I relish every opportunity to travel to the Crystal Coast of NC! My upcoming trip to the NC Coast will be extra special as I get to combine my visit to the Southern Outer Banks with the opportunity to do what I’m passionate about – helping Crystal Coast real estate agents understand the power of the Internet. The prospect of meeting and sharing at real estate conferences and events is something I really feel I’m made to do. In fact, I’ve been asked to speak to the local chapter of the Women’s Council of REALTORS®!

See You at the Crystal Coast Women’s Council Luncheon!

I want to offer a tremendous “thank you” to Kathryn V. Gorham for this terrific opportunity. As the 2010 President of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® for the Crystal Coast Chapter, Kathryn is a top notch real estate pro and blogger. If you are a member of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® along the Crystal Coast, I trust I’ll see at this event!

Bobby Carroll – Speaks for the Crystal Coast Women’s Council of REALTORS®

The luncheon is scheduled for February 24th Wednesday, at 11:30am – 1pm at the Country Club of the Crystal Coast in Pine Knoll Shores.

Internet Tools Needed to Connect With Women Buyers

What online marketing tools do you leverage when connecting with women homebuyers? Kathryn has asked me to speak on the topic “I am Woman Hear Me Roar” – Marketing to Women Buyers! In case you didn’t know, female homebuyers are a growing segment in our real estate market place.

Below is a brief summary of some of the tools Crystal Coast real estate agents should use to connect with women homebuyers. The tools I’ll discuss include:

1.    What is the “hub” of your online presence? How about your real estate website and your blog? Does your hub answer the questions female homebuyers are asking?
2.    Concerned about the time drain to maintain a real estate blog? YES! Blogging can be easy. Learn about The 5 minute blog post women love to read and agents love to write!
3.    Do you use Facebook? FB is the single largest social networking site for women. Are you using your personal profile to “listen” for “social triggers” and engage with your FB friends? Are you even aware of these opportunities to respond to these social triggers?
4.    Are using Facebook Fan Pages to connect with women homebuyers? Fan pages are FREE websites within FB! What’s the best strategy to attract women prospects and encourage them to be “your fan”?

Crystal Coast Real Estate Agents – See You Soon!

I’m so excited at the opportunity to share at this event. If you are a Crystal Coast real estate agent I trust I will see you will be at the Crystal Coast chapter of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® Wednesday, February 24th at 11:30am.

Bobby Carroll

P.S. If you are interested in having me speak at your event, be sure to complete this real estate speakers request form today!

I have received many calls and questions emailed to me from readers wanting information about Crystal Coast homes and specifically about Emerald Isle condos for rent and for sale. Most of these questions center around the local Emerald Isle real estate market, and questions about things to do in Emerald Isle.

My Personal Favorite Entries From the Crystal Coast Blog

To help provide the answers many visitors to this blog have asked, here are some of my personal favorite past Crystal Coast Blog post.

Which Type of Emerald Isle Real Estate Agent Should You Select? One Who Blogs or One Who Doesn’t?

Internet Connectivity High on the List of Crystal Coast Hotel Guest

Questions for Crystal Coast Home Buyers

Factors that Impact the Success of Selling Your Emerald Isle Property

Is There Such a Thing as a Long-term Emerald Isle Rental?

The Cool Things You Can Do With Your iPhone on Emerald Isle!

Great Coffee on Emerald Isle – Beans-N-Screens

I hope you enjoy reading these post as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know which one was your “personal fav”!
Bobby Carroll – Your Crystal Coast Blogger

As a licensed North Carolina real estate broker, I receive immense fulfillment from helping my clients in real estate marketing, blogging and social media navigation. As a part of those passions, I had the pleasure of attending the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in New York last week with my son, Brad Carroll.  Brad was asked to participate as a panelist in a breakout session on “Build a World Class Agent Web Site” moderated by Bernice Ross.

What Is Inman Connect?

If you’re unfamiliar with the Inman Connect Conference, it is a semi-annual gathering of forward-thinking real estate professionals who come to learn and to share how our industry is changing and being changed. Main hall sessions typically focus on the state of the real estate industry and ground-breaking technologies plus breakout sessions that focus on Internet marketing, blogging, state of the MLS and various other “tracks”.

From the Observation Deck High Above Times Square in NYC

The primary purpose of this Crystal Coast Blog post is to offer some thoughts based on attending the RE Bar Camp, Bloggers Connect and the Inman Connect Conference. The original train of thought of this post was sent via Twitter “direct message” to a social media buddy of mine and video rock star Uncommon real estate agent in Boston, Mike Lefebvre (@MikeLefebvre). Did I get all that correct Mike? Limited to 140 Twitter characters, I decided a lengthier blog post was in order. My time in NYC triggered the following thoughts:

• Uninformed real estate agents who begin “playing” online without knowledge of “netiquette” in the social media space stand a better chance of making mistakes. Social media newbies, may I suggest you stop (before you create a profile), look (at the guidelines), and listen (before you engage).
• Many will experience social media fatigue and will probably fall by the wayside not knowing how to implement a carefully managed plan to remain focused and active in social media.
• The vast majority of real estate agents just don’t get how to use social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, and blogging. Each tool is distinctive with its own personality. Suggestion, read the social media primer “Social Media is a Cocktail Party” by Jim Tobin.
• Real estate agents who were the early adopters have a huge head start over their competition and the competition will find it increasingly difficult to play catch up.
• The next phase for early RE.Net adopters of social media is maturity in it’s use of the medium. Instead of using interruption based marketing tactics such as mass spam drip email campaigns and print media, most are forgoing these strategies in favor of permission based marketing in conjunction with social media.

Passions That Intersect at the Crystal Coast of NC

Granted, Emerald Isle is a far cry from New York City, but these social media concepts still hold true no matter if you’re a real estate agent on the Crystal Coast or in a large metropolitan area. People who live in Emerald Isle participate on Facebook just like those who live in Charlotte, Pittsburgh or any other area.

Leave a Comment

Agree or disagree? I invite you to leave a comment and tell me what you think about my observations.

Bobby Carroll
Your Crystal Coast Blogger

Twitter Me: @Realestatecoach