Are you using LinkedIn? If you are a serious Realtor, you should be...

We all know that Facebook is a great tool, not just for keeping in contact with your friends, but for you business as well.  But did you know that Linked In has now passed MySpace for the 2nd most often used social media networking tool?  Check out my tweet on that here (http://t.co/IXdtTGZ)

With that being said, can you afford not to use it?  And the truth is, it's where people actually go to network "professionally," right?  But like any website where people can search for you, you want to be on the top of the list, right? If you're a Realtor in Provo, for instance, you want your name on the top of the Linked In search when someone looking for an agent searches "Real Estate, Provo."  Here's what you do to put you in the top 5 of the search you want:

First of all, if you  haven't joined Linked In, then join and create a profile, as complete as you can.  Then do a search using the terms you think others would use if they were looking for your type of service.  Where did you find yourself in the lineup?  Or did you find yourself?  Now, do the following....

1. Make sure the "top" of your profile (where the picture is) has your city location as well as your expertise.  For example, mine shows "Provo, UT area/Real Estate."  Since there are only the two choices of Real Estate or Financial Services on Linked in for this portion, I had to use Real Estate.  Not a bad thing, as you can focus more in the next sections for your own profession.
2. Put your occupation (or what you think people will use as a search term) in BOTH the current and past employment sections.  (Mine says "Mortgage" and "Loan Officer" in both, so if people search for either one they find me!
3. In the Summary section, put the same key terms you used in numbers 1 and 2.

Now, do that same search again.  How far did you move up?  When I did these simple steps I moved from way down the line to the number one position for anyone who searches, "Mortgage, Provo" or "Orem" and also "Loan Officer, Orem" or "Provo" on the entire Linked In site. 

Linked in search for Mortgage/Provo

We all know that marketing is about more people seeing you and your product, so being "on top" of the list is much better than somewhere closer to the bottom.

Much success to you and look for more tips in the future!