1. Curb appeal is a must! A welcoming, manicured entry is critical because some potential buyers will not even set foot inside if they are turned off by the exterior.

2. Lose the clutter. Furniture, accessories, toys, pictures that in excess are distracting and a recipe for a longer market time.

3. Use rooms for what they are intended. For instance, you may use a formal living room as a toy room but in order to appeal to buyers you need to showcase the function of a space. When selling, find someplace out of the way to keep the toys and make the living room for living.

4. Paint with purpose. Yes paint is a simple fix for a buyer but when you are selling it’s smart to make the home as desirable as possible. Neutral colors are best because they tend to have universal appeal. However neutral does not have to equal boring – It’s ok to have color! But really bright, really dark, or really taste specific colors are a harder sell because a lot of people can’t visualize the potential.

5. Kitchens are VIP. Even if you don’t upgrade a kitchen, make sure it’s warm and functional for cooking. Kitchens sell homes! Take care to make it picture perfect: clean it to the extreme, clear off the countertops, add some tasteful accessories like fresh fruit, a cookbook, and a clean dish towel. Make sure the paper towels are full, the pantry is organized (yes, buyers will look in it!), the dish rack is tucked away, and the dishes are all in the cabinets or in the dishwasher.

Buying a home is buying a dream. Yes, many people like to transform spaces into their own but first they need to be wowed. These staging tips will significantly help your wow-appeal.

Working in real estate now in Orange County, CA, these tips are ones that I regularly share with sellers. If you’d like me to give you tips please contact me at Torelli Realty – I love to share tips!

What other staging tips do you think should be in the followup post?

Product Camp SoCal was held at Cal State Fullerton on November 6, 2010. Here’s some of my takeaways:

-Never let the company heads be the only people in charge of figuring out what you should have on your website. You need experts to help determine different personas. Why? You need to be outside the ‘bubble.’ Oftentimes the people who are fully vested in the company are out of touch with what website visitors are really looking for or how they are finding your site.

-Make sure your website is user-friendly.

-Keep as much info as possible above the fold. This means that your visitors won’t have to necessarily scroll down to find important information.

What other tips do you have to share?

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Masterminds Orange County (@smmoc) was as devilishly good as ever last weekend (I’m a week behind!). We started off by talking about website hosting. I often wonder how people ever got work done before the Internet in a timely manner. (Yes, I’m the Product of Generation X… Generation Y is worse!) No matter how you slice it, we’re so used to instant gratification that we freak when sites go down. Really, how bad is it? Let’s put it in perspective. If my real estate website goes down it probably won’t yield catastrophic results for a few hours. We still have ways to get people the information they need.  What websites do you feel are essential to have working without disruption?

Facebook Revolution

I’ve been toying with ways to expand my reach on Facebook. I’ve loved using the 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa Facebook page (which I link to my website). Many of us have seen that contests and interaction are key. For instance the Sanyo Dual Camera Facebook page is doing a cool giveaway. Another website to consider is Social Rewards. I have just emailed them to find out more and will follow up soon. It definitely looks like a great way to generate buzz but I can’t speak to the price as of yet.

Ways to gain sign ups: Go to website, download free ebook, specific instruction for something to do, upload video to youtube

The Power of Youtube

Guess what? Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. Since so many people are searching this way, adopting a Youtube strategy is key if it fits your business. The company I work for, Torelli Realty, certainly uses Youtube. You may not even think it suits your business but get creative and think about ways you can use Youtube to educate, entertain, or show customer satisfaction testimonials.

Don’t be Creepy – Video Tips

Coming from a video production background, I totally agree with the tips given by @melaclaro:

Make sure to provide a suitable context for where you are, use a flattering camera angle, as much lighting as possible, and the best audio available (discussed above)

One Last Thought:

Some people are wondering if they even NEED a website anymore? The answer is YES! It’s possible that Facebook & Twitter could go the way of Myspace. You still need a place to drive people to where you can collect contact information and provide information.

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

That’s me! (What a groupie!)

Thanks Steve Frawley of Torelli Realty!

-Using social media isn’t the answer to making a sale however it’s a fantastic way to stay in touch with your clients and grow relationships. This helps to create a natural way to communicate with current and future clients without being like a cheesy “car-salesman.”

-I loved the phrase “Twitter-lurker” that @staceyharmon and @linsey threw out there.  It may sound like a dark term however it really allows you to observe people in the Twitter space that you want to connect with or potentially work with.

-Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics are a great way to measure your social media hits and misses.

-The wise message of @MarketLeader are ones I feel are worth sharing: In order to convert online leads you need 3 things:

            -To be found

            -To be available

            -To be involved

Several agents from my company came to the conference today and I am thrilled that they got to learn about some of the ways they can use both technology and social media to leverage their businesses.

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Facebook places is a play for Facebook to go after Google in a big way. It’s kind of a way to integrate Foursquare into Facebook. Facebook is trying to create a story about each venue. As a former TV producer with HGTV I know that story is everything. What about privacy issues? You can check yourself in and tag friends who are at the same place as you. If you don’t want others to tag you, it’s possible to adjust your provacy settings. You can do this by going to your Facebook Account page, go to Privacy Settings and scroll down to Things Others Share and disable the ability friends have to check you in.

Foursquare was initially started for competitive people who wanted to be rewarded for the places they went. However the Facebook evolution is more about the psychology of how people interreact. People want to know where there friends were. Facebook Places has the ability to be HUGE!

Also another new Facebook development – if you “Like” a page you don’t need to auto tag anymore…  Just type the event/place name and it should auto tag and the comments to turn up on the page.

The power of Gowalla and coupons is really influential. Our group just got excited to hear about some of the rockin’ values available at nearby venues.

Here’s a hot resume tip: buy your name’s domain at dreamhost.com… Then use your name at your domain for your email address. This is a fantastic way to help you build your brand. Here are some wise words from @staceyharmon, “There’s so doubt that Internet marketing is not going away.”  Go ahead, buy domain names… They make a great baby shower gift!

There is an extreme tie to authenticity in social media. Yup, we did that as the show HOUSE HUNTERS turned more real.  Company’s need to evaluate what their core message is and make sure they send it.

Best ways to engage:

1. Demogragraphics- use social media to service community

2. Ask consumers questions

3. Thank people for their involvement

A great resource that I just joined is Sprouter – it’s like Twitter for the entrepreneur and they will be doing webcasts with major social media leaders.

You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Another phrase that stuck with me by Jim Marks (@jimmarks) is that social media marketing isn’t about conversation, it’s about conversion. Some of his ways of converting were surprisingly ”old skool” while others were just great strategies. Applications like Foursquare and Facebook Places (which isn’t live in the OC yet – boo!) are going to really make a splash.

It’s vital to be authentic and genuine in your postings. Those were actually key phrases we used at HGTV when I was producing for House Hunters. Keep reality reality! So don’t fake who you are or it’ll backfire when you try to work with a client IRL (oh yea, Twitter talk for in real life).

Bottom line, you still have to be a good communicator. Who wants to buy a house from a “machine”?  However you can use the computer to help you inject the human touch.

Technology is amazing – I’m all for it. It aids in what Scott Schang (@scottschang) talked about today, “attraction marketing.” You can build relationships with people because they like what you are saying and how you are relating. We just need to remember that in the end, it’s meant to help make it easier for us to develop RELATIONSHIPS!

Technology is changing by the second. We’re all adapting and we have to stay on top of it as it evolves. Remember, the tangible payoff may take awhile while you build up trust with your friends and followers. I’ll end this post with one of my favorite ideas, which Scott Schang put so eloquently at REBarCampOC: “Social media isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.”

Special thanks to Linsey (@linsey) and Stacey Harmon (@staceyharmon) for all their hard work setting up the event. It was fantastic to see so many friends from #SMMOC in attendance like my new tech guru @ericstregemann, @melaclaro, @topbrokeroc, @ricdizon, @therecoach, @emilyquestions, @funomenalRealtr, @markgundlach, @jjerryreed, @rachnicole, @kphamsmiles, and more… If I missed you please comment below & I’m sorry!

You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

How do you feel about mass emails? Do you just hit delete when you see marketing “spam”? Today we discussed single subject emails and that the secret is to make the email address look like it’s going to an individual person.

We also addressed what makes a great database. It’s all about getting people to opt in to receive your messages. You don’t want a high bounce rate!  It’s ok to be transparent with some of your trusted contacts and ask them for the value of the email… And then ask them to forward it to a friend if they like the content. Bottom line, the info must be of value!

The great Bryan Elliott of Linked OC visited our group and spoke about one of his best networking sites… Linkedin is a great for finding quality not quantity.

These platforms are perfect for our ADD generation & they are changing the world!

You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Holly’s Top 10 Takeaways:

1. There are more apps out there than I will ever know. I all ready used the Beat The Traffic app to get home to Orange County and I have a list of about 30 more I am going to try. Some examples: Mobile Deposit, ToDo, and Google Mobile.

2. We’ve heard the rumors that Facebook is gaining on Google. Seeing the graph put it into perspective. We are social, interactive beings and we want to be heard!

3. The idea that the Internet would replace Realtors is wrong. I loved hearing Jay Lopez use this analogy, “Did WebMD replace doctors?”  Point made!

4. Great tip: Treat customers they way THEY want to be treated, instead of the way you want to be treated. Everyone is unique (or as I love to say, we are all snowflakes).

5. You don’t need to be on EVERY social media platform out there. If you are and you don’t do anything with it, you’re missing the point. (Remember, it’s about interacting… I enjoy using Facebook and Twitter most.)

6. It’s ok to show your passion and personality. Stacey Harmon did a great job of illustrating this with the case study of Linsey’s blog.

7. Sherry Chris from Better Homes and Gardens explained lifestyle branding and why it’s important. C-Level Life (complete consumer control) is what today’s consumers are about so agents need to adapt.

8. Don’t be a Debbie Downer. If you get a negative response, take the high road.

9. Since my background is as a TV producer for HGTV’s House Hunters & My House is Worth What? I understand the element of storytelling and am so excited to see it being played out in real estate marketing. Eric Bryant & Amanda Wernick did a great job explaining this and personally I am all about implementing this throughout our marketing campaigns!

10. The learning never stops… Fantastic because I enjoy the journey! I thought my 7 pages of notes and non-stop Twittering and networking at the last conference just 2 weeks ago would make this conference more of a review… Nope! The Inman News team added content, incorporated different speakers, and even threw in some technology that didn’t exist 2 weeks ago… Wow!

Did I miss anything that you thought was incredible or useful? Feel free to comment below.

For me, Inman San Francisco and Agent Reboot made it clear that the more we embrace technology, the more we have to focus on locality. With record numbers of homebuyers embracing technology (84-90+%) it is the most effective way to reach the community in a fast-paced world. The most important thing I have witnessed this week is how important it is to use technology to reach those around you. In fact one of the overriding themes that came out of this conference was that we have evolved from a local community to a global community and now we’re going back to a local one. Humans crave relationships and it’s satisfying to know the people who surround you. Today so many great “toys” are out there and they are meant to bring everyone together in an amazing way and more are coming, that’s for sure! Personally I am thrilled at the advanced technologies that are out there and improving communication at a rapid rate.

Feel free to join me, Holly Schwartz, at Facebook, Twitter, and on my blog and share your thoughts with me and when we meet in real life it will be even more fun! I live  in Costa Mesa, CA, work locally at Torelli Realty, and love life here… I would enjoy chatting with you about what you think of our city too.