Allen Buchanan is a commercial real estate professional specializing in the Orange County industrial market. As a Principal at Lee & Associates, Allen is always exploring new and innovative uses of social media, including ways to: enhance current business relationships, grow his professional network and share his business knowledge online.

How are you using social media to market your services?

I blog on a daily basis through http://www.allencbuchanan.blogspot.com. I experiment with different content based upon my experiences, contacts, companies that I have represented, etc.

Once the blog posts, I then tweet it which posts to LinkedIn. I then share the blog to groups [on LinkedIn] that I believe would benefit from the content. My blog posts automatically are shared with Facebook. My blog is hyperlinked to Postlets for my listing inventory, my company website and contains links to Facebook and Twitter.

I use past blog posts to introduce clients to one another and/or to market their businesses.

Do you have any creative ways you prospect online?

LinkedIn Groups, birthday cards from Plaxo

Any early insights you can share on using the new Real Estate Pro application on LinkedIn?

I like the ability to post listings and done deals on my LinkedIn profile, so that a user can view them.

What blogs or websites do you check daily?

Coy Davidson, Duke Long, OCBJ, and Orange County Register

What deals have you closed in the last 3 months?

#1- Sale of a property in April that took me 6.5 years to close
#2- I helped relocate a sunscreen manufacturer and saved him $40,000 per month in rent

What’s the most interesting property request you’ve received?

A buyer that buys and sells traffic from adult websites

Why do your customers enjoy working with you?

I am a business owner just like they are and promote myself accordingly. I provide advice…not just transactional help.