What I Learned at Inman Real Estate Connect: August 2009 Day Three

At Last...my brain was overflowing and I was living on a strong coffee high...there was still a good half day and the wrap up to come...the third day was only from 9 to 12 and there was more than enough content...

The day started off with Deanna Brown of Scripps Media of HGTV:

She discussed "Push Pull and Throw"... Which is working for you??

Traditional media is important as a local source but also must get involved with the Consumer. She had these tips:

• The consumer is becoming their own media source
• Today is less about spending money and more about spending time (too many REALTORS tell me that they do not have time to Blog...but how many times in a year must you explain the same point to many clients ie. When is the best time to sell??)
• Tweets need to be valuable to your consumer... any consumer connection should have value...
• Become part of the conversation. Engagement is the key and no different than any social involvement...
• It is about you engaging in the conversation...
• You have to embrace the Social Space. It is not going away..
• Set as schedule...Play in all the platforms...Newspapers are the local voice. Spend 10 minutes a day on Facebook, then add Twitter....send out three relevant Tweets a day.
• Have fun with Social Media but take it seriously...

The Inman Innovator Awards were given out. These Innovators were honoured:

• Nest Realty Most innovative Agency
• Closing.com Most innovative site
• Ubertor Most innovative web sites
• The Phoenix Real Estate Guy Most innovative Blogger
• Domus Consulting Group Most innovative Social Media consultants
• Frank Borges LLosa (FranklyMLS.com) Most innovative Realtor web site

More Social Media Tools:

• www.xobni.com: Free plug in for MSOutlook (great stuff...I've downloaded it and am using it)
• www.awayfind.com Get the most important emails to you by text
• www.Bit.ly a URL shortner but also gives you follow up
• www.Goldmail.com dead simple video email
• www.getdropbox.com sends large pictures and files for free

Here are some great tips that were spoken of that morning:

1. www.paulgraham.com Essayist and Entrepeneurs Understanding Makers and Managers
2. Assign a dollar value to your time and outsource or delegate anything that is not worth your time
3. Don't spend time on things that don't scale
4. Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Work week...Only check email 2-3 Times per day www.fourhourworkweek.com
5. www.xobni.com Use Social Connections to learn more about your contacts..3rd time it was mentioned...must say something...

At the start of the Conference, two Technology teams were given 72 hours of less to come up with new innovations:

Morgan Carey Real Estate Webmasters...

Justin from Diverse Solutions: "Agent Scouting Report" An Experiment in Transparency. Very Cool!!! Surfs the Board Data to see how many houses each agent sold, how long, within price range, MLS must approve the Sold Data jlejoy@diversesolutions.com. I suggest you read their report which can be found at http://www.diversesolutions.com/blog/2009/08/12/agent-scouting-report-an-experiment-in-transparancy/ When the audience was asked how many REALTORS would be happy to have a system like that on their MLS, a great number were in favour and Houston Area Realtors HAR.com is already working on a similar project...Are we ready for this kind of transparency?

What are the take-aways from the Conference?

• Capacity for creation seems greater...
• Need to embrace Video more...
• We are living in a mashup world...
• Optomistic about the future...
• The world did not come to an end when Twitter went down but...(I forgot to tell you that on Day Two Twitter went down)
• Twitter: is whispering in another person's ear...."a little birdy told me"
• Facebook and Twitter becoming huge...
• Social Media is the swell of the Conference..
• How do I do it in a way that is effective...
• How do I get the best ROI(Return on Investment) out of it...
• layers of integration of the tools..
• If you suck at Social Media offline, you will suck at it online...one of the best lines yet and so true!!

Great Conference with Great Ideas...One of the best Inmans ever...1700 attendees...It is no longer enough to be a good agent, you must be a great agent...become the better trusted advisors..

Suggestions: Throw out the rules and excuses when you come to a Conference. Be open, listen and learn...

Reposted From: What I Learned at Inman Real Estate Connect: August 2009 Day Three