Birmingham, AL Realtors, are you a socially savvy agent?

Do you consider yourself a socially savvy agent? Do you tweet, blog, or post videos on Youtube? Are you on LinkedIn, Facebook, or some other social network?  If you are not you may want to think about it.  In our ever changing business environment being knowledgeable and participating in the online social scene is becoming a necessity instead of an option.

In my own journey of becoming a “socially savvy” appraiser I have ready many books and attended a couple of Wordcamps (the name given to gatherings of users of the popular WordPress blogging platform) to help me hone my skills (they’re not totally honed but I’m having fun working on it).  I wanted to share with you a couple of  things today.  The first has to do with some books I have read and the other an interview I had with local social networking and blogging expert Wade Kwon at the most recent Wordcamp, which you can see below.

The first book I read, and  highly recommend, is Chris Brogan’s book “Trust Agents”.  One of the biggest things I took away from this book was that you have to set  yourself apart from your competition by becoming a “Trust Agent”, one whom everybody trusts and thinks of when they need someone in your field of work.  You do this by establishing yourself online through blogging and other social media outlets.  That is why blogging is so important.  You communicate you expertise by writing about what you do and how you can solve peoples problems.  The second book is one I am currently reading.  It is “Get Seen” by Steve Garfield and it discusses how businesses can establish a presence online through video.  I have just begun reading this book and hopefully will be able to pass on some more tips in the future, but so far he mentioned one thing that really makes sense.  By posting online videos about what you do, and how you can help others, people get to know you so that when you finally meet them in person they feel like you are an old friend and they want to do business with you.  The online video can be a catalyst to new business relationships.

Lastly I would like to share with you a video of a short interview I had with Birmingham social media expert Wade Kwon.  Wade runs the Birmingham Blogging Academy and has a lot of expertise in social media.  He shares advice on how real estate professionals such as Realtors and mortgage professionals can use social media to enhance their marketing efforts.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding social media and how you can get started.  If I can’t help you I know Wade can.

If you have any real estate appraisal related questions you can call me at 205.243.9304, email me, or connect with me on Facebook., Twitter, or Youtube.