For many in the estate agents line of work, their business card is a very important part of remaining in contact, while also creates that great first impression. Great business cards are few and far between and it can be true in many cases to say, most are left in back pockets, hidden parts of wallets, or worse.

However, by adding an element of social media to your business cards you can make them more fun, more engaging and so that they have a more positive effect on your business. So, how is it done?

Social Media Icons

Icons are instantly recognisable and you should place them on cards for anywhere you have a presence. People will often be more than happy to join your Linkedin, or Facebook page once they know you’re on the site. So, obviously ensure they know you are with social media icons on your cards.

Use only the social media icons you actually use. Adding ones you have joined but don’t have a presence on is a no-no and is ill advised. If you have too many and they take and affect on the card, then place them on the back of the card to ensure it is nice and neat.

QR Codes

We’ve spoken before about QR  codes, so why not offer your customers a card with one of these codes on it. Clients can then link from the business card to a virtual business card on their phone. On this virtual business card, you should aim to have links to all your social media sites, from Facebook brand pages, to Twitter. Such an addition allows you to make a far greater impression for the long term and ensure they are lined with your company, even when the business card is lost.

Of course, if you’re a estate agent with a number of new homes, why not have a QR code linked to cards for each. This allows you to hand out a quite personal code that users can click right onto and see exactly what they’re interested in. This can be a little bit of an exciting, standout thing to have and do and can really create the right impression with clients.
 

Elimination

You’d be surprised at the number of people who still have fax machine numbers on their business cards, even though no one has sent a fax since about 1995. Eliminating such needless numbers allows you and your company to de-clutter cards and help aid that all the more flattering design that will make your card stand out in a clear and concise manner.

Photos

If you have a photo on a corporate card, we’d advise you to get rid of it. This is unless you are a speaker, where in such a case a card may look all the better with an image of you on it as your face maybe important for your work.

Article by Mark Mitchell - Social Media Director for My Social Agency London and Leeds.

RealCube is a cloud based estate agent software that lets you update your homes and applicants from anywhere, anytime.

How often are you caught short of the office and find yourself in need of all your online materials, yet don’t have the computer access to do so.  Unfortunately, the increasing speed of Internet connections means that the files we use are also increasingly large and so less portable, ironically even as computer memory gets larger.

This means that even with the latest tablet, phone, or netbook we can’t keep a hold of all our resources on the go, let alone all your estate agency reports, data and information.

The cloud provides a solution, that we at Realcube have placed at the centre of our software.  By basing our Realcube sales and letting software around our cloud computing service, you can get real time access to all your information on your phone, laptop, or iPad.
 

How’s this done?

Whether we’re talking about music files, video files, or in our case sales and letting data the cloud allows you access to all, by holding all your information in a secure, remote server. All you have to do is to connect to the Internet and our software and all your work is right there in front of you - held in a fully, secure server.

As your information is not held on a computer in your office, or one isolated location, it can be accessed anywhere and can also be used dynamically from anywhere too. This means that as a user you can not only get into your software, but also  for example put a clients house up for sale when you’re in their home through our live web feed.

Benefits of Realcube and the cloud

The software is based on the latest technology. We understand that the cloud and all other areas of technology are moving fast and that’s why we made our software easy to change and so can develop new features quickly, meaning we’re always up there at the very pinnacle of the game - and so are you.

We even allow you to customise your software so it best fit s in with what you’re used to or want. This personalisation goes right from access permission, right down to the documents and reports - it can all be created in the way you like and all be accessed from anywhere you want.

This means no more having to rush back to the office to get your hands on information, no more getting caught out in traffic and no more lost time. With Realcube and the fact it’s based on cloud computing, you have excellent control of your letting, or sales business, anywhere, anytime, on any device with an Internet connection.

Cloud computing is safe, fast and an undeniable advantage that leaves you ahead of your competitors as it simply allows you to always work in the here and now, in a dynamic, on the ball manner.

RealCube is an estate agent software that uses the power of the cloud to give you the freedom of working from anywhere.

In comparison to the traditional forms of communication and even the Internet in the past for marketing and advertising, social media can be a house seller’s dream – but why?

When we sell items, particularly in the case of homes, we sell through engaging the person, by simply taking an interest in them. However, traditional advertising and also Internet sites aren’t conducive to such techniques.

We’re all aware that to create a certain atmosphere conducive to home buying we need to talk about ‘their world’. Conversations and references to how a house can be a home and what could be done with a client’s family in a certain home are common. Traditional websites however don’t really accommodate this and are merely pages of homes in lists and facts and figures. This is all about the business and little or none of it is about the customer, or the customer’s world – the opposite to the ‘their world’ approach that works so well. This means that there is a lot fewer conversions and a lot fewer people engaging with your company.

However, social media is nothing like these traditional forms of media and can easily be about ‘their world’. As social media is a completely multi channel form of communication, all of which is based in real time, it is very easy to engage people in their world.
 

Twitter Tips

Twitter is an amazing tool for engaging people and allows for near pin point marketing quite easily. Setting up a Twitter account allows you a whole range of opportunities to engage with customers. Obviously, the traditional forms of social media use allow you to ask and answer people’s questions in real time, as well as engage people through the usual interesting manners in a multimedia manner using YouTube and Facebook among other great sites such as Pintrest – which is fantastic.

Twitter’s search bar can be your best friend. By merely searching for terms such as ‘looking for homes in west London’, or other similar types of searches, you open yourself up to a whole proactive manner of engaging customers. Unlike traditional means where customers come to your, or you find customers through mass advertising and marketing, this allows you to really narrow things down and pin point the people who are looking for the thing that you have. Join in such conversations and advise, talk and get things going and you never know.

Pintrest

Pintrest as we’ve mentioned is also a great benefit for people in the housing industry and lets you display and market the properties you have in a fantastically attractive manner, right across the Internet. This can be a great way to organise your homes and get them out there and sure as hell beats a typical housing website for both interactivity and style. Link to other sites such as YouTube with interactive materials to really make the most of your Pintrest.

Looking for the next generation estate agent software? We can migrate your data from your existing software into RealCube.

Technology is moving at an astounding rate and one of the areas that can really benefit from this amazing pace is the estate agent arena. There are obviously numer

These little square barcode like images are the path to a lot of success in the estate agent sphere. So, how can industry techniques be added to by these little codes?ous ways in which to turn technology in your favour, however, one of our favourites is QR codes.

An Increasingly Mobile World

With the world taking to smart phones and more browsing expected to be done via mobile than desktop within the next 3-4 years, QR codes offer a rich chance to get into people’s minds. 

QR codes are a simple and inexpensive way in which to produce fast and easily connectable information people can gain access to almost anywhere. Estate agents with QR codes on their signs allow potential customers all the information on a home within seconds, including pictures and videos if wanted.

Numerous Uses

QR codes can also be used for a range of other uses. Estate agents can link a QR code up to an automated text message system, meaning your potential client can sign up for updates via text through a quick look with a QR code. The can also be used to conduct surveys and sign up to newsletters, as well as show geographic locations.

These are just the tip of the iceberg and limitations are only compounded by imagination.
 

Estate agents will find using QR codes on business cards is a fun and novelty way of linking to a whole host of other information. They can also be used in direct advertising and really liven things up a little. 

Of course it’s also possible to use them on adverts in public areas. If you’re estate agents advertises you can provide a direct link to more information from the bill board, or the advert itself.

Place them in your property window, allowing people to link to more information when walking by. This allows you to create neat, unsquashed adverts as you don’t need to tell everything on an A4 page and so can let the pictures impress, while QR codes can be used for info.

URL Tagging

URL tagging allows you to see how successful your QR codes are, meaning that you can then decide on the right mix and the right places your place your codes. Understanding how successful your codes are allows you to take full advantage of where they perform at their best and how to utilise them for full effect. 

The QR Code is a great benefit to the estate agents business, especially when teamed up with other means in a creative and wise way.

RealCube: An estate agent software with the speed and reliability of a server-based software package and the flexibility of a web-based application.