365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA by Dale Chumbley
One of the best parts of my job is getting a chance to visit numerous technology and social media based events throughout the country. The events are a blast but more importantly the people at the events are really where you learn the most. Recently, at the Inman Agent Reboot Tour in Seattle, I met Dale Chumbley who is quickly becoming a go to resource in real estate industry for social media talk due largely to the success of his 365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA Facebook Page and accompanying blog. When it comes to an agent “doing it right” in the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogging spaces, as well as seeing significant ROI, Dale is one of the best examples in the country.
Chumbley, who admits he has been involved in the RE.net world for about three years now, actually drew his inspiration from some other high minded influencers including our favorite SM guy Gary Vaynerchuk. What Dale realized on a trip to see Gary speak in New York City in 2009 for Inman Connect was that he was already on the right track, creating passionate content about his community. Where the 365 Things To Do idea started to make sense was that it would put some structure as well as self pressure on his blogging quality and frequency. Dale had seen a couple of other 365 Facebook Pages pop up in Austin and Nashville with success and decided it was the right model for his local market Vancouver, WA.
The other ah ha moment for Dale while in New York was that his Palm Treo was not going to be sufficient for this endeavor. Being busy agent in the field can cause many to say “there isn’t enough time” for all of this. Dale picked up an iPhone 3GS and quickly realized that he could now capture video and push it to YouTube, capture images and easily put them into a post and even composing, tagging and syndicating his content is a breeze. He uses a video editor on his iPhone for the intro music and transitions and has now successfully posted every day for 183 straight days. Coffee shops, restaurants, local businesses as well as parks have all been the focus of his daily post and he is really growing his brand beyond a Realtor looking to help you JUST buy or sell.
Meeting Dale in person and hearing him speak so passionately about his community and his love of what he does is infectious. He is generating buyers and listings and at the same time having a blast. That being said it is as he said many times during our talk “a lot of hard work” but totally worth it. Check out 365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA and maybe you will be inspired to create a similar resource for your area. Remember, the number 365 is a commitment, but with the right DNA, passion and work ethic I am confident that there is room for more stories like Dale’s to surface. If you have any comments or questions for Dale feel free to leave those below!
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Visionary. He really nailed it in the head. Although it’d be extremely time-consuming and in some areas not so feasible (can you think of 365 things to do in bethlehem, pa?), real estate agents can benefit from his idea: become a community resource, instead of just peddling their listings.
Chris/TSA,
It’s great to see Dale featured, using an old-school media practice and adapting that into the New Media Platforms on the Internet.
If you think this takes a long time to do yourself, it DOES! LOL
But the list of benefits and the longevity of creating your own content goes beyond just immediate ROI. It remains for years and Dale is an example of consistent content creation and delivery.
The old school traditional media practice is 1) create the “teaser” where people will be watching or reading (on a TV news program or newspaper column) and than 2) refer them to the main source of content, usually their own.
With Social Media, YOU are the content creator, editor, publisher, all-in-one.
What Dale or TSA didn’t directly reveal, is the true “SECRET” in this whole Facebook page + blog post process:
1) Create a sub-community wherever the most amount of people are congregating online. i.e. Facebook in 2010, and that sub-community can be around ANY topic/subject matter.
It DOESN’T HAVE TO BE 365 things to do in your city (please don’t just copy Dale, make something unique that’s you’re own in your town). You can create “Family Friendly Events in ‘your city’ or Waterfront Living Tips” with daily tips on living on the waterfront, river or lake.
The “sub-community” you help create, must NOT be present already, so that you’re touching upon a need. If you’re in a small town, or community, and your local media is not present on Facebook Pages or they’re doing a lousy job, THAN you have an opportunity. But as Dale has shown, you MUST be “first to the market.”
People moving to or in an area want to know things to do, but what about breaking the niche down further? Daily networking event opportunities (you’re reaching B2B minded folks on Facebook, probably sales people, business owners, entrepreneurs, etc), or go ultra micro-niche and have a “Best spots to tie one on” Facebook page, detailing a different Happy Hour spot in your city MSA or like Ines Garcia of http://miamism.com where she does Mojito reviews! Than share your happy hour or Mojito reviews on a “Daily Happy Hour Review” Facebook Page.
2) The other CRUCIAL, MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT that Dale mentions several times, is “THE CONTENT RESIDES ON HIS SITE.” This is so important for your ROI to improve, that I’ll say it again: IF YOU HAVE CONTENT, PUBLISH IT ALWAYS ON YOUR BLOG/SITE FIRST, than share via social media networks. Filter the viewer through your “home” online first, even if you intend to send them on to somewhere else.
If you spend as much time as Dale does producing and publishing content you’ll share with Facebook fans, you better damn well NOT SEND THEM ANYWHERE but your site. You WILL NOT be able to track traffic, conversions, ROI, etc, if you share to your fans links to sites, other than yours.
ALWAYS post the review, the content, even if it’s one sentence, with a pull-quote from the original site, ON YOUR SITE, include a citation link to the original location and THAN post YOUR BIT.LY SHORT LINK of your blog post (or have it auto-post via a number of blog RSS-to-Ping/Facebook Page options) directly on your Facebook Page.
And don’t forget that a properly written “teaser” (it’s best to be 160 characters or less) that covers most of the blog post is included as well. Journalists/publishers know what I mean (I have a former journalist on my staff that reminds me all the time) because the “teaser” can make or break viewership click through and sharing. The reason to be 160 characters or less, is that is the character count that gets listed on search engine results AND the “teaser” comment on the Facebook wall may not have to include the “more…” link. Readers can get most of the idea in 160 characters or less and if they want more, they can click on your headline to reach your blog/site.
In conclusion of my comments, it’s always nice to see friends do really well and find something that “hits a homerun out of the park” but as Dale will tell you, it takes TONS of time commitment, focus and consistency, to truly see the long term benefits and long term ROI.
On a last note, in the past few days alone, I personally have received more than 6 buyer lead phone calls and emails requesting more information on Homepath Loan options and wanting to speak with me directly by name. All of this from content I published or blog comments I made OVER A YEAR AGO. Content takes minutes to create and publish, but can live on and on, help your personal branding and continue to provide referrals…
Thanks Dale and TSA for your video!
Best,
Ed Bisquera, Social Media Director
Bond Social Media Agency LLC
P.S. Chris, I used to be a Mortgage Consultant up until my career shift, but my Homepath leads this week, I still personally responded to and explained Homepath, than passed them off to various loan officers I know around the US. To get homebuyer leads from Florida, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and Arizona for FREE is a great testament to why blogging and commenting on blogs/forums/Amazon works for branding online and why agents HAVE to make time in their schedule to do it daily or their competition will, right?
EB
Visionary?! Please how is stealing somebody’s idea visionary? The original one is the Austin site created and run by Kristy Owen. You can simply see by the dates of the original posts that it was her idea. Not only was it her idea but her site is far superior than any of the others. She has the largest fan base and the is constantly paving the way on the next way to evolve the idea. Her facebook page alone has over 146,000 followers and she was the first to take the idea mobile with a iphone app. She is a true visionary in the social media world. I am not trying to discredit his work that he has done in his community but simply try to make sure that credit is given where credit is earned.
Matt the way she uses her page and the more important thing which is her website are not up to par with what Dale is doing. Just my opinion you are entitled to yours as well.
He is taking credit as the creator (on other sites) which is a big deal. Just trying to get the facts out there. Love your site keep up the great work.