NAR’s Center for Realtor® Technology recently released a
survey detailing just how Realtors® stay connected. The 2011 REALTOR Technology Survey Report revealed the most valuable tools Realtors® used over the past year; these included tablets like the iPad and Galaxy tablet. I am using the iPad to work on the fly, sign documents, make presentations and I can’t imagine doing my job without one, now!

These products were found to keep respondents connected, save time
and increase productivity. Realtors® also reported using
Smartphones frequently. Currently 35 percent own an Android
smartphone, followed by 28 percent who own the iPhone and
18 percent who own a Blackberry. I switched from a Blackberry to the iPhone and never looked back. The connectivity and sheer power of the applications on the iPhone make it the hands down best purchase in my business.

These physical tools combined with my use of social networks and my blog have changed the way that I find clients (or should I say my clients find me) and the way I communicate. I am now available to clients in whatever medium they prefer: phone, text, email, tweet, facebook message, skype, etc.

This allows me to be available more often to more people and to better service clients who might not live in the immediate area or who, like me, have an insane and tight schedule.

This year Park Square Realty recognized my efforts in using the internet and social media to grow my business by pronouncing me a Master of Social Media.

I don’t know about Master…it changes too often to really master it, but I am a pretty advanced explorer!

If you want to find me, I use my name (Lesley Lambert) as my profile name on all platforms. Google my name and you should get more than you asked for (I hope it is all good!).

I am proud to say that I am a PodCamp Western MA veteran as I have attended all four of them! These aren’t the only camp/unconferences that I attend, in fact, I have been to over a dozen other camps.

That said, PodCamp Western MA (#pcwm) is always my favorite and PodCamp Western MA 4 was my favorite of them all.

I remember distinctly my first #pcwm in March of 2009. I was really nervous about going to the function and asked Morriss (who I didn’t know at all besides a few tweets) if I could go for part of the day. He assured me that I could, but cautioned me that I wouldn’t want to leave early. Well, he was (as he typically is) very right about not wanting to leave. As soon as I got acclimated to the event I knew I was home and I loved the energy and spontaneous nature of PodCamp immediately. That first year I learned more about the internet and social media in that day than I had all of the year previous.

For the second and third years of #pcwm, I was more comfortable and played a more active role in the facilitating of the event. I now had friends that I was excited to see and the energy and excitement was still there, but I didn’t feel that I was being challenged or learning quite as much. I figured that was natural, as I spend a great deal of time researching and teaching social media now, so it is harder to find topics that I don’t have a pretty good grasp on.

This year I went to the event with the expectation and desire to help run the day so that the new people could have an amazing experience. I kept my expectations at that role and BOY was I blown away with how wrong I was!

Session after session I was being shown new ideas and tools that I hadn’t explored in the same fashion as the presenter.

David Packman did an amazing presentation about video and podcasting that I enjoyed completely and learned a ton from. I have been doing video for over four years now and thought I had a better grasp on YouTube than I really do. His insights were powerful and I can’t wait to implement some of his great ideas.

Other sessions gleaned great thoughts and I had a fun time leading a discussion about Pinterest that opened up some people’s awareness and afforded an opportunity to hear from all types of professionals as to how they are using the platform.

Morriss and I were interviewed by Channel 40 on how we met at PodCamp and the reporter was the first one to notice that I was wearing Twitter bird earrings:

But by far, my favorite session of the day was the last session. While standing at the schedule board my good friend Christine Pilch Mancini came over and I asked her what session she was attending. None of them were resonating with either of us and she and I decided that we were going to spur of the moment create a new session. Based on her idea that it would be great to brainstorm and crowd share with other advanced social media users, we decided to call our session the Advanced Social Media Sharing session. We claimed a room and tweeted out on the #pcwm hashtag where we were and what we were doing.

Our good friend, Ron Miller, kicked off the session with a discussion on Evernote, but soon the ideas and sharing was hitting maximum speed and we were all wow-ing each other with our tips, secrets, favorite sites and expertise. This session was the core of what a PodCamp should be and was the best session I have ever attended at a camp. I firmly believe we should close every PodCamp in the future with this session.

I left the event (and went to the after party, of course!) feeling so energized and excited by the new ideas and tools that I had learned. PodCamp Western MA 4 was by far the best social media event that I have attended and I am so glad to have been there to experience the potent charge that a room full of excited learners provides.

We geek types can really have a good time talking tools!

I wrote a post by this title well over two years ago and it remains one of my favorite posts, because the story it tells is so very powerful. If you click through and read it you will learn:

——-
How I met my love.
How I met new and amazing clients.
How I made fabulous new friends around the globe.
How I took those connections offline and changed my life.
How social media was meant to be used.

I don’t claim to be a guru, expert, maven or even an official. I am simply a real estate agent in Western MA who decided years ago to embark on a journey into social media and internet networking and never looked back.

Why am I re-hashing this post?

Well, beside the fact that I think it is darn good and features the amazing likes of: Morriss Partee (my sweetie), Lisa Wray, Diane Guercio, Christine Pilch, Jaclyn Stevenson, Kelly and Tom Galanis, Julianne Krutka, Val Nelson and so many more Western MA social media noteables, it is also a wonderful tale of how I truly feel social media is meant to operate.

Here is my top ten gifts that social media brought me:Social media has brought me:
1- Friends all over the country and friends near me
2- My partner, my love, Morriss.
3- My business partner and best girlfriend, Diane
4- Business (so many closed sales now)
5- A support network like no other, when I am down…these people pick me up. When I am celebrating, they cheer alongside.
6- Travel and new experiences
7- Education…I ask a lot of questions and valuable answers are given.
8- Opportunities for personal and business growth
9- A fresh awareness of the power of connectivity and the law of attraction
10- FUN!

So, why do I discuss this now? Well folks, if you have made it this far, you should be making a reservation for PodCamp Western MA IV so that you can come make your own unique connections and learn the magic that is social media.

Social media and specifically PodCamp Western MA changed my life in so many ways and this is the social media event that I look forward to each year. You will have to take my word on it…I have been to so many other events all over the country and they are always great, but no other is as wonderful as PodCamp Western MA.

REGISTER TODAY!

It is no secret that I am social media junkie. I love social media, it has done wondrous things for me and I am an eternal explorer in that space.

My new social media sweetheart is Pinterest, and I am not alone.
According to recent studies, Pinterest is now driving more referral traffic on the web than Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn — combined. This is powerful stuff from a “traffic” perspective, but anyone who has tried Pinterest knows the real power is in its clean, visual and addictive nature.

I have quite a few boards: recipes, fashion inspirations, travel destinations, vision board ideas, home staging tips, Western Massachusetts…all sorts of wonderful things are pinned there. Well, it would simple to pin and run, but I am a woman of action and as such, I have been working my way through my boards and trying things out.

To date I have made t-shirt scarves and ribbon flowers with my daughters, terrariums, framed “white board”, numerous recipes and have shopped for new apparel with pins in mind.

So, follow me and my journey through Pinterest. What are you pinning these days and have you tried any of the crafts, recipes, designs, etc.? I would love to see pictures, if so. Put the link in the comments below!

fine print: only log into Pinterest if you have done all the productive things you need to do in that day. It is a giant wormhole and can be a timesuck. My friend Jeff wrote a great post about that recently.

Image by mike912mueller via Flickr

Since my early days of social media, I have been telling people what close bonds I have created with people who in many cases, I have never met face to face.

I have met clients, made friends and even met my own love: Morriss, via social media. There is something very powerful that can happen when you share yourself with others and it can truly change your life. I know my engagement with people on Twitter especially, has changed mine.

One of the first people that I got to know via social media was a guy named Clint Miller. Clint is a real estate lead generation specialist from Montana. He is a down and dirty, tell it like it is, REALLY real person. His genuine spirit shines through his writing on his blog, his Facebook statuses and his Tweets. I have spoken with Clint on the phone several times, but we have never met face to face.

He checks on me when I get quiet online (including once when my cat was stepping on my keyboard while I was out and sending odd tweets) and is a person that I count as a true friend.

Well, Clint has been dealing with some really bad stuff lately as he battles cancer and many of us have been wondering what we could do to help him in this difficult time. My friend Diane Haley Brooks asked Clint what he needed and his main concern was being able to Skype with his young boys while he was away for extended periods undergoing treatments.

Diane reached out to a group of us known as the TwitterQueens to see if we thought we could get enough people to contribute towards and iPad for Clint. A group of amazing people came to the front including: Diane Guercio, Debbie Kirkland, Chris Griffith, Amy Cesario, Kappy Mann, Cyndee Haydon, Audrey June-Forshey and myself.

We spent some time planning and shooting video for Clint (which Diane Guercio edited into a beautiful tribute) and then clicked send on the iPad. Clint received it yesterday and it was like Christmas for us! He was pretty excited, too!

I take the time to share this with you so that you understand the real power of social media…the potential for good and giving that exists in a way that never has before. My friend Diane Guercio said that she loves the fact that we live now because 30 years ago we probably wouldn’t know each other…isn’t that amazing?

I leave you today with a challenge:

Go onto Facebook or Twitter and say something nice to someone just because. See if someone seems sad and send them a private pick me up message. Offer to help, share a smile, be there and be open. Let me know what amazing things happen to you!

I came to Florida to speak at the Florida REALTORS State Conference and enjoy the Real Estate BarCamp Orlando event. It was an amazing week of sharing social media tips, teaching Twitter and video blogging, visiting with great friends and enjoying some warm sunshine.

When leaving Massachusetts, I had been concerned that I may be flying into Irene…oddly enough there was no effect from the hurricane in Orlando, whatsoever. Going home, however, was another issue. We are unable to get out of Florida before Wednesday due to all of the backlog on delayed flights. Our friend Debbie Kirkland brought us up to her house in Tallahassee where we are hanging out for a few days.

Besides the fact that I really miss my kids, it isn’t such a bad problem to have. I have been watching Twitter and Facebook and am amazed at the pictures and videos I see posted! Westfield looks to be dealing with a lot of flooding and I hope my friends and clients are all doing well.

I had a wonderful time speaking and teaching social media this week, but I am looking forward to getting back to Park Square Realty where I can use my expertise to help people who are buying a home or selling a home in Western MA.

I will be presenting “Tweet Success:How To Market Yourself on Twitter” to the attendees of the Florida State Conference for REALTORS. It is an honor to be presenting along with so many amazing stars in the real estate field.

I will also be attending (and perhaps facilitating a session) at the RE BarCamp Orlando on August 24, 2011 just prior to the conference. It will be wonderful to see many great friends, learn from the best in the real estate social media space and meet new friends!

This will be my second year at both functions and I had such a terrific experience, I can’t wait to return!

Will you be there, too? Let’s connect!

QR Codes (Quick Read) are dimensional bar codes that can be scanned with a smart phone and enable print materials to go mobile on your mobile browser.

REALTORS can use this in a number of inventive ways and the best part is they are FREE and easy to implement and trackable!

Be sure to register for my power lunch and learn session at the Greater New Haven Association of Realtors.

Would you like me to speak about QR Codes or other social media marketing for REALTORS? Contact me through the green contact button to the left.

Lately, though, I have been missing the “Twitter of old”. When I first joined Twitter, it was an underground social media experiment of sorts. It wasn’t indexed on Google and most people had barely heard of it. That lent itself to allowing those of us pioneers to get some time to mingle. When I first began, it was exciting to have all these new people following me. I soon realized, however, that while the number of followers can fool you into feeling popular, many of these people never actually TALKED to me. I gravitated towards others who wanted to socialize and converse and have made some powerful and amazing relationships (including meeting my boyfriend @mmpartee).

Twitter has always been my favorite social media platform because it is quick and agile and everyone’s experience is defined by who they follow, so each stream is unique. That being said, I have been spending less time on Twitter and couldn’t quite put a finger on why.

Last night I figured it out. I tweeted that I missed when people on Twitter tweeted at me with conversation and not sales. I longed for the day when the stream was more than an endless pitch of blog posts and ponzi scams. Was I ever gratified when out of blue several people started actual conversations with me. Many of them are “old twitter friends” and several were people I had never chatted with. I was energized and excited that Twitter could still hold that positive result for me.

I tossed out that we should create a movement to take back the “Twitter of old” by committing to strike up at least three conversations on Twitter a day.

I added that I thought we should use the hashtag #3Tweets to be accountable to each other.

My plan includes doing some Twitter pruning for the first time ever. I never really felt the need to thin the herd before, but after last night, I feel like it is time to create space for conversations with people who want to engage.

Of course I use social media venues, including Twitter to share my blog posts and business ventures. BUT….I still talk with people most of the time. If you are using Twitter as one neverending commercial sales pitch, say goodbye to me now while you still can.

If you feel the same way as I do, drop in on #3Tweets and share the conversations! I am @LesleyLambert, Twittervangelist!

It is no secret that I am a big fan of all things social media and technology in real estate. Using location-based applications is no exception. I have been using applications like Brightkite, Foursquare and Gowalla for a couple of years now in Western MA and have spent a lot of time thinking about how I can utilize them to help with exposure in the local Western MA real estate market.

Last summer I wrote a post on this topic for Agent Genius magazine geared toward sharing some of my thoughts on how location based applications like Foursquare can be used in a marketing and branding sense to expose real estate agents to a new market.

I was beyond flattered when REALTOR Magazine emailed me and asked if they could use some of my post as a quote in an upcoming article on the same subject. Yesterday my broker presented me with the magazine and when I saw the article I was even MORE excited because I shared space in the story with Todd Carpenter, NAR’s social media manager. Todd and I have had the opportunity to meet a few times and I am so honored to be quoted in the same story!

If you want to take a look at the REALTOR Magazine story, click here. I am so proud to see my quote followed up by says Lesley Lambert, a sales associate with Park Square Realty in Westfield, Mass!

If you are interested in learning more about social media, technology or location-based applications you can contact me. If you want a REALTOR who is using new media techniques to help her clients achieve their home-ownership dreams then definitely contact me!