I mean, how do you tell one agent from another, they all tout to be the best. So I took a gamble.

Fast track forward 60 days. Unit sold AND settled.

When Paul did the research there were 2 similar units on the market in our complex. One had been on the market for 154 days, and the other 212. That property was right next door and was listed for $195,000.

OMG, 212 days, I needed to clear this property quickly, the tenant had just moved out after 4 years and I didn’t want to have to re-tenant it while trying to sell it. And I certainly didn’t want to have to cover the mortgage. I needed to shift this property, and quickly.

Just on 31 days later, offer made and unit sold – and within the 3% of the asking price. Woo woo.

So – was I a happy camper? You got that right.

So why am I sharing this?

I went straight to my Facebook wall and placed this rave review for Paul!

Paul Ellis of Warnbro Realty, about to become an Elders branch, is a legend. Sold my unit in a slow market in exactly 31 days. The unit next door is still on the market after 272 days. And I got within 3% of my asking like he said, legend.

Within minutes a friend posted a comment “Is he that good?”

Needless to say they have since touched base and no doubt they’ll be doing business together (by the way, this guy has several properties).

But it gets even better. Next day I get an email from someone else, “Should I use him?” Obvious response – “Yes!”

2 solid leads in 2 days! I reckon that’s a good start to the social media marketing arena.

And Paul doesn’t even have a Facebook Business Page (Yet). Imagine if he had that on a Facebook Business Page, that would mean those client raves would be there forever. Maximum Exposure, Credibility and your Authority, that’s what social media will do for your business. IF YOU DO IT RIGHT!

It’s not enough to just have a Facebook Business Page nowadays.

• You need to have it optimised
• You need to know how to leverage it properly
• You need to know how to us it to engage people, to maximise your efforts.

Check out this video, the numbers are staggering –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBXOjEZUIm8

Want to get it right?

Check out the raves on our Smarter Workshops “Profit From Your FB Business Page ‘Hands On Do It With You” Workshop wall –

http://www.facebook.com/SmarterWorkshops?sk=reviews

If you’re in Perth we have a workshop running THIS Friday (29th July 2011).

If you’re not in GET IN NOW. Call me direct on 0413 733 272.

There are only 5 spots left so don’t procrastinate – just BOOK NOW!

Also, check out the epic rave reviews we have on our Smarter WordPress Websites wall –

http://www.facebook.com/SmarterWordPressWebsites?sk=reviews

We show you how to do that, and a LOT MORE!

The point is this – you work hard to give great service – so why shouldn’t you get more referrals from all that hard work?

On the phone yesterday with John Denton of Business Ready For Sale. We’re both in the same BNI (Business Network International) chapter. Plus we’re good mates.

I was doing my due diligence on BNI chapter websites and John Googled “BNI Australia”.

We were both astounded at the results, check it out. Here’s the search term and number of search results shown.

And here is the Social Media Beta results shown down the bottom of page 1, complete with my mug shot with 3 links, what a bonus, 1 to my LinkedIn profile, another to my core website and another to a page within my website.

So what does your online social profiles say about you?

Best you get cracking and check your short bio’s on FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube and whatever other’s you have in the mix.

Make sure you OPTIMIZE your social profiles otherwise you’ll be LOST in the myriad on wannabe experts in your field. Here’s 3 Tips straight up on optimizing LinkedIn.

… to Reap the Rewards of Social Media Marketing.

You don’t have to go anywhere near FaceBook, Twitter or LinkedIn to grow your business on the social media scene.

The biggest issue I hear from those who are social media marketing “challenged” is they don’t have time.

That I totally understand!

But here’s the next thing some say “I actually don’t know where to start or what to actually do”.

And it’s the same for a lot of professionals and small business owners. So many have a FaceBook or a LinkedIn account and pretty well don’t use it.

But there are smart ways to get and stay “in front of people”.

Isn’t that what marketing is all about?

Getting in front of people, getting new connections, strengthening existing relationships, having people talk about you, and give you referrals, building rapport and forging forward in building your network or centre of influence.

Well, that’s my summary of marketing.

I’m a part of 3 different business groups -

• A closed mastermind group of 4 that meets every week.
• BNI or Business Network International – meets every week.
• A Business Mentoring group run by a very successful colleague.

Mastermind Group:

Our closed mastermind group meets every week and is run pretty tight. We have an opening ‘goss’ session and then it’s straight into business. We bring along strategic questions that will move our business forward as well as account for the actions we said we’d take over the last week.

This is not a “feel good” meeting. We are accountable and that’s our mantra – “do what you said you’d do.” We’re not gentle on each other let me tell you. (a great way to vent – lol)

Then there’s BNI. I’m blessed to be in a really dynamic BNI group.

For those who don’t know BNI is all about referrals and operates from a “Givers Gain” model. Like a universal principal – the more you give the more you get. The meetings are very well structured, well organised and run to a tight time line, 1.5 hours for a breakfast meeting, every week.

Mentoring Group:

The next group is the Business Mentoring group run by John Denton. We meet monthly for a half day session. John is one of the country’s top business brokers. When you think about it, who better to run a mentoring group than someone who helps get businesses ready for sale?

If our business is “ready for sale” that means it effectively runs itself.

And don’t we all want that?

That is surely the true definition of a business, something we can walk away from and it’ll still make money. For me that’s a work in progress!

Back to the smart ways to get grow you and your business on the social media scene – without going anywhere near FaceBook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

You’ll need a Smart phone, Android phone or iPhone.

FourSquare is a social venue marketing tool. All it does is use GPS to “locate” you and you’re able to “check in” to that venue. I have it set up to then send that info to my FaceBook and Twitter profiles.

Why?

Because it’s putting me in front of my network or circle of influence.

So who cares you say!

Obviously they do because I seem to get more comments on those “remote” posts than when I’m actually on FaceBook. Seems like a no brainer to me!

If I can foster my relationships with these groups and friends and connect with them more without spending a heap of time in front of my computer isn’t that a smart use of my time?

Here’s a big point to consider!

People want to do business with people! End of story. And the more “real” you become, the more you show your humanness along with constant subtle reminders that you’re out there then the more top of mind you will be.

So I do one thing, take one action – simply check in and it goes to my FourSquare profile, my FaceBook profile, my LinkedIn profile and my Twitter profile.

So I do one thing yet 4 marketing touches or points of exposure occur. That’s for each “check in”, that’s smart leverage.

20 Points of Free Marketing Exposure Every Month!

I get at least 20 points of marketing exposure every month with no time actually on my laptop and only a few minutes a month on my iPhone. That’s a great ROI!

And you get to have some FUN!

With Foursquare you earn points for check ins, extra points for new venues, and you can become the Mayor if you have checked in the most. At our BNI meetings we now have about 4 members into it and we have some fun with it. Trying to check in first or pipping someone as the Major. It actually adds to the camaraderie within the group too.

Here’s where you can get REALLY SMART.

You can add “Tips” about your business. Remember, this is a GPS venue location tool. So anyone around my area will see my tip “Greatest WordPress Websites, Lead Generation Systems and Social Media Marketing Integration on the Planet”. They’ll see that even if they’re a block away and checking into another business.

Gee, Free Advertising!

So whenever I go to my business meeting or network functions I “check in”. I also make a comment about the event, maybe a short spiel about guest speaker or some other positive comment.

Why?

Because it’s that givers gain principle at work. Plus what other people say about you is infinitely more powerful than what you say about yourself. Give rave reviews and I’m bound to get some back. Like I said, I get at least 20 points of marketing exposure every month.

Who’d like the benefit of you and your business being put in front of 100’s or even 1000’s of people?

Here’s a really cool video to show you – http://budurl.com/foursquaretool

It’s gonna be huge so start to use it now.

DO THIS NOW! Let us “Connect Socially” – Increase Your Circle of Influence!

Follow me on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/peter_butler

See me on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/peterbutler

Connect at LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/thepeterbutler

FourSquare – http://foursquare.com/peter_butler

These are the 3 most common subject lines that I have come across in these Spam Attacks.

• So now you’re on LinkedIn: What’s next?
• LinkedIn Alert
• LinkedIn new messages

There have been reports of an alert that contains a link with a fictitious social media contact request.

Why do they bother? Apparently it’s to spread the ZeuS malware that aims to capture your personal information and banking details.

According to a Cisco Security blog post, the spam attack started this Monday and ramped up quickly to account for over 25 percent of all spam intercepted by Cisco’s systems after only eight hours.

I first started receiving my “spam blast” on the 25.09.2010 and it went through to the 1.10.2010.

These messages accounted for as much as 24% of all spam sent within a 15-minute interval. Clicking the link takes victims to a web page that says, “PLEASE WAITING…. 4 SECONDS,” and redirects them to Google.

Here’s the trap!

During those four seconds, the victim’s PC is infected with the ZeuS data-theft malware via a drive-by download. ZeuS embeds itself in the victim’s web browser and captures personal information, such as online banking credentials, and is widely used by criminals to pilfer commercial bank accounts.”said the post.

One way you can check if it’s legitimately from LinkedIn is to hold your mouse over the link and check to see what URL shows. DO NOT click on the link.

Businesses are warned to avoid clicking links in LinkedIn email messages, instead it is good practice to visit the LinkedIn site directly by typing the URL in your web browser and logging in this way to check messages and contact requests rather than follow links in an email.

You’ll find the attack will slow until they think of a new scam.

Henry Stern, Senior Security Researcher with the IronPort Systems division of Cisco says the attack relies on exploiting out of date software on your PC. “Your PC will only be infected by this attack if you have out-of-date software installed on your PC, particularly Adobe’s Flash, Reader or Oracle’s Java that are behind on their security updates.” he said.

I thank my teenage son for giving me a well needed break from it all. This video on You Tube has had over 5 million hits, and that’s just this version.

I’ve not seen these guys in action before, so clever and all the music I love.

Give yourself a treat and check out “Axis of Awesome” now…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

Practical “to do’s for results” for the members was my plan.

I get tired of workshops that tell you “what to do” without telling you “how to do it” so I got very specific and detailed. At the end of the day I wanted the members to go away and have very specific actions that would increase their on-line social media profile.

I’ve taken that presentation and made it available in a new mini e-series – “Supersize Your Social Media Marketing Success”. If you want to get that simply click on the orange “Social Media Marketing” button to the left or on my home page. Either that or make a comment below and I’ll get that sent directly to you.

Supersize Your Social Media Marketing with a simple step by step e-series.

Here’s a rave from one of the AMI members

Hi Peter,

Thank you for sending this through.

And thank you for your presentation at the AMI workshop, it was definitely the highlight of the day for me.  J

Enjoy your week!

Kind regards

Suzanne Loveland BComm AMAMI
p/f. 9302 4737
m. 0412 948 921
e. suzanne(@)creativeelements.net.au
w. www.creativeelements.net.au

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrLtTdneXm0

I look at Social Media Marketing in two ways.

One I call the hard wired and the other is the soft wired.

Let’s just focus on the 2 biggie social media marketing platforms – Twitter and FaceBook and how this hard wired and soft wired concept impacts them.

The hard wired means the actual SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) benefit or spin off.  For the most part this is how I see Twitter benefiting your business.

You make a “tweet” and there’ll be a link back from that tweet to your website with the full story or offer. That’s the SEO benefit, the search engines have “seen” your tweet and followed it back to your site so now the search engines have visited your site. Great, that helps with your site being “indexed” and search engine authority (see site indexing post here!)

Trouble is, the chances that a real person has followed your “tweet” is debatable. I’m not saying that people don’t hang around and read stuff on the Twitter “wall” but it moves that quick it’s hard to keep up with. Your “tweet” can be up on the wall one second and gone the next.

That’s one of the problems with Twitter – It’s like being in a big hall and everyone is shouting but no one is listening. A heck of a lot of noise and not much ‘connection’ or real business building.

Is it likely you will get direct business out of Twitter? Probably not direct, BUT… there is the hard wired benefit and it’s a real dinkum benefit.

Back links! It IS worth having. Especially with Google showing “Real Time Search Results” nowadays (see real time search results post here!)

Is it possible you will get business out of Twitter? Absolutely, I have a client who checked out my ‘tweets’ and ‘posts’ which led to us becoming “friends” on FaceBook which led to a deal so it certainly does happen. It’s just not a high converter.

Over to the soft wired stuff.

The softy wired benefit is the relational aspects or benefit. This is you actually making a connection with people.  The big shaker and mover is this realm is FaceBook. I’ve developed some great relationships through FaceBook. I connect with my family and friends and my ‘business friends’ get to see a bit more about the ‘real’ me. Hey, people want to do business with people. As long as you’re not a yobbo and too outrageous, otherwise you’ll damage your credibility but, people do love to see the authenticity in your life.

There are also hard wired benefits with FaceBook too. Google are indexing and following links back on FaceBook so when you make a post on your wall with a link back to your site the search engines will follow that. Another link back, great!

But the real power and long term benefit is in the soft wired social media marketing. The relational stuff!

Making a connection with people matters! Especially with the number of growing entrepreneurs out there! And the fact that more and more people are spending more time online and as a result we have less face to face time available. It’s only natural that we’re looking to the online stuff to connect.

My advice is this – take time to read peoples posts, think about what’s happening for them, make a comment, an encouragement perhaps. I use my sense of humour often, gotta watch that people don’t misinterpret my wit with sarcasm though. You’ll be surprised at how your relationships and followers will grow.

I post useful marketing tips and tricks and business posts. I make posts about what’s happening in my life like “My 16 year old son is doing my head in” or whatever else is happening for me, some stuff that I’m doing around my fitness maybe and perhaps family related comments.

What happens in the business arena is my FaceBook friends start reposting my business related posts to their “wall” which means I’m being put in front of an audience that I would not otherwise be exposed to. Plus the credibility factor of what someone else says about you is exponentially more powerful than what you say about yourself.

One of the issues facing the professional and small business entrepreneur is lack of time so the key to success with social media marketing has to be TIME… and that is why we’ve automated this whole process. This is why WordPress is such a winner.

All you do is make your “post” or article and your website gets updated along with your social media accounts being updated, all with a link back to your WordPress website.

You do only 1 action yet 4 actions occur – posts to your website, posts to your Twitter account, updates your FaceBook profile along with your LinkedIn profile too. All automated, it’s a beautiful thing.

Here’s a recent blurb from a non tech savvy client who reaps the benefit of this automation.

Hi Peter,

Just posted my daily inspiration and wanted to thank you because it went directly into Twitter and FaceBook today.

Woo Hoo!!! Love it, love it, love it. Speak soon.

Wishing you an Inspirational Day! 

Annette Stanton

Australia’s Leading Lifestyle & Business – Vision Success Specialist ~ Coach ~ Author ~ Speaker

If you’re not using WordPress as your website platform you really are missing out on a lot and we need to talk about how we can flip your site over. The automation will save you so much time. Plus Google and the other search engines just love WordPress.

If you want to know more about that you can go here –

http://www.smarterwebsites.com.au/17-point-marketing-website-prosperity-check

So to summarize, social media marketing will build your business.

The right focus with providing useful and helpful content, feedback and encouragement – if you operate on the “do unto others as you would have them do to you” you’ll do well. Don’t always be doing the “sell” bit in the social media arena. Make sure you balance your time wisely, build relationships, be helpful and your business will reap the rewards with this social media marketing phenomenon.

PS: If you’re in Perth then I just got wind of a social media marketing one day workshop being run by Josh Williams, a very savvy marketer who specializes in social media as well as video marketing. You can talk to Josh on 08 9240 7607 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              08 9240 7607      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              08 9240 7607      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              08 9240 7607      end_of_the_skype_highlighting to book your “limited seats” spot.

It’s a no brainer for getting back links to your site, courtesy of Google themselves. Every bit helps and any way you can use Googles services has to be a good thing right? All bow to Google!

Set up your own Google Profile.

You just need to fill the information that they ask about yourself, include the URL of your website, add some pictures and bingo, one more backlink. As long as you add enough information, your profile will be displayed in Google’s search results, and it should count as a normal backlink because Google does not use the nofollow attribute on the website links.

This service is also useful if you are not worried with building links, because it gives you an opportunity to create a profile page and possibly to get it ranked for your name on the first page of results.

So what are you waiting for? Go set up your own profile.

If you’re a Smarter Websites client chances are we’ve already done that for you. Do a quick check by entering “Google Profile for <your name>” into Google Search and see what comes up. Let me know if you can’t find you and I’ll talk you through some tips and tricks.

Make a comment below if you need help.

The picture above is my own profile with all the sites I’ve built and run (some are old and my pre WordPress days so don’t give me grief)