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Texting for business
  
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By Robyn Lydick
Rita Burke rises, attends to her baby, talks with husband and business partner Brian, then logs on to promote their luxury real estate company, Kenna & Co.
She’s not updating a Web page or gallery of photos.
She’s on their blog at ActiveRain, tweeting people through Twitter, checking in at Facebook (no Scrabulous, we assume) and Linked In.
Depending on the research needed, a single blog posting can take 15 minutes to two hours.
Burke says she revels in the typing, editing and finding new places to talk to people.
“I’m not out there saying ‘great prices now’ or ‘buy our homes.’ I’m building community,” Burke said.
The world of social media has gone to the adults.
No longer the province of tweens with lightning fast thumbs, My Space, Facebook, Blogger and a raft of sites that connect people are now connecting businesses to potential customers.
Burke has been tweeted by “the real Shaq.” As in O’Neal, who asked if she was moving houses in Denver.
O’Neal follows 339 people, meaning he can read their messages. He has 27, 675 followers reading his messages.
Burke has 868 followers.
She hopes, as those people move, they will consider Kenna & Co.
Paul Murray, founder of Whole Heath Centers in Highlands Ranch, also uses blog tools to reach potential customers.
Murray estimates 12 percent of his clients came through the blog, which is part of his Web site.
Parts of the site are directed to current clients such as tips on diet, offers for a shopping guide who works at the neighboring Whole Foods and Whole Health.
“Education is the first part of being healthy,” Murray said “Most people with chronic illness don’t know what they are doing wrong. It isn’t genetics but lifestyle.”
So the blog has news on access to alternative care, dietary information and information about the modes of care offered by Whole Health.
Offering information is one way to get eyes on your pages. Burke offers market reports neighborhood by neighborhood, and finds that the information drives hits on the site.
The Highlands Ranch Chamber of Commerce offered a lunch and discussion of social media and how it can benefit businesses.
Led by Chris Eppers, economic gardening manager, the talk showed some sites and their pros and cons.
“How do I do all of this and still run my business?” asked Karen McKy of Awakening Knowledge in Centennial. “I’m not able to keep up on a Web page. Can you hire someone to do this?”
Yes, you can. Search engine optimization specialists will write text for blogs and Web page that get you higher in searches.
For Burke, more hits is more exposure for the sellers she represents.
Burke, who has the luxury of time and an incentive to work at home, taught herself what she uses in social media. She is putting together a class on social media for real estate professionals through a title company.
Burke said someone new to using social media could dedicate about 10 hours weekly to it.
Laura McGauhey is a music industry public relations specialist. She is part of the marketing team at Swallow Hill Music Association and promotes her partner’s funk band, U.S. Pipe.
She is working to bring younger and more audiences into both the school and concert halls the association runs.
“We are trying to generate buzz,” McGauhey said. “We promote the sites off the homepage and the e-note (an e-mailed update of happenings) has a list of the places we can be found in cyberspace.”
Indeed, My Space, Facebook and Ning all have a Swallow Hill presence.
McGauhey has found composite sites where she can enter U.S. Pipe’s information and it appears in several listings instantaneously.
She is turning to social media as an enhancement and in a tight economy, replacement for traditional advertising.
“The Westword has gotten so small that traditional advertising is moving online,” McGauhey said. “It’s more economical, too.”
A self-admitted Facebook junkie, McGauhey blogs on My Space and sends that posting to the other sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
“Twitter is fun, especially if you follow it on your phone,” she said. “Mobile is where it is all going, it makes everything more available.”
The Twitter followers are probably not the people visiting the association’s home page, McGauhey said.
“It is a total shift, and we are finding like-minded people who are into these formats.”
She’s not updating a Web page or gallery of photos.
She’s on their blog at ActiveRain, tweeting people through Twitter, checking in at Facebook (no Scrabulous, we assume) and Linked In.
Depending on the research needed, a single blog posting can take 15 minutes to two hours.
Burke says she revels in the typing, editing and finding new places to talk to people.
“I’m not out there saying ‘great prices now’ or ‘buy our homes.’ I’m building community,” Burke said.
The world of social media has gone to the adults.
No longer the province of tweens with lightning fast thumbs, My Space, Facebook, Blogger and a raft of sites that connect people are now connecting businesses to potential customers.
Burke has been tweeted by “the real Shaq.” As in O’Neal, who asked if she was moving houses in Denver.
O’Neal follows 339 people, meaning he can read their messages. He has 27, 675 followers reading his messages.
Burke has 868 followers.
She hopes, as those people move, they will consider Kenna & Co.
Paul Murray, founder of Whole Heath Centers in Highlands Ranch, also uses blog tools to reach potential customers.
Murray estimates 12 percent of his clients came through the blog, which is part of his Web site.
Parts of the site are directed to current clients such as tips on diet, offers for a shopping guide who works at the neighboring Whole Foods and Whole Health.
“Education is the first part of being healthy,” Murray said “Most people with chronic illness don’t know what they are doing wrong. It isn’t genetics but lifestyle.”
So the blog has news on access to alternative care, dietary information and information about the modes of care offered by Whole Health.
Offering information is one way to get eyes on your pages. Burke offers market reports neighborhood by neighborhood, and finds that the information drives hits on the site.
The Highlands Ranch Chamber of Commerce offered a lunch and discussion of social media and how it can benefit businesses.
Led by Chris Eppers, economic gardening manager, the talk showed some sites and their pros and cons.
“How do I do all of this and still run my business?” asked Karen McKy of Awakening Knowledge in Centennial. “I’m not able to keep up on a Web page. Can you hire someone to do this?”
Yes, you can. Search engine optimization specialists will write text for blogs and Web page that get you higher in searches.
For Burke, more hits is more exposure for the sellers she represents.
Burke, who has the luxury of time and an incentive to work at home, taught herself what she uses in social media. She is putting together a class on social media for real estate professionals through a title company.
Burke said someone new to using social media could dedicate about 10 hours weekly to it.
Laura McGauhey is a music industry public relations specialist. She is part of the marketing team at Swallow Hill Music Association and promotes her partner’s funk band, U.S. Pipe.
She is working to bring younger and more audiences into both the school and concert halls the association runs.
“We are trying to generate buzz,” McGauhey said. “We promote the sites off the homepage and the e-note (an e-mailed update of happenings) has a list of the places we can be found in cyberspace.”
Indeed, My Space, Facebook and Ning all have a Swallow Hill presence.
McGauhey has found composite sites where she can enter U.S. Pipe’s information and it appears in several listings instantaneously.
She is turning to social media as an enhancement and in a tight economy, replacement for traditional advertising.
“The Westword has gotten so small that traditional advertising is moving online,” McGauhey said. “It’s more economical, too.”
A self-admitted Facebook junkie, McGauhey blogs on My Space and sends that posting to the other sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
“Twitter is fun, especially if you follow it on your phone,” she said. “Mobile is where it is all going, it makes everything more available.”
The Twitter followers are probably not the people visiting the association’s home page, McGauhey said.
“It is a total shift, and we are finding like-minded people who are into these formats.”
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