Update!! I listened to a special Web 2.0 Social Media Marketing call with Alisha Wright. My Mentor interviewed her and it was spectacular!
Check this out before you read my study.
No Selling on this call, just pure content: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/22585
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Let me start off by saying, that Web 2.0 is getting bigger & bigger and it cannot be ignored any longer! I'm only going to touch on a piece of Web 2.0 and how it pertains to Real Estate Investing and more importantly why you should care! So, let's start off with the meaning of Web 2.0, because I'm sure the question is just burning you inside...
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What the heck, is Web 2.0, right?
WARNING: DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED. THIS IS SIMPLE TO SET UP AND MAINTAIN!
Some say WEB 2.0 is just a buzz word....
Some say it's garbage....
Some say they have no idea or they could care less...
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But I say, it's INGENIOUS!
I say it's Common Sense!
I say it's one of the largest tools you can use online!
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I ASKED OTHER INVESTORS WHAT THEY THOUGHT ABOUT IT ...
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I ran 2 small Polls online about Web 2.O and here are the results.... Not too many voters, but check out the comments to see what other investors thought:
Poll Results/Comments 1: http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php/topic,37202.0.html
Poll 2 Results/Comments: http://www.wannanetwork.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=50375&posted=1#post50375
As you can see, everyone had there input and it was much appreciated either way.
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The Wikipedia Definition of Web 2.0
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If we look at the wikipedia definition of Web 2.0, here is what you'll see:
Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.
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The Main Elements in this definition are:
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- Enhanced Creativity
- Information Sharing
- Collaboration Among Users
- Web Based Communities
- Social Networking
- Wikis
- Blogs
- Folksonomy
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Now if someone had no clue what folsonomies (social tags), web-based communities, wikis, blogs, etc... were, then this definition may appear vauge. But for those of you who know exactly what this definition is saying, this definition will likely appear to be broad!
At any rate, I'm going to dig into this definition and pick it apart for you in case it was unclear and I'm going to show you how it can apply to Real Estate Investing and turn into huge RESULTS for your biz. I'm talking on a level where deals and leads are coming to you from all angles, on a level where you can:
- grow a nice size investor list to market your properties to or products.
- Network with other Investors (Learn, Teach, and Grow with other Investors)
- find motivated sellers faster (Or more importantly, have them find you! :-D )
- even find motivated buyers faster! (Or have them find you! :-D )
- Make money Faster!!! (You only make money by closing deals or sales, however you must plant the seeds!)
In all actuality this can be applied to any business.
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First everything I've made bold above is the true basis of this definition. It's not vague at all, however it is a very broad definition. Not to worry though, because that's a good thing. I'm not going to go into some big drawn out boring speach on Web 2.0.
First, I"m just going to break it down in the form of the 5 W's.
Who: YOU!
What: The Internet (World Wide Web) & Web 2.0
When: Every second of every hour of every day! 365/24/7
Where: Well, there are sites like Blogger.com, Myspace, YouTube, etc. In fact do you recognize any of these logos below? Look closely...
Why: Why Not? More and more people are getting online everyday. There is a statistic floating around online that says 80% of people look for their homes online! Meaning they check out the internet, find a home they like, look at the pics and whatever information they see, then they likely contact the person who owns that online listing, so they can schedule an apointment to go see it in person.
Hmmm.....
If 80% of home buyers are searching for homes online, then why wouldn't you capitalize on that? Not saying that the 20% won't put $$ in your pocket, but I mean really.... Look at the numbers, it only increases the odds! And who the heck says that you can't have an online presence and an offline presense.
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How: Now how do you utilize this Web 2.0 stuff in your Real Estate Investing World, right? It's simple, you'll use it for Online Marketing.
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Is Barack Obama using Web 2.0? Why the heck should I care???
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Well, let me explain... People wonder how Barack Obama was able to raise so much money for his Marketing Campaign. Now whether you support Obama or not (and I'm not here to push you to the right or to the left), you have to admit that he is running a damn good marketing campaign. One of the reasons he has become so successful is because of the power of the internet. Is Barack Obama using Web 2.0? Yes, my friend he absolutely is. Maybe he doesn't even realize it... or maybe he does. Who knows and who cares... The fact of the matter is that you can do the same thing on a much smaller scale and still reap huge results.
If you look at his site he has practially everything that the wikipedia definition says:
First of all the appearance of his site (web design that aims to enhance creativity...) isn't too shabby, in my opinion. (Now let me be the first to tell you that you don't have to have fancy & pretty web designs to be successful with your own online real estate investing presence, however it definitely won't hurt...)
http://www.mybarackobama.com/
Second, look at his issues tab.... Now he's telling everyone his stance on each issue (Information sharing with text & Video You tube and other video sites) and he also has a BLOG!
ISSUES: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
BLOG: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog
Imagine you having a Real Estate Investing Website that would allow you to share information with your users/ visitors and plus they can read your blogs and see what you are about...
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Another thing he is doing is allowing his supporters to create their own blogs, schedule events in their area, donate money, etc. (collaboraton among users) This is effective in everyone spreading the word about Obama and essentially more and more people are going to donate to a campaign that they believe in and contribute their ideas and information to his web -based community.
What type of Web Based Communities are there in the Real Estate World?
Advertising Sites
and the list goes on...
Discussion Forums
http://www.dealmakerscafe.com/
Yahoo Real Estate Groups
Google Real Estate Groups
and the list goes on...
Let's see how else is Obama using Web 2.O....
Another thing Obama is utilizing very well is Social Networking. This is probably the largest source of his success online. If you look at the corner of his home page, you'll see that he has a list of social networking sites.
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Diversify Your BIZ!!
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He is on all the big name sites:
- http://www.facebook.com/ (I'm on facebook too! Just search for J.Lamar Ferren or Lamar The Investor)
- Myspace (Obama has over 400,000 friends, Mccain has over 50,000 friends...See for yourself....Now I'm not saying that Myspace is dictating the election, but I am saying that one canidate seems to be a little more effective at social networking than the other. With that said, at lease Mccain is doing something online. Probably why he was able to run alone on the republican side... Who knows, I'm not even going to begin to talk politics...)
Check out my myspace page: www.Myspace.com/lamartheinvestor
- YouTube
I just put up a youtube channel that I will be updating very soon: www.YouTube.com/lamartheinvestor
- Flickr
I'll have my page Coming Soon!
- Digg
I'll have my page Coming Soon!
Here's my Twitter page: www.Twitter.com/lamarinvestor
- Eventful
- BlackPlanet
- Faithbase
- Eons
- Gleee
- Migente
- ...And Much more!
Talk about diversity!!! Do you know how many people visit these sites every day? 365/24/7
Try Millions upon Millions!! No exageration!
Imagine if you had an online presense of this magnitude. Oh and did I mention that it's all free. Yes it will take time, but if time is that important and you don't have the time to focus on setting this up, then start small, or hire someone to do it for you. The point is to get it started. You don't have to do as much as Obama, but something is better then nothing, right? And if you think one is enough, then you can forget it. You can't put all your eggs in one basket. You have to diversify yourself!
Think about it.... If you have people subcribe to your website, subscribe to your social networking services, subscribe to your blog.... Wouldn't that increase your chances of building relationships! It's common sense...
I signed up for twitter the other day and I had 11 people follow me in 2-3 days. That wasn't much at all, but then again maybe it was. If you get on average 5 people per day following you, then you'll pull about 150 people/month.
Same goes with all the other social networking sites. People can request to be your friend. I signed up for Real Estate Investor.com and made 13 contacts in 2 days and all I did was sign up. I didn't even get a chance to get into the site because I was working on this newsletter at the same time.
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So think about it if I'm pulling in 150 friends/m from varous sites, (By the way you'll need to be active in order to accomplish this) then all I would need to do once I get a property is put it out to all my friends...Here's the kicker! One property is being blasted to hundreds of people who also know hundreds of people that know hundreds of people, etc, etc, etc.... (By the way make sure you stay within the guidelines of each site or you'll be violating spam guidelines. Do it in a respectful and ethical manner and people will respect you better)
You can't tell me that's not powerful.
And if you're a "blogger" (so I call myself these days...) like me and you like to share you're thoughts and Ideas, then people will get to know you and start giving you feedback, whether it be acutally on your blog (hint hint...) or via email.
This is not hard to set up at all. Again, you can do it in a matter of minutes. Do a couple each day, or you can do one a day... Just Get it All Set Up! Take it one step at a time!
Oh wait....I almost forgot.... If you're wondering how sellers and buyers will find you, just think about google. Everytime you post an ad, write something in a forum, write a blog, etc... Search Engines will be crawling your content like crazy. Plus there are active sellers and buyers who are looking for information like yours and they get involved in discussion forums too. They ask questions like.."How can I get a home with bad credit?" and "How can I sell my House Fast" or How can I list my home with a Realtor, etc.... I've seen it for myself and I always send the a PM and direct them to my site in a respectful manner. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't hurt to ask if they need your services.
Another thing is referrals! It huge. All those people in your network will start sending business your way, whether it be buyers, sellers, investment deals, other investors, etc.
Anyway, I think you get the picture. :-) If not, then I'm sorry I cannot stress to you any more how huge and effective Web 2.0 is and this is just the Tip of the iceberg. I didn't even get into Search Engine Optimization and things of that nature. This is just a brief overview in my opinion and I hope it was informative.
Leave me some feedback and tell me what you thought!
Oh and if you want an even better analysis of Web 2.0 when it comes to Real Estate Investing, then check out Colin Egbert at http://www.realestateinvestor.com/reiwealth (Much better analysis... If you didn't see how huge Web2.0 was from my quick little overview, then you'll definitely see it here: http://www.realestateinvestor.com/reiwealth
Have a good one!
To Your Success,
J.Lamar Ferren
New Breed Real Estate Investor
www.LamarBuysHomes.com/investors.php
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