Home : Blogs : The Woodlands TX Kathi Frank : The Woodlands, Texas & Beyond

So much to learn about social media

Today - I am off to a seminar to learn more about social media from "expert" Chris Brogan. I will drive a little over an hour to reach the hotel where he will be speaking.

It seems that so-called EXPERTS are showing up everywhere these days. I'm not yet convinced of his expertise, but I will come back to this blog to share with you what I have learned.

Chris Brogan So - off I go to a paid seminar...hoping to learn something that will help me to connect to the buyers and sellers of real estate in The Woodlands and surrounding areas. Each little morsel of information is valuable - to me and my clients.

Social Media is the new way to communicate with each other. It is our newest opportunity to make connections that are meaningful and useful to our clients.

Personally, I am thrilled that this new media has given an avenue to speak directly to the people who hire us to do an important job for them. By revealing ourselves in this way, we can no longer hide behind the latest script taught by the "old school" trainers.

The pushy, manipulating salesperson no longer has a place in the world of social media. If your interest is only a commission check, you won't last long in a place that is all about being yourself and socializing with others.

Posted by The Woodlands TX Kathi Frank on 04/21/2009 10:41 AM

Comments (38)

the woodlands real estate, the woodlands, buyers, sellers, chris brogan

Post is included in group: POSITIVE ATTITUDE for the Weary Soul
Post is included in group: Texas Real Estate
Post is included in group: Realtors®
Post is included in group: Prudential Network
Post is included in group: Local Expert

38 Comments on So much to learn about social media

APR

Kathi...

Social Media is where it's at right now. I personally feel honored to be a part of it. I'd feel even better if I could find a way to use Twitter and FaceBook for business. As it stands I can't justify the kind of time it takes to keep up. I have all I can do to keep up with all of you here on AR :)

TLW...ROAR!

Be sure to give us an update when you get back on what you learned.

Kathi:

good for you for keeping up with the boom of social media. We have had success in connecting with people and actually having a live conversation. It is an access to a wider field/pool of people previously inaccessible.

It is an opportunity to get know ihn the world at large.

Alexandra and Ron Seigel

www.napaconsultants.com

Hi Kathi: I hope you learn a lot and enjoy your training! Looking forward to your update post on everything you learn. I'm attending a free webinar today about using Facebook for business which I think will be very helpful! Always something new to learn isn't there?!!

Have a great day,

Anne Rains

I look forward to hearing what the "experts" had to say.

Kathi, I love Active Rain, but it is time consuming. Great post.

Kathi, I don't have seminar in my corner of the world very often.....have fun making new connections and learning something new.

Bettina

What we need is Active Rain to do a social media boot camp webinar. Then we can firm up those flabby online muscles and turn them into Arnold, the social media Terminator.

I think it should be a good one. Chris Brogan is definitely everywhere. Take good notes and look forward to the after blog. :)

Hi Kathi - I've seen Chris Brogan speak at BlogWorld Expo and read several posts from his site, www.ChrisBrogan.com. His presentation style is entertaining and enlightening, and as an example of his passion for social media, all of the content on his site is Creative Commons licensed. I'm sure you'll come away with some great ideas from him. Chris is definitely an expert.

Great points, Kathi! Seems like you are well on your way to "getting" the mind set to be successful in Social Media - it is very different than "traditional" marketing.

It is a HUGE mistake by not getting into Facebook to build your business. Check out MY mentor's site: http://SocialMediaTrafficSecret.com

Gaining the knowledge is a great step to producing a really effective marketing plan. Although every business is different, I think it is very important to have social media as a key component of your marketing plan. The key however, is having an actual plan. Social media is not just about having fun. In order to make it work you need to have a strategy. I look forward to your feedback from the seminar.

I am very interested in learning more - especially about how to link to make your SM marketing even more effective. I'll be looking forward to hearing more!

Hi kathi,

Thats great your so interested in social media. And I definitely think there is a lot to be learned about how to property utilize social media for business. I work for Brand U identities that does branding and marketing for realtors and have my entire professional background in public relations where I spent a ton of time learning about social media and how best to implement different types of social media for my clients. Its a rapidly growing field and you are smart to educate yourself on it and utilize it for your business. I have written several articles about social media and business that you can check out on my blog. Best of luck to you!

Hi Kathi. I look forward to your followup blog with what you learned. You're not going to charge us for this are you? LOL. We're all so cheap here you know. Seriously, I look forward to your thoughts.

I hope the seminar is helpful for you and I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

It takes time social networking but there are a lot of rewards. Good luck!

Hi Kathi, I see this all the time & wonder how in such a new age they are experts...or r they really just muttling along like the rest of us? ha...I can't wait to hear what he says. I have one I am going to in June and the fellow speaking has less twitter followers than me! Go figure I am far from an expert in social media (newbie) maybe I am missing something? or not! Can't wait to hear from u.

Kathi, in my humble opinion, AR is all you need. All the other is stuff--Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, is great if you have the time. Sometimes less is more and you can end up spending hours feeding the social media monster.

I would love to go to any Chris Brogan's seminars or anywhere he speaks. I love his blogs, information and knowledge about social media. Hope he comes this way one of these days. ~Rita

Kathy,

First of all, I love the woodlands. I am from West Central Louisiana and we frequented the woodlands mall. I am very interested to hear what you learned from the seminar Any bit of information helps, just as you stated above:) Hope it went well!!

Let us know your updates! I think you will find Chris Brogan has a lot of great info to share...I say that based on his blog so am looking forward to a full report!

Social meia is where it is now, and I enjoy it. I learn something new each day.

I recently took a online social media seminar and i got tons of great information out of it. I look forward to hearing how yours turns out.

I think we are all learning and trying to figure it out now. I have gotten leads, sales, and now a listing off of Active Rain, so it does work and I hope to have it work better.

Hey everyone ---- Thanks for the great feedback!!! Your generous response is evidence that we have the "curiosity factor" going with social media.

NOW - I have to make a confession! I "SCREWED UP". I told you Chris Brogan - the name that came to mind in my rush this morning. The seminar speaker was actually Brad Hanks.

You will see several posts over the next few days that will outline some of what I learned in today's seminar. Although his "Boot Camps" obviously go into the depth I really need, the small collection of tips will be more than I can immediately implement.

My apologies for the error. I hope both "experts" got some "google-juice" from my error. Look for videos and other blog posts that will tell you how much I learned this morning.

Will be waiting to hear what you learn.

Hi Kathi,

I can't wait to hear about the seminar, I've been debating attending one of these seminars for quite sometime.

I do agree that Socail media is the way of marketing, and just wanting a paycheck will get you nowhere.

Maria

Hi Kathi!

Let us all know how it goes, and social media is here to stay for a long time! It's nice to learn new stuff everyday from people around the globe.

-Lisa

Great...simple and to the point...and oh yeah...if it's just about a paycheck.... well, they don't last here or out there.

Brad...Chris....it's all good information. I look forward to hearing as well. Keep us posted!

Hi Kathi -- Good luck and I'll be anxiously awaiting your thoughts and impressions. :-)

Kathi: Looking forward to your upcoming post on social media... This is the Hot Topic these days..

Hey Kathi...

We simply love The Woodlands, it's the most beautiful place in this area IMHO...

Kudos to your for educating yourself on the importance of social media and it's use in todays society! The important thing I see that many agents lose site of is that they try and turn social media networks into what i call capitalist media networks... they bark LOUDLY to any who will listen how much they want your business and referrals, bad move!

People are more interested in who you are as a person (common interests) and as those connections are made they provide the framework for a relationship that produces the opportunity to transact business with one another. That being said, you must balance the time required to do so or you will find yourself Twittering away all of your time and have no closings to show for it at the end of the month!

Learn plenty at the seminar and don't get overwhelmed!

APR

Social media can be a good tool to relate to others.

~ Aloha, Lana

I agree that suddenly there is an influx of the term "Social Media expert."

In my opinion, the proof is in the pudding. If you can show me how you turn on-line networking into true sales volume then I'll listen.

Some one who only shares ideas, and gives you a list of sites to join and posts is not an expert in my opinion.

Thank you for the post and I hope you got your money's worth.

I too am in the process of figuring out all the social media out there. Let us know how it works out.

Kathi,

I'll be looking for an update on this. Keep us posted.

APR

Each time I attend training-I do come back with a better overall understanding-not just how to do it, but the relevence (of all these tools) for our business in todays market. Please share what you bring back!

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?