Richard Vetstein
Inman Agent Reboot Boston Conference Recap
I’m thrilled to have been selected to write the guest post for the Inman Future of Real Estate Marketing Blog highlighting the Agent Reboot Conference in Boston held yesterday on October 13, 2010. We Bostonians like to think of our “town” as the “Hub of the Universe”! From the buzz surrounding the conference here at the Hynes Convention Center, it’s clear that Boston area agents are embracing the power of social media, and that Beantown is well on its way to becoming the next “Hub” for social media savvy agents!
The conference kicked off with Daniel Rothamel, Founder of RealEstateZebra.com, awakening the early morning Dunkin’ Donuts coffee drinking crowd with his John Lennon-transcendental homage about why love matters in real estate. While we hardscrabble New Englanders may not be that into the touchy-feely stuff, Daniel’s message was sound: conduct yourself with the utmost professionalism and ethics to counteract the negative perception the public has for Realtors. Dan then got into what he really knows best: technology! His takeaway: if you buy one major technology purchase this year, make it an iPad. He’s right. Your potential sellers will be blown away by the iPad during your listing presentations. And your buyers will appreciate your ability to pull up MLS information at doorsteps.
Next up was Lesley Lambert, who trekked down the Mass. Pike from Westfield in Western Mass. A true Dancin’ Queen (check out the video), Leslie was one of the stars of the conference, speaking twice about converting clicks to closings and social media strategies. Lesley had some great tips:
Blogging
- Start a self-hosted WordPress Blog and use it as a hub for all your content
- Stream your content to your Facebook Fan page and Twitter account
- Create a weekly themed post like Fun Fridays
- Host a list on Twitter of local people searchable by #hashtag. For example, www.twitter.com/mmpartee/westernma
- Use www.twellowhood.com or www.twitterlocal.com or www.search.twitter.com/advanced for local people to follow and engage with
- Host a tweetup!
- Create a Facebook Fan page for your business
- Connect with old classmates, friends, family, referral partners—you never know where a referral can originate
- Be careful about what you post. Avoid pictures with alcohol, skimpy clothing, etc
Rich Vetstein, HubConnected (left), Mike Mahoney, Keller-Williams Boston (right)
I’d just add to Leslie’s tips and suggest using the RSS Graffiti application for Facebook, This killer app allows you to stream your blog’s RSS feed (and any RSS feed for that matter) onto your Fan page or personal page.
During the conference the #agentrb Twitter stream was going full tilt. One of the most tweeted comments was from Darin Parsinger who was tweeting from Seattle! He said, “Twitter is a cocktail party. Facebook is a backyard BBQ.” Great quote.
After some great discussion about mobile being the next big thing (agreed!), local agents David Millett, of The Masiello Group and Jon Ufland, Managing Broker, Prudential Unlimited Realty, concluded the conference with a discussion about the local Greater Boston real estate market. Dave said that we are now basically back to the year 2000 in terms of market value and sales activity. Ugg. Certainly, the last decade has been a roller coaster, and those agents who have survived deserve a round of applause. Jon opined that there are too many unqualified, untrained, or part-time agents who do not keep up with the latest news, trends, guidelines, laws, and techniques. Taking off from Jon’s comment, those who attended the Agent Reboot conference are now one step ahead of their competitors, and are learning the tools to better serve the clients of the future.
As the crowd filtered out of the Hynes onto Boylston Street, many agents were already plotting their new WordPress Blog Site, Facebook fan page design and Twitter strategies. Some were predictably overwhelmed with all the information and new technology. If you don’t know where to start or need to jump start your existing blog, please contact us here at HubConnected. We can implement everything that was discussed at the conference, and run it for you, so you can focus on selling real estate!
About Me: Richard Vetstein (@richardvetstein) helps Massachusetts agents with their social media needs. An attorney by trade, he created the Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog, the top real estate legal blog in New England. He also blogs weekly at Boston.com. Rich is the Chief Social Media Officer of HubConnected LLC, a leading provider of social media solutions for real estate. He is also the co-founder and an attorney at TitleHub Closing Services. Both companies are based in Needham, MA.
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