Have you noticed how quickly your online conversations go into the ether once they’re finished? You might remember that one of your friends had a brilliant idea about how to convert first-time buyers or a witty comment on the latest Fed pronouncement, but retracing that message involves scrolling through old posts—a tedious, time-sucking pursuit.
On Thursday, at Real Estate Connect in New York, real estate tech bloggers Chris Smith and Jimmy Mackin will announce a solution—a way to tag, track, and search Facebook conversations. The new tool, Curaytor, plugs Facebook’s Group API into a WordPress backend, making conversations in groups searchable. Setting aside my personal bias against creative spellings, Curaytor looks to be a neat tool for getting at the best content in Facebook groups you’re following.
As proof of concept, Smith and Mackin have started with content from open real estate groups like Michael McClure’s Raise the Bar in Real Estate discussion. With Facebook groups that are tracked in Curaytor, anyone can quickly see what others are saying or view content from the discussion by topic. Smith says open Facebook groups were the ideal place to start with curating online discussions because Facebook has become the online water cooler with 1 million new status updates posted every minute. Eventually, he says, Curaytor could include conversations from other forums, such as Twitter and Google+. Unlike Google search, for example, Curaytor searches what your friends and colleagues are saying about the latest gadgets, business strategies, and news.
Currently, the site doesn’t pull in an individual’s groups, only the open groups that Curaytor has added, so for now at least, everyone who goes to the site sees the same information.
The launch of Curaytor was in some ways tempered by Facebook’s own announcement yesterday of Graph Search, a technology that lets you search friends’ activities on Facebook. (Here’s a CNNMoney article on Graph Search). What the Facebook tool seems to lack, however, is the curation part. Curaytor promises to organize social conversations in real time so that you can view them in categories like trending, popular, and recent. Using WordPress enables Curaytor to tag posts and populate a “Staff Picks” feature. You can search Curaytor by keyword, user profile picture, company name, or news source.
And while Smith and Mackin are focused on the real estate market today, there’s no reason Curaytor couldn’t be used to track and search conversations on any topic that’s actively discussed on Facebook, Smith says.
There’s no better way to learn about new trends, strategies and tools then to immerse yourself in a live conference. Like many of you, I learned a lot at this month’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo. But learning and implementing are two different things and the longer you wait to implement what you’ve learned, the less likely you ever will. Here are some of the things I implemented this week after learning about them at the conference:
- I subscribed to Which Test Won. This site was referenced by Kelley Koehler as a great resource for learning more about A/B testing and what makes a web surfer more likely to convert into a client.
- I downloaded DocuSign Ink. A great new free app that allows me to digitally sign almost any contract. Thanks to Shannon King for presenting this app.
- I downloaded and started experimenting with Twenty Eleven. I learned about this free theme for WordPress during Steve Zehngut’s presentation on responsive web design. The theme reconfigures itself as the screen size shrinks, making it far easier to read and navigate via a mobile phone. I think this would be a great theme for for building cheap single property websites.
- I signed up for Local Mind. Hat tip to Chris Smith for this one. It ties in your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to allow you to find out what’s happening at local venues. I’m still experimenting with it, but I think it has some cool potential for real estate agents.
I still have more stuff I want to implement in my Wunderlist app. With the holiday weekend approaching, I plan to check at least a few more things off that list. How about you? What do you plan to implement this weekend?
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
When I wrote a story in REALTOR® Magazine a couple of years ago about the realities of doing business in social media, I interviewed Jay Thompson, a.k.a., The Phoenix Real Estate Guy. Jay’s been blogging for years, and has generated a ton of business from it.
Back then, he described to me how his former broker didn’t take blogging seriously, dismissing it as playing around instead of conducting real business. While many real estate pros have since come around on the value of blogging, there is still a sense among many of them that it’s not a worthwhile activity, said Chris Smith, co-creator of Tech Savvy Agent, at Inman’s Agent Reboot in Chicago this morning.
“People tell me all the time, ‘I don’t have time to blog, and I don’t know how. I’m going to go be a REALTOR®,’” he said.
Part of the problem is the word itself. “Blogging” tends to conjure up impressions of amateurish writers getting online to flame a politician they don’t like, or provide updates on their cats, or post photos of their vacation to Branson, Mo., with a detailed account of how great Andy Williams was.
If that’s your hang-up, Smith said, just ditch the term. “Lose the word ‘blogging,’” he explained. “I want you to think of it as marketing your business on the Internet.” Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
When considering your Web presence, ask yourself this: Am I interacting with my client base?
If the answer is no, or not quite sure, here are eight tips from the International Builders’ Show Thursday morning session on unleashing the sales power of your Web site (presented by Scott Stroud of Builder Radio Media Network, Rick Storlie of New Home Sales Coach, and Erik Cofield of Buildtopia and Builder1440).
1.) Don’t pay a developer to run your Web site. Make the move to WordPress. You’ll save oodles of dollars, have the ability to update more frequently, and ensure more control over your site.
2.) Start blogging… A LOT! A blog is all about human interaction. Blog regularly and promote your posts via social media.
3.) Stumped on what to blog about? Three ideas: progress of a design or building project, interesting client stories or profiles, and community news or events.
4.) Use negative feedback as an opportunity to shine. If you receive a complaint or unflattering comment, “turn it into a positive,” says Stroud. Respond with an apology and outline a solution. Negative comments can be relevant. Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
From beginners to pros, WordPress Camp had something to offer every blogger at the 2010 REALTORS® Conference & Expo Monday. Technology and marketing experts presented dual-track sessions for novice bloggers and advanced WordPress users.
Blogging has proven to be a valuable tool for real estate professionals to demonstrate industry and community knowledge, as well as express identity and brand. The sessions provided tips to help leverage the medium and connect with potential clients.
“WordPress is a perfect forum for real estate Web sites,” said presenter and co-WordPress Camp organizer Dustin Luther with 4realz. “There’s a lot of talk right now about marketing via social media. But we really wanted to focus on creating a great Web site.”
Presenter Steve Zehngut, from Zeek Interactive, honed in on integrating real estate tools on a WordPress blog.
When choosing a theme – or the overall design of your WordPress Web site – Zehngut recommended Woo Themes, which provides customizable Web designs for $70 to $200.
Zehngut also listed a few must-have plugins for a real estate WordPress site: Continue reading »
By Todd Carpenter, Social Media Manager, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
I’m a big fan of RE TechSouth. It’s a regional real estate technology conference that’s been held in Atlanta every spring for the last three years. As you would imagine, the focus is on Web tools, blogs, online reputation management, and social media. While attending last spring, an agent said to me, “Why can’t NAR be more like this?”
The NAR Annual Conference and Expo isn’t designed to be just like RE TechSouth. There’s a much more diverse audience and a broader assortment of topics covered. Technology is not the only component of a successful career in real estate. But just because #nardigras doesn’t focus solely on cutting edge technology, doesn’t mean there will be any shortage individual sessions and opportunities focused on it this year. Continue reading »
Recent Comments