On March 20th, I was one of a few hundred people who attended RETech South (#rets) in Atlanta Georgia. It was a special event for several reasons. First and foremost because of the organizers. Two local Atlanta Realtors who for the second year in a row invested their own time and energy to bring together their peers both inside and outside of their trading area. This is a rare and wonderful thing. I have huge respect for Matt Fagioli and Brad Nix. Thanks for everything you do.
Another reason this event was special was the attendees. People from all major brands and unaffiliated companies, big companies and small companies were all represented. Some new to the industry, some long time veterans. Some tech power users, and many self-professed non tech people. Their one common driving force: how do I use various technology based tools to better serve my clients and operate my business?
Here are a few of the discussions from the day that I thought were interesting.
Blog-Website Hybrids
It seems the debate over blog versus website versus both may naturally take care of itself as vendors work to create and launch blog-website hybrids. These sites will give you the best of both worlds with only one domain to manage. You’ll have the ability to easily manage and update your blog content, but also be able to have listing search and more static content pages (like sellers and buyers info) often found on websites. This sounds like a win win for the practitioner and the consumer.
What tech tools should today’s real estate professional have?
- Smart phone
- Web cam
- Laptop
- Camera
- Video cam
What’s one of the biggest challenges facing brokers and company owners?
Defining, building and reinforcing a distinct company culture to attract and retain agents. Now that was an interesting discussion and deserves a whole other blog post!
3 Steps to Blogging
- Read other blogs (inside and outside the industry).
- Comment on blogs. Comments should be meaningful and add to the conversation. Don’t comment “nice post”.
- Write your own blog posts.
Be there. Create groups to easily manage the various contact points and conversations you have with your sphere of influence. Check out Reggie’s and NikNik’s presentation, 10 Facebook Strategies Your Competitors Don’t Want You to Know.
What can I say, just be a Twit!
Thanks again to everyone who organized and attended the event. We are already looking forward to next year!
(Photo courtesy of Brad Nix @ Flickr)
