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About Transparent
Pat Kitano authors Transparent Real Estate. I'm currently co-Founder, Managing Principal of Domus Consulting Group, a management consulting firm working with real estate brokerages, media/publishing companies, and Web 2.0 companies to develop social media strategies, and with venture investors on new business models.
Since graduating from Cal Berkeley (Geophysics) and Columbia University (MBA), I've been involved in four competitive industries - films, investment banking, internet technology and real estate.
I'm a regular speaker and commentator on real estate industry and technology issues and am always on the lookout for a "transparency" angle.
I welcome contributors... or just send interesting items to pat (at) TransparentRE.com
TRANSPARENT REAL ESTATE
Doomers Rationalizing Armageddon Averted
All the doom and gloom forecasters are updating their Armageddon predictions this week:
Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed, "who has termed his outlook for the economy the most gloomy among his Fed colleagues", says on CNBC the Fed prevented economic depression.
Dr. Doom Marc Faber has revised his forecast to the long term and is predicting the collapse of both the US financial markets and, subsequently, capitalism.
Both (and by extension, all the doomers) attribute Armageddon averted to the unified global response, from governments to Central Banks, to the crisis.
I'm on record since December 2007 onward espousing that unified global action was essential to stem the crisis - Central Banks cooperate with Interest Rate Cuts - when the conventional thinking through 2008-9 was that the US economy heading into hyperinflationary territory, and a crashing dollar. Of course, that is still the huge elephant in the room going forward into a future of massive global debt.
Twitter is Destined to Become a Local Advertising Media
Up to now, Twitterers have recoiled at the horror of anybody sales pitching or advertising on Twitter. And definitely, spamming, the MLM pushers and the get rich quick messages collectively create an unavoidable Twitter ghetto. Yet, advertising done right - like Tweeting deals of the day, or announcing the next stop of the Korean Taco Truck adds value to daily life. Even if the "deal of the day" doesn't apply to you that day, you can start a conversation with the Tweeting merchant to ask what else is on sale.
Twitter makes so much sense for hyperlocal advertising to a community of followers that eventually Twitterers will form new business accounts solely for conversing about business. These new business accounts will stay focused on their message as if they were "tending shop", like @ComcastCares. Chatting revolves around the business, and not about personal issues that may seem incomprehensible to outsiders. And when the message is tight and consistent, the Twitter feeds can be re-fed into the new Twitter media engines that aggregate these feeds, and give the Twitterer more exposure.
In this "corporate" Twitter mode, real estate all the time is fair game. For real estate agents, you still need to be creative and substantive. New listings tweets should be interspersed with commentary on the housing markets and local economy.
Just don't be boring, ridiculous, lazy or too spammy:
Twitter makes so much sense for hyperlocal advertising to a community of followers that eventually Twitterers will form new business accounts solely for conversing about business. These new business accounts will stay focused on their message as if they were "tending shop", like @ComcastCares. Chatting revolves around the business, and not about personal issues that may seem incomprehensible to outsiders. And when the message is tight and consistent, the Twitter feeds can be re-fed into the new Twitter media engines that aggregate these feeds, and give the Twitterer more exposure.
In this "corporate" Twitter mode, real estate all the time is fair game. For real estate agents, you still need to be creative and substantive. New listings tweets should be interspersed with commentary on the housing markets and local economy.
Just don't be boring, ridiculous, lazy or too spammy:
How to Drive Hyperlocal Community Participation
The Outside.in and Topix model provides communities with one-size-fits-all local aggregated news content, but nobody in the community is driving participation at these sites .
Besides local news, a hyperlocal community site needs three drivers to be engaging:
1) Personal commitment by a community hub person or group (like a chamber of commerce) to drive local network participation.
2) An easy to use conversational component that attracts the community.
3) Specific features in the community site that will attract massive participation. We believe that one feature is free local advertising.
For starters, we believe the three drivers are:
1) Give a hyperlocal community site template to a community hub person or group free or at low cost, and let them own the web property with their own local domain name (say, DelMarBreakingNews.com). There's no sense of ownership participating in an "enterprise" site like Topix.
2) Make it easy to converse. The whole login procedure and setting up a profile associated with DIY social networks like Ning, and even forum registration are barriers to mass community participation. Let them Twitter! It's easy to use hashtags to categorize local conversations and everybody has a credible identity and perhaps a link to their profile.
3) Let local merchants Twitter their deals of the day free, and provide a similar service that the Thursday circulars and Penny Saver coupons now provide to local shoppers. Everybody wants a deal! And better yet, Twitter acts like a phone... consumers can reply to merchant offers via Twitter.
We've started a Breaking News Project building Twitter feed-based hyperlocal communities like Breaking SF News.com. We build each Breaking News City site by providing the site template free to community hub people - real estate professionals, chambers of commerce - and give them the instructions to build it. We expect most major cities, and many smaller cities will have Breaking News City sites by summer. You can see some of the enthusiasm at Active Rain, a real estate social network.
Related articles:
Twitter "Media Sites" require focused non-chatty Twitter feeds
What's missing from today's hyperlocal sites - Community leadership
Besides local news, a hyperlocal community site needs three drivers to be engaging:
1) Personal commitment by a community hub person or group (like a chamber of commerce) to drive local network participation.
2) An easy to use conversational component that attracts the community.
3) Specific features in the community site that will attract massive participation. We believe that one feature is free local advertising.
For starters, we believe the three drivers are:
1) Give a hyperlocal community site template to a community hub person or group free or at low cost, and let them own the web property with their own local domain name (say, DelMarBreakingNews.com). There's no sense of ownership participating in an "enterprise" site like Topix.
2) Make it easy to converse. The whole login procedure and setting up a profile associated with DIY social networks like Ning, and even forum registration are barriers to mass community participation. Let them Twitter! It's easy to use hashtags to categorize local conversations and everybody has a credible identity and perhaps a link to their profile.
3) Let local merchants Twitter their deals of the day free, and provide a similar service that the Thursday circulars and Penny Saver coupons now provide to local shoppers. Everybody wants a deal! And better yet, Twitter acts like a phone... consumers can reply to merchant offers via Twitter.
We've started a Breaking News Project building Twitter feed-based hyperlocal communities like Breaking SF News.com. We build each Breaking News City site by providing the site template free to community hub people - real estate professionals, chambers of commerce - and give them the instructions to build it. We expect most major cities, and many smaller cities will have Breaking News City sites by summer. You can see some of the enthusiasm at Active Rain, a real estate social network.
Related articles:
Twitter "Media Sites" require focused non-chatty Twitter feeds
What's missing from today's hyperlocal sites - Community leadership
Referral Expo starting May 18
Michael Beck and Melynn Sight have put together a 10-day webinar series for real estate marketing called Referral Expo. They have assembled a group of 10 speakers (I'll be on Wednesday, May 20 @ 9:00am PDT) to discuss the latest in real estate marketing:
Rossi
Nobu Hata
Ivan Misner
Annette Bau
Joanne Black
David Carleton
Michelle Donovan
Susan Friedmann
Terry Bean
I believe webinar training and conferencing is the best way to deliver updated Realtor education. Register for the whole series (free) at http://www.referralexpo.org/
Ten Steps to Create an Enthusiastic Community Network around You
Breaking News City sites are Twitter-based hyperlocal sites that broadcast real time news and events to the community:
Here are ten steps to create an enthusiastic community network with a Breaking News City site:
- By launching a Breaking News City site, you are providing a service to your community.
- First, find the best local Twitterers in your city (this takes about 2 hours, and is kind of fun).
- When you add a Twitter feed to Breaking News, you are helping that Twitterer get more exposure. They thank you for adding them. Add 50 feeds, gain 50 new friends.
- You develop working relationships with the media because you're adding their Twitter feeds. The media follow you because your Breaking News site is, well, a media property.
- Local merchants will appreciate, even love having a forum to tweet their daily deals. They will instantly become a part of your network.
- Introduce Breaking News as a free advertising / marketing medium to the Chamber of Commerce, and request their participation.
- Participate or even start a Tweetup in your city to meet f2f all the Twitterers participating in Breaking News
- Offer barter opportunities with Breaking News. Want a hotel to sponsor a Tweetup? Ask them and acknowledge their generosity with a sponsorship badge on Breaking News.
- Once you've developed new friends on Twitter, invite them to network on Facebook or LinkedIn and solidify your network.
- Consumers will be attracted to Breaking News like a local newspaper, and will see you as a hub for their community.
Breaking News City Sites for the Hyperlocal Community
Our first hyperlocal community Breaking News city sites are being launched. Here is Susie Blackmon's Breaking Asheville News:
Although we have been launching Breaking News city sites in metro areas like Boston and Toronto, we believe Breaking News city sites will be far more effective engaging hyperlocal communities of 50,000-100,000 population, whether suburban, exurban or in the middle of the plains. Why? Community is local, and community networks work best when there is intimacy and tight friendships among its members. Real estate agents know that, and focus on networking within the communities where they live, by church, softball league, PTA or civic organizations like Realtor Associations.
We're in the process of building Breaking News city sites in smaller cities like Reno, Chico, The Woodlands, Greenville NC, Hamilton, ONT, Irvine, Santa Barbara, etc. Kevin Boer has put together a detailed, easy to use tutorial that gets a Breaking News city site up in 4-5 hours (including research on the best local feeds to use), and we're starting a new webinar series this week to teach the development process. Once the City Site is up, you run it as a community service that helps tie your neighbors and your own network together that requires little maintenance.
Let me know via @Twitter or comment if you think this is interesting.
For recent discussion on the future of how communities will interact within hyperlocal sites, Tim White, developer of Breaking Boston News.com, has pointed me to these articles:
From PBS MediaShift: Building the Ideal Community Information Hub
Although we have been launching Breaking News city sites in metro areas like Boston and Toronto, we believe Breaking News city sites will be far more effective engaging hyperlocal communities of 50,000-100,000 population, whether suburban, exurban or in the middle of the plains. Why? Community is local, and community networks work best when there is intimacy and tight friendships among its members. Real estate agents know that, and focus on networking within the communities where they live, by church, softball league, PTA or civic organizations like Realtor Associations.
We're in the process of building Breaking News city sites in smaller cities like Reno, Chico, The Woodlands, Greenville NC, Hamilton, ONT, Irvine, Santa Barbara, etc. Kevin Boer has put together a detailed, easy to use tutorial that gets a Breaking News city site up in 4-5 hours (including research on the best local feeds to use), and we're starting a new webinar series this week to teach the development process. Once the City Site is up, you run it as a community service that helps tie your neighbors and your own network together that requires little maintenance.
Let me know via @Twitter or comment if you think this is interesting.
For recent discussion on the future of how communities will interact within hyperlocal sites, Tim White, developer of Breaking Boston News.com, has pointed me to these articles:
From PBS MediaShift: Building the Ideal Community Information Hub
From Publishing 2.0: Retraining Wire and Feature Editors to be Web CuratorsSocial media consultant and former Yahoo marketer Ryan Kuder said he liked EveryBlock, but thinks its focus on larger cities needs to be customized for smaller communities:
We need to allow neighborhoods to curate and share their own information and discuss the things that are more important to them. More like Twitter or Tumblr than Topix or Outside.in...By enabling communities to centralize the discussion around local issues and share the news and content that is most important to them, you'll get more interaction between neighbors, which leads to stronger, more active neighborhoods.
Feed-based Breaking News for Florida Real Estate
Florida Real Estate News Online.com demonstrates how new feed-based applications like Feedfuze can create compelling breaking news content. Aggregated news feeds automate the process of broadcasting the latest housing market updates that your client base needs to supplement their transaction decision. Breaking news sites are efficient marketing vehicles because once set up, they always broadcast relevant content just like blogs do, but require little to no maintenance.
Marc Grossman has been working together with Domus Consulting Group to develop new marketing systems for his Florida business. We teach how to build these automated marketing systems in our Social Media Marketing webinars. To register for the latest session starting next week, check out our Active Rain article on Breaking News City sites and/or our registration link.
Foreclosure Resources from Cyberhomes
Using the social media to buy or sell a home is proving reliable because it facilitates conversations between the customer and knowledgeable professionals. However, it's hard to use the social media for investigating foreclosure and bankruptcy due to the stigma of failure attached to it. The lack of transparency in the service offerings for foreclosure and loan modification counseling can breed scam artists who take advantage of desperate people.
Cyberhomes' "journalistic" staff put together a special report on foreclosures with the intent on shedding light on the topic. There should be a social resource where all these scary social taboo subjects can be discussed in the open.
Cyberhomes' "journalistic" staff put together a special report on foreclosures with the intent on shedding light on the topic. There should be a social resource where all these scary social taboo subjects can be discussed in the open.
HomeGain's 10th Anniversary - Kudos
I was surprised to see that HomeGain launched in the spring of 1999, one year before the dotcom crash, and relatively late for a Web 1.0 application. As far as I remember in the online real estate space (my experience dating back to about 2003), HomeGain was clumped into the top tier of real estate listings cum lead generation applications within this ubiquitous category. The advent of modern "Web 2.0" applications like Trulia and Zillow that didn't have obvious lead generation business models around 2005-6 relegated HomeGain to the "old guard" of real estate apps.
Kudos to Louis and crew on HomeGain's 10th Anniversary for successfully updating HomeGain to a more relevant business model.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Chinese proverbSimply put, educating Realtors on how to develop their online presence instead of selling them leads is the way to go. HomeGain provides a comprehensive set of tools via AgentView to develop the online presence of their Realtor client base.
Building a Hyperlocal Community using Twitter
BreakingSFNews.com, BreakingLANews.com and BreakingNYCNews.com broadcast what is happening in each city in real time through a survey of local Twitter feeds and contributions from Twitterers who add tweets to the scrolling news feed using a specific #hashtag system.
Providing a Service to your Community by Leveraging your Local Twitter Network
The Breaking News sites are hyperlocal hubs that are easily developed for any community; one example is OCBreakingNews.com. We have developed a four step marketing strategy:
1) Build a Breaking News site using our template.
2) Find and follow your local Twitter community using local Twitter directories including http://localtweeps.com, http://chirpcity.com, http://twitterlocal.net, http://citytweets.net. May 1 is #LocalDay when Tweeters will publish their zip codes, such as #94118. You can use the search.twitter.com application to find your local Twitter network.
3) Invite local Tweeters to check out your Breaking News site and use hashtags to participate.
4) Organize a Tweetup or join an existing one to meet the community. Invite your local chamber of commerce.
Interest?
Join us for a free webinar next Wednesday, April 22 at 10:30pdt/1:30edt and we’ll explain the methodology to get a Breaking News city site up and running. Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/526096234.
More details at Media Transparent: "Instant Time Hyperlocal News"