Save the Date: RainCamp April 19th

I have always been confused by receiving a 'save the date' postcard prior to getting an actual invitation for someone's wedding. You've surely seen these? My wife and I have gotten a few of these and each time I always chuckle to myself. I'm still waiting for the subsequent invitation to one of these weddings to be replaced by the 'sorry, you didn't make the final cut' letter.

When that day finally happens, I promise to send a gift for the outright honesty of the friends getting married. Luckily, you don't have to worry about sending a gift for RainCamp or missing out on a chance to attend.......as long as you save the date (and you show up a few minutes early).

We are asking you to save the date of April 19th, from 9:00am to 12:30pm Pacific Time (that's 12:00pm to 3:30pm Eastern time and you guys in the Central and Mountain zones are going to have to do the math) to join us for RainCamp where we will be discussing Social Media. This will be a free event open to all of our members. Registration will begin next week, which means........

Can you sign up yet?  Nope. Probably for similar reasons to why you don't get invited to the wedding from the start. There are still some logistics to work out, and we want you to start thinking about being there before we actually invite you. (Doesn't make a ton of sense, does it? I don't make this stuff up, I just follow the generally accepted principles.)

Why would you want to save the date?

One of the reasons is because we are going to have Scott Stratten, president of Un-Marketing, joining us. Are you familiar with Scott? He was recently named one of the five most influential social media personalities by Forbes.com and he's created viral videos for some of his clients that have been viewed over 60 million times. His twitter ramblings go out to over 119,000 people every day. If you're not familiar with Scott, take ten minutes to check out his blog, his twitter feed, or even some videos of him presenting his thoughts on Social Media. This guy gets it. He understands how companies and small businesses can utilize social media to make real connections for their business.

As his bio states: "He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of your target market, so when they have the need, they choose you." (Did he write that stuff about himself? Or have someone else write it? I always wonder when I see someone's bio......I'll have to ask him during RainCamp.)

**Warning: You may spend more than 10 minutes if you take the time to check those links

(All the awesomeness in his bio, combined with $5, will get him a cup of coffee anywhere in the world. I stole that from his bio page. But your ability to absorb some of the things that he's learned over the years will be way more valuable than your morning caffeine intake. And it's a webinar, so you can watch from home and get your coffee for cheaper than $5.)

The real estate industry is on the forefront of adopting social media as a way to market. We have real estate professionals building fan pages, using Twitter, tapping into Pinterest and blogging at dizzying rates. Our business is about making connections and staying top in the minds of friends and people in our sphere that might chose to do business with us or refer business to us. It makes sense that this emerging ability to market our business would be something of which real estate professionals are taking advantage. Social Media and your real estate business are a great marriage..............

.......Unless they are not.

Just because I have these great channels to market my business, doesn't mean that everything and anything I do to get my message in front of more people is actually going to be a benefit to me. Because real estate is all about making connections, many professionals are abusing the priviledge they have of interacting with their social circles. So where is the line? How do you know what's a good idea and what's a bad idea as it relates to using social media?

If anyone is qualified to look at how real estate agents are using social media and give us some suggestions of the horrible things we are doing and the real ways to build your brand and make better connections, it's Scott.

Scott will be kicking off RainCamp and in the next two weeks, we will be sharing some of the other people that will be joining him. What can you expect to learn at RainCamp? How about techniques that can help you generate leads for your business using Social Media, an in depth discussion of Pinterest (the rapidly emerging new kid on the Social Media block) and some practical applications of Facebook Pages to connect with locals in your market? Maybe we can sneak in a few of those things.

So save the date, even if you're not officially invited yet.........

 ~Bob