Opray has been hailed as an innovator by local real estate agencies. Following his success, it is undeniable that his methods will be copied. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if this form of marketing floats more and more into real estate marketing strategies because the same strategies have been delivered for far too long, and the power of word-of-mouth has been strongly underestimated.

We often talk about the accessibility of social media that draws customers, but it also goes to show that authentic engagement and communication allow for that connection to continue. Opray, for an example, has made it a point to update information on a weekly basis, making it convenient for potential homebuyers to view the house without leaving the comforts of their home.

For a combination of marketing channels, real estate agencies should really look into heightening customer convenience, by using innovative methods like applying QR codes, allowing them to view properties online through newspaper articles. After all, far too much money and time has been spent on traditional forms of marketing media, like print and television – when it is evident that consumers are flocking to the Internet.

More importantly, using social media has broadened Opray’s market reach, casting a web that, when effectively used, extends on a voluminous scale. Social media allows audiences to proactively communicate in a free and open manner, on an interactive basis – something that customers can now actively explore rather than just reactively consume. Especially when it comes to making big decisions like purchasing a property, people can now find comfort in going directly to the source. Despite the word that the property market is going under, Kurt Opray has managed to succeed due to his efficient choice in marketing tools.

If you wish to see your business flourish through the effective use of social media tools, please feel free to contact us.  We are more than happy to discuss with you where and how the use of social media tools would be able to uniquely assist your business. 

@Gwendoot for @WhiteEcho

The “this looks great” part is the new media, digital media, the “we’ll get back to you” is the common mistake.

Too often we’re seeing companies continuing to delay their decision to enter the digital space for their company.

Digital space can relate to a number of things; mobile apps for your website, social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.), Google adwords and one of the most important parts to any company, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

In a recent email from a friend, who is nowhere near tech savy, she informed me that because of the change in their mobile website – White Echo put in place a mobile app for their website – she is now receiving more hits via the smartphone then ever before, including more traffic and hits than the Yellow Pages provides them with.

The company realised that Google traffic was extremely high via the smartphone but because they had their website still visible as a desktop setup for the smartphone, visitors were finding it extremely difficult to navigate, hence the reason for no hits.

The same can be said when it comes to Social Media with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and things like QR Codes.

Basic line of digital space; it bridges the gap between your brand and your customers. So why are companies delaying the opportunity to take advantage of the customer to company relationship?

A key part to this delay rests with the owners and in some cases, the baby boomer generation – born between the years 1946 and 1959.

It’s now the responsiblity of these baby boomers to start opening their minds to the digital space, the future of their business and to keep reminding themselves, “the internet is only 17 years old, is my business prepared for the online?”

What may have been successful in the past 20 years is now being overlooked by the ever changing online media, EVERYDAY.

It certainly is going to take time for Australian companies to realise how powerful the digital space is and the ones who delay it will be the ones who keep delaying the future advantages to their company.

Whether you’re a small, medium or large company, start preparing the future of your business with the future advantage of networking; online.

When next discussing your budget for advertising, think of the digital space even if it’s a small percentage of your budget. Ignore this opportunity for another year and you could in fact miss the boat all together.

The digital space is evolving everyday, it’s creating powerful customer relationships for brands all over the world and it’s developing trust in your brand that takes months and thousands and thousands of dollars to build with other forms of advertising.

If you would like to find out more about the digital space and how your company can benefit, feel free to contact White Echo for a FREE no obligation discussion.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

I first came across Instagram on a trip to the Whitsundays in October 2010. I remember showing my wife, taking pictures and enhancing them to show off to our friends.

The problem with Instagram back then was that when sharing with a platform like Facebook, it was a link that sent you away from Facebook itself, a no no in the social media circles.

I decided to park the app for a while until I noticed someone I’m quite the fan of, Jack Dorsey – Co-Founder of Twitter – had joined.

Instagram, a photo sharing application allows you to add filters and effects to your pictures, share them on various platforms like Twitter and Facebook, follow other Instagram users and add hashtags – similar to Twitter, a form of tagging your pictures – allowing people to discover your images.

Instagram allows you to configure your picture with 16 cool filters. You can brighten it up, you can make it darker, add filters that give it a grainy or old-school polaroid look and the coolest part, make the foreground stand out and the background blurry, and vice versa.

Being involved in the digital space, researching night and day, I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger explosion in membership to a platform since Twitter, with Instagram now sitting at over 15 million users.

The biggest change Instagram has made, and one I feel has helped with its explosion, is the link to Facebook.

When sharing with Twitter, it’s a simple link, a strength of Facebook is the visual content and now uploaded images go straight into an ‘Instagram Photos’ album.

Instagram late last year made a huge upgrade in providing the visual look of the pictures (see above) when you share on Facebook; no link, no thumbnail, and a huge image.

A key to sharing your pictures and gaining huge exposure is adding hashtags to your uploads.

The thing we’re noticing is the amount of people searching for photos via keywords.

When you open up Instagram, go to your profile, search Instagram and click on tags. When you type in a word say, Spotify, the hashtag automatically appears in front of your keyword search. If you love Instagram and love people to like your pictures then I suggest adding hashtags to your pictures.

Even though it’s designed for the mobile device, you can also manage your Instagram account via this link called Statigram. The great thing about this application is the statistics you can receive from people visiting, liking and commenting on your pictures.

I now use Instagram more then ever. My library of pictures whether it’s Twitter or Facebook is now via Instagram.

If you haven’t signed up to Instagram, do yourself a favor and go and try. It’s a free app for the iPhone, an Android app is in the pipeline.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

If you want to follow Jeff on Instagram, search for JeffWhite34 on Instagram.

Check out the little demo below on how to use Instagram…

It’s called Spotify.

Based in Sweden, this online music sharing platform is giving users all over the world the ability to share playlists with your friends instantly, create your own radio station and from my short experience since last Friday, downloading apps to increase that music experience.

I first came across Spotify on a recent trip to the States. Artists like Snoop Dogg continually tweeting out their favorite playlists to millions of fans? I needed to find out more.

First stop was @Spotify on Twitter. Like most accounts I start following, I go to their “following” list to network. One of the guys I started following who works for Spotify was Nick Ingall.

By chance, and this is purely by coincidence, I decided to tweet Nick.

Straight away he tweeted, “Spotify coming soon to Australia, oh by the way, I was a big fan of yours in your playing days at Melbourne.”

This was another example of how small the world is when it comes to social media but more so it was the opportunity to find out further information on this exciting platform.

In September last year at Facebook’s big f8 launch they announced Spotify as its music sharing platform.

In my short time in playing with the platform, I’ve been blown away by how quickly you can share playlists.

Nick has shared a few of his playlists already and as you can see from the tweet to appearing in my Spotify list, it’s instant.

Imagine tweeting out “off to a party tonight, got any good songs we should play?” Well using Spotify, you can simply share your playlist to your friend who simply clicks on the link and they are instantly playing your chosen playlist at the party.

The thing that surprised me the most was how quickly the playlists are shared, the options available including apps – which are growing everyday – and the ability to share them on platforms like Twitter and Facebook are done with ease.

The video below is the promotional video from when they announced their partnership with Facebook in September last year.

The biggest online sharing platform is coming to Australia in 2012, get ready.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

It is not enough to just turn up to an interview on time, or to send off a carefully constructed resumé. Corporations now take the time (and extra care) to find someone that fits in with their culture and share their values.

So, what better way of finding out what a person is like than through their peers?

Digital company R/GA has come up with a rather direct and interesting approach towards job applicant filtration. The Social Interview poses a question on an applicant’s Facebook wall, retrieving opinions from their friends and how they would fare as an employee.

Essentially, this leaves the future of your career in the hands of your social network. The candidness (and presumed remoteness) of online banter opens up a ‘free-for-all’, holding expectations of objective feedback, the 50/50 chance of brutal honesty, and involves a whole lot of trust.

The Social Interview shows us that how we operate on a personal level inevitably ties in with our professional life.This is certainly enough to make me think twice about my online presence as a whole…and who my friends are.

It is an interesting take on HR processes to come, and even though some of us are already taking the necessary steps, this could call for extra vigilance and concern about the things we post, where we have been tagged and who is watching.

A certain balance is to be achieved between censoring ourselves and letting our personalities shine through. We market ourselves everyday, especially when it comes to structuring our own unique spiel in job hunting. Social media offers a direct window to that, but along with it comes the ability to tangibly manage our online presence, or our individual ‘brands’ with more strategic control.

What are your thoughts on the Social Interview? Do you find that developments like these constrict your online persona? Or does it showcase the rise of the open-minded employer?

For more information on managing your online presence, feel free to shoot us your questions at info@whiteecho.com. We would love to hear from you.

@Gwendoot for @WhiteEcho

I came across an interesting comment emailed to me today, “I’m not happy with the posts being made, I could write better.”

The person may well in fact have a point and we never class ourselves as experts – no one can – but we know exactly what the person is thinking, “How is that post going to get people in the door?”

If you think social media is all about getting foot traffic through the door instantly, then you’re wasting your time.

If you want to utilize social media to engage, inform and build the trust of a brand, then you’re on the right track.

People these days treat their timelines on Facebook and Twitter like they treat their mothers; with love and care.

When opening up their timelines daily, people don’t want to continually see a brand selling and selling; they want to be informed on what the company is up to and the thing we find is the biggest attraction, what they could possibly win.

Ever come across a constant tweet that is repetitious, always has a link and it’s always about what they have for sale? Now tell me, how quickly did you unfollow them?

Now compare that to a brand that tweets about things you might be interested in, comments on a recent tweet Shane Warne has made, talks about the latest fashion show, replies to your tweet and then RTs your tweets, does that sound more appealing?

With that, what technique would make you like that brand more? I know which one I’d rather.

Companies have deadlines, numbers to make, budgets to achieve, and I get that, but isn’t word of mouth and trust vitally important for a company as well?

Social media delivers this. It’s not a selling tool, it’s a tool to engage, inform and deliver instant feedback for your customers, it’s a conversation platform that allows your customers to have a voice.

Please don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have a focus on delivering sales through social media, but we at White Echo believe that if your brand is actively engaging with their customers, providing them an opportunity to speak and providing feedback, that will sell.

Companies need to understand that investing time and money into social media is a process that takes time, time to build a digital presence that allows your brand to communicate directly with the people who support you.

Could you imagine a sporting club not allowing access to the athletes for the fans?

Allow your brand to grow, talk, engage, listen and most importantly, except and deliver feedback to show you care.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

Don’t get me wrong, this is great and I’m the first person to applaud this but “about time” and they still have a lot to learn.

The thing I notice hands down with Australian companies; they’re too reactive.

Back in 2009 with the US election I, like many people around the world, were watching closely each candidate’s travels across America voicing their strategies to win the vote of the US people.

Barack Obama was not only working the streets, phoning people every night personally, but he built an online strategy that included Mark Zukerberg’s right hand man and one of the key developers at Facebook.

Their strategy was simple; “people are online everyday so let’s talk to them.” A strategy in the end that paid dividends.

Now that was 2009. Even Fox & Friends was doing their own “Facebook Q&A” on air live pre-election that year; Sunrise just incorporated this late last year.

Everyday I live and breathe social media. I might be biased in some respect with my thoughts but I did work for a radio station for two years and have seen that side of advertising.

Social media is not going to go away and you’ve probably heard that plenty of times already. Well, have you done anything about it yet?

Trust me, if your company is not thinking about it then your competitor is.

There are a number of critics out there willing to criticize the value of social media to businesses and I guess they have a point, in Australia that is. Why? Because social media is still a new media that most people don’t understand. In the States, it’s now the norm.

We’ve grown up being taught “advertise on radio, advertise on TV, advertise in the paper.” You’ll hit this amount of people, this amount of people will hear your message. That’s fine, but how many of those people will react to your ad? I can’t tell you and you can’t measure it.

Back to my thoughts on Australian companies being too reactive. They are, without question. With every company I’ve dealt with in relation social media, it’s a case of “What’s this, how do we measure that, why do you do this?” etc etc.

The simple reason for this is most companies still don’t understand the power.

Spending tens of thousands of dollars in one month advertising on a freeway billboard seems to be acceptable. We accept these huge fees for advertising and yet companies are not willing to provide small budgets to social media.

Your customers can’t talk to you via a billboard, they can’t receive an instant response via a newspaper article. If customers want answers, they won’t call, they won’t email you via your website – especially if they view your website via their smartphone and realize that your website is setup like a desktop not a mobile app and it’s hard to read – that’s time consuming.

The other thing that I’m continuing to notice is the amount of companies advertising “Like us on Facebook” or “Follow us on Twitter” incorporating the iconic logos in TV ads or in the newspaper.

That’s fine – but if I type in Coca Cola on Facebook, how many Coca Cola Facebook Pages are there? All of a sudden you’ve lost that potential new customer – not that Coca Cola has that problem – but you know what I mean.

If you are going to advertise in the newspaper that you are on Facebook, add in your link. For example, our client Outback Jacks links are: Facebook.com/OutbackJacksAUS and twitter.com/OutbackJacks

If you don’t know how to apply for a Facebook URL, then this is what I’m talking about; you need to research and understand this.

Get your digital space professionally setup, either employ a social media company like White Echo or ask one of your employees to spend more time researching this space because your brand is being mentioned right now.

If you would like to discuss this or anything further relating to social media and how it could benefit your business, then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me either twitter: @JeffWhite34 or contact us: info@whiteecho.com

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

With every update that Facebook springs upon its users, come the complaints that follow.

The most recent Timeline update has definitely seen its share of ‘dislikes’ – but no more so than the usual update. Users learn that despite their efforts in (ironically) setting up Facebook groups in protest, change is essentially inevitable in all things, more so when it comes to the malleable world of social media.

Just recently, Israeli media agency McCann Digital Israel has found an innovative way to run its campaign for the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, making full use of the compelling visual comparisons Timeline offers – a look at fictional profile character, Adam Barak’s life before and after drugs.

Although Facebook has removed the page under fake profile violations, it is definitely interesting to see how developments in social media have prompted more creative and ‘out-of-the-box’ marketing techniques, piquing further interest in the workings of social media, and its establishment as a channel for direct communication and marketing. Although there has been much concern over targeted marketing on Facebook, especially when it comes to privacy issues, we can only hope that Facebook’s continuous updates will resonate with the user’s wish to see ads as useful and authentically engaging, rather than disruptive.

Viewing McCann’s campaign as an example, social media will only continue to provide more options for direct engagement with one’s audiences.

We can hardly wait to see what comes next.

@gwendoot for @WhiteEcho

Tag

Once upon a time, Facebook started allowing people to prove they had friends by letting them ‘tag’ them in photos. When Pages were released, businesses realised this was an excellent way to get their content on their fans news feeds. Now, Facebook has expanded the types of content that can be tagged and who by. This means that businesses and other types of page owners can cleverly extend the reach of their content by tagging people, pages and events.

Tags can now appear in statuses, photos, galleries, polls, links and videos. They can also be added to replies to posts, which means for the first time a page can actually target and notify the person they are responding to.

Careful use of the tagging system can offer great, free publicity for businesses. In saying that, it is most effective when reciprocal, and as with all social media should be used to cultivate genuine relationships rather than purely for advertising. Don’t use it to spam, make sure your tags are at least relevant, if not legitimate.

Photo tags

Facebook allows its users to tag themselves and their friends in photos. Previously this was limited to personal photos, but has been extended to include photos uploaded by pages and businesses. All tagged photos appear on a user’s profile page, and so can be an excellent way to increase the reach of content. Users often tag their friends in photos of exclusive content, gossip, special offers and other value-adds.

Subscribe

Facebook now offers users the option to open up their profile to subscribers. High-profile users then have the opportunity to share the content they choose with a wider audience, without first becoming friends with them. The user who has subscribed will see posts from those profiles they have subscribed to in their feed. The user being subscribed to can choose which of his or her posts should be made available to the public.

Next time – Twitter buzzword bingo! And then let’s talk about the crazy world of Facebook Timelines!

So! How can you maximise its effectiveness? How can you create a bio that will make people click the ‘Follow’ button instead of the ‘X’?

Let’s pull mine apart:

Be relevant

How do you position yourself on the internet? Are you using your Twitter account to extend your professional profile, or to branch out into another occupation, or to find people with common interests? Consider who you are following when planning the first few words of your own biography. Will they care that you’re a graphic designer more than they will care that you like football?

For me, digital production crosses multiple industries, and I follow lots of people within the media space, where I work. Establishing myself up front as the Digital Producer for Neighbours gives me credibility when engaging with the people I follow more than the fact that I am a freelance writer, for example.

Show them who you are

Only if you have a good personality, obviously.

Jokes.

Before anyone ever makes it to your tweet feed, they’ll rely on your biography to get a sense of the type of communicator you are. Are you professional, funny, flippant, creative or something else? What can they expect from you, should they commit to then viewing your profile in its entirety?

For me, I tweet a great deal about the very exciting things that happen in my day to day life. I don’t have a filter and regularly offend the people I care about, and the next bunch of words in my bio reflects that, but also shares some more about who I am. I invade people’s personal space (accidentally). I have two daughters and love them but am not overbearing (‘tops mother’). I like creature comforts and nights in. I’m uncoordinated. I know I’m being awkward around you. I’m a Geelong Cats supporter. I’m approachable, my Twitter feed is a little bit funny and a little bit silly and not too serious, and this is evident in my bio. People who follow me have a reasonable idea of what to expect.

Be connected

You have the opportunity within your bio to direct people to different areas of your life, and in some ways this extends the depth of you and your online profile. My @neighbours account is linked in my bio, as is the #gocats hashtag. I’m interactive, I’m sociable, I like to engage on Twitter, I’m not a bot. All of these things come out of the fact that I have slightly more information about who I am than if I had merely typed in the words (“Digital Producer on Neighbours”, “Geelong fan”). These also help me to be relevant to other users involved in the conversations I’m involved in – someone who finds my profile via a #gocats conversation will find me more relevant with this information in my bio.

Know who you want your audience to be

There is no point in trying to force your biography to appeal to everyone you could ever want to follow, ever, so don’t try to make it that. In the first instance, decide who it is you want to target on Twitter, just as you would when identifying other target audiences. If you’re a web developer who wants to connect with other web developers, your bio should reflect that. If you’re a comedian and you just want everyone to think you’re hilarious, use your bio as an opportunity to break that ice.

Don’t waver. Don’t waste your bio by telling people you don’t know what you’re looking for – no one wants to babysit you through Twitter. Don’t be confused about what you’re looking for. Don’t overdo it.

Read the bios of people like you and identify what it was that grabbed you in the bios of those you follow.

Your biography is the first step toward building your brand on Twitter. Make sure you are on brand, within target and clear on your goals, then pop it all together and write!

Change it up

And remember, social media is ever-changing. As your personal brand changes, or your interests change, your bio can reflect that and help you to engage multiple audiences over time.

Good luck!