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 In a social media world, a relevant piece of content on a subject could become outdated in minutes.”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

The best takeaway to use on Twitter — any anywhere you engage people online — is the acronym R-A-R-E.  Keep your tweets:

• Relevant
• Articulate
• Reliable
• Enabling

She outlines more details for each in her article and we encourage you to read her article in its entirety.  R-A-R-E will keep your marketing efforts focused on client needs and make your social marketing sucessful.

What do you think of R-A-R-E?

The problem with Twitter is that your eyes and ears need to be really open.  You can’t assume that a tweet is simply a statement (especially if it comes from someone with 1,000,000+ followers).  Advertising subtleties have always been around in Twitter, it’s just the headlines are hitting now about it.

Just as online you can’t believe everything you read, Twitter is no different.  When a company (like us, Gooder Group) posts something online you know that our point of view is going to be about helping real estate professional find more leads, increasing your business, marketing smarter, using Gooder Group products and services, partnering with other suppliers who we work with, etc.  You know Gooder Group’s “biases.”   Others online may not make their connections known, so you have to tread a little more carefully.

Now you can understand why home buyers and sellers are wary.  They are given — and have access to — so much information that can help them make wise home buying and selling decisions.  But, some of it is not in their best interests.

Make your biases clear when you’re online.  Make your real estate services and company affiliation known.  Disclosure not only works as a marketing tool and being ethical, but allows home buyers and sellers know that you do have a bias, but you are also a treasure trove of useful local real estate information that they can’t get any where else.

Let us know how you sort through marketing messages to find those that are most useful to you.

If you’re not so inclined to click on each follower, one by one, to see where they are located, you now have another option. MapMyFollowers.com is a simple and quick program that allows you to see those followers who have indicated their location.  (No guarantees that the locations provided are 100% accurate as someone could be in your neighborhood, but list that they’re located somewhere in Chile, for example. Other Twitter users never indicate their location at all.)

It’s a quick picture to see if you’re reaching a local group, a national group or a worldwide group.  And, the best part it, checking it out only takes a mere minutes.  Once you get your map of followers, you can click on each pinpoint to see who is linked to which location.

How do you keep track of who is following you on Twitter?  Do you seek out local Twitter users specifically?

If you look even casually at what you are sharing, it’s most likely content.

What the content is can vary — photos, stats, articles, blog posts, etc.  However, it’s all content.  The sharing of information quickly and efficiently with those looking for it.

If you have nothing to share, you can’t really participate in social media, or can you?  Just a simple hi or hello doesn’t cut it.  You are sharing thoughts, facts, opinions and information in the community.  You’re encouraging interaction and seeking response.

What do you share in social media?

If you’re active on Twitter, you likely have people who follow your tweets. Everytime a new follower shows up, what do you do? If you click to look on their Twitter profile, that’s the start. Look over their profile — are they a consumer or a colleague or someone else, are they in your local area, what are their tweets about and who do they tweet with most often? (Is anyone you know mentioned or replied to in their tweet stream?)

Their profile likely also includes a website address. Go visit it. Find out more about this person (or entity). As you read and peruse, think of ways that you can work together. And, if you find the obvious connections that can begin the relationship, send them a private message on Twitter or email them from their website. Start the conversation and make the most of your social networking.

Same methodology goes for your business fan/follower page on Facebook. Click on new fan’s profile. See if you can tell anything about them from what elements of their public profile are accessible. Are they connected to any other fans or one of your friends? Google them if you have the time. See if you can find a connection with this fan as well to start the conversation.

It takes time, but the connections you collect online can turn into business if you put a little effort into it. Don’t be afraid to reach out to new fans, friends or followers. Everyone is a person behind their avatar. You can find out with a little research how you can develop a relationship to lead to more business.

How do you handle new contacts in social media?

Regardless, you can search Twitter to find more information, more conversations applicable to your expertise/area, and more individuals to connect with.

Twitter applications like Tweetdeck and seesmic allow you to search terms within your news stream.  Search on “real estate fargo” (substituting your town/area) and see what you find!

Using advanced search in Twitter, you can find even more information quickly and easily.  Here are key operators to get you started to use the Twitter simple search page.  Happy searching!

• mortgage source:twitterfeed This is for finding tweets that contain the word “mortgage” and found through Twitterfeed.
• near:Boston within:25mi This will bring up tweets that have been sent from within 25 miles of Boston.
• “home for sale” near:“Atlanta” This will bring you tweets about homes for sale. The tweets will have been sent from near Atlanta.
• @RERainmaker These are tweets that reference the invidual at RERainmaker on Twitter.
• house since:2010-05-01 These are tweets that contain “house” and were sent since 2010-05-01 (year-month-day).
• settlement until:2009-12-31 These are tweets that contain “settlement” and were sent up to 2009-12-31.
• to:MichiganMoves These are tweets that have been sent to MichiganMoves.
• from:TinaMcManus These are tweets sent from TinaMcManus.
• #realtors These are tweets with the hashtag “realtors.”
• mortgage -loanThese are tweet that contain the word “mortgage” but not the word “loan.”
• lender OR mortgage These are tweets that contain the word “lender” or the word “mortgage” or both.
• “arlington townhouse” These are tweets that contain the exact phrase “arlington townhouse.”
• real estate ann arbor These are tweets that contain all words in the search box: “real” and “estate” and “ann” and “arbor.” This is the default.

Share what you’ve found on Twitter that has helped your business.

“The BtoB study demonstrates one thing vividly: the most satisfied Twitter users are also the most active. Almost across the board, respondents who said they could attribute sales directly to Twitter activity or who posted tweets multiple times per week showed higher satisfaction with return on investment than those who had not achieved tangible results.”

How often do you tweet?  Has your tweeting frequency affected your business bottomline?

If your email is valuable to the recipients, wouldn’t it also be valuable to their contacts who might also be buying or selling a home? When you create content for your email marketing, think about whether the same email is worth being passed along. Tweak your mass emails a bit to make them more share-worthy.

Once they’re worthy of being shared, do you make it easy to share your content through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter? If not, investigate how you can quickly and easily add a “share this” tab to your emails so that your marketing can have an extended life. Your valuable info will help other buyers and sellers, and if they’re in your market area, you’ll sow the seed for more business too!

How do you make it easy for recipients of your electronic marketing to share it on social media sites?

Your email

What’s even more interesting is that Twitter will be measuring these “resonance” of these ads based on how users react to the messages.  Posts that do not achieve a particular resonance score will be removed.

Soon, these ads will be available to place directly in the regular tweet stream on Twitter and the group of advertisers will likely open up.

A new way to use Twitter to promote your business might soon be available.  Are you ready to jump in?