SXSW Interactive: 5 (more) Sessions for Real Estate Social Media and Technology

Earlier this week I jumped into the details from South by Southwest with 5 Sessions for Real Estate Social Media and Technology. This is a continuation of that post…hint the title.

Again, this is a mix of current and usable social media trends and technologies, as was the entire conference. Some of these things you can start using today. Others may be five years away (or six months away at the pace technology is moving).

In chronological order, with the event-related hashtag:

1. Being Social with Grandma: Social Media for 50+ (#SocialAARP): Two AARP executives gave their take on social media for their demographic, which also happens to be one of our demographics at Concierge Auctions, so there was some good information in relation to real estate social media…Moms interact with children more than dads, so target the over 50 women rather than men; baby boomers like humorous content more than most age groups; and 43% of Americans over 50 use social media, mainly Facebook, so target this group on Facebook.

2. How to Build Culture in a Distributed Company (#newculture): Concierge Auctions is a worldwide company. We currently have several offices throughout the States and one in London, with plans to expand. So, we often times have to work remotely across teams. This session discussed Google Docs, Dropbox, Skype. But one that was mentioned and that we are currently using is Asana, which allows you to schedule tasks and collaborate on projects through a digital dashboard. Pictured above, Beam Pro™ was another product that I came across at the convention that was super cool. It is a robot with a computer screen that can be moved remotely. I was talking to sales representatives in Kansas City through a screen, while the company is based in Silicon Valley, and pitching its product in Austin. Welcome to a distributed company. The price is pretty outrageous at this point, but it is an incredible product and certainly would help bringing together teams across the nation or world.

3. Content That Captivates – A Hands-On Writing Workshop (#sxworkshop): This was a great one-on-one session time put on by MarketSmiths copywriters. I got some time with founder Jean Tang and she critiqued some of my blog posts. Some of her tips: streamline calls to action and ask your reader what they want, and include a contact form within the blog post at the end. With that in mind…Download our Seven Steps to Real Estate Auctions for Agents and Brokers!

4. Content Shock – The Future of Social Media (#smfuture): The scary part about this session is that social media may be slowing down. What is the next big thing? Presenter Mark Schaefer told us that you don’t have to be the best, just be first and overwhelming. So, look for new social channels or new technologies, and do them first! Some more social media tips that relate to real estate: borrow a bigger pipeline and share it – local real estate blogs or neighborhood blogs may publish your content; atomize content – take a blog post and break it down for social channels or take a video and create a bunch of short videos for Instagram; and subscribe to RITE – be Relevant, Interesting, Timely, Entertaining.

5. How Spartacus Dominated the Facebook Arena (#SXSWStarz): Erin Dwyer, the Executive Director of Digital Marketing for Starz was super entertaining and knowledgable. She used the show Spartacus and the Facebook page for Spartacus as a case study. I cannot possibly share all the good nuggets from Erin’s presentation. Here are a few tips: develope a voice, but be willing to change, brands can have multiple voices; give right content to the right fans, and they engage, and you will move up the Facebook rankings, and in turn you will be put in front of more fans; with Facebook quality is better than quantity; create terms relevant to your brand to use on Facebook – Spartacus uses ‘spread word’ instead of ‘share’ and ‘seize opportunity’ instead of ‘claim your prize’; and don’t take days or weeks off of Facebook posting or else you will be put in ‘Facebook jail’ and not show up on your fans timelines.

Image Credit: Suitabletech.com

Please comment or reach out to me with your thoughts on SXSW Interactive and real estate social media. Or click the banner below for more on real estate technology as it relates to agents and the auction process.