Rules of Engagement and Opportunities For Mortgage Professionals At RETechSouth

I’m so excited to head back to Atlanta for another Real Estate Conference this year.

Just as MRev ATL was tailored to the specific needs of mortgage professionals, RE Tech South is all about bringing the top real estate professionals in the industry together for a few days of intense hands-on training and networking.

Loan Officers – If you’re near the Atlanta area, I highly recommend joining us at RE Tech South on March 25-26.

About RETechSouth:

The #RETSO community is an advanced group of real estate professionals dedicated to pushing each other forward and challenging the status quo.

Technology is a catalyst to the changing real estate industry, and we believe mastering a few of the tools and techniques available, will have an immediate impact on your business and success.

We also know that real estate is a relationship business, and we hope to strengthen the connections to each other, while sharing how to properly engage.

RETSO is the largest real estate technology conference in the Southeast. Thousands have traveled to Atlanta to learn the latest technology tips, engage in discussions about how to enhance their business, talk with vendors about how to improve their products, network with the smartest people in the industry, and of course party together!

All RETSO Team Members are unpaid volunteers who care more about raising the bar on the real estate industry than their own personal gain.  They also have a Booster Club for those who have a similar passion for real estate technology and REtechSouth.

Why Should Loan Officers Care About ReTechSouth?

Well, Real Estate Agents will be there.

Hopefully, simply hanging out with real estate agents for a few days should be all the motivation you need to find your way to Atlanta at the end of the month.

However, your purpose should not be to hand out a ton of cards or flyers and pitch rates.

Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to hear exactly what challenges and goals these top agents are paying attention to in 2010.

I’m confident that you’ll be able to pick up on a few proven social media, live seminars or broker management strategies that will benefit your referral partners back home.

Ask some of these agents about their favorite lenders that they trust so that you can improve your agent relationships.

For those mortgage bloggers out there, this conference is a perfect place to meet some agents that have powerful high traffic / ranking real estate blogs whom would probably be interested in a guest contributor.

I’ll be presenting on this strategy in Atlanta, so here are some related links if you’re interested in preparing for my class:

• Be Where The Buyers Are – Write On High Traffic Real Estate Blogs
• Partnering With Social Media Savvy Agents Online
• 7 Strategies For Stalking An Agent Online
• Meeting Agents The Google Reader Way
• How To Read 50 Articles In An Hour

What’s On My Agenda?

I was just going through the RETechSouth custom schedule, so I thought I’d share a few of the classes that I’m looking forward to.  Unfortunately, some of these overlap, so I’ll probably have to make a game time decision.

Either way, here’s the list of some class topics that caught my initial attention:

1.  Master Jedi Tips for Conferences:

Much to learn you still have. Help you we can.  Conferences are expensive. Learn to leverage social media tools in order get the most ROI on your investment.

What used to be a one or two day event, can now be stretched into a multi-week engagement opportunity because of tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare which enable you to build stronger connections, provide greater value, and learn more than was possible than just a few years ago.

You’ll leave this session with an action plan you can put into immediate use to get the most possible out of you investment in RE Tech South and future conferences.

Speakers: Andy Kaufman, Stacey Harmon

2.  Firefox Tweaks & Browsing Tips:

Learn how to distribute this material in such a way that will influence recipients to share it exactly as presented to them.

Speaker: Jason Berman

3.  Social Media Semantics:

From tweets to posts, @Nik_Nik will share how to make better connections within the social networks you know and love…Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.! So, you’ve got profiles….and you’re “engaging”…now what?!

Learn strategies for creating and sharing more compelling content! And please, please…have some freakin’ fun along the way!

Speaker: Nicole Nicolay

4.  Facebook for Business:

Advanced Facebook development and marketing strategies.  (I’m hoping to gain a little insight about what agents are being taught on the subject)

Speaker: Amy Chorew

5.  Graphic Design – Blogs

Learn what photos and graphics will enhance your blog post. Which image and graphic sizes are best and how to size them correctly.  Software you can do this with that you probably already have. And common design mistakes and pitfalls to avoid.

Speaker: Dina Gundersen

6.  Leveraging Yelp

Yelp is about “Real people, Real reviews”. Learn how using Yelp grows your community influence and how to track your Yelp Time Investment (ROI).

Speaker: Brian Copeland

7.  WordPress Lab:

Hands on WordPress Lab. Learn from people who use WordPress everday.

Speakers: Dan Green, Todd Carpenter, Andy Kaufman

8.  Outside In for Real Estate

Jared will explain Outside.in’s role in the hyperlocal content ecosystem and how real estate broker, bloggers, information providers, and buyers can contribute to and benefit from this emerging content pool.

From pushing your content to larger audiences to pulling and displaying information about your market, Outside.in is quickly becoming an invaluable resource for real estate professionals.

This talk will provide a high level intro and specific practical steps so that you can participate in the ecosystem right away!

Speaker: Jared Ranere

9.  Localized Market Metrics:

1) Learn how to create factual material about local housing markets that all audiences will relate to and desire to receive regularly, whether members of an association, clients of an agent, or the local media.

2) Learn how to package this material so it is easy to distribute in multiple formats for multiple audiences.

3) Learn how to distribute this material in such a way that will influence recipients to share it exactly as presented to them.

Speaker: Greg Sax

10. Pictures that Sell Homes

Ed Wolkis, author of “How to Take Photos that Move Houses”, presents tips and ideas on how to photograph houses and buildings.

Prospective Buyers respond to great photography! Ed will show you how to create images that will attract Buyers to your properties.

Speaker: Ed Wolkis

11. State of The REunion:

Current status and future for the real estate industry presented as a panel of various thought leaders from different niches within the real estate industry

Speakers: Todd Carpenter, Sherry Chris, Pete Goldey, Dan Green, Brain Copeland, Matt Fagioli (moderator)

12.  The Intersection of Social and Search:

Google is working to make search more social. What can you do to optimize your social sites to show up higher in both the search results and the social search widget? How do you know where you should be, how to optimize your status and how to know it is working?

Mitch Levinson of mRELEVANCE will help you learn how social media sites can help you control what consumers find when they search for your company and communities.

Speaker: Mitch Levinson

Session Topics:

RPR, Web Design, IDX, WordPress, MLS Tools, Email Marketing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, Community Building, Lead Capture, Social Capital, iPhone, Blackberry, Digital Photography, Video Marketing, Broker Tools, Association Management Technologies, Mortgage Industry Tips, plus many more Technologies and Tactics will be analyzed and shared with you at REtechSouth 2010.

Related Links:

• Program
• Customize Your Schedule
• Speakers
• Registration
• Sponsors