Friday, May 15, 2009
SPARKt = Chicago Real Estate + Technology
Kit Mueller runs REConnect, featuring an on-line networking and events for Chicago real estate professionals. Mueller and also holds twice-yearly SPARKt conferences on Real Estate and technology. The second Chicago SPARKt conference was held April 29 in the Volcano Room at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago's West Loop, with a half-dozen relatively quick high-quality presentations. Muller kept the proceedings on-target (with occasional coaching from the peanut gallery) and the atmosphere upbeat, casual and informative.
There was a good sized crowd, made up primarily of Real Estate professionals, including agents and brokers as well as various online real-estate related web sites and a handful of other service providers. Highlights included
- Matt Dollinger from @properties on Real Estate use of online social media
- Michael Berger, 37 Signals' iPhone geek talking about mobile applications for Real Estate
- Christian Sterner of Welcomemat.com demonstrated how to make online video effective
- A discussion on "Privacy and Social Media" from lawyers Glenn Manishin of Duane Morris and Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy & Technology
- Eric Bryn talked about how he uses Web Analytics to help realtors come up with blog topics.
- Adrian Holovaty from Everyblock talked about the future of Everyblock and its local data technology.
Matt Dollinger's blog, The You Factor, helps Realtors understand how to use Social Media. The crux of Dollinger's message is to put yourself, personally, out there. Dollinger puts a Real Estate frame around some of the concepts discussed online by Social Media thought leaders like David Armano and Peter Kim (both of whom he referenced in his talk). When you are online, you are not "selling", but building a "personal brand" that shows you to be someone who can help people when they need to make a complex and emotional decision.
Christian Sterner expanded on Dollinger's "personal branding" message, showing how Realtors can use online video not just to show homes, but to become an online presence for all things local. Post videos on YouTube & Yahoo for search engine optimization (SEO) effects. Sterner also suggests using Social Media sites to announce and embed your videos, as an opportunity to connect with people where they are online.
Michael Berger, a former "Apple Genius" who focuses on mobile applications at 37 Signals, demonstrated mobile applications on the iPhone that Realtors can share with clients. Apps from Zillow, Trulia, and Everyblock take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities to show local real estate information on maps. You can see your current location and nearby homes for sale, and other local community information.
Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy and Technology was perhaps the highlight of the afternoon. A former big-league journalist, he and Glenn Manishin discussed some of the legal issues around on-line social networks. Meeks talked about the process of hiring a Social Media Manager for the Center for Democracy and Technology. He looked at their Facebook and Twitter posts; many candidates demonstrated an "personal brand" that was not consonant with the mission and values of the Center. They also warned that what you say on Facebook or Twitter could become a binding addendum to any existing contract. So be careful out there!
Eric Bryn showed how to use Google Analytics and a few other tools to capture new audiences on the web. He manages several group blogs for realtors. He looks at the blog contents and uses Google Analytics to discover the "organic" search keywords that are used to reach blog entries. If he sees a spike in activity, he knows that there is a good opportunity to use those terms again. Google Analytics also reports if site visitors read more than one page or register for email newsletters.
Bryn also looks at the terms used in entries, and finds synonyms through the Google AdWords Traffic Estimator. This shows synonyms and approximate value for those terms if one was to advertise on the topic. Microsoft offers adlabs.microsoft.com, a tool that shows keywords and relative intent-to-buy associated with usage of those keywords.
Once a valuable keyword that drives traffic is found, Bryn encourages his clients to write "variations on a theme" using the keywords as topics. He used a visual of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans. "7 tips for...", "What not to do when buying...", video and photographs.
Adrian Holovaty talked about the Everyblock iPhone app. With iPhone GPS capabilities, you can see crime/health/news reports for your current location. Holovaty also talked about how Everyblock.com was created under a grant, and under the terms of the grant, the Everyblock code, built on the Django platform, will become open source this June.
There were a lot of very practical gems in the SPARKt conference. With the exception of Meeks & Manishin's talk, the focus remained solidly on Real Estate, though the advice was easily transferrable to other high-touch services. Photos from the event are at SPARKt website. Mueller continues to run frequent RE-Connect events.
There was a good sized crowd, made up primarily of Real Estate professionals, including agents and brokers as well as various online real-estate related web sites and a handful of other service providers. Highlights included
- Matt Dollinger from @properties on Real Estate use of online social media
- Michael Berger, 37 Signals' iPhone geek talking about mobile applications for Real Estate
- Christian Sterner of Welcomemat.com demonstrated how to make online video effective
- A discussion on "Privacy and Social Media" from lawyers Glenn Manishin of Duane Morris and Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy & Technology
- Eric Bryn talked about how he uses Web Analytics to help realtors come up with blog topics.
- Adrian Holovaty from Everyblock talked about the future of Everyblock and its local data technology.
Matt Dollinger's blog, The You Factor, helps Realtors understand how to use Social Media. The crux of Dollinger's message is to put yourself, personally, out there. Dollinger puts a Real Estate frame around some of the concepts discussed online by Social Media thought leaders like David Armano and Peter Kim (both of whom he referenced in his talk). When you are online, you are not "selling", but building a "personal brand" that shows you to be someone who can help people when they need to make a complex and emotional decision.
Christian Sterner expanded on Dollinger's "personal branding" message, showing how Realtors can use online video not just to show homes, but to become an online presence for all things local. Post videos on YouTube & Yahoo for search engine optimization (SEO) effects. Sterner also suggests using Social Media sites to announce and embed your videos, as an opportunity to connect with people where they are online.
Michael Berger, a former "Apple Genius" who focuses on mobile applications at 37 Signals, demonstrated mobile applications on the iPhone that Realtors can share with clients. Apps from Zillow, Trulia, and Everyblock take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities to show local real estate information on maps. You can see your current location and nearby homes for sale, and other local community information.
Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy and Technology was perhaps the highlight of the afternoon. A former big-league journalist, he and Glenn Manishin discussed some of the legal issues around on-line social networks. Meeks talked about the process of hiring a Social Media Manager for the Center for Democracy and Technology. He looked at their Facebook and Twitter posts; many candidates demonstrated an "personal brand" that was not consonant with the mission and values of the Center. They also warned that what you say on Facebook or Twitter could become a binding addendum to any existing contract. So be careful out there!
Eric Bryn showed how to use Google Analytics and a few other tools to capture new audiences on the web. He manages several group blogs for realtors. He looks at the blog contents and uses Google Analytics to discover the "organic" search keywords that are used to reach blog entries. If he sees a spike in activity, he knows that there is a good opportunity to use those terms again. Google Analytics also reports if site visitors read more than one page or register for email newsletters.
Bryn also looks at the terms used in entries, and finds synonyms through the Google AdWords Traffic Estimator. This shows synonyms and approximate value for those terms if one was to advertise on the topic. Microsoft offers adlabs.microsoft.com, a tool that shows keywords and relative intent-to-buy associated with usage of those keywords.
Once a valuable keyword that drives traffic is found, Bryn encourages his clients to write "variations on a theme" using the keywords as topics. He used a visual of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans. "7 tips for...", "What not to do when buying...", video and photographs.
Adrian Holovaty talked about the Everyblock iPhone app. With iPhone GPS capabilities, you can see crime/health/news reports for your current location. Holovaty also talked about how Everyblock.com was created under a grant, and under the terms of the grant, the Everyblock code, built on the Django platform, will become open source this June.
There were a lot of very practical gems in the SPARKt conference. With the exception of Meeks & Manishin's talk, the focus remained solidly on Real Estate, though the advice was easily transferrable to other high-touch services. Photos from the event are at SPARKt website. Mueller continues to run frequent RE-Connect events.
Labels: chicago technology, real estate marketing, social media
