Here is the 3rd installment of our 4 part series on digital tools from NAR:
8) Pdftypewriter – Is a great tool that allows you to open PDF files, edit them, and then save or print them. It is great for digitally filling out forms such as offers. No longer do you have to be tied to a computer with access to File Logics or whichever offer system your office is using. All you need is a pdf of the offer form and amendments.
PDF Typewriter will let you insert text, highlight sections, white-out parts of the document, insert images and then save print or email the digital file. What a great alternative to signing back an offer and faxing it. How many times have you ended a negotiation with a document that has been faxed back and forth so many times it is barely legible?
9) Eventbrite.com – If you hold seminars or events for prospects and/or clients this is a great website that will help you manage the registration for those events. As long as your event is free than Eventbrite is free. We just used it for our NARCampTO event and it worked like a charm. It has all of the functionality you need for a registration system and then some. Best of all it is presented in a clean, straight forward interface that is easy to use. They even make it easy to promote your event on a number of different social media sites including Facebook and Twitter.
10) Live streaming – You can now stream live video to the web using your computer camera, BlackBerry or iPhone for FREE. Below are two of the big sites that you can use to do this. We are seeing agents down in the States use these sites to do walk throughs of properties with their out of country clients. It is also being used as an open house tool. You simply set up your account (it takes 3 minutes) promote the fact that you are going to do a live streaming from x-y by sending the link out to your email database and post it on your social media. You can then walk through the property live streaming off your iPhone or Blackberry and those people watching can interact with you by typing questions into the chat feature integrated into these sites. Is that cool or what?
a. Ustream.tv (iPhone)
b. qik.com (BlackBerry)
11) Web video – Web video is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to real estate agents. For $180 you can pick up a Kodak ZI8 (video camera recommended by all the tech geeks) and start recording in high definition. Those videos can then be taken and edited using any number of software packages (I use Camtasia Studio 7) and loaded on Youtube (2nd largest search engine and 4th most visited website in the world). From there you can embed the video on your website or blog.
Video is powerful because of its engaging nature. Web visitors are incredibly passive they are much more likely to watch a 30 sec video then read through a 500 word article. It is also a great way to convey a lot of information and to familiarize you with prospects.
A couple of great uses for agents are: 1) For listing agents you can give the video camera to your client and have them walk through each floor of the home describing it. This is incredibly powerful stuff because of the emotion that your client will convey as they describe the property. You then load that video on YouTube and embed the vid on your website/blog 2) Case study or problem solving testimonial. The next time you go to get a testimonial from a satisfied client do it on video (much more impactful) and have them focus on a specific issue or concern they had during the process and how you overcome it.
In my next post i will be covering off Constant Contact, Zobni, LogMeIn, Facebook Optimization (think SEO for Facebook), and adding ‘Like’ button to your website.
