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Web 2.0 and its brain child, Social Networking are beginning to gain a foothold in the real estate industry. Not only are we starting to see results by posting our comments on blogs, but we are participating more and more online on our own networks. What started as the listserv phenonomen of Realtalk with tens of thousand of users has evolved. Many technology experienced REALTORS® began looking for more interactive outlets. We wanted to share ideas and learn from our counterparts across the country with more than text. What has happened are sites like ActiveRain, Realtown, LinkedIn, Zillow, Trulia and Plaxo, just to name a very few.
Activerain and Realtown are REALTORS® own blog experiences. There are over 61,000 members right now on Activerain. They are the grown up MYSPACE experience for our industry.
LinkedIn is another example where all types of adult professionals find people to network with, in front of their computer. What they are finding is that they don’t have to travel to a convention to do so.
It’s all about the conversation
Web 2.0 is an online experience that is dynamic and interactive. With a click of a button you can be connected with amazing knowledge to be shared and relationships to be made.
Open and honest membership interaction is key in this new participatory phase of the Internet. Forward-looking REALTORS(r) are using their online presence as a conversation tool to promote visitor-generated content, to gather visitors feedback and new ideas and to put organizational emphasis where it truly lies: the potential clients!
Online technologies like blogging, podcasting, wikis and RSS feeds, pave this two-way street of communication and could provide us with the tools to grow our business and increase activity and excitement among our clients. Lets start with the basics.
Social Networks – Web users create online parallels of their circle of real life friends. They expand that relationship by encouraging other users to share their own content online, including photos, videos, music, and other digital files.
Blogging - A blog is a web site where you add commentary on an ongoing basis. New information ends up at the top of the blog so people can scan and see your articles by dates. If someone wants to, they can comment or link to your blog or email you.
Podcasting - Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The distribution format of a podcast uses the RSS feed. iTunes has a 1 Click subscription to audio and video podcasts.
Wikis – Hawaiian for “quick” or “what I know is . . . “ A website created by a group for collaboration. Inman has a wonderful wiki.
RSS Feeds - The goal is to attract readers and earn subscribers. This is done with RSS. (You are here reading this aren’t you?) You can subscribe through the RSS button on on this page and never miss an post! .
RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. It enables software like newsreaders to download your content, (text, images, audio, or video) automatically every time you publish. This is also know as Push Technology.
• IE7 (25% of consumers use this) has 1-Click Subscription of RSS Blogs.
• Some people read Blogs in a “reader.”
This is just a primer, just a beginning. Lots of possibilities - what will work for your business?
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