ActiveRain Tutorials: December 2009

Today was a rather exciting day as I heard about Ustream releasing a new Mobile iPhone App for the iPhone & the Droid.  So what is this new Ustream Mobile app, & what is mobile streaming?  Well, Mobile streaming is the ability to do a live video feed straight from your mobile phone.  This is huge & exciting new technology for us in the real estate industry. What this new Ustream Mobile App does, is allows you to transform your basic iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or Droid smart phone into a live video streaming machine.

The app works really easy & with just a few simple clicks of a button, you are now able to share live video feeds with the world.  Since the Ustream Mobile App is created by the makers of Ustream.tv, it also allows you to use their other great features.  Which means you can create video & instantly feed it to your Facebook Page, Twitter Account & also to YouTube.  The best part of all, is that the Ustream Mobile App, is totally free!

Here are my top features of the Ustream Mobile app:

• Uploads straight from phone to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, & Ustream
• Integrates the Ustream chat right onto phone while doing live streams.
• Allows video to now be recorded on iPhone 3G without needing to "jailbreak" phone.
• Save videos to be uploaded later when you are not in a 3G or wifi area.
• Ustream Mobile app is free!

So how could the Ustream Mobile App be used to enhance your Real Estate Business?  Here are a few ways you might find this type of program useful:

• Showing property to buyers who are not in town.  You can use your phone to show the property, answer their questions & also show them first hand what the property looks like.  So, if the buyer wants to know what color the cabinets are, you can walk into the kitchen & show them the cabinets in a live stream.
• Updating a Seller on the Condition of their Property.  Especially as we go into the winter season, there are times where you have an emergency with a home that you need to share with the seller immediately to make a decision.  I remember one time we had a home where we had a very cold day & a pipe inside the wall had broken.  I wish I had something like this to show the seller quickly so we could make a quick decision & save their first floor.  Unfortunately, this type of software was not available then, and the first floor ended up needing to be completely redone.
• Share Special events with Friends & Family.  How many times do you wish you had the ability to share a special moment in video format with friends & family on your Facebook Page?  The Ustream Mobile App allows you to do such a thing really easily. 
  

There are tons of other great ways that you could use the Ustream Mobile App.  So what do the videos look like from the Ustream Mobile App on an iPhone 3G?  Here is a short video I did as a test to see how it worked.  While the video quality isn't the highest possible, it is fairly decent & the audio is very good.  Take a moment & watch:

Download the Ustream Mobile App for iPhone

One of the most common questions that I keep getting asked over & over is by many of our members here on ActiveRain is "How do I get those I work with & my friends to try out ActiveRain.  They just don't understand it and how to use it for business."  I also get asked by many of our members to teach the class for their brokerage.  In fact, many have asked if I would come personally & teach the class at their office. 

While unfortunately I am not able to physically travel around the US to visit each & every current & new member in person,  I am however able to do it virtually through technology.  As many of you know, I started a few months back teaching a Blogging Basics 101 class for our new members that have not yet become a Rainmaker. With our webinar software, I am now able to teach up to 1,000 people at a time.  So if you have a small or large company or brokerage, I should be able to accommodate. So, without further ado, let me announce that I will now be offering my Blogging Basics 101 class to not only new members, but also to brokerages, & businesses alike.  

So, if you have been telling your staff & friends about ActiveRain & encouraging them to sign up but they have not yet taken the time to do so, this class is for you & them!  This is the perfect solution to help all of your friends that are real estate agents, lenders, home inspectors,home stagers, & brokers to finally get their blogging career started in the right direction.   

What Can Be Expected in this Webinar?

In this class I will teach you: 

How to Optimize Your ActiveRain Profile.
How to Insert Photos into your Blog
How to Insert Hyperlinks.
Setting up Your Outside Blog.
How to write effective blog posts for consumers & search engines.

How to use your blog to connect with your community.
Topics to write about on your blog.
Question & Answer  
Why Blogs are the most important tool in your Social Media Arsenal.

When is My Webinar For My Brokerage?

Good question!  Due to different time zones & schedules, we will be planning these classes separately from my regularly scheduled classes.  Depending on the amount of interest along with the size of the brokerages, there may be a few companies combined together.   Of course, these classes will be scheduled at convenient times for your business.  So, if you have your company meetings on Tuesdays at 9AM, or Thursday at 5PM I will do my best to accommodate.

How Much is it Gonna Cost me?

For this time of top notch training from an expert in the field, you could expect to be paying hundreds of dollars to have them come in & speak to your team.  But, what if I said that the training was free for our members?  That is right, I said FREE.  The only thing that I ask, is that you make sure that those in your office that are not currently using ActiveRain on a regualr basis come to the class & encourage them to at least try out our Rainmaker Membership for the first month.  It will only cost them $5.00, but they will be able to enjoy the successes like so many of our members already have.

So, if you have a group that you would like to have a special training session for, feel free to fill out the simple form below.

In case you weren't aware, yesterday ActiveRain held their second annual Raincamp in San Francisco, California.  Now, if you were like me, you were stuck in your office all day seeing others brag about how awesome the day was and thinking to yourself how you wished you could be there to participate. 

While I was rather bummed that I didn't get to take part in yesterday's event, I was able to keep track of what the people in attendance thought and was able to see all their pictures through twitter. Unofficially, there were 131 people who mentioned #Raincamp on twitter yesterday.  There were over 430 tweets about #raincamp as well.  So, if you were unable to make it to yesterday's event, here is a list of all those who tweeted about #raincamp in San Francisco.

Now, instead of having to sit & click each name individually to follow on twitter, I have collected & placed all of these names into one easy step to follow all quick & instantly.  You can do so by visiting Raincamp San Francisco on TweepML.  In a single click of a button, you will have 131 new friends from ActiveRain to follow. Then, make sure to send them messages and hear all the good details on Raincamp San Francisco!

So connect now with all those who were in attendance!  And don't forget, Raincamp NYC is right around the corner for all of you going to Inman Connect in January!  Read Bob's post for details!

Technology is constantly changing the way businesses act and conduct business daily.  How willing are you to adapt to the changes as they come along and incorporate them into your business plan?  If you are not, you may want to re-think before your all your business has been captured by your competitors.

This is a movie review of Transformers 2, but since I didn't care for the movie that much, it turned more into a lesson on how to embrace change for your business. In fact, if you want, you can skip right to around 1:24.

I reference Blockbuster Video and how they have not been able to embrace change as fast as competitors like Redbox which are not slowly putting them out of business. You need to embrace change in your business and integrate social media into your plan if you have not yet. If you refuse to embrace change, you will end up just like Blockbuster in a few years....an empty building with a for lease sign in front of it. Please take a few moments to watch:

The Moral of the story?   Technology is constantly changing the way we handle our day to day businesses.  Be alert to these changes and be willing to embrace/implement them into your business plan. Even if you feel you do not like it, or feel it is a waste of time, you need to at least test out the new technology to see if it will help or hinder your business before you form an opinion on them.  Assuming they won't work because of something you hear from somewhere else could be fatal to your business.  Plus, we all knows what can happen if we just assume....