 Would you like to win a free Starbucks card? How about a gift certificate to your favorite restaurant? Or even have a chance to win an iPad?! Of course, you would! After all, who doesn't like winning free stuff? And that's the basis of an incredibly powerful – yet underutilized - marketing tool for mortgage lenders, Realtors, and any small business owner that I’ll talk about today: Contests, giveaways, and raffles on social media.  Psychologists have found a nuance of human behavior that's nearly universal: we love to win just about anything, and we love free. In fact, studies prove that people vastly overvalue an item, good, or service if the word "free" is attached. Such is the case with an advertising campaign conducted by Krispy Kreme years ago when they offered a free donut to each patron on one particular day. The lines were so long that people had to wait up to two hours just for one donut (how much is two hours of your time worth?). The promotion was so frenzied that the donut retailer ended up having their most profitable day ever! You can use this same psychology to promote your business, albeit online and without the donut (eat that yourself). To give you a broad definition, we’re talking about giveaways, raffles, and contests (I’ll refer to them as GR&C) as interchangeable since they’re basically the same thing despite subtle differences. Likewise, these all can be conducted online via your website, Facebook, Instagram, or any social media account, email blasts, or any combination. Today, I'll mostly talk more about GR&C's for Facebook, but contact me if you want strategies for promotions on Instagram or email. The basic premise is simple: we offer something of value for free for the winner(s) of these GR&C’s as a way to promote your brand and business. The benefits to you will include:
 What might a GR&C look like on Facebook? Here are a few ideas to get started: -A quiz or trivia contest -Caption contest -Help us name (something) contest -Fill in the blank contest -Funniest GIF contest -A random drawing for new people that like your page -Random drawing for all of your followers -Fan/Client/Follower of the Week -Funniest/best selfie contest -Choose your favorite _____ contest -Raffle off something -Vote for something -Transformation (lose weight in 30 days, best before and after makeover, etc.) -A social media scavenger hunt, where you give clues and people have to take a photo at those places around town or per your instructions My favorite GR&C’s involve some form of a photo contest: -Take a funny selfie -Take a selfie or photo somewhere recognizable in the city/neighborhood you live in -Take a photo of a DIY home improvement or decorating project you did -Take a selfie or photo in front of one of your For Sale signs -Take a photo of a home you’ve helped buy or sell -Take a photo of the funniest/best/most creative ______ you can find -Take a photo from a certain event or holiday (Christmas/back to school/baseball game, etc.) The possibilities for great GR&C’s involving photos are endless, giving you important social proof, humanizing your brand, and also gaining far more interest than text alone. You can also extend this to videos but realize that you'll get fewer participants.  What can you give away? Prizes can range from free (you can bake cookies and deliver them!) to ridicuslouly fun and pricey. I once ran a promotion where a client gave away two tickets to a Justin Timberlake contenst! Here are some other ideas:
The key to a good GR&C is that you make it simple and document the rules clearly. That includes:
 To promote your GR&C: Create a nice graphic that clearly explains the contest, the prize, the terms, etc. You can also post about the GR&C on your blog, website, all over your social media, and via email blast. When the deadline ends for submissions, there are several ways you can decide the winner. It can be a random drawing based on names-in-a-hat or random number selection (which you can video and post), or you can simply choose your favorite. But my preferred method for picking a winner is by posting all of the photos from the participants (assuming you ran a giveaway with photos) and let your followers vote for their favorite. The photo with the most likes wins! That also encourages participants to share their photo/your post to encourage their other friends to like your page, follow you, and vote. Cross-promotion with a popular brand or local business To step up the promotion for the sake of enhancing your business, partner with a local business in the city or neighborhood where you operate. Businesses will often gladly give away a restaurant coupon for a free meal, a free car wash, a free massage, a free coffee, etc. just because of the advertising it will yield them. By bringing in a local business, you also encourage them to share it with their extensive customer database on Facebook and elsewhere, so you’re really gaining massive new exposure to a new audience.  Before you fly off and start setting up GR&C’s on Facebook, there are some rules and regulations you should be aware of: From what I’ve read, you can only run these GR&C’s on your business page (not personal). You also have to clearly define the terms and rules, who is eligible, and share a standard Facebook disclaimer that states that Facebook isn’t involved in any way. You also CAN’T ask contest participants to:
Here are Facebook’s specific rules for promotions like this: E. Promotions 1. If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including: a. The official rules; b. Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and c. Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals) 2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following: a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant. b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. 3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend's Timeline to get additional entries”, and "tag your friends in this post to enter" are not permitted). 4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.  Final notes: My advice is to start small, with a simple Starbucks card giveaway or random drawing. But start to do it regularly – like a Free Giveaway Friday, as an example, or on the first day of every month. Eventually, people will flock to your Facebook page regularly as word gets out and they realize that you're consistently giving great prizes away. And remember – you share these same giveaways, raffles, and contests on Instagram, through your email, and elsewhere. Give it a try – and contact me if you want to game-plan and get some help! Norm :-) 
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 Interviewing someone is a fantastic marketing tool for any Realtor, loan officer, or professional. Recently, I had an epiphany while running on the treadmill. (No, it wasn’t that my shorts are too short or that I run too slow.) Instead, it was this: my humble Real Estate Marketing with Norm brand may not be anything special yet (although growing steadily), but I do have access to some incredible and inspiring professionals that people would love to hear about. So, why not tap into their wisdom, experience, and expertise by setting up a series of interviews? That’s exactly what I’ve undertaken, as once I was off the treadmill, I furiously sent out emails to some of the most accomplished and coolest real estate pros I know (as well as buying some longer shorts). Today, I’m super excited to share the marketing benefits of interviews, as well as the nuts and bolts of why they’re so powerful. The problem with most marketing Marketing tends to get “I-centric” for lack of a better term. “I can help you buy or sell your home,” “I’m the best professional to do the job,” and “I’m the greatest of all time.” Go to MY website, call ME, and I can get you a great mortgage loan – it’s all about me, myself, and I. Sometimes, if Realtors, loan officers, and business owners really “get it,” they elevate their marketing to focus on the client, instead – highlighting the benefits, stories, and help and value they received. That’s a huge shift from “I-centric” to focusing on your audience’s needs, challenges, and wants that will make all the difference. But there’s a next-level resource for your marketing that’s incredibly simple but also surprisingly powerful and effective: the interview. No matter if you’re a real estate agent trying to focus on a certain neighborhood, a lender narrowing in on a specific demographic, or any business owner targeting their marketing, an interview will serve you incredibly well. The marketing benefits of an interview An interview will also be a promotional coup for you, offering:
2X your audience – and increase your business Let’s talk about that last one for a moment. One of the chief benefits of creating these is cross-marketing to an exponentially larger audience. For instance, if you write up a nice piece about your favorite mortgage broker, they will probably super appreciate the effort and share or repost it with their social media followers and audience. With that, you’re given a warm introduction that includes your name, profession, social media links, email, blog or website, and a boat load of built-in trust and credibility. You may gain exposure among hundreds or even thousands of new people who didn’t know about you before, and benefit from potential new business accordingly. In fact, I’ve seen one simple interview 2X the size of someone’s audience! Think of the potential if you do a whole monthly series! Who should you interview? That’s the fun part, as the possibilities are limitless. Of course, you can interview someone who works with your clients, like a lender for Realtors or vice versa. Or, show some love to a referral partner by highlighting their business. Here are some examples:
You get the idea! Not only will most people agree to an interview, they’ll feel appreciated and honored and answer your emails or calls immediately! Conducting the actual interview To carry out an interview, it couldn’t be easier – just ask someone if you could spend 15 minutes asking them a few questions. Shoot them a list of perspective questions or topics ahead of time so they can think about it. Sit face to face or call them on Skype, Facetime, or just over the phone if you’re not in the same area. You can either video the interview or just record the audio using one of the many programs available on your laptop or even your smart phone. Where to post the interview Either way, you’ll edit it down and can use it in several places:
Give it an interesting name You can call it an interview, or some other catchy title like: 10 Fast Facts with _________. 10 Quotes by __________. 5 Questions with ___________. 10 Minutes with __________. Inside the mind of ________. Confessions of a _________. Etc. Aim high with the subject of your interview But it’s also a good idea to aim above your pay-grade on this one, so to speak. What I mean by that is don’t limit yourself to your best friend or someone who is already giving you business. Send out a few emails and requests to interview people who are notable, iconic, and even famous in your local city, region, or nationally. Why the heck not? You have nothing to lose. Think big. Profiling someone famous In a slightly different strategy, you can also write up a profile on someone famous instead of interviewing them, like I did here with real estate couch Mike ferry. It’s not an interview and I never talked to the man, but I put together a profile with a quick Google search that he’d find favorable. Remember we talked about cross-marketing to an exponentially larger audience? When profiling someone famous, enjoys name recognition, or anyone who holds a certain amount of gravitas, you really can tap into their massive number of fans and followers just by using the right hashtags or tagging them. A final word on interviews With interviews, you’re simply offering useful, interesting, and fun content to your audience and turning the spotlight from yourself to others. Pretty soon, someone will want to interview you!  ***
Need help setting up an interview for your business? Or, do you have some great insights you’d like to share in one of my real estate marketing interviews? Hit me up! -Norm :-)  Download and share your high-quality PDF version: 
 Would you like to win a free iPad?
Of course you would! After all, who doesn’t like winning free stuff? And that’s the basis of an incredibly effective – yet underutilized - marketing tool for Realtors that I’ll talk about today: social media contests, giveaways, and raffles. In fact, psychologists have found a strange nuance of human behavior that's nearly universal – we love to win just about anything, and we love free. Studies have shown that people vastly overvalue an item, good, or service if the word "free" is attached. Such is the case with an advertising campaign conducted by Krispy Kreme years ago when they offered a free donut to each patron on one particular day. The lines were so long that people had to wait up to two hours just for one donut (how much is two hours of your time worth?), and the promotion was so frenzied that the donut retailer ended up having their most profitable day ever! Real estate agents can use this same psychology to promote themselves, albeit online and without the donut (eat that yourself). To give you a broad definition, we’re talking about giveaways, raffles, and contests (GR&C) as one interchangeable promotional tool, since they are basically the same things despite small and subtle differences. Likewise, these can be conducted online via your website, social media accounts, email blasts, or any combination. But today, I'll talk more about GR&C's for Facebook. The basic premise is simple: we offer something of value for free for the winner(s) of these GR&C’s as a way to promote your brand. The benefits can include: • More page likes • Increased sharing of your page/post • Increased engagement, energy, and interest in your page and services • Develop a fun rapport with your followers • Add new people to your database • Generate more reviews and testimonials • Build overall awareness of you, your brand, and your services So what might a GR&C look like on Facebook? Here are a few common ideas: -A quiz or trivia -A random drawing for new people that like our page -Random drawing for all of your followers -Random drawing for people who say they want to be eligible, either by liking or commenting on the post But my favorite GR&C’s involve some form of a photo contest: -Take a funny selfie in or around your house -Take a photo of a DIY home improvement or decorating project you did around the house -Take a selfie in front of one of your For Sale signs -Take a selfie somewhere recognizable in the city/neighborhood you sell real estate in -Take a photo of a home you’ve helped buy or sell -A social media scavenger hunt, where you give clues, and people have to take a photo at those places around town or per your instructions The possibilities for great GR&C’s involving photos are endless, and they also gain far more interest than text alone and give you important social proof, humanizing your brand. You can also extend this to videos, but you'll get far fewer participants. The key to a good GR&C is that you make it simple and document the rules clearly. That includes who is eligible, what they have to do to enter, what exactly you’re giving away (and how many), how they can enter, and how long the promotion will run. Create a big, clear, nice image for us that explains the contest, the prize, the terms, etc. You can also post about the GR&C on your blog, website, on Instagram, and via email blast. When the deadline ends for submissions, there are several ways you can decide the winner. It can be a random drawing based on names-in-a-hat or random number selection, or you can simply choose your favorite. But my preferred method for picking a winner is by posting all of the photos from the participants (assuming you ran a giveaway with photos) and let your followers vote for their favorite. The photo with the most likes, wins! That also encourages participants to share their photo/your post to encourage their other friends to like your page, follow you, and vote. To step up the promotion for the sake of enhancing your business, partner with a local business in the city or neighborhood where you sell homes. Businesses will often gladly give away a restaurant coupon for a free meal, a free car wash, a free massage, a free coffee, etc. just because of the advertising it will yield them. By bringing in a local business, you also encourage them to share it with their extensive customer database on Facebook and elsewhere, so you’re really gaining massive new exposure to a new audience. But, before you fly off and start setting up GR&C’s on Facebook, there are some rules and regulations you should be aware of. From what I’ve read, you can only run these GR&C’s on your business page (not personal). You also have to clearly define the terms and rules, who is eligible, and share a standard Facebook disclaimer that states that Facebook isn’t involved in any way. You also CAN’T ask contest participants to: Recommended you or your business on their page Share your Page to be eligible Tag themselves in a random photo (one they aren’t actually in) Post something on their own timeline Share your page or raffle on one of their friend’s timeline Here are Facebook’s specific rules for promotions like this: E. Promotions 1. If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including: a. The official rules; b. Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and c. Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals) 2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following: a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant. b. Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. 3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend's Timeline to get additional entries”, and "tag your friends in this post to enter" are not permitted). 4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk. My advice is to start small, with a simple Starbucks card giveaway or random drawing. But begin to do it regularly – like Free Giveaway Friday, as an example, or on the first day of every month. Eventually, people will flock to your site regularly as word gets out and they realize that you're consistently giving great prizes away. *** Need help setting up a Facebook giveaway, managing your Facebook marketing, or with any real estate marketing? Contact us! |
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