Emerging Technologies with Chris Smith of Inman Next and Tech Savvy Agent

It’s an all too-familiar tale. The minute you think you’ve got a hold of the latest, greatest, ground-breaking technology another one comes out! Or the minute you have your Business Page just right, Zuckerberg decides it’s time for a change. Keeping up with the Facebook’s, Twitter’s and Google’s of the world in an effort to reach more clients online often becomes all-encompassing and sometimes overwhelming. Where are my current and prospective clients?  how much time should I spend getting to know the new technologies, and what will my return on investment (ROI) be?

Thankfully Chris Smith, chief evangelist for Inman News, co-creator of Inman NEXT and author of the popular blog Tech Savvy Agent, took the stage at Mega Technology Camp to present his vision for the future of technology and its impact on the day-to-day business of real estate professionals. Here he is giving his two-cents (worth so much more!) on what’s to come and how smart agents can tap in and effectively leverage technology in their business.

The  panels, speakers and presentations at Mega Technology Camp were chock-full of innovative ideas and insights on today’s technology. From Getting Found, to Getting Social, and Getting Local to Getting Mobile, the audience walked away with more than a few new tactics to implement in their business from some of the industry’s technology leaders. Vice President of MAPS Technology Ben Kinney presented his perspective on search engine optimization and what real estate professionals can do to get to top now and in the future.

KW’s Vice President of Publishing, Jay Papasan, hit the stage to talk about social media, KLOUT and the numbers of Facebook, then led a panel about social media with KW’s Executive Director of Technology, Cary Sylvester, and KW associates Seychelle Van Poole Engelhard, Liz Landry and Matt Fettick. Here are our top takeaways from the panel:

-Facebook posts get 52% of its clicks within the first 62 minutes.

-83% of businesses use Facebook.

-If you create a page, engage your audience!

-Photos get the most interaction on Facebook.

-Although the majority of us post links, people are the least likely to interact on those posts.

-When vlogging, don’t record more than 90 seconds, power pack the first 20-30 secs and add a call to action at the end.

-Facebook is not a listing feed! If you are going to post your listing…it better be interesting…like this one.

-Don’t be all business all the time. Use the 6:1 ratio…with 6 personal posts to 1 business.

-Ask for what you want…if you want more comments and likes…just ask!

-Go where your audience is-and keep in mind it might not be the latest social media tool.

For more, follow Mega Camp on Twitter by searching #KWMC.

Check out Mega Tech Keynote Speaker Juliette Powell, author of 33 Million People in the Room – we had a chance to interview her right before she went on stage.

Here are some additional social media notes from Juliette on how to get into the conversation:

• The key to building your social capital is to add value to your community. The more value you add, the more they start talking about you.
• Where do you begin? With the people around you. They have a huge influence on how you see yourself and what you are capable of.
• I want to hear from someone who’s on the inside; someone who gets it.
• Position yourself to become the ‘it’ person. Social media has a low barrier to entry, and gives you the potential to become a ‘microcelebrity’ – a person of influence and expertise within a particular community.
• When the market goes down, the value of relationships goes up. The more relationships you’re involved in the better positioned you are.
• Studies show that engagement correlates to financial performance.