Public Relations & Social Media

What is Public Relations

Public Relations vs. Advertising Think of it as Earned Media vs. Paid Media Through public relations you can communicate to your audience through an objective third party. Only 14% of buyers trust ads. 78% trust the opinion of others. Integrated marketing (using both) is best approach.

United Country Public Relations National Public Relations Goal – Raise consumer awareness about United Country and position the company and affiliates as experts, resulting in increased buyer leads and listing opportunities for all offices and attraction of new offices to strengthen our network Focus – National, regional, industry and trade media Affiliate Public Relations Goal – Generate awareness of you, your office and position you as the experts among your local audiences by sharing information with news media in your marketing area to increase your listing inventory, sales and attract the best talent to your team. Focus – local media in the markets you serve

We Need YOUR Help! Need story ideas for: Blog posts Social media posts Press releases Newsletters Possible topics of interest: New agent Auctions Rare/precious item sale Awards or recognition Real estate trends

Time for a Pop Quiz

What are these executives debating? “We can’t let our employees use this! It will pull them away from their work.” “This will allow employees to distribute content to the world and we will be liable.” “We will lose control of our brand!” 1997 discussions about email

The PR landscape is changing … quickly Newspaper revenue is down nearly 50% in the last 10 years. Unique readers of online newspapers are up 30 million in last 5 years ABC, CBS and NBC collectively get 10 million visitors per month Twitter, YouTube and Facebook collectively get over a billion visitors per month

So, what is Social Media

Social Media is a conversation supported by online tools like these:

Social Media for Business Public relations Targeted leads Customer service Loyalty building Collaboration Networking Referrals Market research Consumer education

The Big 3 for Real Estate Facebook 1.5 BILLION active users LinkedIn Most effective at lead generation YouTube Second largest search engine (SEO)

Getting Started Listen Create a Plan Engage Evaluate Google Alerts Set these up for you and your business HootSuite Handles up to three social media outlets from one place for free Create a Plan Be Flexible Engage Evaluate Use built-in insights and analytics Keep realistic expectations Be patient. Don’t expect results overnight

Getting Started - Facebook

Post Considerations Ask yourself: Who is my audience? Where can I reach them? What do they want to learn from me? Realize: Priority 1 – What they are passionate about Priority 2 – What they need to know to do their job/live better Priority 3 – Anything so creative that it captures their attention Priority 4 – Everything else

1.5 BILLION active Facebook users 63% use it as a source of news 57% of millennials use it to plan social events 10 million websites contain ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ Total number of Facebook friend connections… 201 BILLION! Avg. time on Facebook per day = 40 minutes US senior citizens on Facebook = 31%

10 tips to help utilize your business Facebook page.

300 million users Great tool for recruiting Also useful for business to business networking and information sharing Illustrate your expertise Get recommendations! Add value to conversations in Groups

In a recent study of 5,000 B2B and B2C businesses, HubSpot found LinkedIn was 277 percent more effective at bringing in leads than Facebook and Twitter, with a whopping conversion rate of 2.74 percent.

Getting Started - LinkedIn

Over 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month Second largest search engine. (Owned by Google) Virtual tours, auctions footage or educate about your expertise area Virtual tour - take a walking tour of town or neighborhood It’s easy to do Inexpensive camera options Simple video posting Videos no longer than 90 seconds Keep video content short and simple. Video should be timely and relevant.

Getting Started - YouTube All you need is a Google account

ActiveRain or Blogger. 300-500 words. Help drive SEO 33% of Facebook users clicked Like on a blog Nearly 30% shared a blog post on Facebook Make yourself an expert!

270 million active Twitter users per month 30-49 year olds = 25% Updates of 140 characters or less (micro-blogging) Following/Followers & Tweet/Retweet Insert yourself into other conversations and add value

Home Office’s Strategy What’s the Home Office’s Strategy

Social Networking Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unitedcountry Twitter: http://twitter.com/ucrealestate YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ucrealestate LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com (search groups) Google+: http://GPlus.to/unitedcountry Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ucrealestate Blog: http://www.unitedcountryblog.com

Your Homework “Checklist” Create Facebook page - Post 3-4 times per week. - ‘Like’ United Country’s page 2. Create LinkedIn page - Post 2-3 times per week 3. Start YouTube Channel (conquer #1 & #2 first) - Upload videos as needed.

Contact Information Angela Smith Public Relations & Social Media United Country Real Estate 816-420-6241 asmith@unitedcountry.com

Questions