I recently saw what is now my favorite advertisement: Coco Rocha tap dancing in White House / Black Market’s new commercial.
After I got done admiring the coolness, I thought: hmmm, how do I make this work for me? Some of you may know that I am a tap dancer myself and have been wanting to incorporate more dance into my branding and marketing.
I wonder if I could dance in front of a green screen and have houses added to the background after? Anyone have some creative ideas?
Realtors®, in Western MA and around the country, continue to use technology to keep in touch with their clients and build business, but not all real estate agents use it to the maximum effect.
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 hope my fellow campers know that I mean Geek as the highest praise, I am a proud Geek Girl and a card carrying nerd, myself.
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.
Source: Uploaded by user via Lesley on Pinterest
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!
Morriss and I just visited Paddy’s Irish Pub on Elm Street in Westfield, MA for a casual dinner. Open for about a month, I had been wanting to stop in (not just because of my love for all things Irish).
We were both impressed with the upscale pub decor: lots of wood paneling, richly painted tin ceiling, nice lighting and good seating.
Our waitress, Shannon, greeted us quickly and after we perused the good sized draft beer samplings we ordered and were served quickly. The food is what I would describe as “upscale pub fare”. The servings were ample and the quality of the food was all good. We ordered a tomato soup, Caesar salad and quesadilla but we especially enjoyed the pesto pizza with caramelized onions, chicken and balsamic drizzle.
I am looking forward to making this a regular stop and thought that the setting was easily one of the nicest in town.
This is much more than a bar (although the bar is a nice looking one) and I recommend you give it a shot the next time you are looking for a nice casual dinner. Remember, if we want a vibrant and exciting downtown Westfield, it is up to us to make it that way!
I am adding this to my other favorite downtown destinations (besides Park Square Realty, obviously): Mama Cakes, Nails R Us, Ezra’s Mercantile and Leo’s Gallery Deli.
THE GIFTS THAT SOCIAL MEDIA BROUGHT ME
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. (Edited because the original post was on a blog that no longer exists, so I took down the link).
Through Social Media I:
met my love.
met new and amazing clients.
made fabulous new friends around the globe.
took those connections offline and changed my life.
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.
