Inman Connect has evolved over the years, going from an industry handshake gathering to a vibrant, sentient organism.
If the ballrooms, panels and talk tracks are the heart, then the vendor alleys and hallways become the arteries, where the oxygen and energy flow to power discussion and germinate connections between the technology and agent communities.
With creative pitches and swag ranging from unicorn costumes to mock $100 bills, Inman Connect New York’s technology attendees are all-in for the industry’s attention — and they’re earning it.
InstaUnicorn founder Gal Elrichman has staff members clad in colorful jumpers of the mystical equine to draw in agents in need of help with social media. Name aside, Elrichman’s firm also focuses heavily on LinkedIn, where “… people with money are,” he said.
The company takes over agents’ accounts and will engage, connect and respond to LinkedIn connections. “Facebook has become too broad,” he said.
NodalView is another mobile-based 3D tour and imaging company aiming to take another bite out of the market Matterport built.
In addition to a mobile app that can walk viewers from a home’s exterior into its foyers, nooks and bonus rooms, NodalView uses bracketing to assemble multiple exposures and combine only the best pixels from each to produce a final photo.
It also sells a collection of hardware products to aid agents in their video marketing efforts, such as tripods and iPhone lenses.
Lucidpress might give agents a reason to stop using Canva.
While focused on supporting brokers’ efforts to ensure branding and visual standards are met on all marketing materials that go out the door and on the web, agents will love how little they have to think about adhering to company branding standards when selling property.
Every visual asset down to font size, type and color can be created and locked down to allow only copy edits, making it quick and easy for great-looking, high-end flyers to be printed, email or attached to emails.
The Connect halls also breathe fresh air into existing products, such as Preclose’s updated escrow coordination software that leverages a chat experience to gather and process critical closing date, or Ylopo’s DyVa (dynamic video ads), which takes the company’s highly successful dynamic ads for real estate product (now called by Facebook, Real Estate Ads) and applies lead engagement and branding video to it.
Issuu, the digital content publisher, has a new feature called Issuu Stories, that makes listing and marketing content omnichannel and easily measurable.
Users can create editable digital stories for viewing on websites, Instagram and YouTube, and also as stand-alone, scrollable, mobile brochures that resemble apps.
From tech vendors to top producers, Inman Connect is where all the industry synapses come to get fired up and fused to the common goal of inspiring others to support one of our country’s oldest and most cherished industries.
And what better place for this to all happen in than Times Square, the heart of New York City?
Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe.
