Make Facebook work for you

Updated with info on cool new Trulia tool.  Click here if you want to see the original…

I love Facebook – but more specifically, I love status updates.  From your personal life to business life, status updates help you spread messages in a very efficient way. Here are 5 tips to help you use status updates to build your business online, for free.

1. Update regularly – Like with every type of online community, you have to be consistent in your communication.  Two reasons to update facebook: first, it helps build your reputation as someone who’s consistently involved in information sharing and keeping in touch.  Second, when people have hundreds and hundreds of friends, it’s easy for your updates to get lost in the shuffle.  Regular updates guarantee that more of your friends will see your updates, and keep you top of mind.  If you’re not already a frequent updater, make a goal to do so at least a few times each week (but not all at once), and build that as you get more comfortable.

2. Share what you’re doing for your clients -  At a closing?  Listing a new property?  Hosting an open house?  Took new pictures of a listing?  Share it!  Any updates you can post that show you’re a busy and productive real estate agent are great.  The whole point of status updates is to share what you’re doing, and sharing business updates is a great way to remind your friends that you’re a busy, dedicated agent.  So the next time they’re thinking about a move or know someone who is, they’ll think of you as a person who’s always working for your clients.  (BONUS: Post pictures from your smartphone at open houses and closings to REALLY show people what you’re doing!)

3. Show your different sides - Don’t JUST update about work – that can get boring.  It’s important to show that you have multiple sides to your life, and keep friends interested in what you have to say.  Talking about your work is important (see above!), but if you’re always on the same topics, people may be annoyed and think your updates are only there to serve your business and not keep in touch.  This can put you on a one-way train to the remove/hide tool, which like it sounds, lets your friends hide your messages from their wall.  If you’re not comfortable sharing what’s going on with your family or in your personal life, stick with comments about favorite TV shows, movies, books, restaurants – even funny things you see.

4. Comment on friends’ updates – Don’t be afraid to interact!  Commenting on other people’s updates is a quick and easy way to tell someone “I’m reading your updates, and interested in you!” without actually saying that.  (Saying it could be weird…)  It shows you’re not just pushing your thoughts to others, but reading and thinking of others.  PLUS, if you comment on someone else’s status, all of their friends see your note – a whole new audience!

5.  Show off your listings – Trulia has recently added a brand new feature that allows you to share any of your listings of Facebook!  It’s super easy—just visit the My Listings page, click on “More Options” and instantly socialize your listing to your social network.

Any other facebook tips that have worked for you?  Share!

Today Show: What You Can Get For Under $500K

Price Reductions Surpass Highest Historical Levels In 15 U.S. Cities, Remain Flat Nationwide

Trulia’s November price reduction report shows that despite national price reduction levels remaining flat for the first time in five months, 15 major U.S. cities reached an all-time high for price reductions on home listings. National price reductions for home listings currently on the market in the U.S. remained flat at 27 percent following four consecutive months of increases. The average reduction also remained flat at 10 percent and the total dollar amount of all reductions increased to $31.5 billion.

“Price reduction increases in many large U.S. cities can be attributed to the basic principle of supply and demand – on that score, buyers clearly have the advantage this holiday season,” said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator, Trulia.com. “The market is flooded with distressed homes that are priced to sell and individual sellers are having a tough time competing. These dynamics, along with a shallow pool of active buyers, are leading to increases in price reductions.”

Cities with Record High Percentage in Price Reductions

High Price Reduction Trends Evoke National Uncertainty

Price reductions in Minneapolis reached 46 percent, which represents the highest historic figure for any of the 50 largest U.S. cities since Trulia began tracking price reduction data in June 2009. For the first time, Phoenix topped 40 percent for the first time, becoming only the third city with this distinction. While mixed messages about future recovery in the housing market resound, Trulia expects the continued presence of distressed homes and a listing inventory of more than 10 months currently on the market to contribute to lengthening housing recovery process for the foreseeable future.

“We typically see an increase in price reductions toward the end of the year, so buyers hoping to add a home to their holiday wish list are in prime position to take advantage of low prices,” said Nelson. “Even with price reductions climbing in many areas of the U.S., sellers can still aim to get the best price for their homes by ensuring their home is in top condition, the easiest way to make it stand out from all the foreclosures on the market, and pricing it to compete with the distressed homes in the area.”

Additional Resources

For full 50 city data chart of Trulia’s November 2010 Price Reductions, click here.

To learn more about Trulia’s Price Reductions and the Methodology by which this study was conducted, click here.

For an infographic visualization of the November Trulia Price Reduction Report results, click here.

Trulia Announces Marketing Partnership with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty

Today we’re excited to announce our marketing partnership with one of the highest regarded luxury brokerages in the United States, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.   As the real estate market has adjusted over the past few years, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty built a strategy to thrive–moving their marketing dollars online where they realize a high return on their investment for a fraction of the cost.

Over the past 12 months William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty has capitalized on Truila’s highly engaged audience and strong brand awareness in the New York metro area.  CEO Paul Breunich has said,  “With Trulia in the high-end markets with $2M+ listings we are seeing a huge amount of leads and consumer engagement.”   You can read more details about the marketing partnership in our newsroom.  Or, if you are an real estate professional looking to reach the buyers and sellers in your area that are ready to do business, have a look at Tulia’s Business Solutions for both agents and brokers.

Trulia – Setting the Record Straight on Traffic

photo credit: Hryck.

At NARdiGras this past weekend, some companies were making bold claims about their audience size and reach.  Some real estate bloggers picked up on the rhetoric and have started to poke holes in their claims.

Given all the back and forth on this topic, and knowing that agents and brokers have tough decisions on where to spend their marketing dollars,  I wanted to give you my 2 cents on what’s spin and what’s real when it comes to audience data.

First, it is very easy to manipulate audience stats to create meaningless headlines. For example Yahoo’s and MSN’s real estate audience are mostly people reading stories about celebrity homes or economic data, not transactional demand that is attractive to agent and broker advertisers.  Have you ever met a buyer who said they searched Yahoo or MSN as one of their primary sites to buy a home?  Neither have I.  That’s because portals use their home pages as a way to drive to traffic to their real estate pages, which inflates their numbers.  But don’t confuse these big numbers with actual buyers and sellers searching on their sites.   To be a part of the tit-for-tat game going on a NAR this week, Trulia could legitimately claim to be the #1 real estate ad network by adding our audience to CNNMoney, since we are their exclusive listing provider.  But that would be silly and we don’t make that claim because we know our clients are interested in an engaged, transaction oriented audience.

Second, while having a big audience is good, engagement with property pages is the most critical measurement for an agent or broker advertiser, because it’s an indication of engaged buyer interest. Inman news recently published a report stating that Yahoo real estate is the number one real estate site, based on visit market share via Hitwise.  Impressive sounding, but this is not the engaged audience that an advertiser would like to reach, as reflected in the very small number of PVs (page views) on Yahoo’s real estate site.  For those advertisers trying to reach engaged buyers, Trulia is consistently number two in page views in the category.

Third, we all know regional data is far more relevant. A large national audience is good, but at the end of the day, having a large local audience is the most important. Buyers search regionally and brokers and agents need to advertise regionally to reach their hyper-local market.  Owning your local market on popular sites with strong regional buyer and seller audiences is how real estate advertisers should think about their marketing spend. National audience stats are about as relevant as the national home price or sales stats pumped out by the NAR, Case-Shiller, etc.

Finally, companies have plenty of reasons to manipulate their data – whether it’s increasing Wall Street investor buzz, to disguise losses in market share, or to keep their current investors happy.  One thing I know for sure, we continue to have the fastest growing audience in the category and we are steadily and confidently making our way to the top!

Trulia at NARdiGras

It’s that time of year again – NARdiGras. This year it’s being hosted in good ol’ New Orleans. We’ll have a number of Trulians at the event including myself and look forward to saying hello in person. If your live in the area or will be attending but just haven’t registered already, you can use our coupon code to register for free for access to the Expo Hall. Just use coupon code EVITE10A1286 to register here.

So How can You Find Us?

We’ll be at booth #752 which is located in the Green Pavillion. Learn about some of our newest site features, product launches and share some of your Trulia success stories with us. Mention that you read this blog post and get special conference only specials on Trulia Pro products. The offer will only be valid till November 8th……

I’ll be speaking on a panel about Connecting with Consumers through Mobile Technologies on Sunday, 11/7 from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM in the Morial Convention Center, Room RO6. Don’t miss your opportunity to learn about which mobile tools and services are essential to real estate pros like yourself to continue succeeding in the ever-changing real estate market.

You can also tweet me at anytime to say hello or to just see where I am. I’m @trulia on Twitter.

Wishing everyone a fantastic conference experience.

See ya!