Right now there is a small core group looking at the feasibility of a real estate bar camp in the Atlanta area.  If we can put it together, the event will be held this fall… September or October is the likely time frame.

Here are a couple of posts on Active Rain with more info about #rebcATL (that is the ‘official’ Twitter hashtag for the event).

Should Atlanta have a reBarCamp?

A little more about an Atlanta rebarcamp

On the second link there is a webform asking about what you might want for a rebc.  We’d love to get your feedback in order to make a better experience for everyone.  It also give you the opportunity to volunteer…  There will be lots of opportunities for volunteers from now until the event concludes… and then I’m sure planning will need to begin for the 2011 #rebcATL.

We are also putting together a FaceBook Official Page for #rebcATL.

If you haven’t been in Gmail lately, you might not have noticed Google‘s new toy tool.  It is called Google Buzz.  In a nutshell, Google is integrating a social media component into Gmail.

In Buzz, users can strike up public or private conversations with integrated video, photos and links.  Kind of like the Status Updates on FaceBook.  In that regard, it is a step above Twitter… the king of the micro-blog/status update world.  Twitter doesn’t allow inline photos and videos, so when users share them, viewers have to leave Twitter to view the associated content.

I haven’t had a lot of time to play in it, but it seems kind of like “Google Wave Lite” to me…  Google Wave has many of the same types of features… of course it adds a LOT more integration with a wider variety of tools… and isn’t tuned to automatically pull in content as sites like Twitter, Flickr and YouTube are updated.

OK, they are very different, but I see the same type of collaboration available with Buzz as there is with Wave.

But there is a big picture here…

The big picture is that you NEED a Gmail account.  Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Voice…  Are you getting the big picture?  There is WAY more than that, but those are a good start.

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During our hour or so, we talked about several aspects of a broad Social Media Plan, from strategy to measurement.  As promised, here is the outline with some bonus information added…

Social Media…

Define your Goals…

1. Meeting people – That is how we do business…
2. Increasing brand recognition – Keeping our brand in our customer’s mind…
3. Reputation management – Google Alerts and other tools to see what people are saying.

Develop your Strategy…

1. How are you going to engage? – Lurk and Learn
2. Where are your clients/customers/prospects? – Match site and consumer demographics to find the right places to be.

Deploy your Tactics…

1. Which sites will you leverage?
   1. Twitter… Like a broadcast media mixed with a giant cocktail party.
   2. LinkedIn… The button-down professional site. Online resume.
   3. FaceBook… HUGE social networking site with over 300,000,000 users.
   4. FaceBook Fan Pages… Create a FREE presence on FaceBook.
   5. Blogging… Centerpiece of a social networking strategy.
   6. Flickr… Photo-sharing and syndication.
   7. Local Forums… Possibly one of the best ways to interect with a target market.
2. What tools can you use to streamline your social networking time?
   1. AtomKeep.com – Profile management tool on multiple platforms.
   2. Posterous.com – Interface that allows content syndication on multiple platforms.
   3. Tweetvisor.com – Twitter interface that allows toggling bewteen Twitter accounts.
   4. TwitterLocal.net – Tool allowing you to track a location based feed in Twitter.
   5. TwitterFeed.com – Pushes Blog posts and other automated content to your Twitter stream.
   6. Twellow.com – Search tool for Twitter allowing users to be found based on interests and location.

Determine your Effectiveness…

1. Analyze your results…
   1. GetClicky.com
   2. TwitterAnalyzer.com
   3. Google.com/Analytics/
   4. FaceBook Business Dashboard
2. Compare your results to your Goals…

Tweak your Strategy and Tactics…

If you haven’t heard the statement, it is summing up the “Ready, Aim Fire, Aim Fire, Aim” menality.  Basically, spending forever making the plan, and then never following through and actually “doing” the plan.

And then…

There is the opposite side of the coin…  “Ready, Fire, Aim”.  That doesn’t work, either.  You can’t do the plan before you make the plan…

But in the middle…

There is a balance where we analyze AND act.  And this is about the analytics.

We all have our favorites.  I personally like Clicky Analytics for my website.  I like the way the data is presented.  They have a free level, and it is a great alternative to Google Analytics.  And GA is a great option as well.  In either case, the idea is to see where traffic is coming from, what search terms are being used and tune your content accordingly.

Another great tool in the box is HitTail.  It is a site that you can use to track your searches and see what material might be good to write about in the future.  In fact, it even offers a “To Do List” for future blogs, based on the previous search volume.

And you are likely to be surprised…

I know that I am often a bit shocked at which posts gather the most attention.  On ActiveRain, and LaneBailey.com, on LilburnDwellings.com.  in each case, I see posts that I don’t expect have great traffic.  I see other posts that are never stellar… until looking at 30 days, or even 90 or more days worth of data.  I have a post that has over 10,000 views, but it is never on my most viewed list for the day… or even the week.

Other posts have to be looked at OFF the grid.  I have a post that garners a reasonable number of views, and few comments… but people call me about that post.  Obviously it speaks to them.

So…

• Plan
• Write
• Analyze
• Adjust
• Write some more
• Analyze
• Adjust
• Repeat.

And don’t worry that your plan is different than my plan, or Midori’s plan or even Mike’s plan.  We are all different people.

from GwinnettGarageGuy.com