If you’re in the real estate industry and you love social media then you need to follow the five best real estate social media blogs. Like the name suggests the blogs are all about how you use social media to grow your real estate business.

Here’s the list:

Shameless Honorary Mention

Ross Hair

I’m not allowed to vote for myself so I added my blog at http://rosshair.com to the list under the honorary mention category. This also meets the FTC requirements that mandate the inclusion of at least one bald guy with an ironic yet iconic last name in all lists that have anything to do with real estate social media.

Tech Savvy Agent

Chris Smith is the Tech Savvy Agent and a regular speaker at Social Media Marketing Camp. Chris has a cult like following derived from his countless speaking engagements all over the nation and his charming boy band good looks.

But most of all you get the latest news and reviews on critical social media and real estate tools and resources that will help you grow your real estate business.

Real Tech Guy

Jonathan Rivera is the Real Tech Guy and founder of the Real Estate Referral Group on Facebook with over 54,000 fans.

Jonathan and I disagree on everything except that his blog and weekly podcasts provide cutting edge social media and technology tips for real estate professionals

The MLS App

Jimmy Mackin (he writes his name as Jimmy but answers the phone as James) has burst onto the social media scene with The MLS App. The MLS app really is an app that allows you to add the MLS to Facebook but it’s also the best place to find detailed “how to” reports on using Facebook to find more clients for your real estate business.

Are We Connected

Mike Mueller is a real estate social media pioneer who provides the pots and pans for many of the social media gold miners. In between speaking at every conference ever, Mike writes for his blog at Are We Connected, creates fan pages and consults to real estate professionals looking to leverage social media to take their real estate business to the next level.

My Tech Opinion

Nicole Nicolay doesn’t return any of my calls inviting her to speak at Social Media Marketing Camp. It must be because she’s busy writing another borderline genius blog post or report on how social media and technology can put you ahead of the real estate sales curve and generate an endless pipeline of buyers and sellers.

You can catch up with Nicole at My Tech Opinion, a blog she writes with her partners Reggie Nicolay and Chad Johnson.

Bonus Mention

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Jay Thompson is the Phoenix Real Estate Guy. Jay doesn’t share how he publishes his blog so you need to work it out for yourself or listen to one of his seminars. But his blog is uber successful so you should probably follow it and start to copy, reverse engineer and steal his best ideas.

General Social Media Blogs

I read and recommend the following social media blogs:

Mashable – http://mashable.com

Social Media Examiner – http://socialmediaexaminer.com

All Facebook – http://allfacebook.com

Real Estate Social Media Community

If you want to hang out and connect with other real estate social media fans then you must join Social Media Advocate. It’s packed with free eBooks and videos showing you how to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Activerain.

Social Media Marketing Camp 9 – Social Networks for Real Estate is on

Wednesday May 11 from 12 Noon to 3pm Eastern.

As always the event is online and free.

Register at SMMCamp.com.  ======>>>>>

SMMCamp 9 features four social networking experts who will discuss their five secrets to getting the maximum return from their preferred social networks. This is a no fluff webinar that attracts thousands of real estate professionals.

Katerina Gasset – Activerain

Lewis Howes – LinkedIn

Amy Porterfield – Facebook

Sean Malarkey – Twitter

Facebook speaker to be announced.

Register for SMMCamp right now! =========>>>>>

Here’s the line up of speakers and their topics for Social Media Marketing Camp 8 – Facebook Pages for Real Estate.

The webinar is online and free this Wednesday April 6 from 12 Noon to 3pm Eastern.

Register at http://smmcamp.com

That’s three hours of content packed, fluff free social media tactics and strategies that our experts use to find, connect and transact with home buyers and sellers.

Here’s the full list of speakers and their topics:

12 Noon Eastern – Ross Hair

Welcome by Ross Hair – The Baldest Man in Real Estate!

12.05pm – 12:55pm (Eastern)

How I Sell 1.22 Homes a Day Using Online and Social Media Marketing

(OK – I made up the headline for dramatic effect – but it’s true).

Ben Kinney is a real estate Super Star who is on track to sell over 500 homes this year.

Ben will share how he uses Facebook Pages to find new clients and actively engage with his online friends. In particular he’ll show you how to improve your EdgeRank and will tell you about the 5 different Pages that every real estate professional needs to build on Facebook.

1:00 pm – 1:55pm Eastern – Panel of Facebook Page Experts

Be Engaged and Get Social – Content that Works

DotJenna is a social media expert and trainer who will show you how to connect with your fans (likers) and become a social authority.

The key is quality content and DotJenna will show you what content you should post to engage and convert visitors into clients.

Customize Your Facebook Page to Convert Visitors into Clients

Craig Collins is a real estate investor and Social Media expert who manages the social media accounts for some of the biggest names in the real estate investment industry.

Craig will show you how to customize your Page and convert visitors to you Page into fans (likers).

Adding Real Estate Search to Your Facebook Page

Derek Overbey will show you how to add real estate search to your Facebool Page so you can promote your listings on Facebook.

He’ll also show you how to pull local real estate data into your Page to create a real estate center.

Add an Email Capture Form to Your Page

Jimmy Mackin will show you the quick, easy and free way to convert your visitors into contacts so you can market to them at any time and build a constant pipeline of new leads and prospects.

Converting your visitors into contacts and clients is a critical part of your social media strategy, especially on Facebook.

2pm – 2.55pm Eastern –

Create a Page for Your Local Community

Kristy Owen is a full time Realtor in Austin and the original genius behind the the 365 Things to Do in ___________ community pages.

Kristy will show you how she attracted over 155,000 fans (likers) to her 365 Austin Page and how she converts the member base into closed real estate transactions.

Social Media Marketing Camp 8 is back.

The latest SMMCamp will focus on Facebook Pages for Real Estate and will feature six real estate experts who use social media marketing to grow their business.

Wednesday April 6 from 12 Noon to 3pm Eastern – Online and Free!

Register to the right of the page =================>>>>>>>>>

There’s no rule book that lists the Do’s and Don’ts of social media marketing but here’s the three blunders that real estate professionals should avoid at all costs.

************************************************

Sign up for SMMCamp 6 Mobile Marketing for Real Estate on Dec 9

************************************************

1 – Get Over Yourself

I hate to be the one to tell you but people just don’t care about Realtor’s and Realtor’s lives. They view us as a disposable service that they can call upon as and when they need us. This means that most people don’t want to be hassled by a Realtor and our “salesy/spammy” messages.

(Ouch – I didn’t pull any punches with blunder number one).

In short, if you write an endless stream of posts about your listings, open house and statements like “by the way, the greatest compliment I can receive is a referral”, your new social network “friends” will quickly tune you out and remove you as a connection.

By all means show and share your personality and personal interests but keep the focus on sharing things that are interesting and beneficial to your connections. Remember that you are trying to sell your services and the best way to do that is to engage your new “friends” and build a relationship. You need to establish trust and “likeability” and you can’t do this by pitching marketing messages.

The key is to create a community page where you can interact with your new friends. Community pages for your town, neighborhood and even a sub-division work extremely well as long as you keep the community focus.

2 – Don’t be Surprised when your Business Page doesn’t get many Fans or Likes

This is the most common blunder and is directly related to reason number one (above).

The sad reality is that when you set up a business page for your real estate business there’s really no reason, other than charity or kindness, for someone to like your page. People just aren’t interested in a Realtors’ business page because there’s nothing in it for them.

Instead create a community type page that is all about them and your local community. This kind of page explodes in fan size and is extremely effective.

You should still set up a business page but lower your expectations with regard to attracting fans and concentrate on building interactive community focused pages.

3 – Don’t Focus on Listings

Posting your listings on Facebook just doesn’t work as your social network friends don’t log in to Facebook or Linked In to look for homes. The MLS, Zillow and a thousand other sites offer a much better way to find homes.

A better option is to create a Fan Page for your listing and then create a marketing campaign around that fan page. It’s a cool and innovative way for you to meet your seller’s connections and neighbors. It’s also an awesome tool to get new listings as you’ll be seen as the socially savvy and innovative local Realtor.

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is bald. Ross is also a huge fan of real estate social media and founder of the Owlio Real Estate Referral Network.

Darin Persinger will speak at Social Media Marketing Camp 5 (SMMCamp) and provide an update on how to create individual Facebook  fan pages for new listings. Darin was a huge hit at SMMCamp 4 so his updated session is eagerly anticipated.

One of the biggest questions about social media marketing is whether it is possible to sell real estate on Facebook. Darin has had great success building buzz and excitement about new listings and marketing homes for sale.

You can register to listen to Darin at SMMCamp on Thursday September 9.

Dale Chumbley, the architect of the 365 Things to do in Vancouver, WA Facebook fan page will speak at Social Media Marketing Camp 5 (SMMCamp) on Thursday September 9.

Dale will share the tactics and tips he uses to grow his community fan page for Vancouver, WA.

Building a community fan page is one of the most powerful way to connect with thousand of local homeowners on Facebook.

Register to listen to Dale at SMMCamp – online and free.

Chris Smith, the Tech Savvy Agent and winner of the 2010 Inman Most innovative Blog, will speak at Social Media Marketing Camp 5 on September 9.

The 5th SMMCamp will focus on using “Facebook to Market and Sell Real Estate” and features four real estate social media experts who will show you how to use Facebook to get to the closing table.

Chris will start off the 3 hour webinar by teaching how to convert Facebook Fands and Friends into Clients. After you attend the webinar you will immediately be able to use customize your Fan Pages to capture visitors’ contact details and direct traffic to your listings and homes for sale.

SMMCamp 5 is online and free – register right here!

About the Tech Savvy Agent

Chris Smith is the Tech Savvy Agent and winner of the Inman 2010 Most Innovate Blog Award.

As you might expect, the Tech Savvy Agent is at the cutting edge of leveraging tech innovation to drive your real estate business.

Social Media Marketing Camp 5 – Market and Sell Real Estate on Facebook – is confirmed for Thursday September 9 from 10am to 1pm.

As always the event is online and free and you can sign up at www.smmcamp.com.

SMMCamp 5 features four world class speakers at the leading edge of real estate socia media marketing.

Chris Smith – Tech Savvy Agent and winner of the 2010 Inman Most Innovatiove Blog

Darin Persinger – Social media marketer and pioneer of Fan Pages for Listings marketing

Ross Hair – The Baldest Man in Real Estate, real estate agent and investor and founder of Social Media Advocate

Ben Kinney – Top producer at Keller Williams, VP of Marketing for Active Rain

Register now at www.smmcamp.com to view the full schedule.

Can you sell homes or market real estate listings on Facebook?

This is a question that I get asked all the time.

One person who knows how to sell homes on Facebook is Darin Persinger.

Darin has pioneered a way to create a Fan Page for each listing and then integrate direct mail with social media marketing to sell the home. His strategy focuses around exploiting the viral nature of Facebook and co-opting the neighbors into promoting the property by inviting them to the Facebook Fan Page and encouraging them to “like” the page and leave a comment.

It is all very clever and it has a huge upside as it allows Darin to market himself to the neighbors and ask for their listings.

If you want to learn how Darin sells homes on Facebook you can attend his session at Social Media Marketing Camp 4 (SMMCamp) on May 27. It is online and free so register right now!

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is the baldest man in real estate and a huge fan of real estate social media marketing.