Q/A Friday: What are 5 things you (probably) didn’t know about Broker/Agent Admin?

Q: Ok, I’m getting the hang of the new(ish) website and Broker/Agent Admin, but there’s a lot to know! What are 5 things that I may not be aware of?
A: Excellent question! Broker/Agent Admin (sometimes referred to as the Backend/Agent Backend) is where you have control over your Agent Website, can create searches/CMAs/One-to-Ones, find company news, and more. Here are 5 things that you might not have known before:
1. YOU CAN CREATE CRAIGSLIST-READY ADS IN THE MARKETING SECTION IN MINUTES
Hopefully you are already using the Marketing section of Broker/Agent Admin to create fast and professional printable fliers. But did you know that you can take these fliers and post them to Craigslist almost instantly? To do this, just copy/paste from the HTML pop-up box… or watch the short video tutorial below:

2. YOU CAN ADD ANY LISTING FROM YOUR MLS AS A FEATURED LISTING ON YOUR HOME PAGE

If you wish to add other listings to the featured listing section of your Agent Site homepage, you first have to change a few settings:
-Log into Broker/Agent Admin and click on My Website
-Click on “Settings” from the left hand menu and select the button for MANUAL. Click the SAVE button. Click OK on the popup screen.

-Click on “Featured Listings” on the upper right. Select the button for MANUAL. Click the SAVE button. Click OK on the popup screen.
-Click on “Listings” from the left hand menu and select the button for MANUAL Click OK on the popup screen.
-Click on OTHER MLS LISTINGS (top right) and select MANUAL Click OK on the popup screen.
-Now you may add the MLS number of a property into the text box below. Click OK. NOTE: You may only add listings in the MLS(s) you have linked to your Agent Site.
-Once you add a listing, click on ACTIVATE LISTING.
-Your added listings will now appear as FEATURED on your website and in your Listings section.

IMPORTANT! Doing this will no longer automatically pull your listings from the MLS. You will need to enter the MLS number for all listings you wish to appear on your site.

3. COMPANY SUPPORT IS FULL OF USEFUL FILES AND INFORMATION
Need a logo? Transaction documents? How about a referral form or letterhead? Notes from a Social Marketing training? All this (and much more) are waiting for you in the COMPANY SUPPORT section of Broker/Agent Admin. I highly recommend you take a few minutes to browse through the various sections and familiarize yourself with the resources available.
4. YOU CAN ADD YOUR OWN DOCUMENTS AND FILES TO COMPANY SUPPORT
You can add your own documents/videos/etc into Company Support. These will only be available to you when you are logged into Broker/Agent Admin. Why would I want to do this? If you have documents that you frequently require outside of the provided documents in Company Support, you will be able to access them from any computer once you have uploaded them to Company Support.

TO UPLOAD
-Log into Broker/Agent Admin and click on COMPANY SUPPORT.
-Click CREATE MAIN CATEGORY (Upper right). Name your category and click OK.
-Your category will now appear in the left side menu. Click on your category.
-Click CREATE SUBCATEGORY and name a subcategory,
-Click on your subcategory in the left hand menu.
-You may continue to create another subcategory by clicking CREATE SUBCATEGORY again, or you may upload a file by clicking UPLOAD FILE
-TO UPLOAD A FILE: first select the type of file (Media- YouTube videos, Document, Image, or Link). Give your file a name and description. Follow the prompts provided. Acceptable file types include YouTube video URLS, PDFs, Word Documents, Excel Documents.
5. RECENT SALES ONLY PULL YOUR LISTINGS SOLD, NOT BUYER-SIDE SALES 
To add your recent buyer-side sales:
-Log into Broker/Agent Admin and click on MY WEBSITE.
-Click on RECENT SALES from the left hand menu.
-Select MANUAL.
-Click ADD RECENT SALE (upper right)
-Enter the MLS number of the sale and click RETRIEVE
-Double check the pulled information, make any necessary changes, and click SAVE at the bottom.

Q/A Friday: What are 5 things I can do to protect my privacy on Facebook (and online in general)?

Q: Is it possible to customize who can see what on Facebook? And what can I do to protect my identity from being stolen? Basically, I just want to be safe!

A: It absolutely is possible (and wise) to maintain your online privacy… but remember, I’m of the mind that whatever you put on the internet is public record, regardless of privacy settings, so think before you post! That being said, here are a series of steps you can take to safeguard yourself, and keep that embarrassing-but-hilarious party photo away from prying eyes.

1. SET YOUR BLANKET PRIVACY SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK
Did you know that with the click of a button, you can instantly select one of four privacy settings for your entire Facebook? The options are EVERYONE (which does in fact mean everyone, on Facebook or not, and indexable by search engines like Google), FRIENDS OF FRIENDS (which allows your mutual friends some access but reserves some things, like contact information, for your actual connections), FRIENDS ONLY (which only allows access to people you have confirmed as friends), and RECOMMENDED (which allows different groups of people to see different things).

To access this screen, log in to Facebook, then navigate to ACCOUNT (upper right-hand corner) > PRIVACY SETTINGS. Select the Privacy Setting you are comfortable with and click the APPLY THIS SETTING button to save.

2. TO GET MORE DETAILED, CREATE FRIENDS LISTS
Friend Lists are ways of categorizing the people that you connect with on Facebook. You can have up to 100 lists, and up to 1,000 people per list (people can be cross-categorized). These lists are private. Besides allowing you to filter the information you see in your newsfeed, you can also set specific privacy rules based on your Friend Lists.

To create a Friend List:
1. Once you are logged into Facebook, navigate to ACCOUNT>EDIT FRIENDS
2. Click “Create New List”
3. Name your list and select friends to add by clicking on them. You can also type a name in the search to find someone directly. If you check someone on accident, just click again to uncheck them.
4. Click “Create List”

When you edit your Privacy Settings, clicking "Customize" for any setting will open a Custom Privacy pop up dialogue. Under "Make this open to," select "Specific People" form the drop-down menu and enter the name of the Friend List with whom you’d like to share the content (you can enter an individual as well). You can enter Friend Lists or individuals under “Hide this from” as well. If a person is cross-listed, the more restrictive privacy settings will be honored.You will also be able to adjust the privacy settings for each piece of content you post (picture, link, text, etc.) To do this, click on the lock icon next to the share button, select “Customize” and follow the steps above. For more information/FAQ on Friend Lists, check out Facebook’s Help Center.

 

3. SAFEGUARD YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Did you know that in less than 5 seconds, you can request that Facebook notify you any time your account is accessed on a new computer or mobile device? Navigate to ACCOUNT>ACCOUNT SETTINGS and look for ACCOUNT SECURITY:

Once you submit this setting, Facebook will ask you to name any new device you log in on. It will keep a log of these devices as well as notify you by email when a new device is used. Don’t remember typing in a device name? Time to change your password!!

Another way to safeguard your account is to be aware of the applications you authorize, Applications need to access your account information (contact info, post to your wall, access your Friend List, etc.) for various reasons, but not all applications are friendly. Any application that seems too good to be true most likely is. To see the applications that you’ve authorized, navigate to ACCOUNT>APPLICATION SETTINGS and select “Authorized” from the drop down menu. Don’t recognize something or use it any more? Click the X.

4. BE SMART ABOUT YOUR PASSWORDS
It’s OK to recycle your passwords, but here are several tips to keep in mind:
-Don’t have the same password for EVERYTHING! At least have a separate password for email accounts, one for social networks, and one (preferably more complex) for financial or sensitive information.
-Do you have a password list? If it’s on your computer, password protect it! Google “[program] password protect document” to find out how to do this. (Note: doesn’t work for Outlook, but Word/Excel/Publisher are all OK.) If your password list is printed, know where it is at all times, and I recommend that you attempt to code your services (IE, just write BANK or $$ instead of WELLS FARGO, etc.)

 

5. KEEP YOUR EMAIL (AND COMPUTER) SECURE
-If you receive a suspicious email from any source (a social network, financial institution, etc), DO NOT click on the link provided in the email. Instead, go directly to your browser and type in the URL manually. REMEMBER: a bank/social network/etc will NEVER contact you asking for your password or other sensitive data.
-NEVER download/open/install a file of any type from an unknown source.
-If you receive a .zip file from ANY source, even one that you know, verify that it was actually sent from that person before you download/open/install it.
-Anything claiming to come from a Nigerian prince or that you’ve won a prize for doing nothing, etc., is a scam. This goes double for emails claiming that if you forward to x-amount of people you will receive a personal email from Bill Gates/donate money to a charity/ ~*~*~hAvE YoUr WiSHeS gRAntED~*~*~.

Want the notes (and lots more step-by-step and tips) from the Online Privacy and Safety training? Click here!