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Tips for Top Agents: Content Creation & Curation

Let’s talk about content.  One of the best ways to build your online brand reputation and instill a sense of trustworthiness is to BE the expert resource online.  Provide the information that everyone needs.  Start the conversations.  Answer the questions.  Many industry professionals are leading the pack or maintaining their business because they produce content that sets them apart from their peers.  They are DIFFERENTIATING themselves by developing original thought and discussion.  This can be as simple as a monthly newsletter or letter – to as complex as weekly blog posts with coordinating social media posts.

You know how to buy and sell a house, right?  So let people know that you do!

Creation: the planning, forming, and production of something of use.

The following list can be used in many different marketing practices (facebook posts, blogging, vlogging, e-mails, letters, website content, it’s endless).  Remember, when providing an item of value (your content) cultivate an action as well.

  • Talk about the actual steps to buying and selling a home or other processes.
    • title examples: “25 Tips to Selling Your Home in the Lexington Market – There’s More to It than Putting up a Sign.”
    • resources: On the RHR HUB (your source for information and tools as a Rector Hayden Agent) are digital copies of our Buying Journey and Selling Journey brochures.  These documents have a simple timeline of the process with key steps.  You can share this content, or some of this content when you post.
    • Call to Action:  “Want a copy of the Selling Journey? Contact me with your name and e-mail address – and any selling questions you may have!”
  • Why do Mortgage Rates Vary?  What’s the current rate?  How do I find a lender?
    • title examples: “Why a Mortgage can be customized to your needs.” or “Best Questions to ask a Potential Lender.”
    • resources:  Rector Hayden Mortgage’s very own Aaron Mason is an expert in ALL matters of home financing.  He can provide you with great content and information.
    • Call to Action:  “We can talk about your financing needs and then meet with our in-house lender if you’d like!”
  • Areas of Interest / Market Activity
    • title examples: “The Best Places to Eat in the Beaumont Neighborhood.” or “The 5 things you’ll LOVE about Richmond, KY.”
    • resources:  Over on Pinterest, Rector Hayden has boards for each key metropolitan area in our service radius – with links to information on restaurants, tourism, and more!  Or, take your own photos and videos, write your own guide.
    • Call to Action: “This Neighborhood can’t be beat – and your Beaumont Home is waiting for you!” Then link to a page of beaumont home search results from your site!  Or, give people an opportunity to sign up for a Market Watch report for a zip code or area!
  • What does a good transaction feel like? 
    • title examples: “Three things to avoid at Closing!” or “Dotting Your i’s and Crossing Your t’s!”
    • resources: Talk about the same things you tell a client when you prep them for closing (you do prep them, right – and go and hold their hand, yes?).  THEN, share a client’s testimonial.  Chances are if they client was really satisfied with your help – they’ll write a whole letter for you to share about why they chose you.  Or, maybe even do a quick video interview!  Ask them what you could even do better – why they trusted you…
  • Why Zillow’s Zestimate isn’t an accurate representation of your Home’s Value
    • title examples: “Why is My Home’s Zestimate not the True Value?”
    • resources: Run a comparative analysis on a current listing and talk about the discrepancies between your listing price and the Zestimate.  Discuss local effects on pricing, or home interior effects on pricing.
    • Call to Action: This one is a classic – guide them to ask you for a free analysis.  Soon, Rector Hayden will be releasing new tools for our agents to create detailed comprehensive reports that compare multiple estimates (kind of like running a credit report and receiving multiple scores).  This will be a great conversational tool.

Or, you can supplement your content and posts with resources from elsewhere! See below…

Curation: the selection, maintenance, collection of resources to be used as reference and source for rhetoric.

Curating is – basically – sharing a link to someone else’s article and talking about it.  Here are some great examples of sites to share content from…

  1. www.facebook.com/RectorHaydenRealtors
  2. https://news.rhr.com/
  3. https://www.pinterest.com/rectorhayden/
  4. www.trulia.com/blog
  5. www.zillow.com/blog
  6. http://www.realtor.org/news-and-commentary
  7. www.visitlex.com
  8. http://www.kentuckytourism.com
  9. www.commercelexington.com
  10. #RealEstateNews on Twitter
  11. http://www.activerain.com

 

BONUS TIP…

Have you heard about Canva?  Click the link below to learn how easy it is to make your own graphics / images / flyers / and more – for FREE using this great tool!  Endorsed by June Laves – so you know it’s handy!!

https://www.canva.com/about

 

Thanks for checking in Team!  Hope you all are doing well as we transition in to fall.  Remember, Tech Training classes are every Thursday and Integrated Marketing/Social Media class is once a month (usually the 4th Tuesday of the Month).  But, you can also come in and talk with your support staff about what we can do to help you!

Ta ta!
June Laves
859-317-4703
junelaves@rhr.com
Now on Skype: junelaves@rhr.com

 

Ready for some more tips on content your should be sharing?  Check out our other blog posts:

5 types of content all agents

facebook for realtors

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Tips for Top Agents: Lighten Dark Interior Photos

Most Real Estate Agents wear many hats; the salesperson, the staging coordinator, the organizer, the negotiator – and many times the photographer. Sometimes, no matter what kind of camera you use – some photos are tricky to capture without using professional equipment of having professional training.

table

How many of you have had the following image happen?

It’s a gorgeous dining area with french doors or a lovely picture window – and your point-and-shoot digital camera can’t quite capture what the eye is seeing!  Well now it’s super easy to lighten dark interior photos using this FREE tool called Lunapic!

DSCN0401


lunapic-76

A few minutes spent using the FREE LunaPic tool
online can easily turn quick listing photos into professional shots!

Step 1: Go to LunaPic Photo Editor

The URL is: http://www192.lunapic.com/editor/


 

Step 2: UPLOAD A PHOTOmenu bar - upload

Click the UPLOAD button on the left of the menu bar.
Or, click on the BROWSE BUTTON under Edit a Photo on top of the major image.

It should open a new dialogue window where you can browse for the image you’d like to adjust.


 

Step 3:  ADD A FILTER TO YOUR IMAGE

Your photo will now open up in an image editing area – it looks similar to the Paint Application or Photoshop.  In order to lighten dark photos, you’ll be adding a special filter to your image.

★  Click on the Filter Tab in the Menumenu bar - filters

★  Choose the HDR Lighting Filter from the Drop Down list    listing

★  If your photo is still dark, you can apply the filter again.  Continue selecting that filter from the filter list to brighten the photo more.  


 

Step 4: SAVE YOUR NEW PHOTO

Under the photo is a link to save the photo to your computer OR you can right click the image and choose “Save Image as…”

DSCN0401_edit

And TA DA You have a beautiful listing photo!

Questions or issues?  You can always contact June Laves – junelaves@rhr.com for assistance!


Save this article for later – or check out other Tips for Top Agents on our Pinterest Board!pinterest_lightendarkphotos

 

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6 SUPER Tools from the Fayette PVA Website

If you aren’t taking advantage of the tools on the Fayette County PVA website – you are sorely missing out!

pva header

The ever amazing David O’Neill, Fayette County’s Property Valuation Administrator, graced us with a short presentation at our monthly sales meeting this week.  He showed the ins and outs of the site and some amazing content reports that you may never have known you had access to as a real estate agent!

1. Weekly Residential Sales Reports

Every Friday, David O’Neill posts to their blog a PDF report on the weekly residential sales for Fayette County.  This content is spectacular for looking at selling trends in the Lexington area week-to-week.  It also makes for great shareable content to social media – show your followers and COI that you are engaged with current data and truly KNOW about real estate happenings in the area.  Check out last week’s report here: http://www.fayette-pva.com/sales-reports/salesreport31mar-03apr2015/

1.a.  Monthly Commercial Sales Reports

For our agents focused on the Commercial side of real estate – Fayette PVA releases a monthly report of commercial sales in the area!

2. Knowledge of Property Tax Exemptions for Your Clients

17069_wpm_hiresIf you have a past client reaching 65 years of age (good reason to keep in touch, no?) you can remind them about the Homestead Exemption!  Many agents develop repeat business and referrals by staying in close contact with past clients.  Wouldn’t you truly trust someone who kept looking out for your personal real estate needs?  O’Neill provides an in depth explanation of the exemption and how to apply: http://www.fayette-pva.com/exemptions

3. Keeping up with Local News regarding area Property

The weekly sales report isn’t the only useful chunk of info David O’Neill provides.  The PVA Blog also discusses properties that were covered in the news and links to their property records.  Anything from apartment complexes changing owners to historic milestones for older buildings – these stories make great locally focused content to share with your COI and again build upon your expertise.  See recent posts here: http://www.fayette-pva.com/property-in-the-news/

4. Report Tool – Mapping Feature, Mailing List Export

fayettepva_001

The Mapping tool on the PVA website gives you all sorts of options for targeting and reporting to a specific area of Fayette County.  It has overlays that can show you Vacant Land (you could exclude it from a mailing list), council districts, Street Address numbers, and more!   You can look at specific parcel information – or, you can look at entire neighborhoods.  The coolest part of this report generator is the polygon tool!

Click on Additional Options > Create a Parcel List By… > Polygon(s)

This tool will generate reports, mailing lists, and other data on highlighted areas and parcels you select!  This can help you exclude apartment complexes from data or lists – or include more than one area while excluding the parcels in between them!  These lists can be downloaded as .csv files, allowing you to use them for bulk mailing or advertising opportunities!*

*The only issue is it will generate contact info based on the property OWNER – not necessarily the property address.  But you can get the property address from the map.

5. Quarterly Statistics for Fayette County Property

quarterlystatsr

See and download reports straight to your computer, tablet, or phone: http://www.fayette-pva.com/quarterly-statistics

6. Property Tax Calculator

Below is a snapshot of the easy-to-use tax calculator on the PVA website.  Click to see the rates and calculator on the PVA site!

taxcalc

 

BONUS TOOL – Stay Connected with David O’Neill through Social Media!

facebook linkedin twitterpinterest

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#RHRTipTuesday – Leads from LinkedIN

Hey Team!  If you attended March’s Social Media / Integrated Marketing Class, you may recall we touched on using LinkedIN as a Real Estate Agent.  This week’s TipTuesday is “crawling” with ideas to help boost your LinkedIN strategy!

If you have been using LinkedIN for a few weeks now, you may have noticed a cool feature where you get a weekly e-mail letting you know who has viewed your profile.  You can make this FREE opportunity work for you – all you need to do is “crawl” through some profiles each week and your name and face are shared with all sorts of people.  But, the best part, most of the people using LinkedIN are in your target home-owner demographic!  Most of these individuals have professional careers and are likely home buyers and sellers.

EasyAgentPro.com calls this tactic “LinkedIN Crawling” 

What is LinkedIn crawling you ask? Well it is where my computer automatically visits 400 profiles of target customers in one day. This means 400 people a day are notified that about me.  That’s 400 people that had no idea that I existed seeing my profile and maybe even my website. That’s powerful. But it doesn’t stop there. About 2-4% of these individuals will reach out and connect with you! I’ve seen this number get as high as 8%. The percentage really depends on the target audience you’re facing. -From EasyAgentPro

This blog writer uses a system to contact 400 people a day, and that can get complicated.  But even simply browsing 10-15 profiles a day could show similar results.  You could browse on a commute (unless you are driving), while waiting for a client to arrive, when you’re in line at a store, or even if you’re sitting in the restroom… (We know you do it…)  You can search and browse profiles based on interests, memberships of different community groups, schools, careers, and geographic location.

How does this generate leads? Well that’s 50 people or more a week that have seen your face, name, and REALTOR than before.  And, it was delivered straight to their inbox showing them that YOU care and are interested.  You should consider changing your LinkedIN profile to include a statement inviting others to connect with you.

You should even consider linking back with the people that show up in YOUR weekly e-mail of profile views.  Invite them to coffee or a tour of the office sometime!  You can tons of contacts to your Sphere of Influence lists this way!

For more links and info on LinkedIN for REALTORS, check out the post from March 24th’s Social Media Class: https://news.rhr.com/rhrsocialmediaclass-linkedin-for-real-estate-agents/