RE BarCamp Philadelphia #rebcphl

Yesterday was the first ever RE Bar Camp in Philadelphia!!! What a great day - packed with loads of social media know-how and experts galore. Got to see and meet some of my biggest geek crushes in the flesh :)

GPAR hosted roughly 300 campers and the event used 6 of their office/classroom/boardroom spaces. There is no set agenda, in fact, anyone can run a session. Most of the day yesterday there were 6 sessions running simultaneously on various topics. Some of the sessions were more of a presentation, while other sessions were Q & A based or more of a discussion.

To see the pics, go to www.flickr.com and type in #rebcphl in the search box.

To see the Twitter flow & ebb go to: search.twitter.com and type in #rebcphl in the search box








Dakno TV streamed a bunch of the sessions live yesterday ... I will post the link once they put the recorded sessions up.

Next time - I want YOU with me! Already I am hearing talk of a possible RE Bar Camp before the 2009 Triple Play (one of my fav events of the YEAR) ... I will keep you posted.

Virtual Tours are Dead

Yeah I said it. D-E-A-D ... tired, flat and so over. Be DYNAMIC with video!!!

Video is where it's at - whether you are posting to the Coldwell Banker "On Location" YouTube channel or to your very own channel, video is fast becoming an essential marketing piece. Now, since I have been preaching in your offices about creating and using video, a few of our agents have listened and recorded some videos. To those agents I say, YOU ROCK and thanks for getting out there and for sharing your videos with me.

Today, at our Manager's Boot Camp, our Hearthside managers broke into teams and recorded video segments on our Flip cams - SO FUN. See me if you need a good laugh ...

I wanted to mention few things though that I have noticed from today's experiment and from the wonderfully adventurous agents who have sent me videos ... just some of my humble observations & opinions.

How about a list? I know you heart my lists.

1. Turn on all of the lights in the home. I mean all - every last one you can find.

2. Take your video in segments if possible, rather than all in one continuous shot.

3. Move the camera SLOWER than you think you should. If you think you are moving it slowly, move it slower - really.

4. Use a tripod and leave it on the ground so you are only moving the camera side to side (again,think segments), move the tripod when you are ready for your next shot (or segment).

5. Speak clearly and loudly or if possible, record your voice over the video when editing.

6. Definitely - definitely - definitely use your voice for an audio description (just say NO to cheesy music and/or silence).

7. Keep it short or you will lose your audience.

Need more information on the Coldwell Banker "On Location" YouTube channel? Get it here.

Want to practice? Look for me in your offices - I carry my Flip cam with me and we can practice to your hearts content!

Google Earth Project Maps the Fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan

Happy Memorial Day

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time ... Google Earth has created a map of all of our fallen servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. The project is called, "Map the Fallen" and gives you the stories behind their lives - plus photos, comments from family and friends and how they died.

Go to http://earth.google.com/ and download the latest version of Google Earth.

Google Earth Project Maps the Fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan

Posted using ShareThis

Get the most out of Zillow

If you haven't been there in awhile, it's time to go back and check out Zillow. I received an email from Sara Bonert at Zillow on Friday with links to a few helpful videos to get you started. I have embedded these videos below for you convenience.

To begin, set up a profile and get involved in the conversation in the Advice section. In this clip, Sara explains how to set up a profile and she gives you the skinny on Zillow Advice.



Zillow also offers free marketing tools - check out the full list on Zillow Pros.

Next, begin marketing yourself on the site. In this clip, Sara explains a few of the ways real estate agents can market themselves on Zillow. Keep in mind that our listings are already being syndicated to the site, so you will not need to manually post your listings.



Finally, get all of the details you need on the "zestimate". Sara explains the "zestimate" - including how Zillow calculates the number, when they update the information and the challenges of accuracy with the zestimate.

Watch this if nothing else - it's important to know how Zillow comes up with the number and the issues of accuracy involved.



For more information, check out the Zillow News channel on YouTube.

Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks Sara :)

FriendFeed Fantasticness

We've talked about why I'm over Twitter ... go back and read that post if you need a refresher AND some of the cool things you can do with FriendFeed. While monkeying around in FF this morning, I found another - super cool - FF feature. Let's discuss ...

So the main problem with micro-blogging is that SO many people are writing, tweeting and commenting and this can get pretty noisy. Even if you are not following many people - but one of the people you are following is a mad poster and has lots of connections, those posts will clog your screen.

I am a big fan of groups - with all of your social networking efforts - as this will help to organize your connections and the information you see. Creating groups on FF is essential for your sanity. That said, you can also create information filters within your FF account.

Did I lose you? Think about what you are interested in ... no, think about what I am interested in for a minute. I'll tell you - real estate, technology, web 2.o (surprise surprise). So, within FF, I can create a filter to show me any posts that contain those particular words. Pretty fab right???

To set up a filter:
- Click on Advanced Search (next to the Search box at the top of your FF page)
- Select the radio button "All FF Users" for Include Entries from
- In the keywords box, type in whatever you want to see
- Click Search






















Like what you see in your search results? Save it!
- Click on Save this Search (top of your FF page)

Need to tweak it? Go back and play around with your search until you come up with the results you want. My advice? Keep your searches broad in the beginning, you can always edit them later.

The result? A handy menu with all of your filters - click on a filter to see posts on your topics from all FriendFeed users. Woot!!!

"They go to the Internet real estate agent"

Happy Friday!!! Mr. Beadling asked me to share this article on my blog today. Personally, I think it is a MUST READ. Really. Do it, I know it's Friday, right before Memorial Day weekend (hey, I'm writing this post - hello?) ...

The Online Marketing Difference: Traditional Agents Earn $36,700 Annually; Internet Agents Earn $100,000+ Annually | RISMedia

What stuck with me? One line - "They go to the Internet real estate agent."

Woot! That's where I come in. Let me help you get there.

Have a great weekend :)

Load Your Listings in the Facebook Marketplace

A Review - the Facebook Marketplace

Use it - love it. Ha ha it's fun, super cool and EASY peasy. Okay, let's run through the steps shall we ... ???

First of all you should know that Marketplace is a Facebook application by Oodle. If you have never been, type "marketplace" into your FB Search box. In the search results, select Marketplace - powered by Oodle and then Add the application.

In the Housing section ...

- Click Post

- Click Sell It

- Type in what you are selling, "a cool pad" and click Post

A new box will open: Sell It - Details

- Type in the answer to, "Why are you selling it"?

- Type in the price

- Use the drop-down to select category

- Enter your location

- Type in your description

- Keep the My Profile box checked off

- Click Browse to upload your pics (4)

- Click Submit

So, what are you waiting for ... ???

Home Retriever

Did you know that Coldwell Banker Hearthside, Realtors now has a Home Retriever on our website? Your consumers can sign up to receive new listings that will be emailed to them automatically from our site. Sign up is easy ... go to http://www.cbhearthside.com/ and click on the Home Retriever.

Sign up in just a few steps:

Check out the CBH Home Retriever today!!!

PowerPointing Fool

I am a PowerPointing Fool ... writing classes like a mad woman this month. Since so much of our Coldwell Banker & Hearthside marketing materials are in PowerPoint, many of you want to know how you can be a PowerPointing Fool too.

Of course, we have a class for this - PowerPoint Plus - run by the Fool herself. Check the company calendar for upcoming dates. Can't wait for me? Here are a few more PowerPoint resources ...

PowerPoint 2003 Courses - Microsoft self-paced online training
PowerPoint 2007 Courses - Microsoft self-paced online training

Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 Roadmap
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Roadmap

Microsoft PowerPoint Templates - all versions

Hey guess what, your brand, Coldwell Banker has LOADS of free classes on all of the Microsoft Office products on Coldwell Banker University.

Go to > cbworks.coldwellbanker.com
Mouse over LEARN
Click on Coldwell Banker University
Click on Course Catalog
Click on FREE Self-Paced Learning
- Yeah FREE check it -
Click on Office Productivity
Click on Presentations - LOADS, and I mean loads of classes!

Be a PowerPointing Fool.

Get an Retaggr Card

For those of you that have accounts on various social media sites, sharing those profiles and letting your pals know you are out there can be a daunting process. Consider signing up with Retaggr and get an online business card of sorts that contains links to all of your web 2.0 tools.

Add your basic info, a photo, your office address (anything you would put on a paper business card) and then add your LinkedIn and Facebook profile links, your Flickr or Picasa account, your Twitter or FriendFeed and just about anything else you can think of ...

The benefit? Retaggr is FREE and easy to set up. You can create a custom URL with your information or get the code for a nifty little card. They also have full blown profile pages - super fun - that you can use to display your information. Let people know where they can find you with Retaggr!

Use the custom URL you create in your email signature, on your paper business cards, and just about anywhere else.

http://www.retaggr.com/card/StefanieHahn

Use the card (you will need to embed a tiny bit of code) for more impact ...



Super fun right??? You will love it :) Happy Monday!!!

Consider a Vlog

Seems like more and more of you are asking me about starting a blog these days. Admittedly, I try to talk you out of it. If you are not already inclined to writing, meaning, you journal, write long emails, and generally have a lot to say ... this will be tough for you. Also important - you should write well - I'm talking grammar, spelling, flow, all of it.

I understand why you want to put yourself through this torture, I know what you are hearing out there. Homepages are dead. Blogs are everywhere.

There are a few things you should you know ...
- No one will read it, unless you promote the heck out of it and manage to get folks there
- Once you build it and they come, you need to be cool with comments/challenges/criticisms
- You will lose credibility fast if you don't write posts regularly

Still not convinced? Good - see me and I will get you started.

My thought ... consider a vlog (video blog) instead. You can record a video in a few minutes (heck Ian Watts does it in his car) and upload it to your very own YouTube channel (easy peasy). Bypass the writing, agonizing and re-writing. Sure you still have to promote it, but video is hot and text is, well kinda flat.

Who's in?

Social Media Time Management

One question I get all the time ... "how do I find time to use all of these social media tools"? In fact, just saw an article pop up in my Facebook inbox from one of our agents on this very subject. Everyone wants to know - where do I fit this in when I am already so busy???

For me, it's just part of my life. For better or for worse, I update statuses, upload photos and message with friends constantly throughout the day and night. Note to self - less uploading :)

For you, well, I just can't say. My advice would be to find a healthy balance that works for you.

The example I always give our agents involves my own personal shortcomings with talking on the phone and checking my voicemail. Email, text or instant message me and I will get right back to you. But call me or leave me a voicemail and forget it. It's not on purpose, I just can't answer my phone most of the day and when I can, I'm in the car (usually speeding on some major artery). If I listen to a voicemail when I am driving - forget it, once I exit my car, your message has been wiped clean from my mind ... sad, but true. I need things in writing!

We all have to find the healthy balance that works for us (me included), so when you find it - let me know!

Your Summer Reading List

Ditch those paperbacks and pull out your laptop! Before you head down the shore this summer, check out the sites below and get your summer reading list ready in advance! We're reading blogs this summer folks ... You want to know how I know what's up - the blogosphere.

You've gotta see regator - by far my fav starting point on the interweb each morning/noon/night. Create a free account, save keywords (realestate, technology ...) and even save your fav channels (or categories). This site is fantastic. I mean it. Best ever.
















Don't miss out on Alltop - (as in all the top stories) search for anything, browse by category or alphabetically. Create an account and mark your favs or bookmark the blogs individually.

Check out Technorati - search for topics and blogs that interest you and start clicking. The Technorati homepage will give you the latest headlines and any blog posts that are rising by attention. Find a blog you like and mark it as a favorite or get the RSS feed.

PS: Keep the sand on your keyboard to a minimum.

Control Your Apps

If you enjoy a game of Bejeweled Blitz, Mafia Wars or any of the other thousands of games and applications on Facebook - this post is for you. Don't act all surprised - you know who you are!

I won't tell you not to play these games - just to control your updates ...

Let's get to it.

- Click on Applications (lower left of FB)

- Click Edit Applications

- All of your applications will be listed here, pick one of those pesky games and ...

- Click Edit Settings

A box will pop up with 3 tabs - Profile, Bookmark and Additional Permissions.

On the 1st tab, the Profile tab -

- You may have a "Privacy" option dropdown (use this to narrow down who can see this application on your profile)

Let's focus on the 3rd tab, Additional Permissions -

- Uncheck the box that says "allow this application to publish stories to my wall"

Finally, one last way to keep your application updates in check ...

Lots of people are using the Living Social application - you know, pick 5 of this or that. If you do - that's fine, I'm totally down, even post that sucker on your wall if you want me to know "5 Things You Can't Leave the House Without", the "5 Things You Hate that Everyone Else Seems to Love" or your "Top 5 Celebrity Crushes".

Remember that you always have a choice - see the Publish or Skip buttons? Pick "Skip" to avoid posting this sucker on your wall.

Many of these apps will keep pushing you to publish or share - how else can they get the word out? Makes sense, but don't fall for it.

SKIP. Got it? TGIF (almost) ...

LinkedIn Snags & Snafus

I wanted to address three of the most common questions I get in our offices with regard to LinkedIn and offer a few humble suggestions.

1. I think I have two LinkedIn accounts?!

This happens ALL the time. You sign up on LinkedIn with one email address, build up your profile, make some connections and then you're seeing double ... Usually, creating two accounts is the direct result of not adding all of your "associated" email addresses into your one (and first) account. When someone emails you the invitation to join LinkedIn, you confuse it for a connection request and end up signing up for LinkedIn again with a different email address than you used to create your initial account. The good news is, there is an easy fix - associate all of your email addresses with one LinkedIn profile.

- Click on Account & Settings (top-right~ish of LinkedIn page)

- Under the Personal Information section, click on Email Addresses

- Type in any additional email addresses you have (one at a time)

- Click Add Email Address

- LinkedIn will send an email to that address to verify that you own it

- Click the "verify" link in the LinkedIn email to add the email to your account

Now, when someone who only knows your Yahoo email address trys to connect with you on LinkedIn (which you initially set-up using your Hearthside email address) you will show up as already being on LinkedIn, connectable and of course, super cool.

To remove those pesky "extra" accounts ...

- Login to the "offending account"

- Click on Account & Settings

- Under Personal Information, click Close Your Account

- Select your reason and click Continue

- Click Confirm to close the extra account

2. I signed up for LinkedIn and nothing happened?!

I know that I've told you that LinkedIn can be much less interactive than Facebook, but you will be required to put some effort forth if you expect to get anything in return. Build your profile, make it ROCK, I want to see full, complete Google-tastic profiles. Then, REACH OUT, don't just hang back and wait for the connections to roll in. Send a few invites out, reach out to past clients, co-workers and classmates, sync your Outlook or webmail contacts and be social.

- Click on the green Add Connections button on the left side menu

- Add contacts manually (ugh) or by importing, checking your past collegues and classmates, checking your webmail and/or Outlook and finally, if all else fails, you can upload a .csv file!

See me for more on .csv files ...

Important note: You have the option to add a personal message with your invite. Do it. Trust me. Take 2 seconds and add a little personalization.

3. I'm on LinkedIn, I have connections, now what???

Glad you asked ... we will address this more in "Social Networking - What's Next" (see the EDU calendar for upcoming dates). A few suggestions from this little geek:

> Update your status ... tell me that you worked with a great contractor, negotiated a tough deal or found a great new website. Keep your updates relevant, professional and brief.

> Check out the Q & A Section on LinkedIn (click on Answers) and get involved in the discussions going on all over LinkedIn.

> Give and get recommendations - click on Contacts > Recommendations to get started.

> Create a custom LinkedIn URL (Account & Settings > Public Profile)

> Add your LinkedIn URL to your email signature, your website and your social profiles.

> Check out some of the LinkedIn Groups (Search > Search Groups) and join a few that interest you, then get involved in the discussions (or start your own).

Had enough of me yet? See ya tomorrow :)

Tax Credit Info from NAR

Looking for tax credit info for your consumers? You should be ... I will help you get started here:

The Basics - 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
In Depth - 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
Printable Home Buyer Tax Credit FAQ

Tax Credit Webinar

Tax Credit Webinar Q & A

Use the Tax Credit as a Down Payment

Get educated - be informed. Do it :)

Tag that Post!

Since it's Monday, we're going to go slow. Rough weekend :)

What is a tag in the Web 2.0 World? Tags are keywords that are associated with a post (photo, video or text) that help to identify and classify the post. When I write a blog post here, I tag (or label) the post with keywords that (I hope) will help a reader to identify what I am roughly covering in the post. So, for this post, words like: tags, web2.0 - would both work.

You can tag photos and videos in much the same way. Let's say I post a photo from the Coldwell Banker IBC on Flickr ... I might use tags like: ColdwellBanker, IBC, SanAntonio, 2009, etc. This gives the viewer some idea of what's going on in the photo.

The point of tagging is to group similar topics together. So, while I am at a conference, everyone might be micro-blogging to Twitter using another form of a tag, known as a "hashtag" to group all of their related posts from our conference - something like #ibc2009. The # sign identifies this abbreviation as a hashtag. Anyone posting about the conference will include the hashtag in their posts. As an outsider, even if you don't use Twitter, you can still see what's percolating by going to: http://search.twitter.com/ and typing in a hashtag.

Hashtags can be used for just about anything - from swine flu to Star Trek. Check out what's trending (or which hashtags are currently getting the most use) here: http://hashtags.org/.

Most of you are familiar with tagging from your social networking on Facebook, where you can be tagged in a photo, video or note. This tag works in much the same way, the person tagging you is associating you with the post.

Some you are using tags if you use Gmail. Gmail uses "tags" in much the same way you would use folders in Outlook. The advantages of the tag here is that you are able to tag an email with several tags, as opposed to moving the email into a single identifying folder.

You can also geotag a post - adding geographical information to your photo or video. If you were creating a listing video to upload on Coldwell Banker's "On Location" You Tube channel, geotagging allows the consumer to see the location of the property.

Websites and blogs that use tags will often display a tag cloud of their most popular tags. Tags that appear larger are the most popular. The easiest way to think of tags? Keywords.

Tagging out ... -S

Moms Rock

Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mom's out there! Nice work :)

I am intrigued by moms ... it seems an impossible job, with endless hours and little appreciation. I am especially impressed with the moms who are rockin the blogosphere. How do they do it? When do they find the time???

I have fish and have a hard time fitting a blog post each day :(

Pathetic, I know.

Moms are truly a force to be reckoned with ... and not to be under-estimated. We know that Moms wield economic power, especially when it comes to the major purchases. Not to mention that single women buy homes two to one over single men!

What a great real estate niche - working with moms. Realto-mom? Ma-gent? Not my strength, I know.

Want to know that Moms are blogging about? Check out: http://moms.alltop.com/ for a huge, categorized list of some super cool Mom blogs.

Phave Philly Sites

Hey, it's Saturday night, so let's have some PHUN. Here are a few of my phave Philly sites ...

- Philadelphia Magazine
- When In Philly (blog)
- Philly Fun Guide
- Philly History
- Attytood (blog)

a pic from today's game

Coldwell and Banker Ringtones

Hey there is a big yellow ball in the sky today!!! Finally some SUN! Happy weekend :)

Okay, got a little email today from Coldwell Banker about new ringtones you can download. They are pretty cheesy, but for those of you that bleed blue and white, a must download.

They are in the classic style of Mr. Coldwell and Mr. Banker having a chat ...

LeadRouter http://limelinx.com/files/7063fa6794da60dbfc12b550c3da4caf
New Smartphone http://www.limelinx.com/files/0b6629d78a88cf8c691cdcdaaae5f4b1
Get the Telephone http://www.limelinx.com/files/3ea0ecd554e500e03577344df0ba4511

Copy the link for the ringtone above that you want and send it in an email to an email account that you can READ on your phone. Open the email and click on the link, then download and download file ... the file should save in with your other ringtones.

Have a good one!!!

Scratching the Free Surface

Agents meet with me all the time and tell me that they need to "work on their internet presence" and "what should they do"???

They come in expecting to talk about buying a tricked-out website, keyword advertising and blogging. Typically, they want me to share everything in my brain by osmosis in 15 minutes so they can get to their next appointment. I think most of them walk away a little surprised ... I am rockin the osmosis thing.

Not really.

What I tell them is the same thing I will you here - use the free stuff first.

Let's do this in list form, shall we?

1. Edit, maintain and use your CBH Agent Website
2. Sign up for profiles on Trulia, Zillow, Inman, etc. AND participate in the discussions going on
3. Get a Google Profile - http://www.google.com/profiles
4. Sign up on YouTube - create and update a community, agent profile or listing video(s)
5. Go to www.technorati.com - find and bookmark a few real estate blogs that interest you, then participate in the discussions on those blogs (please be relevant)
6. Do some social networking on LinkedIn, Active Rain and Facebook
7. Get involved with micro-blogging on Twitter or FriendFeed
8. Upload and share listing photos on Flickr - www.flickr.com

And I am just scratching the FREE surface here folks. Seriously. Work on those 8 things and then we'll talk more :)

Do MORE with your ePropertySites

Happy Hump Day!

I wanted to let everyone know that we have a very special Trademarks Marketing Group session coming up that will focus solely on ePropertySites. If you have been buried under a statue of St.Joseph ... ePropertySites is a new program that Mortgage Mobility has given you - yes YOU!

We are focusing on 4 pieces of the program, plus we'll have a review of the basics for anyone that needs it.

eProp 101 - how to get on, get in and get rolling with the program
Flip Books - setting up and using an eProp Flip Book
Broadcast My Move - help your sellers with this fun-packed feature
social posting - how & where to post your URLS, sites, flip books on your social sites
listing presentation - how to use eProps with your listing presentation

If you've never been to a Trademarks Marketing Group session before, you are in for a treat! The training is a "cracker barrel" style layout, with all 5 sessions running simultaneously. We will run each topic 5 or 6 times, depending on the number of attendees. Each topic presentation will run 20 - 25 minutes in length. Catch all 5 topics or just hit the ones you need.

See you there!

Trademarks Marketing Group - Special ePropertySites Session
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at the Richboro Office

More info coming soon :)

Coldwell Banker - On Location

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!! I hope you are enjoying a margarita or 3 this evening ...

Today, Coldwell Banker officially launched their new You Tube channel - www.youtube.com/coldwellbanker!

I know, I know ... what? More online techno-shenanigans? YEP. Let's take a peek and I will break it down for you. Here's the deal, You Tube is the second largest search engine (behind Google) on the web. Think you need to be there?
















What should you be videoing and posting? Well, to start - promote your listings, then maybe a video about a specific town or neighborhood, even a video about YOU. Then use the Coldwell Banker upload tool - located on CB Works - to post your video to the CB channel.

Login to CB Works
Mouse over Manage My Business
Click on My Tools
Click on You Tube Video Upload
Click Accept (after reading all of the terms of course)
Select Office or Community (your listings will go under Office)
Browse for your video and Upload

Where do I get started? If you don't already have a video camera, check out Flip Video for tiny digital cameras at a great price.

Check out a listing video here:


Check out a community video here:

Netiquette on Facebook

Okay folks, I totally heart that you are embracing social networking and putting yourselves and your business out there, however, there is a right and wrong way to go about your social postings. We will be addressing more social netiquette in your offices, but let's get started here first ...

You don't want to be "sold to" on Facebook and guess what, neither do your Facebook pals.

Warm me up first, start with a little hello message to my Facebook inbox or wall when you ask me to be friends. Then take me dinner, show me what you are all about with personal photos, your favorite music, movies and books, and then, if you've done it right - I will ask you about real estate.

Of course you can post your listings, share your listing videos and tours, even give me links to get more information. There are loads of cool apps you can use to promote your business and with the new Fan Pages - oh the FUN you could have there ... but some agents just don't get it.

The connections you make on Facebook will cheer your new listings, give you a thumbs up or a comment and you will gain their trust and loyalty over time. Facebook can help you grow your sphere of influence, change the perception of real estate in our area and reach out to people in a new way.

If you are NOT having fun, you're not doing it right.

Please remember that Facebook is a social networking site. BE SOCIAL. I know you can, you do it everyday with your clients. It's no different here - talk about things other than real estate. All business is social - whether online or offline.

Otherwise, I'll break up with you on Facebook.