Steph's REtechSouth Notes
Hi All,
A today’s InTown meeting I gave a presentation on some of the ideas and tidbits gleaned from my trek to the REtechSouth conference in ATL last week. The following are a few notes. Let me know if you have any questions. Without the presentation, some of the notes might seem a little vague.
I highly encourage you all to consider attending this conference next year. Chris Smith (aka TechSavvyAgent) said of #RETSO: “I have been to a conference or 12 this year. I had a chance to attend RE Tech South in the Atlanta suburbs this past week and for lack of a better analogy I am dubbing it the Roy Jones Jr. of real estate conventions. Pound for pound this was the best event of the year.”
SOCIAL NETWORKING
· Pull posts automatically into LinkedIn (gets clicks with an older demographic)
· Don’t pull posts automatically to Facebook – you can’t write an intro or choose the thumbnail. Post manually.
· Facebook and Twitter engagement is best at certain times of the day. Post your articles when they are most likely to be read.
· To schedule ahead on FB, the Roost app is great (intros and all).
· Hootsuite to manage twitter feeds and even Facebook pages.
· Timely.is for auto posting to Twitter and to learn about WHEN people are engaging most with posts.
· Repost the same article to Twitter at various times with different intro descriptions for more exposure
OFFLINE MARKETING
· Make sure all print marketing is cross-branded with the same look.
· @LoCoHeather posts this ad quarterly to gain readership and grow her brand – NOT to sell listings. It looks exactly like her blog. Her analytics and subscribers always spike afterwards:
BLOGGING
· @LoCoHeather advocates a HYPERLOCAL strategy – she is in a small rural market. 80% of her content is about local happenings (garage sales, storm damage, little league). 20% of her content is real estate related (market data using Altos charts and graphs)
· Make your blog the HUB for marketing spokes. Don’t give your link love to other sites (like Tennessean, ShowcaseByAgent, Realtor.com, etc.) Drive ‘em back to YOUR site !
· Post a welcome video on your “About Me” page to introduce yourself. It doesn’t have to be professional, but it must be authentic. (note: HAR does pro-vid at a great discount for their members quarterly. Recommend to GNAR).
· Don’t write posts for SEO, write for your audience. Again, authenticity is key to developing a following and becoming trusted. Using the same keywords over and over is spammy to readers and Google doesn’t like it.
· WordPress offers the best inherent SEO, but Posterous and Tumblr are a good options too. If you can use email, you can blog. Really. Make sure you do it on your own domain. Or at least a sub domain.
OTHER
· Use Google Notifications to monitor your name, company, and competition. SocialMention.com is also good for this.
· Spread your reach and brand with tools like Yelp and FourSquare.
· Turn the social networks off (and the cell phone) when it is time to blog (or whatever it is you do to prospect – cold calling, door knocking…)
· Not a natural writer? Make a photo blog. Or get others to write occasionally for you – inspectors, vendors, past clients. Or hire BringTheBlog.com for content.
· Create a FREE Google Reader (RSS) account and follow industry leader blogs (Gahlord, Rob Hahn, Agent Genius, San Diego Castles, Real Estate Tangent, Jeff Turner, TechSavvyAgent, etc.). Put a reminder on your calendar to check out your Reader a few times a week.
· Amanda McMillan w/ @Properties Chicago did a great presentation on marketing premium services. She gets above average commissions in her market (6% in a market where 5% is the norm). Here are the slides:
· Don’t be afraid to change your website. Jay Thompson got a 29% increase in click-throughs to home search by changing the description word from “Advanced” search to “Detailed”
· Use the Google URL Builder to track analytic lead-ins from multiple entry points. (NEW to me)
· Search “RETSO” at SlideShare to find presentation slides as well as listing presentation ideas.
NEW & NOTEWORTHY
· Clikbrix.com for QR marketing – very slick
· Expensify.com – expense reports made easy (email, log-in, app, photo catalog receipts, link a credit card, track mileage,)
· DotLoop.com $20/mo agent accounts for e-sign and transaction management
· Namechk.com to check username availability across multiple social networks
INTERESTING IDEAS
PS. Travis Robertson gave the keynote closing address. He isn’t a Realtor, but an expert on how to communicate and transact business with millennials. It was a fantastic and thought provoking. I understand Zeitlin has retained his services to speak at our upcoming fall retreat. You CAN’T miss his presentation.
