February 4, 2012

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SocialRent: Renting Just Got Social

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Looking for the exact home that you want online is tough. Going over what seem to be an endless list of  homes that don’t really show you what you want is another thing. Finding the words to describe what you want in a home is a little hard that you just want to grab a pen & paper & put in to writing and drawing the details & the layout that you want.


A new startup called SocialRent, aims to make situations like these a lot easier. SocialRent, a Facebook app, basically works like  a “Supplier-Buyer” matching service with a fun & helpful twist. For now, SocialRent aims to address the need of apartment-seekers and coordinate those needs to real estate agents. The app is a collaborative tool – after users sign up, they build a “crew” of Facebook friends, then each member can add inputs and edit information about what neighborhoods they want to live in, the location, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and the monthly rental budget. When everything is agreed and everyone is happy with the outcome, SocialRent will then send the information to real estate agents.

CEO James Zar together with other students of Boston University built the app over their winter break. The company has already incorporated and it has recruited real estate professional, Jamie Lebowitz, as its president and first investor.


Currently, SocialRent is limited to real estate agents in Boston area but promises that they are working to bring other agents into the program quickly. He noted that for now, renters in other cities outside Boston area can still use the app to coordinate their needs but the information just won’t get forwarded to an agent. The CEO added that in the future they are looking at adding features that allow renters to actually find roommates through the app and much more.

I find the idea of the app impressive and interesting. At the moment, it has a lot of room for opportunities. It could actually be a jumpstart to something broader which may include a different approach in looking for a place or a house not just to rent but to buy or maybe looking for commercial places for lease, etc.. This could be of great help to real estate agents across the country considering Facebook’s influence in social marketing & maybe in the future SocialRent is not just going to stay as a Facebook app.

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Maximize Twitter Marketing with Tweet Adder

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Twitter is without a doubt an integral part of online marketing. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your website. I have tried different Twitter management tool just as Hootsuite and MarketMeTweet, but Tweet Adder has got to be the best that I have used. Tweet Adder is a software that automatically builds up your Twitter Follower Network with like minded individuals for huge increase in your twitter marketing strategies.

Tweet Adder gives you the functionality to narrow your searches and create customized lists for the best, and largest, possible network. Once you have set everything up, you can basically leave the program to run on its own. TweetAdder simply puts your Twitter marketing campaign on auto pilot, so you can work on other tasks.

Getting Started

Here are some of the features:

Tweet Adder Account Overview
This opening screen easily shows you all the details you need for your Twitter marketing campaign which would take a significant time should you find all of these information manually.

Tweet Search
This is a great feature to find more targeted followers. You can enter a keyword and a location and Tweet Adder will search all tweets with the ability to set the recency and language.

You can add as much keywords to the “To Follow List” and Tweet Adder will automatically follow them at a later date. You also have the option to turn on the “Automation” which lets Tweet Adder search your entered keyword & location regularly to find more matches.

“To Follow List”
The “Twitter Search” feature will give you a good list of people to follow in your “To Follow List”. Turn on the automation function and Tweet Adder will automatically start following those people on the list for you.

Auto-Tweeting
Another amazing feature of Tweet Adder is that you can write out tweets to be automatically sent out during the day/week/month you desire. This is great if you have event promotions or product links. You can configure the settings and the order of the tweets that you want to be sent out regularly, there’s an option for you to send it out ever 4-5 hours or every 5-10 minutes, it’s up to you. I think this is good but I personally think that you still have to check on Twitter to respond to your followers questions personally.

Manage Multiple Twitter accounts – You can manage multiple twitter accounts within one interface.If you are targeting specific niches, you can create multiple twitter accounts and grow each account simultaneously.

Automatic Thank You Messages
This feature checks for new followers (at intervals that you set) and sends a direct message to each of them. You can set up a message thanking people for following you, maybe even including a link to your website or upcoming events.

Full Tweet Adder Features & Functions

The talks about TweetAdder is very good as users have found that they can easily generate targeted traffic from Twitter. It’s all a numbers game though as you’ll need to grow your accounts to become  large for you to generate a great traffic to your website, but with Tweet Adder this can be easily managed at a reasonable price:  1 Profile  – $55, 5 Profiles – $74, 10 Profiles – $110, Unlimited Profiles – $188. You can also go to the website and get the free demo.

 

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Using Posterous.com

May 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
There are tons of services out there that will auto post to your blog, facebook, twitter and LlinkedIn for you or make it easier to update all of them at once.

One of the more popular services is Posterous, which basis the updates on email.  You simple write an email to your posterous account and the email is posted as a blog updated, facebook update etc.

You can add pictures as well.

Posterous.com

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66% Of Surveyed Companies Plan Budget Shift To Social Media

January 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Social EngagementSo Alterian released the seventh annual, yes I said SEVENTH, Social Media Marketing Survey.

It comes as no surprise that more companies are shifting the budget to Search and Social Media, but it’s always fun to look at the numbers and then give my ever so observant opinion about what I think they mean.  Yes I know, you all hang out around your computers waiting for the witty and insightful words that stream from my blog posts, pleeeaasssee.

One of the most impressive points made in the report is where the money is being taken from.  I figured I would see most money shift from traditional print media.  But instead 40% were shifting 1/5th of their Direct Marketing budget over to Social Media?  I have to say, I’m not sure I understand this, an dit’s entirely possible I misunderstand it but Direct Marketing is usual a very accountable marketing medium, you only do it if it’s profitable, so why take money from it, take it from less accountable mediums.  You know the ones that tell you to advertise for a loooooonnnnggg time, because it’s the only way to see results.  They’re the same ones who have all your money before you realize the money you spent was wasted.

I digress!

Another really great point was that 57% of surveyed companies were planning on investing in engaging personalities to be their online voice that starts and continues conversations online.  I think this is a great move, if these personalities are given the freedom to truly engage.  Typically for larger companies this is pretty scary stuff, they tend to want everything to go through the PR department.  But the fact the companies are thinking beyond the box is hopeful.

The talent pool is growing as well, with layoffs in the journalism world there are great writers that can start to build careers as Engagement Creators. By the way I’m claiming that term!  I don’t want to see someone at a party attributing it to Steve Jobs, Seth Godin or Gary Vanerchuk.

For those of you that wish this whole process of social media was simple, well you’re not the only one.  In fact, 70% or respondents work with 3 or more vendors to make Social Marketing happen.

The lesson here is that Social Marketing has a cost. That cost is staff, experts and services which sub in for advertising costs you would have other wise spent. Unless you can get Meekakitty(youtube) to promote your product for free.

The report insightfully notes that Social Marketing needs to evolve, you can’t have 5 managers, controlling relationships with multiple vendors to create one on one experiences and engagements.  A sort of integration needs to occur, but the industry is to young, traditional marketing vendors don’t know how to co-ordinate the efforts for their clients efficiently yet.  All this is true, but also waiting in the wings for the best solutions leaves the door open for competitors to walk in and steal the next generation of consumers.

I don’t have the answer either, but  you can bet I’ll be thinking of one.

One such solution is the Customer Engagement Agency, they co-ordinate creative, data, media, delivery and technology as describe by Alterian. The term seems to have caught on, a quick Google search shows several agencies building offerings around the concept.

The report also mentions companies are having trouble finding good agencies to handle online and offline marketing.  Hmmm, no surprise there.  I would imagine the marketing agency are having trouble figuring it out themselves.  There’s a shift in thinking between to two methods of marketing, mass message vs micro message.  I can’t imagine a company being excellent at both.  It’s like a passenger airplane company being great at co-ordinating a taxi company.  Both are transportation but require unique skill sets to run efficiently.

I’m not going to go through the whole report.  You can read it directly from them and get it from the horses mouth.  But my key theme I want mention is social media has become a common place marketing avenue.  When Facebook holds more consumers than the United States Population you better sit up and notice.  Basically, you have a large nation of cross border users all communicating within a single medium.  That’s big, really big!

98 million people watched the last Superbowl, 1.6 million walk through Times Square daily, Facebook has 400 million users engaging daily.  Maybe this Social Media thing will catch on after all?

As Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise was so fond of saying, ENGAGE!

You can download the report at: Alterian Annual Social Media Survey

Filed Under: Facebook, Social Networks, Tom's Ramblings, Uncategorized