Not kinda… but fully on.

1 October, 2010

The venue is set to be the Gwinnett Braves Stadium… but that could change.  It will run from about 9:00am until around 5:00pm… a full day of real estate technology and social media training, learning and sharing.  Check the website.

If you’ve never been to a rebarcamp…

They are really cool events.  They are billed as ‘the unconference’ because so much runs counter to the standard conference experience.  At a normal conference, there are a bunch of break-out sessions where we all get to listen to someone tell us about a cool new product or service… usually that they offer… and how it can help our business.  Don’t get me wrong… I love going to conferences and find them very valuable.

During a rebarcamp, the break-outs are geared more towards group discussion.  I’ve found that almost every CAN have something to add to the conversation.  We all seem to have parts of the puzzle… but few have the whole box.  Some participants have incredible experiences and can answer some of the questions.  Others have their experiences in different areas.  But, one of the most valuable things to have is a question… they drive the whole agenda.

Did I mention that it is FREE?

Of course, there is still a price for free…  For attendees, that price is participation.  Dive in, meet people, share, make friends… participate.  It is amazingly rewarding.

The other cost is the cost borne by the sponsors… many of whom we are still searching.  We have a few of our sponsors signed up, but we will need a lot more before all is said and done.  Check out the site for more info on sponsoring…  We have a level of sponsorship for almost anyone!  From $100 up to $2000… you can make this a reality.

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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.

I am a FireFox user.  I prefer it over Internet Explorer for a lot of reasons.  It has WAY more flexibility.  And one of our MLSs is even going to be supporting it soon.

I had installed one particular plug-in a long time ago, and was left wondering why.  In fact, when I set up the new computer, I didn’t install that particular plug-in.  But while at REtechSouth (#retso), I attended a session of FireFox, and it was mentioned as a ‘must-have’ add-on.

It is back.  And it is back with a companion.

GreaseMonkey is an add-on that allows little ‘scripts’ to be run.  They modify the experience of sites from Amazon to YouTube.  They can be major (literally moving components around) or minor (blocking Farmville notices in FaceBook).

GreaseFire is the companion.  This little add-on finds things that can be modified by a GreaseMonkey script. I’m finding it a bit buggy… and that doesn’t seem to be very different from some other users… but the concept is great, and I would expect that to be fixed in a release in the near future (FireFox just did a major upgrade).

The other way to find scripts is to look on Userscripts.org.  There are thousands of different scripts…

Have Fun.

REtechSouth

After every conference and seminar, there comes the real challenge… implementing all of the VERY cool things I’ve learned, while living in the real world. Setting up client searches, responding to inquiries, dealing with the family, making sure everything that should be on track is on track… they all get in the way of rolling out 3782 changes to my websites and social networks.

I have found that I need to take a little time… and then I need to dive in. Diving in comes next. I have pages of notes, some vendor material and a list of websites and ideas. I have mind-mapping software on my computer… and it needs to get used.

For the last few weeks, I have been unhappy with much of my web presence. I have a great IDX, but I am not getting the most out of it. I have good Page Rank, but I don’t have the level of conversion I feel I should have. My traffic is decent.

And I focused on the sessions at REtechSouth that I thought would help me fix that…

Plenty of sessions to focus on, too…

If you weren’t at REtechSouth, you should have been.

In addition to the incredible information that was presented, the connections that were made and the fun on the exhibit hall floor… there was also the opportunity to hang out with my friends. There are a lot of folks I have been lucky enough to meet from all over the country. And there were some that I was able to meet (in person) for the first time.

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Are you planning on hitting REtechSouth in Atlanta?  As usual, I have a discount code for tickets.  Brad Nix gave me the hook-up to deliver a 10% discount (affiliate link… that is where the discount comes from) on all ticket levels.  Here is how it breaks down:

• All Star Admission $134.10 + $3.35 EventBrite fee.  This is normally a $149 ticket.  It includes event access on both Thursday, Mar. 25th and Friday, Mar. 26th.  It will get you in to all of the learning sessions…  You can see folks like Jeff Turner, Amy Chorew, Brad Carroll, Ilyse Glink and Heather Elias… and WAY more.
• MVP Admission $179.10 + $4.48 EventBrite fee.  This is normally a $199 ticket.  This includes everything in the All Star package, as well as special seating, access to the MVP/Speaker’s Dinner on Thursday evening and access to the MVP Lounge.  Those that went to New Media Atlanta had a blast in the Rock Star Lounge hanging out with the speakers.
• 10 All Star Ticket bundle $891 + $9.95 EventBrite fee.  Yep, you get a discount on the discount.  This is 10 $149 tickets for just $89.10/each.  The bundle normally sells for $990.  Grab some folks from the office and get a discount.
• 25 All Star Ticket bundle $1687.50 + $9.95 EventBrite fee.  That brings the price down to just $67.50/each.  Brokers, bring the WHOLE office. Ramp up production with technology and social media marketing in the new year.

I will be there!  I can’t wait.  Brad has built REtechSouth into THE event in the Southeast for real estate technology and social media marketing.  In just a couple of years, this event has become one of the premier conferences to attend, regardless of where you live and work.  Atlanta is an amazing place in the Spring.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend the speaker’s dinner.  I HIGHLY recommend the MVP Admission for that reason.  Imagine yourself standing in on a conversation with Jeff Turner and the Notorious R.O.B.  At the previous REtechSouth I was able to spend some quality time talking with Pat Kitano and Tom Royce.  The luminaries of the re.net will be there…

Don’t forget, these tickets will likely sell out, especially the MVP tickets.  they are limited by the size of the dinner venue.  Don’t miss out.  Here is the link again to get the discount.

Catch #retso on FaceBook, too.

from Lane’s Active Rain blog

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 whole b : the condition of being so collected

source

Aggregation is one part of a social networking and social media strategy. Simply put, in order to keep up with the rush of information, 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 tools 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 Readers would love to see opinions other than mine…

from Lane’s AR blog

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…

As mentioned during the workshop, I wanted to load all of the resources up here so that those attending would be able to reference them later.  Below is the Powerpoint that we used.  Feel free to surf around for more information.

Here are the resources at the end of the Presentation, linked.

If you aren’t currently an ActiveRain user, this code will get you the $5 RainMaker promotion (for the first month) until the end of August.  After that, it will be $19 for the first month.

If you ARE currently an ActiveRain user, this code will get you the $5 RainMaker account (for the first month) until the end of August.  After that, it will be $19 for the first month.

If you want to join Active Rain (the free level) but not upgrade yet, this code will refer you to me and make you an “associate” of my account.

My Active Rain “inside blog” has a lot of technology and social networking related posts.  This blog is just about technology and social networking, as well as WordPress (the self hosted version) and Active Rain.

Why do I need a blog since I am using all of those other tools to interact with consumers?

Well, for one thing there is only so much you can tell someone with 140 characters, a picture or a song.  It is great to give people links to cool stuff, but it is better when some of the cool stuff is your own, too…

Simply put, a blog is the centerpiece of a complete social media strategy. Aside from being the repository of your best material, it can also be a collection point for tweets from Twitter, links from Delicious, wall conversation from FaceBook, information from LinkedIn and all of the other social information we are generating.

Also, as the centerpiece, it is a way to broadcast that great material you are publishing on your blog.  Linking back to posts on the blog in Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Delicious and more is a great way to get the word out…  Let someone know that you have written the ultimate post on _____.

And there is yet another level to the synergy. And that is profiles…  Many social sites, like Active|Rain, allow users to link back to their websites.  And many of those, like Active|Rain, allow Google to follow those links.  So, by having a lot of powerful networks linking to your primary site, you can deliver higher page rank to it.

In short…

Your blog is like the cake.  The other social networks are the decorations.  Without the cake, they are kind of pointless.  But, the cake without frosting and sprinkles is not the same, either.

Sometime we’ll have to talk about RainMaker blogs, WordPress and other options that are out there for the socially active agent.  They aren’t all the same, and some options are better for some than others.

Of course, some have taken it well beyond blogging on A|R and have included Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Trulia, Zillow, Flickr, Blip.fm… and a million other sites and communities.

But the same question is always at the bottom of it…

just out of sight of some, and front and center for others…

WHY?

What is the purpose?

• To ‘close’ sales
• To make money
• To grow our business
• To get back in touch with old friends
• To make new friends
• Lookin’ for Love…

These are the answers I usually hear… but they all entail one thing.  To meet people… and to build relationships.  Regardless of what else you might be trying to accomplish on the list, it comes down to meeting people, building relationships and leveraging those relationships to fulfill the goals of each and every person involved.

Seriously, what else on that list can be accomplished without meeting people… probably face to face… and building relationships?

I have had the great fortune to meet a lot of Active|Raindrops.  Some that are no longer active in the rain, others that are very active.  I have been able to hang out with some of the famous and the infamous.  On FaceBook I have been blessed to get re-acquainted with many of my (I thought) long-lost friends, as well as get to know a lot of new friends.

But there should always be a goal…

And raw numbers are not the goal…  I can’t have meaningful relationships with 50,000 people.  And there are a lot of people that I really don’t want or need to know… and a LOT more than really don’t want or need to know me.

Do I really want or need 53,000 followers on Twitter?  If I had 10% of that, could I actually interact with them, or would I filter out all of these “new friends” so that I could concentrate on people I knew?

So, is that the goal?  Should we be trying to build a following of thousands of people just to broadcast messages to them, but not engage in two way conversation? Not that there is anything wrong with that… I have a FaceBook ‘Fan Page’ that I started to put up even before Mike Mueller and Dustin Luther told me to… and I think it is a GREAT idea.  But there is a major difference.

If we are friends on FaceBook or if we are mutual followers on Twitter, we expect that the conversation is two way. If we are fans of a FaceBook ‘Fan Page’ we expect that to be a one way broadcast.

Do I have all of the answers?

Heck No… I don’t even have all of the questions.  I do have a questioning nature, though.  And I like to go against the grain.  And popular notions often strike me as something to question.

And I’m one to talk…  I am following 1000 people or so on Twitter.  I have over 600 ‘friends’ on FaceBook… and I don’t actually know some of them.  I have started getting more picky about who I friend or follow, and on my local Twitter account, I only follow people that are in my immediate area… but the fact remains that I am not the poster boy.

But I am starting to put together the questions…