We’re teaming up with Mainstreet Organization of Realtors on February 5th in Chicagoland to present our full four hour seminar. Kelley, Ginger, Mariana, and Todd will all be there.

REGISTER HERE! Subscribe to our RSS or Email feeds to be kept up to date on all of our seminars.

Winning this week:
Ion Digital with Avoiding Train Wrecks: Managing your Online Image, Separating Personal and Business Worlds (Part II: Facebook)
As people increasingly take their businesses online via these social media channels, it becomes important to manage your business and personal worlds, not only for the safety of friends and family, but also to help manage the reputation of your business online. I liked this article for pointing out some common pitfalls and proposing workable solutions to these problems.

Also notable:
Brains on Fire’s Pay to View
An exhortation to wonderment.

The Wise Curve’s Knowledge Can Become Your Enemy if You’re Not Careful
A reminder to talk to people on their own level

Trusted Advisor’s To Twitter or Not to Twitter
A top 10 list of reasons of reasons to be engaged on Twitter

Ignite’s How To Handle Negative Blog Comments
A primer on dealing with the inevitable negative blog comment

Creative Blog Solutions’s Leveraging the Social Media Space
Listen, Converse, and Co-Create

The Brand Builder’s Ten Blogs You Should be Reading
A collection of resources for those interested in Social Media

PR 2.0’s Twitter and Social Networks Usher in a New Era of Social CRM
How the social web has brought about a new genre of “Social Customer Relationship Management that answers questions, solves problems, establishes authority, and builds relationships and loyalty, one tweet, blog post, update, and ‘like,’ at a time.”

Conversation Agent’s Marketing Fluff
Creating compelling marketing with a point of view

In addition to Lenderama, RE BarCamp and REBlogWorld, I spent much of last winter working with Ginger, Kelley, and Mariana on DigiTownHall - Social Media Training. REBlogworld was purposely designed for advanced users and RE BarCamp’s open nature is just a little to intimidating for some. I felt like the product that was missing was an introductory, curriculum based social media training class. Something that professionals who know more about selling houses than html could come and learn from professionals who themselves are succeeding in using this platform. People like Ginger, Kelley, and Mariana. Three awesome examples of agents having strong 2008’s in the face of a total industry meltdown. Each of them use Social Media differently, all of them attributing it to helping them succeed. All three of them were looking for ways to spread the knowledge. Each had something to offer. I was flat out lucky to team up with them.

It turns out, we were not alone in our thinking. By the time we launched SMTC at Inman this year, we were already in negotiations with a larger group of thought leaders in real estate social media to build out a full designation class training curriculum. This larger organization is almost ready to launch, and I was personally excited to be a part of it.

Then that offer came from NAR. I have to admit, I was pretty sure they were going to offer me the job, but I assumed it was not going to make sense from a financial perspective. With SMTC up and running, REBlogWorld entering it’s second year and this new organization in the wings, I still think today that the income potential of not turning down the NAR position would have been higher.

But there’s something to be said for a challenge. Lot’s of people thought RE BarCamp would flop. Lots of folks thought Jason and I could not pull off REBlogWorld the way we did. So while I’ve seen plenty of doubters this week that NAR is really ready for this, I can’t help thinking what it would mean to succeed. How many chances in your life have you been given the opportunity to put your mark on something? To be remembered at an organization long after you’re gone? Look, I’m not Martin Luther, and this is not the reformation, but North America’s largest trade organization wants to use social media to move from a soapbox to a round table in the way it communicates with it’s members, and the public at large. I’m the guy tasked with making it happen. I can’t think of a bigger opportunity in social media. I had to go for it.

So back to our Mainstreet presentation. I couldn’t help feeling just a bit that I was letting my partners down by walking away just as things were getting interesting. But as I sat and watched Ginger, Kelley, and Mariana speaking to a crowd of 300, the single most bittersweet part of it all was that I knew right then and there they didn’t need me to succeed. That they were already the Angels, and I wasn’t Charlie, I was Bosley.

A couple folks have asked me what will happen to SMTC after I leave. “Flourish” is the first word that comes to my mind. I’m lucky enough to know what’s coming down the pike and it’s pretty awesome. Stay tuned, I know I will.

BarCamps are typically attended by people who already actively using social media and are looking for ways to take it further.  All four of the SMTC coaches are regular participants at BarCamps.  You might even call us junkies, or groupies- at the very least tech geeks!

DigiTownHall - Social Media Training is designed for companies and individuals who are just getting started or just thinking about getting started on developing a social media presence and plan.  We teach our clients how to leverage the power of social media to build and maintain their clientele. We provide step-by-step instruction on how to develop a social media plan, what tools to use and how to use the tools.  We do this through seminars, individual consulting, and training sessions.

This site is just the beginning of an excellent journey for me - and the awesome Social Media coaches and trainers who choose to be involved. I am looking forward to an amazing 2009. How about you?

Although I will not be there, in the Big Apple, enjoying your company and learning new things with all of you … As a gal who grew up in NYC, I have a list of 20 must-do’s that you MUST try to DO in your free time (ha ha ha).

Top 20 Things that Mariana Thinks You Should do While in New York:

1. Eat a Knish with mustard (or a Coney Dog) from one of the roadside umbrella stands.
2. Buy a single used shoe from a homeless person selling random things to buy beer money.
3. (If any are still around) Go into a stand-alone phone booth and come out pretending to be Superman.
4. Ride the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building and take in the night views
5. Take a walk through SoHo (South Houston) and St. Mark’s Place in the Village (Greenwich Village - NW of Broadway and Houston) and soak in the rich history. (Bonus - Find the first location of Tish and Snooky’s “Manic Panic” Punk Boutique…)
6. Eat a slice of flat, greasy NY pizza - (then eat another one for me because Colorado pizza sucks).
7. Take a horse and buggy ride through Central Park - Visit Strawberry Fields and sing the Beatles song while you are there. (Bonus: Check out the last residence of John Lennon at the Dakota Building - NW corner of 72nd and Central Park West).
8. Give $5 to a random street musician
9. Visit Grand Central Station and watch the break dancers and listen to the musicians play for you.
10. Stand over the large sidewalk grates long enough to feel the subway rumble under your feet. (This used to scare the heck out of me as a kid…) If you are wearing a billowy skirt or dress, preferably white - do your best impersonation of Marilyn Monroe as the subway passes.
11. Take a moment of silence at Ground Zero - site of the 9-11 Attacks. Take an extra moment of silence in for me, as I have not been back to NYC since the attacks.
12. Take a thrill ride in a NYC Yellow Cab - even though they will rip your lips off with the fares.
13. Take your picture in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater (Broadway and 53rd - home to the Late Show with Dave Letterman) and make sure you buy a soda at Rupert Jee’s Hello Deli next door.
14. Ride the subway … anywhere … and then back. (Well, maybe not anywhere …maybe just across Manhattan.)
15. Go to Saks 5th Avenue (where the rich people STILL shop) 611 5th Avenue.
16. Visit NY Public Library at 40th and 5th. (Remember Ghostbusters?)
17. See if you can spot Leonardo Di Caprio or Robert De Niro at the Tribeca Bar and Grill or the Cafe Habana in SoHo.
18. Check out China Town (off Canal St.) and take pictures of the windows full of dead, hanging chickens.
19. Sit on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral while you eat your knish and watch local sk8ers tear it up. (5th and 50th)
20. Send me a postcard of NYC: Mariana Wagner - c/o Wagner iTeam - 13710 Struthers Rd., Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thank you for taking the time to check out our new blog and coaching project … and enjoy your time in New York!

We participate in nearly every major real estate focused social media event. Speaking as a team, or on our own. Check out our When & Where page for a resume of our speaking experience and a list of upcoming events where you’ll find us.

What’s the point of this post? It’s not to show off. None of us are full time web designers. But all of us understand the power of WordPress, and why it’s the gold standard for content creation software. With it, you can build a basic blog in about 15 minutes, or a highly customized, blog intergrated website like this one in a matter of days. It’s easy enough for a beginner, and never runs out of steam for advanced web designers.

When people ask us how to get started, the answer is always the same. Go to wordpress.com and start a blog for free. It’s as easy as sending an email, but that’s not why we reccomend it. What sets WordPress apart is that it will grow with you. From a simple wordpress.com blog, to self hosted solutions, to custom sites like this. Go on now, get started.

Ginger Wilcox will be speaking at Connect on Thursday, and at RE BarCamp on Tuesday. Kelley Koehler and Todd Carpenter will be speaking at RE BarCamp as well.

We want to meet you. In the halls. At our sessions. Or, over a cup of coffee. The best way to cross our path is to follow us on Twitter, and then contact us by DM. Connect online with us to connect in real life. We’re looking forward to it!

Kelley Koehler @houschick

Ginger Wilcox @gingerw

Todd Carpenter @tcar

To celebrate the a BlogTourUSA stop in the summer of 2007, I organized a real estate blogger’s meetup here in Denver Colorado. A fan of tacos and margaritas, a fiesta of sorts seemed like the most appropriate theme. IT was at this event that I realized that learning and networking (even concerning online subjects) still works best when it occurs in real life. since this event, I’ve gone on to co-organize RE BarCamp and REBlogWorld. In Real Life is my favorite social network.

It was also at the Blog Fiesta that I met Mariana Wagner for the first time. Since then, I’ve teamed up to speak with her at more events than anyone else. The Blog Fiesta blog evolved out of this event as a tool for me to meet real estate bloggers across the country. I got to know Ginger Wilcox and Kelley Koehler by interviewing them for the blog. But, it was after I met them in person that these two joined Mariana as bloggers I admire, friends, and now partners in this latest venture.

A lot of what we’ll be talking about, is how to use online tools to grow your offline client base or sphere of influence. It’s how we meet our clients. Heck it’s how we met each other.

Kelley Koehler at RE BlogWorld

Do you sell anything?  A product or a service?  Do you need to influence people to trust you and work with you?

Do you work on referrals?  Do you want to keep strong relationships with the people that already work with you and make new connections at the same time?

We can help you by teaching you how to leverage the power of social media.  We will teach you how to build and maintain your clientele, using popular networking sites and online techniques.