Louisiana REALTORS has joined the social networking arena. In striving to give our members information as quickly and efficiently as possible, LR has developed this page to give a brief explanation of what social networking sites we are actively participating in, and our role on those sites.

Louisiana REALTORS has developed a presentation on social networking for REALTORS. We have attached the power point of the presentation for your reference. This power point contains links to articles and references you may find helpful while working with social media. Please contact Amy Fennell at 1-800-266-8538 with any questions.

Click here for presentation.

ActiveRain is considered the largest real estate related network on the web with currently over 146,000 members. Users can post listings for buyers, blog with fellow real estate agents, and network within their city, state, region, company or specialty. ActiveRain ratings are based on a points system. The more features of the site used, the more points a user earns, resulting in a profile higher up in a particular region.

Louisiana REALTORS maintains a blog on Active Rain as well as a Louisiana REALTORS group. As blogs are posted to the ActiveRain community blog, the posts are also linked and updated on Facebook as notes. The Louisiana REALTORS group on Active Rain has 26 members as of May, 2009.

Helpful Tips:

Active Rain is solely community based, which sometimes makes it hard to find answers to your questions. There is a specific group titled “HELP/FAQ” that may be of use to you when starting to use Active Rain.

What is the importance of points? How do I earn points?
The point system is used to increase a user’s visibility level among the Active Rain community. The more points a user earns, the higher their profile appears on the list in their state list, city list, and so on. For example, if performing a search for a REALTOR or real estate agent on Active Rain, a person is more likely to view a profile on the first page of results in Louisiana, than on the third or fourth page.

Click here to read more about earning points.The most effective ways to earn points are blogging frequently (making sure your blog posts are at least 50 words) and commenting on other blogs. Blogs are simply online journals or commentaries on a particular subject. Your real estate blog can range in topics from helping consumers, ‘blogging’ about your everyday real estate experiences, keeping up with current real estate laws, giving other real estate agents tips and tricks, or just blogging about your family or personal life. This link is a great starting point for beginning bloggers. To read the National Association of REALTORS blog, click here.

Facebook is a social networking website tool for people to setup personal profiles, connect with friends, share photos, and send messages. Users choose to join certain networks which are organized by region, city, school, or workplace.

Louisiana REALTORS has a fan page on Facebook. Members can become a fan of LR by liking this page. Along with status updates that are linked with Twitter, LR provides a calendar of events, articles, videos, and links that users may find of interest. As noted with Active Rain, blog posts are linked to this site as Facebook notes. As of August, 20011, LR has over 2,300 fans.

Helpful Tips:

How to link a blog or other RSS feeds to Facebook:
First, an RSS feed, or a “Really Simple Syndication” is a web format that allows frequently updated content, such as blogs, news headlines, audio, or video to be easily accessed in multiple formats. Readers can subscribe to any web material that contains “RSS feeds” and can receive the content in numerous formats, including readers in email, mobile devices, or applications often built into web pages and blogs.

As a Facebook user, you have the ability to import any RSS feed from a blog, Active Rain, Flickr, Pandora, and many more. RSS feeds will import as notes onto your profile. To import, go to your profile page settings on your wall tab. your Choose which available site to import, or choose Blog/RSS and paste the link into the box.

What is the difference between a fan page and a group?
In general, fan pages are meant for long-lasting relationships and creating an interactive community, while groups are better for mass updates and quick discussions among its selected members. Each Facebook user has the option to create a fan page and a group for their organization or company.

Fan Pages also allow for visitor statistics, importing capabilities from notes and blogs, a publicly searchable page, and social advertising options. Groups, on the other hand, include the ability for members to send out event invites to any Facebook user, private membership (meaning the group is not publicly searchable), and groups have a “profile-like” appearance.

For more questions, visit the help section on Facebook’s website. Just click here to access it and search for your topic.

LinkedIn is a social networking site used primarily among professionals for business networking. Users create a profile and connect with people through the same business, industry, school, or past client contacts. LinkedIn features job searches, community answers, a way for people to recommend one’s work, and groups. This site is most effective for professional connections and showcasing work experience.

Louisiana REALTORS maintains a group on LinkedIn established for members to begin discussions, submit news articles, post job offerings, and connect with other local REALTORS / Real Estate Agents.

The key to making LinkedIn effective is providing information and obtaining recommendations from other users. The easiest way to build recommendations to your profile is to give one. To write a recommendation, click on that user’s profile and click “Recommend this person” in the top right. You will be prompted to list your relationship with the person, whether as a colleague, student, partner, etc. Remember to keep recommendations brief and factual. Users can also ask for recommendations from those they trust to give positive feedback.

Twitter is considered a "micro-blogging" site that functions by users sharing brief updates known as “tweets”. Tweets are similar to Facebook status updates and are limited to 140 characters. Twitter users elect to follow other Twitter users and receive tweets on a timeline located on the main home page.

Louisiana REALTORS utilizes Twitter to update REALTORS on upcoming events, registration deadlines, breaking news, and general office schedules. Our "status" on Twitter is also linked to our status on Facebook. As of May, 2009, LR had almost 300 followers on Twitter.

Helpful Tips

How can my Twitter updates also reflect my Facebook status?
Follow this link to Twitter’s Help page on linking Twitter and Facebook for detailed step by step instructions. Keep in mind that it may take up to 24 hours for the link to go into effect, but once active, the updates will be instant.

Tip 2: What are retweets (RT)?
“Retweets” are used when you want to re-post a tweet you find interesting. Retweets are a good idea to let others know you are not posting original content. It gives the original tweeter recognition for the information, and when others retweet your posts, it gives you greater visibility among Twitter.

For more information on using Twitter, Twitter has a Help page with frequently asked questions that is very helpful.

YouTube is a video sharing website that allows users to view, upload, and share videos. Users can also easily link to a video on YouTube or embed the video into a website.

Louisiana REALTORS maintains a YouTube account. Currently Louisiana REALTORS has a few videos on YouTube, with plans to add short informative clips in the near future. These videos often include testimonials, advertisements for upcoming programs, and broadcasts from our REALTOR leaders.

Helpful Tips

How do I upload a video?
You must have an account to upload a video. Begin by clicking on “sign up” at the top of the YouTube page and follow the instructions. Once you have created an account, go to your home page. At the top of your home page, click on “upload” and follow the on screen instructions.

YouTube also has an extensive help library located here.

If you need further assistance on accessing Louisiana REALTORS social networking sites, please contact Kevin Calbert at 1-800-266-8538.