Real estate tech for non-techies
Realtor Notebook
By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, May 7, 2009.
Flickr image by Wesley Fryer.I recently gave a talk on social media and property marketing on the Internet. The event I spoke at was through our local board of Realtors and they called it a technology fair.
Our president introduced me as some kind of a technology expert, and even though 3.75 continuing education credits were involved I didn't want the group to start leaving the room so I quickly reintroduced myself as a Realtor who uses the Internet for social interaction and networking in my real estate business.
Often we confuse the Internet with technology. There is some technology involved, but it isn't about technology. I drive a car every day, and it uses technology, but all I need to do to accomplish my goals is use the car. I don't have to understand the technology behind it.
If I were introduced to a car for the first time and told that I was going to a technical class on the automobile, I would be intimidated and would question my ability to learn something so alien to me at my advanced age.
I know that my car has an engine and I think I know where it is and I kind of understand how it works, but my understanding is very rudimentary. I know it won't keep going without fuel and for some reason it needs oil, too. I take that one on faith because I have no idea what the oil actually does.
I don't let any of this stop me from using my car and I don't have any problem calling an expert when it stops working. I don't need to know how to build one myself, either, to use it for my business. I can find one already built by experts and buy it.
When it comes to using the Internet, social media and what we call Web 2.0, it isn't about technology. I know folks who can build WordPress blogs in their sleep and understand every widget, hack and plug-in, yet they cannot seem to create a blog that gets traffic and that they can get business from.
Blogs are about content. They are about providing the information and ideas that people are looking for, or about entertaining them in some way or providing news.
Some bloggers get so hung up on technology and search-engine optimization that they don't provide much content, and then they give up because no one visits their blog.
Social networking is not about technology. I have no idea how Twitter works and I don't need to. It is how I use it that matters. I use the social part of Twitter, and being social online is pretty much the same as being social in person. ...CONTINUED
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Submitted by Rajeev Sajja on May 7, 2009 - 1:28pm.
Well explained @tboard!
When I speak to agents on technology, I use the analogy of three groups of people, high tech, low tech and no tech. And if they are in any of the three, they can succeed. It is all about using the tool and not the stuff that makes it work.
If they can type (text), they can twitter!
Well written!
Rajeev
Submitted by Mike Dooley on May 7, 2009 - 2:48pm.
Wow, you've hit the bane of technologists, everywhere... "I don't need to know anything but how to use it!"
I wonder where we'd be today, if the average American settler had said, "Gee, I don't need to know anything about sharpening an axe, I just need to know how to swing it!". Or, "Wow, I don't need to be a veterinarian, I just like to use my horses to plow my fields!" "Golly, I don't want to be a botanist, I just want to feed my family!"
This, my friends, is exactly what's wrong with much of the world today... we're so "goal oriented" and focused on just one destination, we can't be bothered to learn to navigate. The "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has gone the way of the Dodo, I guess...
I submit that to be truly successful and self reliant, if you use technology, you owe it to yourself to learn a little, at least, about the underlying science. America has fallen so far behind the rest of the world in the tech sector because it's not glamorous, it's detailed and requires effort to learn, and besides, we don't fix anything anymore, we just toss it in the landfill. Great plan, if you like living atop a toxic pile of junk.
I wonder how many RE Brokers succeed, who never spent time learning the forms, or how to stage a home, or how to function as an agent, or social skills, or personal hygiene, even?
The fact is, if you equip yourself with some background and underlying "theory" behind anything from a digital device to an automobile, you're more efficient, more capable of resolving problems, and more likely to avoid those problems, than someone who takes the "call triple-A" route.
I am reminded of the help call posted as an audio file on the internet, not long back, of a woman calling OnStar to report she was stuck inside her car, and afraid of suffocating. The operator had her lift the lock button... but hey, she didn't need to know that to drive, now, did she? Would she have succumbed to heat stroke, had her OnStar failed her?
My $0.02 is that you'd better learn some technology, if you want using that technology to be a pleasant experience. We technologists will continue to make things more simple and reliable, but let's face it, things break or foul up when your favorite technologist is out learning fly-fishing technology, ya know?
Mike Dooley, Digital Janitor
Submitted by Robert A. Hulme on May 7, 2009 - 2:53pm.
There are so many areas to describe what technology is. Most basically believe that anything that isn't paper, envelopes, stamps and sphere of influence, is what we call technology. Some level of technology whatever it might be, is what will need to used in the future to be successful in our profession. We just have to find what works, then use it.
Robert A. Hulme
Realtor, GRI, e-PRO
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Loan Officer
Mortgage Xpress
www.LehiRealEstate.net
www.AmericanForkRealEstate.net
Submitted by Loan Modification Resources on May 7, 2009 - 9:07pm.
You are on the right track..
Get help and stop foreclosure
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on May 8, 2009 - 1:47am.
Mike - is social networking really about technology?
Submitted by GLORIA LAUGHTON ALLSTON on May 10, 2009 - 4:33am.
GLORIA LAUGHTON ALLSTON,REALTOR,GREEN,SRES
BURGDORFF ERA REALTORS
264 NASSAU STREET
PRINCETON, NJ 08542
(609)252-2319
Excellent presentation of a sometimes intimidating subject.
Submitted by Corey Leong on May 10, 2009 - 4:55am.
Mike and Teresa, our industry is comprised of different layers. One layer is the computer engineering and the other would be sales.
With that being said, if users use a technology without needing to know the underlying programming language, api, hw architecture, etc. then that's great. Let them use the technology as a daily tool and get out of their way. This is a _compliment_ to computer engineers Mike. I know engineers don't receive direct gratitude for their work sometimes, but this is Teresa actually complimenting our hard work especially the application's design, Mike.
Having said that, it would behoove salespeople in the sales layer, those with a salesperson or broker salesperson's license which is great number of you, to understand how to use a technology _efficiently_ when using it for your daily activities or tasks. To not learn or learn something new is a mistake and I'll avoid getting preachy here (i am member of reea). Teresa is referring to the industry's sales layer as the non-techies who are those without an engineering background or computer science degree, but just want to use a technology. That's cool.
So what were missing? Identifying the layers and semantics.
Corey
PS Robert, paper, envelopes, and stamps are technologies, btw.
Submitted by michael krisa on May 10, 2009 - 5:03am.
Great article ... too often we get caught up by the how the "black box" works vs. we we can do with it.
Here is a link to a video of a top agent sharing his insights on blogging and how simple it is to do:
http://thatinterviewguy.com/?p=319
All Good WIshes,
michael krisa
http://ThatInterviewGuy.com
Submitted by Bill Frederick on May 10, 2009 - 5:43am.
Teresa, this is a great article. It emphasizes the value of human creativity over the tools of the trade. It's what comes out the end that matters, not how it moves through the pipe.
Bill
Submitted by Paul Howard on May 10, 2009 - 7:55am.
Social networking is not about technology any more than it is about knowing which clubs to join, groups to network with, or who to interact with to further your goal (or even have a good time).
Knowing those things though makes social networking effective. You may 'use' Twitter or Facebook but knowing a little about Tweetdeck may help you to use both. When you "use" Facebook, knowing how to use friend filters may be considered knowledge of the technology but it sure makes Facebook more useful. TV is a lot more fun if you know how to use the remote. A car is more useful if you know how to get around (and know how to drive).
It is a valid question to ask. What is technology and what do people mean when they say they are good at it or not?
Like many words it is one of those that often does not mean the same thing to the person hearing it as it does to the person using it.
To communicate well, one must be very careful to ensure that those who hear us define the words we use (and that they hear) the same way we do. Often that is not the case.
Paul Howard, Broker
NJHomeBuyer.com Realty
Cherry Hill NJ 08002
Submitted by Frances Flynn Thorsen on May 10, 2009 - 9:12am.
Great article, Teresa! You hit a home run with this piece.
The notion of technology receives far too much attention ... I often say the secret to social media success is harnessing the technology of our human beingness ... the rest is irrelevant in the final analysis.
Teresa Boardman's online presence is not the sum of her Wordpress software and broadband connection. Teresa Boardman's online presence is the sum of her knowledge and wisdom and voice.
I propose we all stop using the word TECHNOLOGY for at least a month when we talk about blogs and social media!
Frances Flynn Thorsen
Extreme Value Strategist
Socialebb Strategies and Solutions
Submitted by Missy Caulk on May 10, 2009 - 2:08pm.
Darn and I have so much fun talkin' SEO.
LOL...
Refreshing after this weeks battles on online marketing. Happy Mothers Day.
Missy Caulk
Ann Arbor, MI
Missy@MissyCaulk.com
www.AnnArborRealEstateTalk.com
www.SearchAnnArborHouses.com
Submitted by Sal Antsipenka on May 10, 2009 - 8:07pm.
Social networking websites and web 2.0 sites are not only used to inroduce real estate or any other business content. They are a very serious vehicle how to attract buying customers or clients to your sales website. So the main idea is to use web 2.0 and social networking to create a stream of references to your main website through bookmarking, pinging, press releases, video and other content. I use these services as a tool to have way more real estate leads coming to my website than just trying to take first position in Google key word searches with my main sales website.
It's a lot of work, by the way, but extremely helpful and lucrative for those who knows how to work with web 2.0
Sal Antsipenka
Century 21 Mike Miller Realty
Naples, Florida
http://www.naplesrealestateseller.com