Mike Mueller, Social Media.ist

Come to REBarcamp San Francisco with an empty stomach and an empty mind and we promise both will be filled beyond capacity when you leave! How cool is that?

Focusing on just the food and bev, let’s see how your day will go…

To start things off in the morning, get your caffeine fix thanks to the Center for REALTOR(R) Technology (CRT) who are supplying plenty of warm steamy bagels and hot fresh coffee to wash them down with. I don’t operate well without my morning pot of coffee.
Thanks CRT!

After a couple of morning sessions it will be time for a break. If you were at the very first REBarcamp you remember how wonderful lunch was. They’re doing it again thanks to Better Homes & Garden Real Estate! They are sponsoring lunch so you can stay right where you are, have a fabulous gourmet box lunch, and keep on barcamping.
A big “Yeah” for BHG!

Post lunch, the afternoon sessions will be fun and entertaining. Time will fly right on by. Before you know it – it’s almost time to head over to Beer with Bloggers. This year it’s being held at MIGHTY. Not some sleazy dive bar, far from it! It was voted Best New Club in America by URB Magazine! Beer for Bloggers is brought to you this year by both Zillow and Better Homes & Garden Real Estate.
Woot! Woot!

It all sounds great right? There’s a couple of problems…

It’s a daunting 312 feet from Trulia to Mighty.
REBCSF ends at 5 PM and Beer for Bloggers doesn’t start until 6 PM. After all you’ve just learned we know you might not make it. Your body needs sustenance and nourishment!

Oh, the Humanity!
What will you do?

We’ve got you covered.

Bring in the Taco Truck!

That’s right!  A real “Roach Coach” will pull up in front of Trulia HQ just in time to save the day!  I say “real” because the first couple of hundred through the registration that morning will also get a Limited Edition REBarcamp SF Paper Taco Truck!

While the paper taco truck is low in calories it is high in fiber.
I recommend the Fail Whale Fish Tacos – they’re delicious!.

On a serious note I want you to think about this…

On a serious note, think about this…

The REBarcamp experience is FREE, the knowledge openly shared is FREE, your coffee and breakfast is FREE, lunch is FREE (all thanks to our sponsors). While your eternal gratitude will be greatly appreciated, we would also like to tap into our RE community and make a difference in the lives of others.

How?

We would like you to donate what you might have spent on breakfast, lunch and or beer to a worthy cause.

Read more about it and make a Paypal Donation right now!

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I'm reblogging this as I know I have a strong mortgage following...

Interested in your thoughts  - but don't leave them here - leave them on the original.

You’ve been on Facebook for a little while and now that you have a wonderful new Facebook Business Page, suddenly you have questions.  How does this new Business Page effect your Peeps?

Congratulations!  You’re now separating your personal side from your professional side.  Yeah for you!  But what to do about all those past, present and future clients you added as a “Friend”?  It seemed like the right thing to do back then but now…? Now that you have the proper place for them, are they Friends, Fans or Members?  Can you move them or do they have to move themselves?  What about new peeps?  If they find me on Facebook and want to be a friend what should I do?  Questions, questions questions!

Let’s Start with your Existing Peeps

First of all, no you cannot move them.  They could move themselves but that’s highly unlikely.  Why not let them stay your Friend but also join your page as Fan.  A quick update in your status might do the trick.

You could always un-friend them but why the hard feelings?  Simply put them all in one list  and then set the privacy high.  They won’t see wall posts and pictures from your family, and your family won’t see anything from them.

Here’s a side question I have for you…

As for these “fellow professionals” you added as Friends, do you really want them as Fans?  Are they your clients?  Just thinking…

Now for the New Peeps

You’ve changed the link on your sidebar to drive traffic to your Page instead of your Profile right?  Good. Added a link to your Page in your email signature?  Great. Bought and wrapped all 46 downtown metro busses with your smiling face, a for sale sign, and a great big “Fan Me Up On Facebook!”  No, Really?

Good for you for driving traffic to your new Page.  The question remains, if someone searches Google or Facebook for “Tom Jones Real Estate” what would they see?  Chances are they would see both you (personal profile) and your Business Page.

One of two things might happen next.

The Friend Option If they choose to be a Friend of yours, you have the option of accepting or declining.

Accept  - You could accept (like I do) and then also ask them to become a Fan as well.

Decline - Don’t be afraid of declining their friendship.

It’s a great opportunity to nicely explain why you have a Business Page on Facebook and would rather have them join you there instead.  Explain that they’ll get no spam from you by joining and that by becoming a Fan they’ll also not be sharing their “private information” like family pictures.  Most people don’t know about the personal privacy settings they have so this could be a big factor for them.

The Fan Option This is what we hope they choose

If they choose to be a Fan of yours, there’s no moderation and they are in.  Remember, they might not become actual “Fans” and they don’t have to in order to read all about you within your Business Page.

BONUS TIP: New viewers don’t have to hit your Page WALL.  Did you know you can predetermine which of your Tabs they are initially sent to within your Page.  For this reason maybe you should have a custom landing tab explaining right from the start:

• The Privacy Aspect of Pages
• Your Spam Policy
• How you work
• Maybe even a nice dialog (video?) about why they should get to know you better. 
  

Just thinking…

The catch?  To create a custom landing tab you’ll need a bit of Facebook FBML done.

Order your Custom Designed Facebook Business Page

Check this article out!

Breaking news!

From http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/07/change-facebook-username/

When Facebook first released the username tool a few weeks ago, they said that you better like the username that you select because you’ll never be able to change it. Now Facebook is modifying that policy to allow users to “change their username once”. It’s pretty easy to switch your username. All you need to do is visit your account settings page and click on “Change” next to the “Username” setting. Facebook will then let you know if the new username you’d like is available.

Here’s your one chance to correct that misguided username you accidentally chose

(or perhaps wish you had)

Hire Mike      (925) 456-4567

There’s a couple of different ways to add content to the wall of your Facebook Business Page. While I am a big fan of Business Pages, I am also highly critical of Pages that offer nothing compelling or engaging to the Fans. Part of your engagement plan has to be adding compelling content to your wall. How do you do that? Here’s four of the most common ways.

The RSS:

You can have the content auto post via an RSS feed. This is how most people will do it. It’s automatic and they just set it and forget about it. Your viewers will have the ability to “comment” and “like” this from their stream. Links go direct to your post and are DO Follow. The text chosen will be the first section of words from your post. Do your posts all have wonderful attention grabbing content in the 1st paragraph? They better if you plan on using this method. While the feed you grab may include pictures they won’t show up on the wall here, just text.

The Embeded URL:

Within the Status Update Box (“what’s on your mind?”), by entering the link into the text itself, Facebook will recognize that and create a link for you. You cannot create the anchor text for this link but it does take the reader directly to the intended destination directly. That could be a good thing when compared to the next option. The link within your status update will have a No Follow attribute to it. Like the RSS, your viewers can “comment” and “like” this from their stream.

The Attach a Link:

Under the Status Update Box you’ll see the ability to attach a link, a photo, an event and so on. By adding your link, Facebook will scan the post for images and text. Here you can pick a thumbnail image, edit the anchor text, and even add additional text. We all know pictures engage others. Many times your post has a great image that brings it all together. You can chose that image for the thumbnail and it will show up on each of your fans streams! The link created is DO Follow as well. Not only will your readers be able to “comment” and “like”, they’ll also be able to “share” this with their friends! Cool! All good right? Not so fast. The resulting page that you linked to doesn’t load directly. Instead it loads as a iframe within Facebook. You’ll know because you have a Facebook toolbar at the top of the post. How does that effect SEO? What about your analytics? Does an iframe’d visitor even register as a hit? Things to think about.

Facebook Notes:

The Notes function is somewhat of a hybrid. Much like the RSS version it brings in the content via a Feed. It can put snippets of the post into your stream. That stream will have No Pictures and No Anchor Text. Follow or No Follow? It doesn’t matter, the link in the feed doesn’t take the reader to the post. Instead it takes them to the Notes Box within Facebook. Depending on your outgoing feed and the way Facebook feels that day, the Notes Box may have a single picture (or not). Be careful using Notes as links within your original post become a redirect in the Note Box and often times are broken. Nothing kills return readership like bad links. Like the Attach a Link version readers can “comment”, “like”, and “share” from their stream.

That’s four different ways to bring in compelling content to your Facebook Business Page. Which one is best for you and how will you use it? Next up, we’ll talk about your Landing Page.

You may have heard a something about REBarCamp and wondered what it was, was it held in a bar or was it just for Steelworkers.

Here’s a quick PSA.

The RE in REBarCamp stands for Real Estate.  The event is usually free to attend but always very popular and you must RSVP.  It’s an Un-Conference with no preset agenda.  At the start, the attendees propose what they would like to learn about.  Once a schedule is set, different areas hold specific discussions.  These discussions led by an industry leader who is there to freely disseminate real information.  No hype, no sales pitches.  Each session is highly interactive (you are not just listening to a speaker).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RBO1GE7NU

http://REBarCamp.com

After a full day of learning there is usually a networking event afterwards.  These tend to be in a bar or cocktail lounge close by, hence the term “BeerCamp”.

I highly encourage you to attend a REBarCamp in your area but more than that, may I suggest you also bring someone along who has never heard of a REBarCamp?

I’ll be at REBarCamp/San Francisco and REBarCamp/Lynchburg

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