Social Media Training Camp Launches Today
Social Media Training Camp launches this morning. We’ll be in New York at RE BarCamp and Inman Connect to launch it. I’ve teemed up with Mariana Wagner, Kelley Koehler, and Ginger Wilcox to put together a training bootcamp for sales and marketing professionals who want to adopt this medium. More details are coming, but for now, I have a plane to catch!
Top ten tweets to follow to convince you real estate agents are cool
I saw my name on one of these lists. Thanks Tom! But I have a different idea. Here’s a list of the top ten tweets to follow to convince you real estate agents are cool. Most of them rarely even talk about real estate. They’re just plain cool, and represent the elite of RE.net’s twitteratti.
@ines - Don’t poke around on her, I think she might shank you with a spoon.
@mizzle - I call her THE Mizzle. Ask her about her shiny, candy like button.
@gingerw - Ask her anything. Just remember to add the hashtag #wwgwd (What would Ginger Wilcox do)
@beerealty - Southern Fried Funny.
@andykaufman - Fellow Tony Clifton fan.
@DaleChumbley - Spinning tunes all night on blip.
@tboard - Really not a social person, and we all love her for it.
@phoenixREGuy - Uses twitter to drop the F-Bomb on cancer. Mad props for that.
@hthrflynn - Because everyone on Twitter needs someone fun to drink margaritas with online.
and finally,
@housechick - My favorite tweet. The funniest person on twitter. Funnier than @DarthVader, or even @hotdogsladies. Seriously funny.
What if NAR get’s it right?
I wasn’t completely candid in my lenderama post about what I would do If I were NAR’s Social Media Manager. The fact of the matter is, moving from Denver would be a colossal challenge to my sanity. Would I do it for the job I described? Yes. Would I do it for the job NAR is hiring for? I guess I’d need to know more first. It’s entirely likely that the job NAR wants filled, is not one that I would love, or even one that I’d be particularly equipped to excel at. Now let me be clear on this one point.
I believe Hilary Marsh has a better grip on who needs to fill this position than anyone else in RE.net. I will not be second guessing NAR’s pic.
I first connected to Hilary a couple months ago. She visited the REBlogWorld site. I know because she is a member of MyBlogLog. When her unfamiliar avatar graced our MBL widget, I investigated. I thought to myself, “wow, Hilary is in charge of content for realtor.org, what a great connection to have.” I followed her on Twitter, she followed back.
Then, just a couple weeks ago, a friend of mine DM’s me (through Twitter) a link to Daniel’s post about the new Social Media Position being created by NAR. Most of RE.net was bearish, but I’m always the bull. I think to myself, “who was it that I met that worked at NAR?”. Hilary Marsh of course. Now, here’s the kicker. It didn’t take any time for RE.net to bash NAR for posting an ad for the job on Monster.com. How web1.0 right? What they should have done is reached out by social media right?
Hilary did exactly that. I wonder how many “S.M. aware” RE.net pundits even noticed? I set up a phone call with her through Twitter. It was a great call in my eyes.
Most people think I’m crazy for wanting that job. Not everyone will say it publicly. But trust me, that’s the overall opinion I received by phone, DM and email. However, one person really did get where my head was. Someone whom I have the ultimate respect for. He told me, “everyone seems possessed with how NAR’s Social Media Manager will fail. What if NAR get’s it right”. Hmmm, exactly how I felt.
Why on Earth would I want that job? Because what if it it worked?
There are no superstars in blogging.
First off, let me say that Amy Chorew will make a fine addition to an already outstanding blog. This post is not intended to be derogatory to her in any way. I wrote most of this post in my head while I was out tonight, not even knowing who Agent Genius’ new contributor was.
Earlier tonight, Lani Anglin, the new media director for agentgenius.com promoted this new contributor on twitter stating,
Lani motivated me to finally write a post that’s been sitting in the back of my head for weeks.
There are no superstars in blogging. Not anyone writing for AG. Not Greg Swann. Not Brad Inman, or Dustin Luther, or me. Not even if Gary Keller started blogging. Not even outside of real estate. Not Robert Scoble, or Guy Kawasaki.
I was told recently by a very good friend of mine, that before she met me, she thought I was a bit of a snob. Part of the RE.net elite. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that I intimidate people. Something I guess I need to work on. But I’d be very surprised if anyone thought that after meeting me in person. The truth of the matter though is that I’ve met almost everyone that a new real estate blogger might consider elite, and trust me, there is no secret hand shake. These are all just people with the same brilliant idea to blog as you now have, it’s just that they started a few months before you did.
The idea of no superstars is what I like best about blogging. The day of the super-influencers is dying. Most every decent blogger has something to bring to the table. Before REBlogWorld, who had any idea that Mariana Wagner and Kelley Koehler would be knocking people over with a feather in their sessions? OK, I knew, but that’s only because I took in interest in the way they do businesses through this blog, long ago.
That’s been the beauty of this blog all along. Even if I was the only person to read it, it would still be worth it to me. I have as much to learn from a blogger three months in, as I do from the folks you might consider elite. After a long hiatus, and a funny name change, I finally have time to fire up this blog again. Over the weekend, I’ll be reaching out to more bloggers for interviews. But if you think you have something to add, please don’t be shy. Some of the best interviews I’ve done are from folks I hardly know. Give me a shout at todd@bizomi.com.
Today, Rob Hahn asked what the official anthem for RE.net should be. Here’s my take. We have a lot to learn from each other people, this whole web 2.0 thing is still brand spankin’ new. Let’s talk.
Lucid Ninja Manifesto - The art of freelance marketing
I think most of this will migrate over to my about page, but I thought I’d share in a blog post the idea behind the new name and focus.
lucid (lū’sĭd) adj. Translucent or transparent.
Authentic in message but cunning in deployment. Yeah, that’s the ninja part. The way I see it, there are two really big problems with most web 2.0 marketing strategies.
- They don’t ask for the sale.
- They take up to much time.
I’m all for transparency in message. I think it’s vital. But that doesn’t mean you should wait for clients to come running to you with wallet in hand, just because you’ve shared everything you possibly can with them online. The first lesson I learned in sales is that you don’t earn a sale unless you ask for one. Many web 2.0 marketing strategies fail to ask for the sale, and that’s the main reason I think they fail.
In addition, web 2.0 marketing can be extremely time consuming. Larger companies are realizing this, and hiring Social Media Gurus, Evangelists, or even… Ninja. That’s great for a company like Zillow or Trulia, but what about freelance marketers?
Wait, what the heck is a freelance marketer?
Freelance marketers, as I define them, are independent sales agents who effectively market in a social media environment.They could be self employed, or head a small business. Or, they could work for a large company, but be on there own when it comes to marketing their services. Real estate agents are the perfect example of a freelance marketer. One could work for Keller Williams, or John Smith Realty. It doesn’t matter. Each agent really works for themselves.
Freelance marketers can’t hire a ninja, they have to be the ninja.
Moving forward, Lucid Ninja will explore how successful freelance marketers are operating in a web 2.0 environment. I’m still going to interview real estate agents, as they’re the epitome of success in this vertical. But I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg. More details to come. I don’t plan to post much more than once a week. We’ll see where this goes.
