DISQUS

Daniel my friend...CONGRATULATIONS!!! You'll certainly fit in well in the new position...

Sounded harsh at first but it's "oh, so true!" Thanks for the reminder...we need that sometimes.

Daniel,

You had me rolling with number 5!

I'd say that you certainly turned out alright my friend...

A contact us link is "ok". A fill-out form on the homepage like Jay Thompson has is even better! Unfortunately I don't think Typepad has a feature to add one (or does it?).

Happy Birthday Chris' Dad!

All I can say is "wow!" I didn't think I'd ever see the "buy one, get one free" ad in Real Estate.

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for the "shout out" and especially for taking the time to participate and contribute to the eBook! It was certainly a lot of fun putting together a collaborative piece that hi-lights why/how we should all be blogging. A good start for the upcoming Rebarcamp, Inman Connect, and REBlogworld events.

Thanks again for the mention and I'll see you soon!

The back of one of my business cards said: "Who's Ricardo Bueno? Just Google it!"

Now if I could just set everyone's home page to this...[click on the link, aka my name of course]...I'll be set :D

Ha! This one is pretty cool. I like it better than the skull referenced the other day...

Wow...classic!

At first I didn't think I'd recognize much but I've actually seen a lot of those at some point or other.

It's definitely important to "be yourself." After all, isn't that what social media is? Being "social."

Ricardo Buenos last blog post..Inspections vs. Appraisals

My favorite social media tool is LinkedIn. But have you ever found that sometimes your connections don't utilize LinkedIn as much as you do (at least sometimes). This is where FB comes in handy.

Think about it, "top of mind" marketing means staying on peoples' minds via various networks: from blogging, to FB, to LInkedIn, to Twitter, etc. But through it all, remember to keep the social element present.

If you're blogging for business and all you're doing is spewing blatant advertisements out, consumers have a keen radar for that sort of thing so they'll be less receptive to your message...so again, just remember to keep it social.

LinkedIn remains my favorite social networking tool. The two things I've found most resourceful for me lately have been 1.) requesting recommendations from those within my network, 2.) answering question in the Q&A forum (it's good quality publicity). Actually, they're both good publicity.

Simply put, recommendations from your colleagues are a strong source of credit to you and your business.

As a mortgage practitioner I find it difficult to see the usage behind this (except for maybe showing slides between changing rates and product guidelines...maybe?)... But on the Real Estate sales side I can definitely see the uniqueness in this. Especially that last clip at the end. As a consumer I'd think it's cool, unique, different...enough to let me through my guard down, sit with you, and listen to how you can help me.

I guess the only question is...how much does it cost?

I guess that's why I like twitter... People are talking about what's important NOW! It's like my own little news cafe. You know, where you sit and overhear the conversations going on around you...the people walking by (aka tweeting) and you chime in on what you find is important or pertinent.

And if you heard it on Twitter, chances are it's relatively new!

It's interesting the see the varying responses here (I'll have to read in further when it's not so late)... But I will say that in my industry, for a company to regulate social media usage is a detriment to an employees marketing potential. If you're not going to be given the ability to market yourself via social media, maybe it's time you moved elsewhere. But again, this is in "my" industry so I don't speak for all companies.

I had joined FB a while ago but never found a reason to get active. I mean it's great to friend people and leave messages back and forth but ultimately I was bombarded with too many silly app requests that I began to find it very unappealing.

I'm not into friending a lot of people that I don't know. I'd like to connect with someone on at least some level before being connected with them. I guess that's why I ultimately ended up siding with LinkedIn. I found it cleaner and more professional and I'm constantly in touch with my connections there.

It isn't until recently that I"m beginning to use FB and even then only to a small extent. I use it to engage with people that I've connected with at some level and I'll continue to do so but I'll shy away from a lot of what I consider to be the useless apps. (Like you said, I'm not talking bad about these apps, they're just not for me).

For now, I think I'll continue to favor LinkedIn but you can still catch me on FB.

I was just catching up with your recent Tweets about LinkedIn and how someone turned down an invitation to connect (it was unclear as to why and I didn't want to poke my head into a conversation I didn't belong to in the first place)...

In any case, your tweet and those post prompted me to follow up on the articles here referencing LinkedIn. The thing is, I like LinkedIn for it's "reputation management" abilities (as you refer to it in your post). It's a great way to connect and engage with others in support of your work. It's very clean and professional and virtually spam free.

The only drawback (if you can call it that) is, have you ever noticed that some of your contacts don't utilize LinkedIn as much as you do? I like to connect on LinkedIn at least once every two weeks. I do so by sending an email through their email system and it's usually business related or a little more personal in nature. It's about connecting with those individuals in my network.

Anyway, I think that if you actively engage with your network, you can grow it and be more effective with it but you have to engage often (I think they call this consistency, lol).

Well, looks like I have some more reading to do so I'll catch you later.

Angela & Abby,

That is just too cute! I was going to say, "hope you had a Happy Mother's Day!" But I know that this must have been on of the best days ever!

Happy Mother's Day Angela! It was great meeting you last year on Liz's blog though I haven't been by. I hope that we can connect again some time soon. For now, take care...

I took my first stab at creating an e-book just last week; it was more of a collaborative effort as I had several contributing authors. Chris Brogan's blog in a way inspired me to get it all together so compliments to him for the inspiration.

Why am I telling you this? Because this was my first step in a series of new marketing. I'd planned on creating everything you've outlined here and that first e-book was my test to gauge the level of interaction I might be able to attract.

The result? It works! People engage and comment.

The thing is, if you provide something genuine and valuable, you'll find an audience that will take the time to listen. Though your immediate SOI is of course where you should start.

My advice to others, don't afraid to step out of your comfort zone. If I was able to do it, you can too!

This quote makes for a great reminder in conversations with others:

"'A gossip is one who talks to you about others; a bore is one who talks to you about himself; and a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.'" -- Lisa Kirk

Conrad said it perfectly: "You snooze, you lose."

I've referred listings out to other real estate agents. When calling to find the right one, I most often chose the one that contact me first.

Consistent follow up is vitally important!

Talk about a great resource! Bill, amazing of you to have put all of this together...a tremendous round of applause and kudos for the work!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.

I would use Twitter and Twitterlocal.com to connect with people on twitter who are withing a 1 mile radius of you...that way you can let them know of your garage sale. Other than that, your best bet is probably craigslist like you said.

Ahh man, that was hilarious!