Social Media Training

Can Social Media Increase Business?

Conferences, Online Consulting, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Training

This past week I had the honor of speaking on social media at the Generation Blue Conference in Las Vegas, NV. During the opening ceremony there were some really amazing sessions including a Keynote by Chris Brogan, a controversial smackdown between old school school and new school marketing, and an all-star panel of social media rock stars. One of the major points of debate in the smackdown was this: Can social media increase business, or is it just a total waste of time where you waste time just talking to people instead of selling.

I debated writing a long post on my thoughts on this and why I know social media works. But, instead of writing on my own successes, I decided I would share a video I recorded during the event of the social media rock stars. These are three agents that have dove into social media head first and have reaped great rewards from it. Before I share the video, let me first give you a little background on the people you are going to see in it.

First, is Maya Paveza, a Wilmington, DE agent. She is a top producing agent in the north east and was the #1 agent in the state of Delaware in 2009. Maya has used social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to generate many new clients and additional sales. The second person on the panel was Christophe Choo, the top selling agent in one of most exclusive markets in the United States, Beverly Hills. Christophe has used social media to sell some of the most expensive homes in America. The last member of the panel was Jessica Edwards, a Wilmington, NC real estate agent that is using video to connect with potential clients and attributes her increase in sales directly to social media.

So now that you know a little bit about the panel, watch the video below and as you do remember to ask yourself the question: “Can social media increase my business?”

I think in the case of these three the message is clear, social media can take your business and explode it to a whole other level. People realize the importance of social media in their business plan and it was evident by the packed classes that had anything to do with social media. The shift is coming and you can either embrace it or be left in the dust.

#GENBLUE Presentations For Coldwell Banker

Conferences, How To Blog, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Training

I just got back to the beach from Generation Blue, the national conference for Coldwell Banker agents. At the event I spoke on two topics that were highly attended and talked about. In fact, the classes were so popular we ran out of handouts for every class. I also was told that there was a fear of times of the Fire Marshall coming by. I promised those who attended I would put a copy of my presentations online, so they are attached to the bottom of this message.

While at Generation Blue I did two sessions. The first was on 50+ Tools to Enhance Your Social Media Strategy in which I shared various tools that I use on a daily basis to run my business. These are not all the options that are out there in social media, but rather are tools that I either currently use or have used in the past.

Genblue 50+tools

View more presentations from Jeremy Blanton.

The second topic I spoke on was regarding the fundamentals of blogging and 5 basic components to getting started. I shared basic tips on how to write the posts, what to write about and how to do it effectively.

5 Keys to Successful Blogging

View more presentations from Jeremy Blanton.

Hope everyone enjoys! If you were unable to attend or would like me to come speak on either of these subjects or anything else related to social media, feel free to contact me.

“Guerrilla Social Media Marketing” by Shane Gibson & Jay Conrad Levinson

Social Media Training

As part of my 2011 effort to read at least one book per week on average, I finished another book yesterday, “Guerrilla Social Media Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levinson and Shane Gibson.

Shane Gibson has actually been a guest twice on Social Media Edge, our BlogTalkRadio show, and he is also the co-author of “Sociable”, which is another book I liked. Jay Conrad Levinson is the father of the guerrilla marketing movement, and his books have sold over 20 million copies worldwide.

I was excited that Shane sent me a free copy of the book, for two reasons:

I love marketing and books about marketing
I love free stuff

I found the book to be a relatively quick read, with an emphasis on specific social media tools/platforms, along with goal setting and planning. There are lots of worksheets and step-by-step plans that make it easy to develop a solid gameplan from the beginning.

I think this is a terrific book for beginners and intermediate users of new media. Chapter Four alone is worth the price of the book. Titled ‘The Guerrilla Social Media Arsenal’, it contains 126 different sites and tools for marketing online. Yes, you read that number correctly in the last sentence. Although I had heard of most of them (sometimes just in passing), I have to admit that I learned about a bunch of new and interesting instruments and ideas for gaining exposure.

Levinson and Gibson did a great job of making one critical point: It’s important to know whom you’re targeting with your efforts. I’ve seen agents in our local market who don’t seem to test their marketing efforts at all, or even give much thought to who is reading their ads or posts.

There are many ways to hone your online marketing focus, and they managed to cover most of them within the book. One thing that I and others have struggled with is how to make the most of time spent on blogging and social media sites. They provide some tips in this regard which I found helpful.

This book is well worth the read if you intend to make a concerted effort to leverage online tools for your own marketing plan. Also, Shane Gibson is a terrifically nice guy, and I’m sure he would be happy if you picked up a copy of your own. 🙂

You can find “Guerrilla Social Media Marketing” at your local bookstore, or at Amazon right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Social-Media-Marketing-Influence/dp/1599183838/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295721507&sr=8-1

Looks like it’s on sale for only $13.06 right now. Bonus!

The Best of 2010- Year in Review

Custom WordPress Sites, Facebook, Facebook For Business, How To Blog, Online Consulting, SEO, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Training

As this year comes to an end I always try to reflect back and see what successes and what struggles we faced as a company and reflect as we make our preparations for the upcoming year. One of the places where I start this is by looking at my Google Analytics to see what pages, what posts were the most popular of this year. This post will share what you the visitors of 210 found important and were interested in.

Here are the top 5 most visited posts from this past year:

5. Goo.gl Changes Link Shortening

The first week of October I wrote about Goo.gl releasing a link shortener how this could be used to build QR codes, track the traffic instantly to a specific link & also share that information collaboratively with others to view. One of the links shared via goo.gl has already received over 500 clicks in the last two months from over 8 countries.

4. Using Creative Commons Photos- For FREE!

This past year I was asked over & over how to get safe and legal photos to use in your blogs. I was spending so much time teaching people how to do this that I finally made a short video and wrote a blog post on how to do this. It seems that people really wanted to know how this was done by the amount of traffic the post has received. If you are looking to get good photos for free for your posts, check this one out.

3. Facebook Page of 47,000 Gets Shut Down Over Vanity URL.

The online community really shocked me by the power they posessed when Jonathan Rivera and the Real Estate Referral Group page was shut down. The reason it was shut down was over a trademark violation in the user name he chose for the group. Even though he tried to get Facebook to change the URL he was unsuccessful and the page was then shut down. However after the post we wrote here on 210 and the one over on Tech Savvy Agent and a massive online effort by thousands, the page was reinstated & the URL was changed.

2. Custom WordPress Sites.

This was an actual page of our site and was neck and neck all year long with #1 for the most popular thing on our site. While this is not an actual blog post and is a static page, I was amazed to see the amount of traffic it has received this year. What it shows to me is that people are recognizing the importance of having a powerful website. It also shows me that you have realized the importance of your site having a solid platform like WordPress powering it with their great plugins and blogging components.

1. Google Instant and How it Will Change Your Keywords

In September of this year Google release Google Instant. The day that it was released I wrote a blog post about my thoughts on Google Instant and what I thought it meant towards search engine rankings. This post was by far the most popular one of the year receiving 2 1/2 times the traffic of any other blog post on our site. People understand that while social is important, having a good grasp on SEO is huge. It also showed me that in the upcoming year we need to do classes and posts regarding SEO. I think one of the reasons this post received so much traffic was due to the amount of people sharing the content on both Facebook & Twitter. It was shared on Twitter 66 times and Facebook an additional 41 times.

So as we make our plans for next year, be on the lookout for a post this coming week where we will share about some of the things 210 has in store for next year & also a post regarding what we see as the hottest new things for 2011 that you want to jump on before everyone else.

Thanks to everyone for an amazing 2010 and for Jason & myself we want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Holidays and an amazing new year!