Want to be successful in 2010?  80% of your business will most likely be referral based, so work that database.  Follow up with old clients to just say hello and remind them you are still in the business.  Do “Pop By’s” with an item of value (ala Brian Buffini).  Host informative events and become known as the “Area Expert”.  But what about that other 20%, or what if you have not been in the business long and your referral base is somewhat lacking? 

 

In that case you better go where the consumers are.  According to NAR, over 86% of all buyers start their search on the Internet.  Compile that with the fact that with more and more inventory on the market, sellers want to see exactly how an agent will market their home online. 

 

If you really want to excel as an agent online, then check out the following blog posts as your boot camp for online success.  Get in front of the curve NOW by adopting things such as full motion video, and Social Media as part of your marketing repertoire. 

 

It’s a new decade, and new media world where Generation X and Y will dominate your transactions.  Particularly Gen Y (as they will eventually out number baby boomers).  They grew up on the internet and would rather Text and Tweet then email and talk on the phone.  How do you embrace these Generations?  Read the following blog posts and you will be ready for the future NOW!

 

How To Do Your First Video of A Listing  – Get ready for video.  It’s already here, and your clients will be asking for it.  Don’t get caught off guard, or left behind.  A step by step turorial.

 

Twitter Made Easy for Business – A Video Series – The only video tutorial you’ll ever need to master using Twitter the RIGHT WAY!

 

The Secret to Managing Social Media – Quit whining and start Tweeting!

 

Twitter is Stupid, I don’t have time for Twitter  - It’s a pervasive attitude in the Real Estate Community – Here’s why it shouldn’t be.

 

The Importance of Good Real Estate Photography  - This is more of a demo then a “how to”, but the how to is just an email away.  Let me know how I can help you take better RE photos.

 

Goldilocks and The 3 Realtors – A Real Estate Photo (not so) Fairy Tale.  Same thought as the one above, please email me if I be of assistance to helping you take better RE photos.

 

1 Secret to Getting Photos Like A Pro Photographer – For your non Real Estate Photos

 

What’s So Social About Linkedin? Going Beyond just linking with people

 

Protect Those Expensive Lenses – A little investment goes a long way

 

What NOT to do with Embedded YouTube Videos on Your Blog

 

Advertising your Listings in Today’s Economy – The cheese has moved, have you?

 

 

Hope you find something of value in the list above.  Here’s another little nugget of Real Estate Tech that will MOST DEFINITELY help you get off to a great new year.  Get familiar with the term “Real Estate Bar Camp”.  Go to one, they are happening more and more in every major city in the country.  They are free, run by the participants, and better then most paid events.  More info at http://rebarcamp.com/

 

Happy New Year and all the best for your Real Estate Tech Success in 2010.

 

————- ©2010 – AmazingVideoTours.com – All Rights Reserved. Amazing Video Tours is Charlotte’s Premier Real Estate Home Video Provider for Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.

I recently spoke to a group of Real Estate Agents at a firm in Charlotte.  There was a pretty good crowd as their BIC strongly suggested they come, and there was no cost to them.  I got heckled pretty good, and the overarching sentiment in the crowd was that Social Media was a fad, and they could ignore it because it will go away.

 

Now, I have already preached at length about the fact that Generation Y (all 60 million of them) will buy more homes in the next decade then all other demographics combined in this blog post, and the fact that they practically live on social networks – so I won’t go there. 

 

The focus of this post is the fact that Social Networking is NOT a FAD.  It has been around for almost 20 years.  Don’t believe me, here’s a break down:

 

1989:   IRC – Internet Relay Chat – Allowed College students to chat via internet chat.

80’s – Early 1990’s:    BBS , Prodogy, and Compuserve – Share files, access news

1993-94:   AOL Chat Rooms

1995:   Classmates.com

1996:   ICQ, and AOL  Instant Messenger

1997:   SixDegrees.com 1^st to allow users to create profiles, list their Friends

1999:   Napster – Peer to Peer File Sharing

2001:   Ryze.com was launched to help people leverage their business networks.

2002:   Friendster (Social compliment to Ryze)

2003:   LinkedIn and MySpace

2004:   Flickr – Photo Sharing

2004:   Facebook (Harvard Only)

2005:   YouTube

2005:   Ning

2005:   Facebook expanded to High School Networks

2006:   Facebook expanded to Everyone

2006:   Twitter

2006:   Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious

 

I remember avoiding studying at college in 1989 because I was on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) socially interacting with interesting people on other campuses clear across the country.  This was long before I ever saw my first web page on the “World Wide Web”.

 

So, as you can see, social networking is not new, it’s NOT a fad, and it is not going away.  If you choose to ignore networks such as Facebook and Twitter, you are ignoring the largest population of home buyers out there. 

 

Keep in mind that it does not matter whether or not Twitter (or Facebook) will be here in two years.  Twitter and Facebook are just the vehicles for Social Networking.  The vehicle is not important, it is the NETWORK of people you meet on these sites that is important. 

 

If you start now, and Twitter becomes a fad, don’t sweat it.  There will be something right behind Twitter, and you and YOUR NETWORK can all jump off the old Twitter bus and on to the next greatest thing.  It all boils down to people.  People are the most important thing, and people are the ones that will work with you, and refer you more business.

 

Where’s it going from here?  Let’s just say that in 2 years, you will either have a smartphone, or you will be on your way out of business.  If Gen Y can’t text you, or tweet you, they will find someone else who they can. 

 

Newsflash: Email is already passé. 

 

Gen Y is playing with their phones like we played Pong, and Pac Man. However, the games are much more advanced.  You might hear them talking about BrightKite, or Foursquare.  These are location based apps that use GPS to track your exact position.  On Foursquare, whoever “checks in” to a location the most often becomes “Mayor” of that location.  You strive to obtain “badges” as status in the game.  It becomes a competition, and there in lies the “fun”.

 

Call it silly, call it what you want, but things are moving at light speed now, and they show no signs of slowing down.  Are you on the bus, or not?

  Historical Timeline Sources: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html,  http://socialmediarockstar.com/history-of-social-media

Ok, so as a Realtor, it’s getting drummed into your head over and over …. “You need to be on SOCIAL networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn”. So, I think Facebook is the easiest to conquer. Twitter made sense to me after I got Tweetdeck, and now I am trying to figure out LinkedIn.

I have been on LinkedIn for years. I added my old boss and a bunch of people from my pre Real Estate and Video days, and ……. [crickets chirping] ….. [Yawn] …….. Every now and then I would get an email telling me that so in so has connected with so in so. Big Deal. What’s so SOCIAL about that?

Recently, I discovered a new world (for me at least) on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a “Groups” component where you can conduct a search for groups that are of interest to you and join them. For example, I’m sure that not only can you find many groups about real estate, you will be able to find groups about real estate in your local area.

Once you join the group, it gets SOCIAL. First is the Discussions. You can add a discussion, or comment on someone else’s discussion topic. Very interactive – very SOCIAL. But every group has a “News” page, a “Job Posting” page, and the ability to add subgroups for overly complicated topics that need to be broken down.

Best of all is that when you participate in these discussions, you connect with another whole set of people that you might have not met on Facebook, or Twitter. Then you “Link” to them and follow each other.

Beyond that, LinkedIn has a heavy business networking emphasis, and members of these “Groups” get together for real life gatherings. Talk about a chance to prospect to folks you would have otherwise never met.

I’m sure this is just scratching the surface of what’s available on LinkedIn and I in no way claim to be an expert. But, it took me years to get in there and discover “Groups” so I wanted to share it with you so you would not wait so long.

————-

©2009 – AmazingVideoTours.com – All Rights Reserved. Amazing Video Tours offers photography and full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.

Hey Charlotte Realtors. You know that you’ve been saying that you have to get on board with the whole Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn thing.  Well, good news. The CRRA/CMLS is hosting a Technology Open House on June 19^th from 9A to 3P. The open house will feature technology sessions with subject matter experts on topics such as: 

•  Tools and tips to maximize your use of TEMPO^TM

• Wireless technology – Palm Treos, BlackBerrys
• Blogging
• Social Networking – including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
• Maximizing Use of Paperless Transactions (Realfast)
• Getting the Most Out of CSS
• Video and Photography for Real Estate
• CMLS Tricks of Trade (Lockboxes)
• GIS (Polaris)
• Syndication of Listings (ListHub, IDX and VOWs)
• Contact Management (Outlook for Realtors^®)
• Other sessions TBA

I am very excited to have been asked to conduct the session on Full Motion Video for Real Estate. I am looking forward to attending some of the other sessions and learning more myself.

The event is free for members and $25 for non members. For questions, or more info, please visit www.CarolinaRealtors.com or contact Karyn Lindsey at 704-940-3116