Important Features of Google+

• Circles are groups of friends you organize by topic: Friends, Family, College Buddies, Roommates, etc.
• Hangouts are virtual rooms where you can video chat with people in your circles
• Huddles is group messaging for people within your Circles.
• Sparks is like Google Reader, except it brings content to you automatically based on your interests. Each topic gets its own “Spark” page and provide links to related articles, videos, photos, etc.
• When editing your profile, you have the option to show your profile info only to certain circles if you like, giving you complete control over what info people see
• Add the Facebook Add-In to have your Facebook stream within Google+ – go to crossrider.com/install/519-google-facebook to get it
• Get your own vanity url for Google+ – go to gplus.to

More about Empire Avenue…

• When you join Empire Avenue, you can connect your Social Networking accounts, and they score activity and engagement in each account, giving you a virtual “share” price
• The connections you make on Empire Avenue create “value-based” relationships – a deeper relationship than simply “following” someone, in a completely less intrusive context than becoming “friends.”
• Every day, you’re on Twitter, talking to friends on Facebook, uploading videos or photos, and writing blog posts. Just for doing that stuff, you’ll earn Eaves – their virtual currency – and they dish out some more virtual cash to your shareholders
• Along the way you’ll have a bit of fun, make new connections, learn about different people, and learn about social networking and the value of your network!

A Realtor® handles one of the largest transactions most people will make in their lifetime. Clients often want to know more about the agent they’ll be working with, and it’s important to manage the info that  is available about you.

Reputation.com  allows you to take control of your online  information

• Protect yourself by finding and removing your personal info from the websites that sell it
• Define yourself by promoting a truthful online image that you can control
• Defend and Monitor your reputation – know what’s being said about you online, so you can address and fix any problems or errors that come up

With Evernote, you can…

• Capture everything: Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Record a voice memo. Snap a photo. Grab a screenshot. Save a PDF file.
• Stay organized: Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made searchable. If you like, you can add tags or organize notes into different notebooks. This makes finding your info quick and easy. Even words in images or your handwritten notes become searchable.
• Sync all your notes so you can access them anywhere – from your computer, your phone, your iPad or on the web

With Mailchimp, you can…

• Build your email list by offering a free report or video to encourage people to sign up, and deliver a follow-up sequence of emails
• Send regular email newsletter to stay in touch with your list
• Automatically broadcast new blog posts to your list. This encourages traffic to your blog, makes it easy to send valuable free information to your list, and helps readers get to know, like and trust you
• Create multiple sub-lists to send different information or follow-up to different groups of people
• Share your email newsletter with your social network, increasing your reach

Walkscore lets you…

• Map an address, and get lots of information – find nearby amenities and find the walkability to local restaurants, banks, schools, groceries, shopping, public transportation and more. You can even easily map a clients’ commute.
• Easily print out a properties Walkscore to give to clients – help make their decision easier
• Add the Walkscore Amenity Map to your site to market what’s nearby a property and show commute times.
• Use the iPhone and iPad apps to give valuable info to clients while you’re at a property
• Help Sellers better market their property – each Walk Score point can be worth up to $3,000 more for a property, or a 40 to 200% price premium when a property is within walking distance of public transportation

Using the Stupeflix Video Maker, you can…

• Pair a series of property photos, stock buyer photos, and property info together with music from YouTube’s  Music Library for a professional-looking Open House video
• Easily add text captions (things like property info, property address, your name & phone number,  client testimonial text, etc.)
• Automatically embed Google Maps into your video, making it easy for prospects to find the property (and without you knowing any code!)
• Get rid of your excuse that you don’t know how to create videos, or don’t have the right software

Ways Realtors® can use EventBrite

• Host Buyer or Seller Informational workshops, and promote them using EventBrite’s social networking tools
• Use EventBrite to manage the sale of tickets and the tracking of attendees to a paid event or fundraiser you are hosting or coordinating
• If you work with a lot of first-time buyers or buyers that are relocating, use EventBrite to set up a “neighborhood social” type event to encourage neighbors to get to know each other
• Let EventBrite manage attendees for office training or workshops, rather than trying to track back-and-forth emails
• Connect with your online network by hosting an offline event, and promote through social media
• Invite past and current clients to a Client Appreciation Event

Important thing to know about Zestimates™

According to Zillow’s website (http://bit.ly/zestimates) their Zestimates estimated market value can vary widely. For example, in Chicago, only 23% of Zestimates are within 5% of the final sales price. So be sure to educate your clients!

How to make Zillow & Trulia work in your favor

• These sites rank very well in the search engines, so fill out your profile completely. Add your listings and Open Houses, and put links to your website, blog, Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook account on your profile.
• Answer questions in Trulia Voices & Zillow Advice to showcase your local knowledge.
• Request a review from clients that you have developed a relationship with. Many agent profiles don’t have these, so this helps you stand out in a competitive market.
• Take advantage of the different tools these sites offer to create more value for clients. Send clients stats or Local Real Estate Trend Data, and put their informational widgets on your website or blog as a resource for clients.

Ways Realtors® can use bit.ly

• Shortening – as mentioned above, the most basic service of bit.ly is shortening long urls. Take a url like http://www.zillow.com/howto/DataCoverageZestimateAccuracy.htm and turn it into http://bit.ly/e5iZHa making it easier to share on email and social media

• Even better, you can take those shortened urls, and customize them, so the link above is turned into http://bit.ly/zestimates. This makes it easier for you and clients to remember the url, and makes them more trustworthy because people know what to expect when they click on them

• Bit.ly provides great analytics, so you can track exactly how many times your new link is clicked

• The free Pro account even lets you shorten using your own custom domain

• Lots of different ways to utilize this: provide neighborhood info through shortened links on your site, and track which neighborhoods your visitors are most interested in, shorten links to your blog posts and see whether you get more readers from Twitter & Facebook.