We're back with coverage of the second and final day of NAR's Trade Expo (see our coverage of Day One here). It's the fourth full day for the Midyear Legislative Meetings, however, and we took to social media to follow all the sessions, meetings, and events.

Below is a selection of our favorite tweets from hashtag #NARMidyear. We looked for the most informative tweets, which is why you'll see links in many of the entries. Several of these link to posts on NAR's Midyear Live Blog--click to see more in-depth coverage of the event each tweet is referencing.

NAR Midyear
REALTORS Insurance Marketplace gives members a roster of health insurance plans http://live.blogs.realtor.org/2013/05/16/nar-presents-the-realtors …®-insurance-marketplace/ #narmidyear

Todd Carpenter
How NAR and Google can partner to build a member centric real estate “portal”: http://bit.ly/104NUDz #narmidyear #rethink @gahlord

REALTORS®
You asked, we have it! From the Midyear Live blog: NAR 360:[...]

Tagged: Reporting Tech Conference Trade Show

Video production expert Stephen Schweickart sheds some light on how the rule of thirds in photography can make you a better filmmaker.

The rule of thirds is one of the most basic principles for composing a shot on camera. When the same principle is applied to video production it can help you capture more compelling videos.

Tagged: Advice Photography Video Service

It was the 26th iteration of the Gathering of Eagles. The conference, a Real Trends 'by invitation only' conclave, is generally recognized as the premiere learning and networking event for those within the top 250 North American real estate brokerages.

Real Trends entrepreneur and "Gathering" impresario Steve Murray set the tone during his opening. "We are here to learn and share together."

Sherry Chris, CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHG), followed up and built on that theme with a creative facilitation of a panel of brokers from Atlanta, Houston, Boulder and Austin on the "New Generation Brokerage Business Model."

The room was packed as Sherry, using the "Are You an Alpha or a Beta Brokerage?" title, carefully wove the comments of both the panel members and a number of brokers in the audience into a profile of what the new business model was going to look like. The discussion provided information[...]

Tagged: Broker Reporting Convention

Real Estate is a Busy Profession

Real estate agents and brokers have a history of building both meaningful and profitable relationships through community involvement. It's not unusual to see an agent or a broker join civic organizations, sponsor softball teams, and become active in local planning and government. We know all of that works and is rewarding but there is only so much that you can do with the limited amount of time that you have.

The Internet has changed and improved many ways that we do business and go to market. One significant advancement emerging onto the scene is Google+. This provides a new way to be involved and target your community through its community feature.

Example of real estate agent using Google+ for community building

[...]

Tagged: Internet Social Media Online Marketing

Our social media guru and resident video blogger, Maya Paveza, returns with her perspective on Trulia's recent acquisition of Market Leader.

Tagged: Blogging Editorial Reporting

The continued rise of social media has given hackers new platforms to exploit. Hackers are making malware that, instead of connecting to traditional C&C servers, which would be easier to detect, connects with social networks or search engines to receive updates.

This is a technique researchers have already seen in recent cyberattacks. A recent piece of malware dubbed Miniduke used fake Twitter accounts to connect to C&C servers.

With this rise in malware and means of spreading malicious software it is further stressed that you make sure that your computer is secure with the use of anti-virus/anti-malware software and that you are being vigilant about what you click on while using the internet.

Another means of protecting yourself while on Facebook is to make sure you have a secure connection. For more on this, watch the video, "Secure Your Facebook," on the next page.

[...]

Tagged: Internet Computers Facebook Security

Perhaps one of the most valuable assets for a real estate brokerage is a proven history of great customer service and a promise to consumers that they can and will perform to the highest industry standard. Buying or selling a home is one of the most important financial decisions a person will ever make and selecting the right real estate agent will make a significant difference in their experience. While it's assumed brokerages and agents provide maximum effort and professionalism in all of their transactions, is there any way to prove that?

The Quality Service Certification (QSC) was created to protect and educate consumers when selecting a real estate professional. QSC certified brokers and agents make a pledge to clients, which is a description of all services they promise to provide throughout the transaction. In order to receive the QSC certification, real estate professionals must:

• Attend the QSC program
• Pass a written examination
• Sign a commitment to follow prescribed[...]

  Tagged: Broker Service Agent Ratings

Over the past few years, we have seen a shift in professional technology solutions for real estate that has been mostly characterized by "the move to mobile." Generally speaking, applications that do not work on mobile devices, either using a mobile browser or using a mobile app, are being cast aside. But there are secondary realities about the shift that many software companies seem to have neglected, namely, contact record sync.

Everyone who has a mobile device understands that contact records that are created on any device need to be synchronized across all devices. Having some contacts in one location and not another is paralyzing to any professional who needs to communicate with anyone, anytime. Given the rapid changes in contact records, it is too difficult to manually keep records synchronized, so it is fully automated today.

In the old Palm Pilot days, contact record sync was a challenging and broken experience. Now it happens easily by leveraging the cloud. Understanding this, one would imagine that companies offering software as a service[...]

Tagged: Broker Editorial CRM IDX Mobile Applications

Are you using your iPad to its fullest potential? Working on the run has become second nature to most real estate pros and mobile devices such as the iPad have made this possible.

Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Curaytor.com, and guest speaker for Homes.com at the 2012 NAR Conference, presented his recommendations on how real estate professionals can maximize the iPad. If you missed the live presentations at NAR, check out the video to see Mackin's presentation "Mastering the iPad in 15 Minutes" to learn the ins and outs of using the iPad to your advantage!

[...]

Tagged: Education Mobile Technology Mobile Applications

iLoader for iPhone is the perfect companion for your iPhone/iPod Touch, and it completely changes the experience of uploading content to Facebook from the ground up. The concept of iLoader could not be simpler. It is an upload tool to enable you to quickly and easily share your iPhone pictures and videos with your friends on the go. The thing is, the app is so good, I might start using it when not on the go as well.

What does iLoader offer that the highly popular Facebook app does not? The answer? A lot! For starters, just like on a computer, you can select as many photos as you want to upload, and in one action, upload them all. With iLoader, you can easily tag the photos, give them captions, as well as create an album or add pictures to an existing one.

Not only can you actually upload pictures easily, but using iLoader, you can notify whoever you want that you have uploaded a new album to Facebook. Well, that is not completely accurate... Unfortunately, the Tagged: Social Media Facebook Photography Mobile Applications

A REALTOR®'s most valuable business asset is their real estate CRM database. In fact, it's the only tangible asset an agent has. Things like experience and track record are intangible assets.

The more quality contacts in your real estate CRM database, the more repeat client transactions and referrals will likely come your way. Of course, you need to keep in touch with these contacts over time and do so in the right ways.

But perhaps you're just starting out in real estate sales and don't have a lot of people in your real estate sphere of influence (SOI). Or, maybe you've been in the business a while, but don't have as many contacts (leads, clients, business-to-business referral sources etc.) as you'd like. If this is the case, this blog post is for you!

4 Ways to Grow Your Real Estate CRM Database

1. Do an inventory of your professional and personal network

If you take the time to think of everyone you know who are not[...]

Tagged: CRM Lead Management

Some of us are naturally tech savvy. For the rest, we can remember the not-too-distant past, where we were all trying to figure out how to setup our websites and blog efficiently. For those of us in the latter category, it seems like just around the time we began to master how to place content on the Web, understand SEO and even pay for some traffic, along came social sites. That's when things, once again, seemed more complicated.

Your Real Estate Blog Can Be Shared Using Social Media Sites

The good news is that social media actually makes things easier. The even better news is that it is 100% cost-free to its users. This is significant when you consider that social media, through sharing options, facilitates the distribution of your content to a wider audience without costing you a penny. Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Diigo, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon[...]

Tagged: Social Media Website/Blog Plugins

In a release today, Trulia announced that they are buying Market Leader. As a result, Trulia has taken ownership of a brokerage. That means that they can compete with other online brokerages like Redfin, ZipRealty, Sawbuck, Movoto, and others. However, I do not think that is their strategy.

There is a persistent paradigm emerging in the portal business where these companies combine the portal with technology products and services offered to agents and brokers. Operating a portal that relies on ad spending alone does not seem to be sustainable for the type of growth and stable recurring revenue that investors require. Advertising has, and always will be, a volatile business.

Offering deeper levels of products and services to agents is a classic cross-sell opportunity. Move was the first portal to recognize this strategy, and has a[...]

Tagged: Broker Editorial Reporting Listing Syndication

This post comes to us from the Contactually blog. Going to Midyear? Visit Contactually at Booth 635!

The Problem with Large Networks

Let's face it: many of us have large networks that violate the principle behind Dunbar's number, which says we can only actively manage 144 relationships. If you, like me, have over 3,000 contacts, you're probably in a bit of a bind because there's no way you can properly manage your group without tools or strategy. One of the most effective concepts is to focus your time on the people that matter most to you. What matters most to you depends on the objectives you're currently pursing. To define your relationship objectives, read this blog post to help you evaluate the things for which your network can help you.

You Know your Relationship Objective: Now What?

Tagged: CRM Lead Management

Here at Homes.com, we know there are many challenges facing brokerages in the current marketplace, and one particularly difficult challenge is increasing agent productivity. As a broker, you must properly equip agents with the needed skills and tools, as well as inspire them to be productive members of the team. This is not only essential to your business as a whole, but to your bottom line also.

As real estate heads into the busy summer season, applying some of these business strategies will help motivate and empower your agents and increase their productivity.

1. Creating Competition

Competition drives people to grow, overcome odds, and achieve goals. Creating healthy competition in the office is a great way to motivate your agents to produce more, but it will also re-energize your workforce. Think about small contests like, "The agent that gets the first signed contract wins a $100.00 gift card," or "The agent that gets the first referral this month wins a $25.00 Starbucks gift card." These small goals and monetary incentives[...]

Tagged: Broker Online Marketing

For a small business, diving head first into the world of digital marketing may be a little daunting. SEO, Facebook ads, video, content, Twitter, the list can get lengthy—fast. That said, there are a handful of "digital housekeeping" to-do items that every small business can tackle to make sure their footprint is, at minimum, accurate and useful.

Google Your Business...

... because you can bet your potential customers are. The first page of search results can give you a pretty good snapshot of how your business is depicted on the web. What shows up? Of the results presented, which can you edit, claim or update for free? Anything negative or inaccurate? Do you show up on Google's map?

Set Up a Website

If you fall into the category of "I don't need a[...]

Tagged: Advice Internet Online Marketing SEO

This post comes to us from the Contactually blog:

Although there are many who believe the days of live event marketing are over, event marketing is still a great opportunity to find qualified leads. Results from a study done by Hubspot showed that of the six channels marketing campaigns rely on, email is ranked first, followed by websites, social media, word-of-mouth, direct mail and telemarketing.

Email campaigns do have certain benefits that other channels lack when it comes to your marketing campaign. Using your contact database to optimize your ROI is easier than generating new leads, however this does not mean that you can type out your email and be done. Here are some tips to ensure that your email campaign achieves the desired results.

1. Segment your Contacts

An email campaign does not mean emailing every[...]

Tagged: Advice Online Marketing

At one point or another, when meeting with a REALTOR® about marketing, the conversation about technology comes up. It comes up for two reasons. First off, technology and marketing go hand-in-hand in today's very technical marketplace. Secondly though, people always have feelings about what companies are great and what ones should be avoided.

For instance, our cloud-based real estate CRM solution syncs your calendar, tasks and contacts. The two most common ways to do that are through Outlook (installed on your computer), or with Gmail (a cloud service that hosts your data for you). While many agents are more than happy to have Gmail take care of this for them, a good number of you express to me your concerns that "big brother" shouldn't have access to everything about you, your interactions with your clients, and your other personal data.

So how do you know who is protecting you and who isn't? Luckily, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has your interests[...]

Tagged: Tech Services Internet Security

When offering advice on their craft, most writers, authors and journalists will say, "Write what you know." This same advice can be applied to your real estate content strategy. A REALTOR®'s next question might be, "Well, what do I know?" The answer is, a whole lot.

Let's start with your skills and experience. If you're using ReachFactor to market your real estate agent reviews, you are probably aware that your clients appreciate your knowledge of the process, dedication to customer service, attention to detail and so on. Taking a moment in the middle of your busy day to reflect on how you do what you do is an excellent beginning to your content strategy in terms of what you're posting on your blog and social media sites.

Next, and most importantly, is a local focus. This is the part of your[...]

Tagged: Blogging Advice Communication Online Marketing

Did you know that it's only in the United States that a real estate broker or agent can post a listing on a national portal for free? It's true – in most other countries you have to pay to put your listing online, just like we used to pay for a listing in the newspaper.

But that doesn't mean that you will always get the leads from these websites without paying. But hey, we don't get the leads from our listings on broker and agent IDX websites, do we? So what's the difference? I guess it depends on how you look at this. Some brokers feel that they should be entitled to the leads from their listings, whereas other brokers feel that their main responsibility is to increase the chances of attracting a buyer to the property, regardless of who brings the buyer.

That's up to you to decide, but for those of us who do send[...]

Tagged: Broker Advice Listing Syndication Online Marketing