Author: Anne Ewasko

Two tech tools to brand like a pro on social media

Anne Ewasko Leave a comment

We all love our brands, and because of that, we are loyal to them. When we find something we love, we stick to it and buy it again and again. We do the same thing when it comes to finding the right hairstylist, doctor, contractor and, of course, Realtor.

There is no better way today for us Realtors to build our brand (and our business) than by using social media. But it’s always a huge challenge to stay on top of our social media and continue to sell homes. Juggling the two can be quite difficult, as both take so much time to do it right, and often it’s our social media presence that suffers because of it. However, with today’s available tech tools, there is no need to hire a social media manager or a graphic designer to keep your brand and messaging consistent. You can DIY — Do It Yourself!

Here are two ways to manage both and stay on top of it like a pro: One, find the right social media management platform; and two, find a good online design tool that can quickly put together your concepts (even if you aren’t that creative or tech savvy) to create posts that reflect who you are and enhance your brand. There are tons out there, so do your research to find what fits your budget and skill level.

I chose eclincher as my management platform because it’s simple to use, has great 24/7 customer support and allows me to organize and manage all of my accounts in one central hub. With just a few clicks, I can carry out automated tasks that can be simultaneously posted on multiple platforms — and they have all the major ones I need (not all of them do): Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest and even TikTok. It comes with a single inbox so you don’t have to move from one platform to another to stay on top of messages, and it makes it so much easier to interact. They have an unending supply of recommended content (including image libraries) that one can pull from and stay fresh. I love the fact that I can plan and curate my posts as far out as I like with their visual content calendar (so easy to plan ahead for holidays) that will automatically post once they are plugged in. This allows me to set it and forget it so that I can stay consistent in my postings and focus my time and energy on my main business, selling real estate! What’s even cooler about this platform is that you can boost your posts and monitor their performance with their analytics tracker. This allows me to see what types of posts bring in more engagement and helps me to pivot my efforts to attract more business, and who doesn’t want that?

One could get away with merely using this social media management tool, but if you want to up the ante and really come across like an expert, then add on a design tool to create visually striking posts that keep your brand identity consistent across all your platforms. I use Canva, and the good news is that it can be fully integrated with eclincher. So again, everything is in one place, which makes this all super-efficient. With their vast selection of templates and over 3,000 fonts to choose from, all you need to do is change them out to your brand colors, fonts and imagery — it’s that simple. They even allow you to set up a “brand kit” so that your colors, fonts and style stay consistent.

OK, so what if you have never defined your brand? Then this is a great place to get started. Scroll through their templates and fonts, and see which ones are “you” and the brand/image that you want to convey to your audience. It’s a lot of fun to hunt around and you will know it when you see it. It will feel “right” — just like a homebuyer knows when they’ve found the right home. Once you have found the one that fits you best, then you need to stick to that theme consistently so that your audience will be able to tell immediately that it’s you — THAT is how you build your brand and, most importantly, a dependable following. You can carry that theme into your listing presentations (and Canva can assist you with that, too), print brochures, e-campaigns and all of your print/digital marketing. Once clients see this consistency throughout, they will know they are working with a true professional and will want to hire you to sell their home.

So, no more haphazardly posting random content and discombobulated images on the fly that detract from who you are and how you want to position yourself in your market. Now you can control it, save time, stay consistent and look like a pro by using these tools. Your target market will find you, follow you and fall in love with who you are and stay loyal to your brand, which, in turn, will be a great pipeline for success and bring your sales volume up.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.

Becoming a Digital Earnest Money Addict

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For the past two decades — yes, decades — I have been using the traditional methods of checks and bank wires for sending and receiving earnest money. Most of us agents have been doing it this way since the beginning of time, as these were our only options. Checks are so time-consuming, with the runaround for “the handoff,” or the hassle for the office drop-off, or the chance of them getting lost or delayed in the mail — not to mention the time it takes to deposit them.

Wires made life a little bit easier, but it took time to explain to clients how to do them. Plus, the whole security issue of keeping the clients protected was always of concern. Then there was all the paper-pushing needed to provide receipts to show what was paid and by whom, and when it was received and by whom. It could turn into a real time killer and sometimes even a nightmare that could potentially jeopardize a transaction if there were delays.

Well, I am happy to say those days are over for me now. If you haven’t gone digital yet, you should really consider it. Digital earnest money deposits (EMDs) have been around for less than a year, and at first, I was reluctant to jump on board. Why? I am a security freak. There’s something that I am just not comfortable with in using an app for large banking transactions. And in this case, it’s not my money but my client’s! So an even bigger liability, and if I am not comfortable, how could I expect my clients to be, as well?

Then one day not too long ago, I was sitting at an inspection. The listing agent was sitting across from me in the living room while the inspector was doing his thing. We had just put the deal together the day before, and my buyers needed to get their initial earnest money in. So, she had mentioned that she just finished a companywide webinar that morning, as her firm was rolling out a new program for their agents to collect the earnest digitally. We both were newbies at it, so we decided to download the app on our phones and give it a whirl. It took her about five minutes to input the details of the transaction, and then she sent me the invitation. When I accepted it, all I needed to do was input my client’s information and hit “Send.” Within 10 minutes, the listing agent and I simultaneously received confirmation of payment (including receipt) that the earnest money was in — all while still sitting there in the living room! From start to finish, the request for the earnest money went out, was received and was documented all within 15 minutes! Voila! I was hooked.

Yes, it’s super easy and convenient, but was it safe? Remember, I’m a security freak, so I did a little digging and found out some interesting things that I would like to share. The digital app we used was Earnnest. There are other EMD apps out there, but I am going to focus on Earnnest. First of all, these are Automated Clearing House transfers (ACHs), not “wire transfers.” What is the difference? Both ACH payments and “wire transfers” electronically move money from one financial institution to another, but wire transfers are initiated and processed by banks, while ACH payments are processed automatically through a clearinghouse. Because of clearinghouse rules, ACH payments are often more secure than wire transfers.

So, why haven’t we used ACH payments in the past for earnest money deposits? Because there was no protection on reversals. One could do an ACH payment but could “claw” it back if they wanted to, and as this is going into an escrow account, that would be a big no-no — but almost impossible to prevent if the payee decided to reverse it. The app protects the payment from these reversals.

What about the security of my client’s personal and banking information? Who sees it? Where is it stored? How does it get protected? These were all serious concerns of mine, and it turns out that Earnnest is partnered with two companies that gave me some peace of mind. The first one is Plaid, a fintech company that connects banks to apps and allows for instant verification for use of those bank accounts. It’s the same system used by Venmo, Robinhood and many other apps. They currently have about 93% of all banks and credit unions in their system. The second one is Dwolla, the leading payment processor in the nation. Their role is to set up a secure connection between the payee and their bank using “tokenization,” a fancy banking term for the removal of all sensitive financial data from transactions. This includes multiple levels of encryption between Earnnest and the client’s bank information, bank account details or routing information, they cannot store it, share it or have it hacked — which was a relief to hear. The app itself is also protected by AES 256-bit encryption, the highest standard used by financial institutions, as it’s the most advanced and secure encryption algorithm.

With a sigh of relief, I’ve had my security concerns satisfied and am now comfortable providing my clients the ability to send earnest money digitally. It’s going to be a real game changer not only for me, but for my clients. Checks seem so archaic now, and while wiring is still an option, I have to say that most people haven’t had much experience with bank wires. But they have with banking apps, so using an EMD app isn’t too far of a stretch. Wire transfers are more costly and start around $30 and up, depending upon the amount, and the Earnnest app, which I use, charges the client a flat fee of $15 with a minimum transfer of $30, up to a maximum of $100,000. At the end of the day, it’s about being efficient and making life easier for my clients. More time means more money, and happier clients means more referrals.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.

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