I love it when I have the honor to go and talk at conferences as a social media speaker.  This past week I had the pleasure of traveling to New Orleans, LA to talk at the Generation Blue Conference put together by Coldwell Banker.  The event is affectionately known as #GenBlue.

I spoke at this event last year and it was definitely one of my highlights.  So, when Coldwell Banker called to see if I was interested in participating again, I jumped at the opportunity.  Because of my high ratings on last year’s surveys, not only was I asked to come back and speak on social media, but they wanted me to do twice as many presentations as last year.

This year I spoke on three different topics which are described below along with a copy of the actual presentation for you to view:

Social Media Speaker Presentations

 

The first topic that I discussed as a social media speaker was titled: “How To Build An Online Following.”  In this presentation I shared what the top sources of traffic to my website currently are, and gave some basic statistics on who is currently using social media networks.  I finished this session by diving into 9 tips to help agents grow an online following properly.  I shared how I’ve used social networks to build my online community to over 22,000 followers.

Building an Online Following for #Genblue

 

The second presentation I gave was called: “50+ Tools To Enhance Your Social Media Strategy.”  In this session I shared the various social media tools that I use on a regular basis to help manage my social media marketing.  This presentation is one of the more popular subjects that I give as I travel the country as a social media speaker.  I have affectionately sub-titled this presentation, “Shiny Object Syndrome” as it contains so many tools & gadgets that you can use each and every day to enhance your social media strategy.

Genblue 2012 50+ Tools To Enhance Your Social Media Strategy

 

The final topic I spoke on was on the last day of the #GenBlue conference and was aimed towards brokers/managers/owners.  The title of this sesion was:  “Social Media & Today’s Consumer- Future-Proofing Your Business.”  I started this session with a quick overview of social platforms and the amount of people using each network today.  Then I shared with the managers/owners some direct quotes from various real estate agents from around the country and what they want/need most from the leaders in their companies.

There were two resounding things that agents wish their managers would do a better job at.  The first is to stop telling agents how important social media is when they are not using any of the tools on their own.  They want a manger to begin leading the way by using the various social media tools first.  The second thing agents want from their managers/owners is to have someone begin teaching them the how-to not just give the overview anymore.  Agents want the managers/owners to start hiring experts & professionals to come in and give them solid advice and step by step consultation.  The saying You can’t be a prophet in your own town was made more than once by both those surveyed before and during this presentation.

Social Media & Today’s Consumer- Future-Proofing Your Business

 

The GenBlue Conference ended with awesome presentations from the NY Times Michael Zimbalist.  Michael shared on new technology they are working on to change the way consumers engage with media and marketing.  Then there were stellar presentations by both Google+ and one of my favorites, YouTube.  Patrick from the Google real estate team shared some amazing statistics and really solid advice on how agents should begin to use video.  He gave very simple easy steps to follow to start you in the right direction as a successful YouTuber.  Just like last year, Generation Blue lived up to the hype and delivered a ton of very valuable information to those in attendance.

If you have an upcoming event and would like to hire me as a social media speaker, feel free to contact me for availability.