It is more important than ever that consumers who are looking to buy or sell a home in 2011 and beyond have access to the best technology. Many real estate agents sadly are not providing this. We believe that the agents in our community are.

Introducing the Tech Savvy Agent Referral Network!

We are building a database of agents who are committed to providing the best consumer experience possible during the largest financial transaction of most peoples lives. The agents included must be committed to raising the bar with their web marketing and social media efforts. Short term goal is that this will be a way for you to send business to each other. Long term goal is that we market this directly to the consumer.

Here is how to submit yourself to the network, all steps below need to be completed in order to be added:

First you will need to submit your profile via email to TSAforum@posterous.com

Be sure to include a paragraph about yourself and the area you serve, a paragraph about how you leverage technology in your practice and a paragraph on why you enjoy being a part of our tech savvy community.

You will also need to attach to the email your photo, recommended size is 396 x 495 or something pretty close to that.

The image to the right is an example of how to properly compose the email

The link below is an example of a well written bio and how it will appear on our site:

Benjamin Bach Agent Profile

The bios will go into moderation status and I will then proof/approve.

Now it is time to share what is happening. Copy and paste the tweet below and send it out through your Twitter account. If you are not on Twitter you have to be to be included in the network so great time to get started, I realize that most of you already are.

Tweet the following line on Twitter:    I just added myself to the @techsavvyagent referral network find out how http://goo.gl/sNCPr cc @mashable @techcrunch

Once I am notified of the tweet I will then release your profile from draft mode as long as it looks good and it will be live on Tech Savvy Agent’s main site.

Lastly we have created a custom badge below for you to add to your website or blog letting your visitors know you are committed to raising the bar and being a Tech Savvy Agent! Simply search your name on Tech Savvy Agent after your bio is published, search is in the top right corner on every screen, open up your new bio and copy that link. To save the badge to your computer simply right click on the image and choose Save As then insert the hyper link to your bio into the new badge on your site.

That’s it! One caveat. No help from me! Your tech savvy right? Feel free to help each other if needed in the comments below or on our Facebook Wall.

Special thanks to Benjamin Bach for helping me with the logistics of this innovative endeavor.

After attending both NAR in San Diego and the Triple Play convention in Atlantic City over the course of the last month, we have come to the conclusion that the most succesful agents are leveraging their website and social media as a way to “educate” and not “advertise”.  Luring clients with valuable insight about their local real estate market is more crucial than ever.  You are at a time in real estate where everyone and their brother is asking you “how’s the market”, good news is they REALLY want to know.  Saying “it’s great” when we all know it’s scary makes you a salesperson and what consumers want is a consultant.  Self promotion and endless personal advertising does not contain the information that todays internet savvy consumers are looking for.  As you browse the web daily, are you looking for salespeople or are you looking for information about products and services?

Take a step back and look at your own website objectively. Can a consumer instantly find home values the way they can on Zillow?  Can they search for properties quickly without giving up their email address the way they can on Trulia, Cyberhomes and countless other sites?  Are you just trying to “get leads”?  Are the tabs on your site my listings, about me, contact me, areas I serve, etc…?  By the way, how many leads is that approach getting you?  Why do you think those aforementioned sites get millions of visitors each month?   They provide quick, graphical, user friendly information that is all about the consumers needs and goals and not self promoting at all.

While attending a seminar by Max Pigman, a national speaker and technologist for one of the largest real estate tech companies in the world, it became clear that social media and consumer behavior has changed the game.  While qualified buyers and people willing to list has gone down along with home values, social media and technology are allowing tech savvy agents to handle more contacts seemlessly than ever before.

Max pointed out that contrary to what many Realtors believe, a lot of the automated systems available as tools can hinder the agents growth in the social media realm.  For example: a program like Postlets, that syndicates listings to several sites automatically and works well with sites like Craigslist, Zillow and Trulia, may cause Gen Y’ers in Facebook to ignore your future posts or even hide your updates because it is autoposting your listings which isn’t exactly why Facebook is so popular.  Interupt advertising is not kosher in the social networks.  Instead, try creating a Fan Page for your business like the one we have where once someone joins willingly they have then given you the okay to then provide real estate specific content.  You may also consider creating a Fan Page for the areas or neighborhoods you work in as a resource for the community to post garage sales, local events, things for sale, best front lawn pics, etc…as the admin of the page you can also post the recent solds, listings, links to your website and market trends which would be much appreciated by all those “nosy neighbors”!

Finding the balance on your personal account in Facebook between real life and real estate is very important and can be a make it or break it when it comes to social media. Try using the old 80/20 addadge as a rule of thumb. The 80 being personal and the 20 being business related.

To see an example of a team of agents who have figured this out and are in perfect balance with today’s tech savvy consumers check out one of our personal favorites:

Krisstina Wise and The Good Life Team

Good Life Team Facebook Fan Page

If you are a consumer looking for an agent in your market that “gets all this” then simply leave a comment below and we will make sure to get you in touch with the best Realtors in your area!