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4RealzEd Day 24: Engage with an ActiveRain Group

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with 4Realz.net

Today, I'm going to cover two parts of ActiveRain: Groups and Associations

ActiveRain Groups

Not only is ActiveRain one big real estate community, but it is filled with many sub-communities interested in specific issues.  You can find "groups" dedicated to just about any real estate topic.  To see what I mean, click on the Group tab (near the top of the page) and do a search for a real estate topic that interests you.   Some example groups include OC real estate, land specialists, or ActiveRain Newbies.   And creating a group is so darn easy that I created a 4RealzEd group where we can all post things making it that much easier to follow other people from the group!

So, today's only activity is to find a group that interests you and then post an article to that group.   How do you post an article to a group? 

Here are the steps:
1) When you see a group that interests you, click on the button that says "Join Group" on the left-panel of every group homepage. 
2) When writing a post, there is a section just below the "entry" that will list all the groups that you are a "member" of (see step 1).   When you are done writing your post, check the box next to the group and click publish!

It's that easy to publish to a group.    And if you want to see what others are saying on the group, you can always go to the group homepage to see the latest posts!

ActiveRain Associations

An association in ActiveRain is simply a connection that you choose to make with another AR member...  It can be a really useful way to organize and follow the people on AR... and adding someone as an associate is an easy goodwill gesture that can help integrate you into the AR community.

To give an example of how the associates tool can be used, I decided to track and follow as many 4RealzEd attendees as I could find who had AR profiles.  To do this, I did a search on people's names and then when I found someone I recognized I would add them as an associate under a category I created called "4RealzEd".   Now if I want to see the posts that are written by people I've added to this group, all I have to do is click on the text that says "posts" next to the "4RealzEd" category under the "Associates" section on my homepage.

So if you are a 4RealzEd attendee and you have an ActiveRain profile, leave a comment below to let me know and I'll make sure to follow your posts!  (and probably even leave a comment!).   And if you post an article to the 4RealzEd group, you get double credit!  ;)

Comments (4)

Stanton Homes
Stanton Homes - New Home Builder - Raleigh, NC
Design/Build Custom Home Builder in North Carolina

Dustin - you've caught my attention with all these posts.  NOw I need to figure out for 4RealzEd is.

May 21, 2008 10:58 PM
Lisa Heindel
Crescent City Living LLC - New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Real Estate Broker

I just recently subscribed to you Dustin...I'm trying to make time to go back and read some of your older posts to get up to speed with what you are doing!

May 22, 2008 02:43 AM
Dustin Luther
4Realz.net - Calabasas, CA

Penny and Lisa:  Thanks for stopping by!    4RealzEd is an educational company I co-founded with another internet marketing expert, Jim Marks.  Together, we've put together a half-day course that teaches agents how they can dramatically improve their internet marketing.   We cover everything from great website design and features, community engagement, blogging, and tracking of results.    In addition, we have a 90 day follow up course where we give a small activity for real estate professionals to do evry day... and you're currently looking at Day 24 of the course.  

In general, we don't "blog" the activities, but I thought I would try something a bit different for ActiveRain.  :)

May 22, 2008 07:38 AM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Dustin - I'm really enjoying this journey on which you are leading us.  Thank you so much.

May 22, 2008 11:57 AM