This past Friday, I attended ReBarCampRDU at the Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors® in Cary.
I'm being modest when I write that this was a high energy, social media, brain overload extravaganza for real estate. The topics covered where many; from POSTEROUS (covered by Brad at Dakno Marketing), to IDX tips for making your listings more visible on the net (Eleanor Warren Thorne). Topics also covered included Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, Blogging, LinkedIn.
Massive props due to Eleanor, Brad, Meredith Morgan at Coldwell Banker, HPW, Debe Maxwell, Maya Peveza, David Patterson and all others who put on a great bar camp! Great work guys, can't wait to see you next year!
The greatest thing I took away was the Posterous class. Very cutting edge, photo blogging and online publishing technology with many applications in social media. (did i mention its free)
The other thing I also took away, more for people looking to cut their teeth in social media is: DON'T GET OVERWHELMED! This will cause you to quit and get frustrated. Pick a few things to get started on (maybe setting up twitter, facebook fan page, posterous and a blog), and build it from there. Ask for help if you need it.
Jumping into social media is the same as jumping into in Real Estate for the very first time. Remember, you really had no leads, just sphere, you didn't know where your business was going to come from, didn't know who was going to buy. As time went on, you incubated those leads like a diligent mother hen and 'voila' your business started growing.
Social media is the same exact thing, IMO. That first blog post is not going to bring you business. Nor the second one. But as time goes by and you establish your presence via branding and posting relevant information, people will take notice. The point is, you make a time investment now, and it will pay you back later.
It's very similar to pay-per-click the organic way. You can pay-per-click (mucho mula) and have your website visible to potential buyers who may or may not contact you, or you can have buyers find you on the web, read your blog and profile and contact you because they already like you!
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