Are you familiar with rebarcamps? What? You aren't? And you call yourself a blogging real estate professional?
But seriously... rebarcamps are popping up all over the country. From the simple beginnings the day before Inman Connect in San Francisco, 2008, now there are events in every corner of the country. I haven't been to as many rebarcamps as some, only three... and each has been unique and incredibly informational.
#rebcrdu was certainly no different in that regard. Elizabeth, Pam and the whole crew did a wonderful and amazing job from front to back, start to end and top to bottom. Literally from registration until dinner after the event, everything fell into place. At any given time there were 5 or 6 different sessions going, but the change-over was smooth and trouble free. And they had almost 300 people show up... That is GIANT.
As with each rebarcamp I have been to, the highlight for me is getting together with the people that usually only "live in my computer." Hanging out in the hall talking with Jim Crawford. Talking at dinner with Jeremy Blanton. Having Susie Blackmon pop into my session. Snarking in the back for a few minutes with Lori Bee and Nanette Saunders. Shaking hands with Brad and Bobby Carroll. Crusing with Debe Maxwell, Connie Harvey, Patty Keller, Thom Abbott and Kathy Drewien.
The sessions were excellent, too. Dakno ran a live stream so that people that weren't there could still grab some REBC magic. David Patterson, the Real Estate Zebra, Jim Crawford, Susie Blackmon, Bobby Carroll, and many others put on great discussions.
There is a very high bar, and the whole #rebcrdu crew worked very hard to push that bar a bit higher.
The next time there is a rebarcamp within driving distance... GO THERE. It will be a day VERY well spent. In addition to the fantastic knowledge, the networking opportunities are amazing. They are also downright fun... Who knows, you might get to play Lynchburg Squares. Just invite the lovely and talented Nanette Saunders to your event. I've heard she is ready to take it on the road...
1: the act or process or an instance of integrating: as a: incorporation as equals into society or an organization of individuals of different groups (as races) b:coordination of mental processes into a normal effective personality or with the individual's environment 2 a: the operation of finding a function whose differential is known b: the operation of solving a differential equation
This is the content collection end of a social networking and social media strategy. After creating content for various social media platforms, we can integrate the content into our websites, pulling in more SEO (Search Engine Optimization) power, as well as keeping fresh content appearing on the site.
Whether the medium is videos (via YouTube, WellcomeMat or other video sites), photos (via Flickr, PhotoBucket or other photo sharing sites), microblogs (such as Twitter) or other content (FaceBook, FaceBook Fan Pages, RSS feeds and a million others) the goal is to bring together in one place a myriad of content types into one place... aggregation... The difference is that instead of bringing together the content created by others, for you to keep up with; it is bringing together your own created content in a neat package for others to consume.
There are many different types of integration tools. Every network has several third party tools that can use API calls (basically, automated scanning) to collect the content you put there and bring it to the collection site.
Through the use of integration tools, I have YouTube videos, Delicious bookmarks, Tweets, FaceBook Fan Page wall posts and even blogsites being promoted on my various websites. Much of this content is built automatically. Other content requires me to filter it manually... A great example, just to the right of this post is the blog widget. It is promoting the posts I have on one of my WordPress blogs.
So... after spending all of the time building these great social networks using social media platforms, use the content to build a community through integration into your primary websites/blogs.
1: to subject to or manage as a syndicate 2 a: to sell (as a cartoon) to a syndicate or for publication in many newspapers or periodicals at once; also: to sell the work of (as a writer) in this way <a syndicated columnist>b: to sell (as a series of television programs) directly to local stations
Syndication is another part of a solid social media and social networking strategy. One of the biggest pitfalls of social media and social networking is maintaining a presence in many locations. It can be a serious time suck. Updating a bunch of site individually could take hours... Even just keeping up with all of the profiles could be more than many people could handle.
Luckily, there are some tools that can make life WAY easier. Posterous, AtomKeep and FriendFeed are three that come to mind...
Since we recently talked about FriendFeed, as an aggregator, we can start there... It is unique, in that it both aggregates AND syndicates on multiple platforms. Through FriendFeed, you can make a post from Twitter show up on FaceBook, and dozens of other sites. You can also have posts or activity from other sites reflected onto Twitter (or where ever... Twitter is used as an example). Bringing in the data from a bunch of sites is aggregation, while putting the collected information out to a bunch of sites is syndication.
AtomKeep is unique in that it is designed to only handle one aspect of your social media presence... your profile. Through AtomKeep, you can write the profile once and then syndicate it out to many sites. Updating can be done in one step, rather than individually updating dozens of profiles... There are limitations, since the least flexible platform rules all others, but it is a great way to handle to platforms on which you are least active.
Finally, the new kid on the block is Posterous. It also has an aggregation capability, but the cool part is that you can email anything to Posterous and have it automatically routed to the appropriate sites (on which you participate). Pictures to Flickr, FaceBook and Twitter. Videos to YouTube. Blog Posts... you get the idea.
The key to maiing effective use of social media and social networking is to be efficient. Getting your message out to multiple platforms in one step is part of that efficiency...
However... Another aspect of an effective social media presence is INTERACTION. Don't just spam your message all of the time. Remember to spend time interacting on the sites to which you are paying the most attention.
1: a group, body, or mass composed of many distinct parts or individuals 2 a:the collecting of units or parts into a mass or wholeb: the condition of being so collected
Aggregation is one part of a social networking and social media strategy. Simply put, in order to keep up with the rush of infomation, we need to collect, classify and filter it. This allows us to spend the most time on the most important information, and skip the rest.
With Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Flickr and a zillion other networks, aggregating feeds can be quite challenging. There are some tols that can help, though.
To start with, within some of the applications there are ways to bring in other info... Through tools like FriendFeed and Ping.fm we can get a lot of our monitored feeds into just a few places. I think that FriendFeed might be the best of these tools. Plaxo is also an excellent way to stay on top of multiple networks.
Specifically with Twitter, tools like TweetVisor and TweetDeck are great for keeping up with large numbers of followees (the people we follow) so that we can interact with them. TweetDeck, for example, can allow us to run various streams at the same time with different groups or hashtags (like #activerain).
Finally, there is another tools that can be used to aggregate more feeds than any of the others I have run across so far. It is also more effective as a filter, allowing the user to determine how much they want to see, although it doesn't filter based on actual content... it filters based on the user's input. It is called Gist.
Keep in mind...
Any of these tools would be worthy of a write-up longer than this whole post. To find out more, it would be advisable to check out their sites and see what they are about.
Feel free to share YOUR experiences in the comments. Your fellow Rainers would love to see opinions other than mine...
We are thinking about migrating to the Clear Internet plan. they are running a special for two devices at $50/month. We could have home and mobile internet...
The Home package is supposed to run between 6 - 12 Mbps. The local computer store that we use is running on clear and even though there are officially on the edge of the service area they are running around 6 Mbps.
The Mobile device will run up to 4 Mbps. That is easily in the 4G realm...
The biggest downfall we see is coverage outside of the Atlanta Metro. We would love to be able to take the home modem with us in order to fire up the network when we are on vacation.
So, what I am wondering is if any of you are currently using Clear, and what your experience has been...
Back in the 1940s, during World War II, scientists at Dow Corning and General Electric were working on a replacement for rubber. The Japanese controlled much of the rubber producing countries... and thus, controlled much of the rubber production.
Separate teams of scientists developed a material that they thought interesting... but it was an utter failure. It was cool... but didn't hold its shape. It had a high melting temperature... which was good, and was elastic... which was good. It wouldn't even get moldy. But because it wouldn't hold a shape, it was a failure.
The team that is generally credited with the invention sent samples to scientists all over the world... nobody could find a use for this cool new material. How could you have a bigger failure than a material that nobody can find a use for?
Several years later, a sample found its way into the hands of a toy store owner in New Haven, CT. She put it in her catalog and it outsold every other product... except Crayola Crayons.
Just a few years later, during the Korean War, one of the ingredients was in short supply... and the small company that was selling it almost went out of business... Another failure.
Ten years later, this useless material was being sold around the world... even in the Soviet Union. Astronauts were using it in 1968... on the moon.
My son got a small plastic egg for Halloween. He bounced the inorganic polymer around the kitchen for a few minutes before getting bored with it... He handed it to me and the first thing I did was find a newsprint magazine... When I flattened the material out and pressed it onto the newsprint, he was curious...
As he asked what I was doing, I just played coy...
For the next hour, and for several hours today, Garrett discovered the joys of Silly Putty, a failed accidental invention from WWII. He made prints from the magazine. He bounced it. He shaped it. He stretched it. He rolled it.
Yep, Silly Putty is a study in abject failure. They didn't mean to make it. They didn't know what to do with it once they made it. They originally marketed it to the wrong group... It was marketed to adults, even though the sales were primarily to kids from 6-12. Another war almost ended it.
If you haven't been watching Twitter or FaceBook (specifically me on Twitter or FaceBook), I had a hard drive crash on Friday. It isn't good... I used to back up pretty regularly, but had kind of drifted away from it lately. It isn't good.
The hard drive has started clicking and might cost $$$$$$ to rebuild. But this isn't about that.
This is about backing up. There is a new 320GB drive in my Tablet and IF I can recover the data from the old drive, it will have about 80 gigs of data and programs. So... Here are a few options.
An external hard drive with regular back-ups... Not terribly expensive, but a bit of a hassle. Imaging is possible...
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) device.... Fairly expensive, but with some software packages, extremely convenient. Imaging is possible...
Carbonite... $55/year... Not expensive, not inconvenient, but not available as a storage device, just back-up. No imaging...
We are actually thinking of the NAS with Carbonite backing that up...
word to the wise...
Back up your junk. In fact, imaging hard drives on a regular basis would be a great idea. Imaging is making a copy of the WHOLE hard rive, and not just backing up data. With an image, you have a literal clone of the hard drive. This means that after a crash you could be EXACTLY where your last imaging left you. No having to dig for CDs to reinstall programs and downloading updates and such...
My hard drive is dead. I needed a bigger drive... but this isn't how I wanted to get it. Especially since I have a LOT of stuff that isn't backed up. Pictures... Designs... Contracts...
So... Now I have to figure out if the data is recoverable. I really hope that is is recoverable and doesn't cost as much as a small car.
What is the take-away? Carbonite... Local Server... Back-up Utility... Do something... I had a crash a long time ago. It didn't hurt as much as this one. I started backing up stuff. Time went on. My guard was down. Bigger, badder crash. This one hurts...
It all starts with a consumer... a consumer that needs to know the answer to a question. Maybe they have emailed... or asked during a listing presentation... maybe even just mentioned it at a party.
But at the heart there is a question... and a consumer.
Lane, shouldn't we list with the agent that gives us the highest price? We don't want to "give away" our house, we want to get what it is worth...
I was asked that question during a listing presentation... and we had a conversation. After that, I was asked the question a few times in emails. By that time I had written a post. of course, before blogging I just answered the question... over and over...
The answer grows. It goes from a quick conversation or dashed off email to being a full fledged blog post... or even a series of blog posts. The idea is fleshed out... tweaked... tuned. We can't spend an hour or two responding to every email question we get from anyone that is remotely interested in using our services... someday... maybe.
But all of those consumers deserve more than a dashed off email...
If one consumer has a subject on their mind... others are likely to have the same question. Some might not even know that they really want the answer to that question...
Circle of Life for a Blog Post...
Consumer Question > Response > Idea for a Blog Post > Complete Answer > Consumer Question
Of course, one great thing about a blog post is that it can be updated and tuned even more. As the question changes due to market conditions, the answer can be updated. If the law changes or new programs become available, the answer can be updated...
And the Afterlife...
But there is another stage in the life of a Consumer Question Blog Post... It can be pushed out to clients that might not know that they really need the answer to that question. Popular consumer questions make EXCELLENT newsletter articles. You already know that consumers are interested in the answers...
I also get a lot of questions on some of the car forums I participate in. It is great to be able to come back quickly with a fully sorted answer from the library of questions. Half of my business comes from those forums. And the final step is that some of my past clients actually give out my blog links to answer questions that their freinds ask them about buying a home...
Build a library of answers... Let clients and consumers browse the stacks for free...
I had a website company call me today... They wanted me to buy into their system. Since I have two closings in the next two business days, my time might be called a little crunched...
So, I asked for the quick version...
Two hours later we were approaching the "what is it going to cost?" question. Two hours is the quick version? I'd hate to think of what the full presentation would be like... I had a time share company pitch me in less than two hours. But lat's get back to the beginning...
When he called, he asked me if he would have a chance to earn my business TODAY. I told him, quite simply and directly that NO... I would have to research any company prior to doing business with them; that assurances and their presentation wouldn't be the only factors in any decision.
Honestly, the products (website, drip email and lead capture) were intriguing. They have done a good job of pulling it all together, from looking at the final product. And, up until the last fifteen minutes, he DID have a chance of earning my business... after allowing me a reasonable time to research their offerings.
But he couldn't leave it at that... I was amazed at the next line of logic that he tried to use to get me to buy his product...
"You NEED to get more business, and you aren't SMART ENOUGH to make this decision on your own..."
Wait, did you really just tell me that I don't have the brain power to decide if I should spend my own money on your product? Really? We are done here.
Here are some take-aways for vendors...
Don't try to bully consumers... You will only alienate them. Sure, maybe you will get an extra sale or two from someone on the edge... you might also piss them off so that they write nasty blog posts about you...
Don't EVER call your prospects STUPID. I wouldn't even think that I would have to actually say that... but I guess I'm not smart enough to know that it is good business to call prospective clients "not smart enough".
If they ask for the quick version, and you aren't ready to deliver... reschedule.
"Buy NOW or else" strategies are losers. Don't EVER think that it is a good idea to have your sales model compared to time share developments or boiler rooms.
REALLY... Don't call your prospective clients stupid... REALLY.
Arguing with the prospect about things like giving the price isn't a great idea... It breeds mistrust.
I'm kind of shocked that I would have to say some of these things.
Could you just imagine if I locked a client in a house and told them that they HAD to write a contract?
What if I told my buyer that they weren't smart enough to make the decision on their own?
Or if my client told me that they had an hour to look at houses and I took them out and told them I wasn't taking them back to their car until I was good and ready?
My broker would RIGHTLY kick me to the curb.
I'm not going to mention the name of the company just yet... I hope that I just ran across an overzealous salesperson, and that this isn't the sales strategy the company employs...
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Get great free widgets at 
;)
;)
