the new year in terms of getting your marketing out in the ready-aim-fire order?

The opportunities are endless and the impressions you’ll get as an advertiser are great.  Consider these facts from Forrester Research about e-book users:

7% of adults read e-books.  This number is expected to double next year, making almost 1 in 5 adults reading e-books.

Of those who own e-book readers such as Kindles, 41% of the books they read are in e-book form.

The e-book market is expected to grow from $966 million in 2010 to $3 billion by 2015.

As you plan for future marketing opportunities, don’t forget e-books in your mix.  You might find local, independent publishers seeking sponsors to get a book published — and advertisements might be the winning option for you.

If you’re an e-book user, how do you feel about ads in your e-books?  As a real estate professional who markets themselves, how do you feel about advertising in e-books?

According to Burst Media who conducted a survey in November of this year, a little over half (54.9%) of those surveyed considered dynamic ads “annoying and distracting.”  Never fear.  If you remember the early years of banner ads and other online advertising, everyone thought they were annoying and distracting as well.  Banner ads haven’t disappeared just because of that sentiment early on.

Dynamic, targeted ads are likely here to stay as evidenced by those who “like” the ads:  35.2% (one third) of 18-34-years old respondents, 25.1% (one quarter) of those age 35-54 years old and 16.7% of those 55 and older.

In terms of whether respondents like — or dislike — a company more after seeing a targeted ad from them, the ads have little impact:  17.4% after visiting the advertiser’s website say they have a better impression of the company or product as a result of seeing the targeted ad, while a worse opinion is held by 10.9%.  In the survey, men (23.2%) are more likely than women (11.6%) to come away with a better impression of a company or product after seeing a dynamic ad.

What does this mean for you?  Your target market can be reached with targeted ads.  Take time to learn about dynamic advertising possibilities.  You might be surprised at the response you get!

Share your experience with targeted ads.

If you have a smart phone, you likely see how messages preview on your phone and show the first line or maybe few words of the message.   When you’re waiting for a text or email, and the sender puts the main message up front, you likely see the answer you’re looking for before you even open up the message.  It saves time and ensures that you spend time on only relevant messages.

As you craft your electronic marketing, you don’t necessarily have to be short and succinct to the point of leaving all the details out.  However, you need to be mindful of having the main point made upfront so that recipients can see what your message is immediately. The message will inspire action in motivated recipients.

You’ll increase your click through and read rates with interested prospects when you put the main idea out there first.

How do you craft your electronic messages to ensure the message’s main point is obvious at the beginning?

Keep your ears and eyes open for opportunities to advertise in online streaming programs.

Let us know if you’ve moved into this advertising arena and what you’ve experienced.

The key questions to successful marketing pieces are:

• Will your recipients notice it?
• What response — if any — does it encourage?
• Is the call to action compelling?
• Does it speak to the recipients’ needs?
• Is it motivating and does it encourage them to action?
• Will it foster a conversation or deepen a business relationship with you?

It really doesn’t matter if you only like your marketing. It needs to be noticed by and motivating for your recipients and the creation of it should be centered on their needs.

What tips do you have for marketing to be successful?