I’m all registered to attend Inman News Global Connect next January.  Hopefully the market will provide for my expense report to get me there and some lodging for the week :)  I’ll eat granola bars if I have to.

For me, despite not being a REALTOR, I find these events (this will be my fourth Inman along with a NAR Expo) to be quite valuable.  Most vendors don’t understand that my day job gives me access to 4,000+ REALTORs, so they tend to ignore me.  This only makes the speakers more important.

I love getting to pick the brains of people who have been using technology tools for their marketing efforts in the real world.  Sure, they may not always know as much as I do from a technical level or even fully an implementation aspect, but they are the REALTORs out there actually doing it.  I am not a REALTOR, so this allows me to gain valuable insight to bring back to my local REALTORs to help improve the quality and effectiveness of their internet marketing efforts.

For those of you who are REALTORs and attend events like Inman Connect, NAR Expo or others, why do you go beyond the social aspect?  What are some tools or knowledge you have come away with that has helped your business?

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Where were you when the original 9/11 happened?

I was underwater at the Oregon Coast Aquarium with my great late friend Tim Powell.  We were volunteer divers who were responsible for cleaning out the giant tanks where Keiko used to live.  Someone in the tube held a sign up against the acrylic telling us to get out of the water, which was extremely odd.  We spent the better part of the rest of our shift watching events unfold on TV.

The next time we went over, Tim had made us laminated American flags to strap to our tanks.  We got applause in the tube from patrons.  It made me feel proud of our country.

Where were you?

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There is a lot of buzz around the web in regards to Social Media and specifically Social Networking Sites.  For many these types of applications are a distraction, but for the savvy few it is their marketing dream come true.

What are the benefits of Social Media / Networking?

• Price - Most of these applications are Free
• Ease of Use - Pretty much anyone can build a profile
• It’s Viral - Because they are generally easy to use and free these applications grow rather quickly
• It’s Organic - The more active you are with it the more it grows.

The big question is "Can Social Media/Networking help you in business?"

The answer to that question is determined by how you make use of it. If all you do is post drunken pictures of yourself in a kiddy pool of jello then you may not want to promote your business.  However, if you view it as an extension of your office space then this could be one of the best things you’ve ever done for your business.

Here are some things to think about:

• Are you present online - Just as most Agents make it a point to be present at the open houses the same is true here.  People do browse these sites.  They do look at the friend profiles of their friends (hint - have a picture).
• Customer Service - Back to the open house concept. Just as you would never ignore someone who came to your open house you do not want to ignore people who are active on your various profiles. (hint - set the notifications up so that you either get an email or a text message every time someone leaves a comment or posts a question)
• Relationships - These tools allow you to do three things:

1. Reconnect with people you may have lost touch with
2. Connect with people you are currently working with
3. Meet new people

• Branding - You define your brand in the way you want.

Here is a simple formula that explains it rather well

1. Relationships build your Reputation
2. A good reputation results in referrals
3. Referrals equals business

My advise is simple, get active with Social Media!

Okay, so now you are a believer.  But where do you start? There are so many sites which one should you pick first?  There are several options, First go to what you know.  When you think of Social Networking which site comes to mind first.  Second, ask your colleagues.  Which sites are they active on?  Third (this one is earth shattering so brace yourself), where are your clients?  Trust me, you do have clients that are active in Social Media and they would more than welcome your presence.

Now that you’ve signed up the next thing is to find friends and the easiest way is to make use of the "find a friend" feature that most of these sites have.  They will literally upload your current contact list and search their database for people with those names and email addresses. Yes, it is that simple.
Next, you need to be active but be careful.  Users of Social Media are there to connect and build relationships, not be sold to.  That’s where Subversive Marketing comes in.

Subversive Marketing

Obviously you want to sell your product or service.  At the same time you do not want to alienate your customer base. You do this by constantly reminding yourself that this is about building relationships.  So, comment on their pictures, drop little antidotes about your daily life (don’t have to be to personal), answer questions that they may ask the group and from time to time mention great deals you come across like a new listing, changes in the interest rates or a closing that you just had (when possible include links).  What happens when you do that is that you become visible on their profiles and out curiosity they click to find out what your are talking about.

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Scott Bridwell has over 10 years experience in the Real Estate Industry.  His background includes sales and marketing for Title and Escrow Companies, he was the sales manager for a local builder and has four years as an Escrow Officer in both Washington and Oregon.

Currently he spends his time helping Real Estate Professionals with their online presence by coaching them on their social networking, and online reputation management.  He’s also a certified clock hour instructor for the state of Washington.

Want to know more?  Visit his blog www.scottbridwell.com.

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I will fully admit, I only have three quarters of the story on this one.  I say three quarters instead of half because I had screen shots and they really didn’t look Photoshopped.

Apparently, a local real estate blogger wrote an article talking about visiting a local body of water.  The body of water was misspelled repeatedly.  The accompanying photos had ALT tags and captions that made them appear as though the blogger was the photographer.  My informant sent me links to the original sources of the photos that showed the local real estate blogger was not, in fact, the photographer.

Again, I’m not sure about how 100% correct this is since things could have been changed, but my informant sent me the comment they submitted.  The comment that was very direct (I guess some could read it as confrontational, I didn’t), pointed out the misspellings and suggested the blogger be careful about appearing to claim rights to a photo.

Here’s where this becomes a Choose Your Own Adventure as a blogger, do you:

1. Take offense, fix it and delete the comment
2. Take offense, cool down, fix it, approve the comment and publicly thank the person for helping

Now, I guess we can all deal with this in different ways.

Here at RETechCoach, please feel free to offer suggestions.  We all make mistakes and we would rather learn from them and have you keep coming back thinking we’re reasonable people.

UPDATE: We were told by our informant to check out the latest post from the blogger in question and it appears as though it was all a simple mistake anybody could have made.  Kudos to the blogger for accepting constructive criticism and making things right in the world!

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