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7 Popular Types of Social Media Fans [Infographic] | Pamorama | Cross River Realtor

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If you’re using social media to market your company, you know that social media fans are not all alike.

7 types of social media fans 7 Popular Types of Social Media Fans [Infographic]Many different types of people follow you on social networks. While every person is different, social media fans and customers can be broken down into roughly 7  categories. Once you understand who these customers are, it’s easier to target them to improve brand awareness, find leads, and drive sales. Here’s a look a who they are, why they’re following your brand on social media, and what to do to get the most out of them.

The folks at ReachLocal, a localized-marketing agency, have illustrated the 7 popular types of social media fans in the infographic below. Here’s a quick take on these different personas:

1. The Quiet Follower

This fan has liked your business on Facebook or followed you on Twitter, but they don’t say much and don’t really engage with you. One of the easiest ways to reach them is by ask them to do something — create stronger calls to action by requesting that they retweet or “like” your posts. Getting these fans to engage with your brand on Facebook means that your content will appear more often in their news feeds. (See my post Understanding Facebook Edgerank to learn how to give your Facebook posts a higher probability of appearing at the top of news feeds.)

2. The Casual “Liker”

This person occasionally retweets your Twitter content or  “likes” your Facebook or LinkedIn posts. They probably followed your business because they want to let their friends know that they buy products from your company and/or because they genuinely enjoy your content. Use calls to action on your Facebook posts encourage your fans to share your content. Example: If you own a coffee shop, you could share a photo of the new hot drink you’ve just introduced with a caption that says, “Share this if you love coffee!” This will help turn casual fans into brand advocates.

3. The Deal Seeker

This fan wants exclusive access to coupons, deals, incentives, and events. There are a lot of deal-seekers out there: Studies have shown that more than half of Facebook users expect access to sales or to receive discounts or promotions after “liking” a brand on Facebook:

facebook fans expect access to exclusive deals content coupons sales events 7 Popular Types of Social Media Fans [Infographic]

Reach these customers by regularly posting deals-of-the-week, offers, contests, and specials for your social media audiences. Companies that regularly do this attract new fans.

4. The Unhappy Customer

No one wants unhappy customers — let alone seeing their negativity on your social media sites — but people are using social media more and more as a form of public communication with brands. Posts on Facebook pages or @mentions on Twitter are used to complain about customer service, and can harm your reputation. It’s important to continually monitor your pages and quickly respond to feedback and complaints. This sends the message that you care and are listening, and that you put your customers first.



Read more: http://www.pamorama.net/2013/06/09/7-types-of-social-media-fans-how-to-connect-infographic/#ixzz2VoDo20GZ

 

7 Popular Types of Social Media Fans [Infographic] | Pamorama | Social Media Marketing Blog.

Survey: Americans apply for mortgages 24/7 | Cross River Real Estate

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Time is money, and more Americans are adjusting their schedules to complete tasks at the most convenient time.

The mortgage space is just one of many industries adapting to this reality.

In an analysis by Mortgage Marvel of more than 650,000 online applications submitted to 1,100 lending institutions, it became clear that more people are applying for mortgages at all hours of the day, including the workday.

Technology has come a long way, allowing people to do almost anything from almost anywhere.

The survey found that in 2012 only about 15% of applications came in on Saturday or Sunday. This means more people are conducting business remotely during the hectic work week.

Additionally, of the applications coming in during weekdays, about 60% are submitted between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Mortgage Marvel said.

Rick Allen, chief operating officer of Mortgage Marvel, said, “Technology has given us more flexibility in all aspects of our lives. People appreciate being able to complete an application on their schedule and at their pace.”

He added, “We expect the number of online applications to continue to grow for many years to come.”

 

Survey: Americans apply for mortgages 24/7 | HousingWire.

Freddie: Borrowers strengthen their household budgets with refis | Cross River Real Estate

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Borrowers who refinanced their homes in the first quarter will save approximately $7 billion in interest over the next 12 months, Freddie Mac said in its first-quarter 2013 quarterly refinance report.

The enterprise’s quarterly report is culled from data on sample properties in which Freddie Mac has funded two successive conventional, first-mortgage loans, with the second being a refinancing.

The overall data shows consumers strengthening their balance sheets by using low mortgage rates to move into reduced monthly payments. In other cases, they are refinancing into shorter loan terms or obtaining a safer long-term, fixed-rate mortgage.

Freddie says in the first quarter $8.1 billion in net home equity was cashed out during the refinancing of conventional prime-credit mortgages. This figure is virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, but substantially down from the peak cash-out refinance volume of $84 billion in the second quarter of 2006.

Of those borrowers who refinanced during the first quarter, 28% shortened their loan terms, 68% kept the same loan terms as the loan they paid off and 3% chose to lengthen their loan terms, Freddie Mac said.

About 85% of those who refinance a first-lien home mortgage maintained the same loan amount after refinancing their mortgage or lowered their principal balance by putting more down at the closing table.

About 95% of refinancing borrowers selected a fixed-rate loan in 1Q.

In fact, 87% of borrowers with a hybrid ARM selected a fixed-rate loan when going through a refi in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Freddie says the Home Affordable Refinance Program has helped 2.5 million borrowers refinance since its inception through March of 2013.

HARP loans represented more than 20% of the first-quarter refinance loans acquired by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

For all those loans refinanced through HARP in 1Q, the median depreciation in property value hit 28%, with the prior loan having a median age of 6 years.

 

Freddie: Borrowers strengthen their household budgets with refis | HousingWire.

How Rising Mortgage Rates Could Affect The Housing Recovery | Cross River Real Estate

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Mortgage interest rates are rising. In the week ending May 30, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage clocked 3.81%, its highest level in a year, according to Freddie Mac. That’s 15% higher than the 3.31% record low set in November of 2012 and almost 14% higher than the 3.35% rate logged in the beginning of May. The 15-year fixed rate jumped as well to 2.98%.

The increase from the start of May through the month’s final week translates into an extra $20 per month for every $100,000 of debt accrued. If rates continue their upward march, mortgages will become more expensive.

Since cheap financing has been a notable driver of the housing recovery, could those rising rates derail the momentum? To answer that question, let’s first take a look at what low interest rates have done for housing and why they’re increasing now.

Compared to decades past, today’s rates (even at 3.81%) are unprecedentedly — and artificially — low.  They’re the direct result of a Federal Reserve-funded fiscal stimulus plan, better known as the third round of quantitative easing or QE3, aimed at hastening the recovery in housing and the economy as a whole. Through the program the Fed has been buying $85 billion worth of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities per month, a process that has tamped down interest rates, making mortgages more attractive to prospective consumers.

The low rates have enabled qualified home buyers (and owners looking to refinance) to access cheap financing, adding to already-record-high levels of home affordability. It’s helped bolster a surge in both home sales and price increases (since lower rates help make larger principals possible).

Rates are climbing now due to both stronger economic data and to speculation: recently Fed chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the central bank may start slowing its bond buying within the next several months. The news has caused bond investors to begin selling out of their 10-year Treasury positions, driving yields for these bonds above 2%. Since mortgage rates correlate closely with Treasury yields, they have followed suit, rising about a quarter of a percentage point in just a week.

 

How Rising Mortgage Rates Could Affect The Housing Recovery – Forbes.

Saving property values in the wake of foreclosure | Cross River Real Estate

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Asset management firms are in a constant race to preserve local home values through the effective upkeep of vacant properties.

At HousingWire’s Real Estate Expo (REX Annual) on Monday, experts spoke on the subject of “Help Us Save Our Neighborhoods.” The idea behind the discussion was to visit code compliance issues, revealing effective ways to ensure property values are not weighed down by troubled and vacant properties.

Members of the panel included: Robert Klein, chairman ofSafeguard Properties; Jim Taylor, senior vice president withWells Fargo Home Mortgage; Kelvin Beene with the City of Fort Worth; Jeannie Fantasia, vice president of SecureView; and Eric Miller, executive director with the National Association of Mortgage Field Services.

Taylor said, “If you look at the REOs we sold last year, on average the customer has not made a payment in 16 months. If that is the case, that customer is really in distress.”

If we cannot help the borrower, we try to find ways to help them move on while attempting to get the house back on the market, Taylor explained. But to do so, the house has to be in the best shape possible.

“We cannot stop the situation but there are ways that we can improve the communication. One of the things that has been a constant is the stigma that is tied to a boarded property,” added Jeannie Fantasia with SecureView.

To stay abreast of how property preservation firms are coming along in preserving home values, Taylor with Safeguard announced the creation of a grading system that will score houses to show how they have progressed from REO to the day the home is sold.

REO homes take longer to get back on the market, so in the process, it is imperative that communication about the home’s status is clear and up-to-date, the panelists suggested.

 

Saving property values in the wake of foreclosure | HousingWire.

Redskins’ star purchases new $2.5 million home | Cross River Real Estate

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The home – complete with the one amenity that will make life easier on that pummeled set of legs and body: an elevator – is situated in Creighton Farms in Loudon County, about 30 miles east of D.C.

The neighborhood has a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course as its centerpiece, meaning that the high-energy Griffin will have a place to swing his clubs when he’s not strengthening that busted knee or trying to talk Shanahan into letting him go for it on fourth down.

 

Redskins’ star purchases new $2.5 million home | HousingWire.

Study finds attractive Realtors sell more | Cross River Real Estate

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To measure this effect, Sean Salter, associate professor of finance atMiddle Tennessee State University and co-author of a study on how an agent’s looks affect property sales, along with co-authors Franklin Mixon of Columbus State University and Ernest King of theUniversity of Southern Mississippi asked 402 people to rate agents, both male and female, on a scale of 1 to 10, from very unattractive to very attractive, based on online head shots. The researchers then looked at the agents’ property transactions over a seven-year period, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The findings: Every one-point increase in a listing agent’s attractiveness score added $10,989, on average, to the home’s list price. Every one-point increase in a selling agent’s score added $8,467 to the home’s sale price.

 

Study finds attractive Realtors sell more | HousingWire.

US Foreclosure Inventory Declines | Cross River Real Estate

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florida foreclosure

U.S. foreclosure inventory, which refers to properties in some stage of foreclosure, equaled 1.1 million in April,according to CoreLogic’s latest report.

This was down 24% from 1.5 million a year ago. It was also down 2 percent from March.

Foreclosure inventory represented 2.8% of all homes with a mortgage, compared with 3.5% a year ago.

Meanwhile, there were 52,000 completed foreclosures in April, the same as March. But this was down from 62,000 a year ago. Before the housing bust, completed foreclosures averaged about 21,000 a month.

Home prices have been boosted by tight supply, especially a decline in the stock of distressed properties.

“Fewer distressed properties combined with improving home prices and a pickup in home purchases are significant signals that the ongoing recovery in the housing and mortgage markets continues to gather steam,” said Anand Nallathambi, president of CoreLogic in a press release.

Here are some details from the report:

  • “The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in April 2013 were: Florida (102,000), California (79,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (53,000) and Georgia (47,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.”
  • “The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (9.5 percent), New Jersey (7.4 percent), New York (5.1 percent), Maine (4.4 percent) and Nevada (4.3 percent).”
  • “The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.6 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and Virginia (0.9 percent).”

Here’s a look at foreclosure inventory by state:

foreclosure inventory by state

 

US Foreclosure Inventory Declines – Business Insider.

Calgary and Edmonton buck national housing market trend of declining sales | Cross River Real Estate

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A soft landing is underway in the Canadian housing market and should continue but Calgary and Edmonton are bucking the trend with sales rising compared with a year ago, says a new report released Tuesday by BMO Capital Markets.

The report, by Sal Guatieri, senior economist for BMO, said the Canadian housing market is “calming not crashing.”

“In most regions, sales have fallen at double-digit rates this year from high levels last year,” said Guatieri. “But the rate of decline has slowed recently.

“By contrast, Alberta enjoys decent sales growth.”

As of April, the three month moving average of sales in the existing home market was down 10.9 per cent across the country. However, Calgary and Edmonton were the only two major markets to see growth at three per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

Also, while the average sale price across Canada rose by only 1.0 per cent, Calgary led the nation with a 7.5 per cent hike. Edmonton was up 3.2 per cent.

Guatieri said Calgary’s resale prices are “supported by good valuations, following the 2008 correction, and strong job growth.”

“The upward trend should continue, as Alberta is expected to lead the nation’s economic performance in 2014,” he said.

According to the Calgary RealEstate Board, year-to-date until May 27, there have been 9,541 MLS sales in the city, up 3.89 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. The average sale price has risen by 6.6 per cent while the median price has increased by 5.51 per cent to $399,900.

At the national level. Guatieri said tighter mortgage ruls have slowed credit growth, helping to cool the housing market in an orderly fashion.

“Lack of pent-up demand, with homeownership rates near 70 per cent, and elevated household debt have abetted the slowing,” he said.

“Nationwide, sales are expected to stabilize this year amid steady job growth. Although long-term interest rates are likely to rise moderately next year, they should remain relatively low for some time.”


 

Calgary and Edmonton buck national housing market trend of declining sales.

Why housing is not boosting the economic recovery | Cross River Real Estate

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The Wall Street Journal writes that those expecting a quick return to the “virtuous cycle” by which rising prices, home sales, and housing construction feeds further consumer spending will have to wait until Americans feel more comfortable borrowing and until banks feel more comfortable extending credit, according to new commentary by Pimco.

The Pimco strategists outline four primary blockages that could restrain the housing sector’s ability to play the traditional role boosting the economy during a recovery. To see them, click here

 

Why housing is not boosting the economic recovery | HousingWire.