A Quiz On Social Networking For Business

On Twitter, you have followers who opt to receive your messages from their Twitter page or mobile phone. The idea on Twitter is to generate lots of followers because your messages will then have expanded reach. If you're looking for others to follow, use search.twitter.com to find people with similar interests. Get more tips from Twitter Power (Wiley, 2009) by Joel Comm and Ken Burge, and read a summary of the book with 5 Ways to Use Twitter for Business

RSS is used to publish frequently updated content (such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts) in a standardized format online. An RSS feed, which makes it possible for people to keep up with Web sites in an automated way, contains a summary of content—or the full text—from the Web site. If your Web host doesn't offer an RSS option, you can use an online service to offer RSS feeds, such as the free option Page2RSS.com, which allows you to create an RSS feed for any Web page. Learn more how to use RSS to reach clients: "RSS: Get Your Info Out There."

A 2008 survey by the Center for REALTOR® Technology showed that 10 percent of real estate professionals use Facebook on a daily basis, followed by 8 percent who use ActiveRain and 7 percent who use their self-hosted blog on a daily basis. However, on a weekly basis, 18 percent of real estate professionals say they use LinkedIn. Overall, 33 percent of people who work in the real estate business report participating in social networks or blogs for business purposes, according to the survey.

Here's how Wikipedia defines social networking: "A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are Web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services." There are many social networking sites on the Web. FlickR is a photo-sharing site; Yammer asks people to explain "What are you working on?" and only reveals the answers to those in your network with a similar corporate e-mail address; and LinkedIn is a social networking site where professionals can connect. Some of the most popular social networking sites that real estate pros are using include Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.

Don't do what Oprah did when she posted her first Tweet saying: "HI TWITTERS. THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY." When you type all in CAPS, it's the equivalent of SHOUTING in someone's ear—so quiet your excitement and refrain from over-capitalization. Tweet-jacking is another big no-no in the social networking world. That's when you take what someone else posted on Twitter and then re-tweet it as your own (also known as plagiarism). Use Facebook and other social networking sites for their purpose—to connect with people—but don't bombard them with sales pitches, such as on their Facebook Wall, the public viewing area of messages to everyone in that person's network. You'll quickly be un-friended for such offenses. Read the Unspoken Rules of Social Networking for more tips.

You have 140 characters or less to write your response—a tight word limit to ensure messages are kept succinct (after all, some in your network are opting to receive your updates via their mobile phone).

LinkedIn isn't just for finding and connecting with others on a professional basis, you can also use it to ask questions, get answers, and be the answerer. In fact, using LinkedIn's Answers tool to answer others' posted questions can help establish your expertise in an area. The book How to Succeed in Business Using LinkedIn (AMACOM, 2008) by Eric Butow and Kathleen Taylor describes how the LinkedIn Answers tool works: "LinkedIn measures its members' expertise with a point system. When you answer a question in a public LinkedIn forum in a particular category and the questioner picks your answer as the best one, LinkedIn give you a point. As you accumulate points, LinkedIn lists you as an expert in that category, thus increasing your visibility to other LinkedIn members looking for answers." (Once you sign on to your LinkedIn account, find a link to "Answers" at the top of the page to start using the tool.) So start answering those real estate questions!

On Twitter, you Tweet messages to tweeps, and tweople tweet back and then can re-tweet to more twitterers. Need a translation of Twitter's own quickly evolving language? Tweets are posts made by twitter users (which must be 140 characters or less); tweeps are friends on twitter; tweople are people who tweet; twitterers are a group of people whom have Twitter accounts; and re-tweeting is when someone else sends on content posted by another user (with credit to the original poster, of course). Learn more about the Twitter lexicon at Twittazon.

Fan pages on Facebook can be a great way to spotlight your company. These pages allow others on Facebook to become fans of your company and you can then send your "fans" updates about your company, highlight your latest blog entries and achievements, etc. The advantage of a Facebook fan page is that it is visible to even unregistered people on Facebook so even search engines can index the page.

There are several blogging platforms that you can use to set up and host your blog, many of which are free too. For example, popular services for real estate professionals include Realtor.com, ActiveRain, MovableType, Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress. For more information on how to set up a blog and use such platforms, read Step-by-Step Blogging and Blogging for Business.