Tomorrow morning, Strutta.com will launch. It will be the glorious apex of over five months of work (in my case) to prepare for opening the doors to the general public. Not to mention the year or so of prep by our founders and our extremely talented development team.

When I took the job, I promised to publish a few tips about community building here based on my experiences. Two things have prevented me from doing that until now: the fact that the site has been in private beta, and that preparing for a launch like this keeps you pretty busy. Even without a place for us to officially congregate, save for our Facebook Page and our blog, we’ve been busy getting ourselves involved with the people that matter most- the “future” Strutta community. I’ve prepared a list of values that I knew we had to hold near and dear to our hearts before we even began, and examples of how I put those in action. Using our own work as a marketing case study, if you will.

Joining the Community

Taking a page out of Mack Collier’s book, I knew that our staff had to show that we were willing to play our own game, long before it was ever released. In the spirit of that, we started publishing staff videos on YouTube just a few days after I first sat down at my desk, and we haven’t let up since. We made a conscious decision to produce all of our videos with tools that are accessible to most people: consumer quality digital cameras, web cams and iMovie. Since our site is all about video, I’ve used it for lots of purposes: event coverage, outreach, shameless self promotion, recruiting and more. One of our more recent efforts has been something of a hit:

Office Lip Dub - Blister in the Sun, by Strutta.com from Jordan Behan on Vimeo.

Sidebar: Empower Your Best and Brightest

This is where I pat myself on the back for finding the director of the above lip dub video, Mark Freeman- I originally hired him on a very short contract to give us a hand with researching content, but he is now a key member of the product team, handling QA and assisting with community outreach. I’m taking credit where it’s not due though; of the two of us, Mark is the genius.

We also sponsor a lot of local events in the Vancouver tech community. The founders of Strutta, Danny Robinson and Maura Rodgers are the driving forces behind Launch Party Vancouver, a bimonthly event that helps bring exposure to local tech startups in a social setting. We’re also sponsoring the upcoming Drupal Camp Vancouver, an “unconference” for the open source CMS platform that our site is based on. At Christmas time, we headed up a “Hardware Drive” here in Vancouver, donating the booty to Free Geek, a non-profit that recycles and redistributes used computer hardware. Perhaps most importantly, there is nary a tech event in Vancouver that doesn’t have a strong turnout by members of our staff. My doing? Not at all- again this one should be credited to our founders, who hired a bunch of passionate and talented people that love to get involved and show their support, myself included. Here are just a few of their many blogs and other sites.

Tell the Truth

Until we had all of our ideas for Strutta fleshed out, we were in top secret “stealth” mode, so it wouldn’t be accurate for me to say that we have always told the whole truth. But we have been very upfront with people about everything that we were ready to talk about, and started getting community feedback early. When we launched our Alpha product several weeks back, we invited a group of trusted friends and bloggers to come in and test the product. They may be our friends, but these folks weren’t shy about telling us exactly what they thought needed changing, and what parts they wanted to see more of. We listened and responded, and the new site reflects many of those requests. We’ve had to admit to a small number of mistakes along the way as well, and we’ve done so graciously.

Getting the Word Out

Even before I started this gig, our founders were in talks with Voce Communicatons, the Valley PR firm that is helping to dispatch the message on our behalf. After many talks with Tiffany and Shanee and even some crazy nights at SXSW with VP Matt Podboy, I am quite comfortable saying that these guys “get it,” and have been extremely helpful. More on that later when some of the resulting stories hit the many tech community sites and blogs. For my part, I have done some local outreach- some private video pitches for bloggers that we especially love, and even some video responses to some of the folks we are big fans of on YouTube.

Tomorrow morning, we find out what kind of effect these efforts will begin to have, and personally thank anyone who says a kind word. Where challenges are made or questions asked, we answer with grace and efficiency. After the site is public, our marketing efforts turn to promoting the people that matter most to us: the players of the game. The content creators whose brilliant content are what makes the game so fun to play and vote on. People like Freddie Wong, who proved his status as a Guitar Hero demigod when he demolished our CEO in a head-to-head battle at SXSW this year. Or like Piotr Walczuk, whose celebrity impressions are both plentiful and accurate. Is he the Rich Little of a new generation? First and foremost, we care about these folks, and we will continue to improve the product based on their feedback and suggestions.

If you like what you’ve read and you’d like to give us a little boost in the form of a link or even better yet, by dropping by and checking out the site or commenting on the blog, I for one would be genuinely grateful .

That was the subject of my first appearance on the Lab with Leo, and at last I have the embeddable video of that conversation.

Mr. Laporte and I talk about how to set up a Google News Alert, as well as how to monitor tags and search within Technorati. (Scroll past the obligatory G4 Tech TV promo, if you prefer)

Big thanks to Ryan Yewell and the rest of the producers for having me on the show, and then even being kind enough to have me back!

Stay tuned for my second appearance, where we discuss using social media tools to market your business, including a discussion about Facebook profiles, apps and groups.

The week seems to be flying by, so I thought I’d better quickly post an update.

Joel Burslem’s talk at the Real Estate Tech Meetup Monday night was great; he hit upon the changes in the markets in the States (their bubble has has done what bubbles always do) and how it is affecting the businesses and professionals in that industry.

His words come as a bit of a warning to Canadian Realtors; there’s still time to establish a level of service and interaction that will keep people coming back lest our markets suffer the same fate as down South, and the web is a key piece in the puzzle.

Sidebar: I taped my segment with the Realty TV folks yesterday, it went pretty well. It airs first on Thursday the 27th at 11pm PST on City TV, channel 13 in Vancouver (plug that into your DVR now, Mom) and again the following Saturday the 29th at 9:30 am.

To highlight just some of the changes that digital media is having on all industries, Joel closed his presentation with this great spot for Kodak that I thought was really entertaining, and just had to share it:

I don’t know what it is about “Boo-Ya!” that always makes me chuckle.

You don’t need me to tell you that Vancouver is a hotbed of activity in the tech industry, especially when it comes to the web.

If you haven’t already, jump on over to Techcouver.com to see a map of just a few of the many web trail blazers that call this city home. And if you’re sitting on “the next big thing” for the web, hit up the “Get on the Map” link to have your venture added.

It’s fitting that this post contains a large map image too, as the real estate (technology) industry is today’s subject. After all, tomorrow night I’ll be downtown at The Real Estate Tech Meetup, checking out a (free) presentation by Joel Burslem, author of what I think is the best real estate technology blog on the web; Futureofrealestatemarketing.com.

Joel, who works for Inman News, is based in Portland but is making the trip back up North to share a few insights about trends in online marketing in the real estate biz. Give credit to the guys at Ubertor, Vancouver’s leader in web content management solutions for Realtors, for luring Joel to Ceili’s Irish Pub for his speech with promises of beer and good cheer. If local real estate technology news is what you’re after, Steve of Ubertor pumps out fresh info every weekday, too.

I suspect that I’ll be nodding approvingly at most of what Joel has to say tomorrow night, and I hope to learn a few new things as well. The timing is great too, as the following day I’m taping a segment with the folks of Realty Television on CityTV, on the subject of the web and social media, and their part in the rapidly changing real estate industry.

Not only that, but Canada’s first significant real estate/social media/community site, Myrealplace.com recently launched here in Vancouver. Yes, that’s them on the Techcouver map. Their membership is growing, including a number of industry professionals on hand to answer questions (myself included, as a marketer of course). I gave my brother a little nudge and had him sign up, too. Everybody, users and Realtors alike, gets access to a blog as well so if you’re a Realtor and you’re reading this, hop on over and be among the first few who are quickly changing the way buyers, sellers and real estate service providers connect on the web.

With all of this activity, and plenty more to come I’m sure, it’s safe to call Vancouver a force on the scene.

If you’re reading this and scratching your head, I know a certain marketing consultant who can help you understand how to do better business with the web, or help you build that community site that you’ve had in mind. Oh, and here’s a quick note to any investors out there looking for a brilliant new real estate marketing vehicle: I’ve got a great idea for one…

Rob emailed me a post from Read/WriteWeb recently (say THAT three times fast) that lists 10 Future Web Trends to keep an eye on.

Admittedly, some of it goes over my head. But of particular interest to me were the references to mobile, virtual worlds, web sites as web services and the “Attention Economy.” This is an idea that has been developing and evolving for some time, the concept of relevant marketing and advertising messages bundled with content that users opt-in to receiving.

Definitely a great article about the bleeding edge of the web, and one that will get the gears turning for many, I’m sure.

Need a quick way to build a community around an idea, event or concept?

Want to generate some discussion around a topic that is important to you (and you’re pretty sure other people are just as psyched)? Start a Facebook Group.

It’s easy, and finding members won’t be a problem. Just invite the folks that you know are most likely to join, and watch as their like-minded friends and contacts spot the group in news feeds and start joining en masse. Perhaps even encourage the most influential folks among your invitees to spread the word- or even better, to add content to the group in the form of photos, videos, links, and discussion posts.

In part, this post serves to turn the spotlight on a group I recently created called The Social Media Bar. The idea was born during a session at Barcamp Vancouver, where I assembled a panel of some incredibly bright folks who are experts in the field of social media. I’m speaking of Monique Trottier, Linda Bustos, Lee LeFever, Tanya Davis and Geoff Gachallan, plus myself.

As a group of about 40, we talked for an hour about social media and marketing, and as you might have guessed, we merely scratched the surface. The group was created to continue the discussion, and just a few days later, membership is growing quickly. I have seen group members adding each other as friends after seeing them in the member list, and that alone is enough reason for me to call it a success. Everyone is welcome, so please join.

Surely there’s an idea or group that you can rally a community around, and start a discussion that the whole collective can contribute to. It might just be the best way to find out who else shares your interest in something that is important to you.

So if you haven’t already, start your very first online community in the form of a Facebook Group, and you’ll begin to get an idea of what it means to bring people closer together using the social tools of the web. Plus, it’s a whole lot of fun!

Bonus link: An “awesometastic” example of a Facebook group with a great message: The Kindness Crew group, started by the guys of ExtremeKindness.com. They’re from my hometown, and travel around committing random acts of kindness and matching short-term volunteers with worthy causes. Well done, guys!

I’m not going to attempt a live blog this year; too much work trying to plan a session plus my duties as an organizer.

But I did want to link to the various photo and post tags, as well as any links from proper livebloggers at the event. There is talk of a Ustream live feed from the Workspace couch starting tomorrow too, so watch for that.

Update: Miss604 is live blogging like the champion she is, check out here post.
Pardon me if this post keeps popping up in the feed all weekend as I update it with tons of links and whatnot. It will be as if you’re there, even if you’re not.

Here’s a few to get started:

Flickr: barcampvancouver07 barcampvancouver
Technorati: barcampvancouver07 barcampvancouver

I forgot my camera, as did everyone else.
Barcamp Organizers photo by Roland’s camera phone.

Hey Flickr! Why don’t my own shots come up in tag searches? My account has been deemed ’safe’ for ages…

Barcamp Vancouver, the 2007 edition is fast approaching, so get ready to get your Barcamp on. Unless of course you’re not already signed up, because the pattern is full, Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.

This year’s Vancouver event is already well over-booked, with a waiting list of over 70 people! So this post is more for the folks who are already signed up to attend.

Those of you not in Vancouver are encouraged to search Barcamp.org for your local event, or find details at that same site about how you can organize and host your own. Take a cue from the likes of Kris Krug and Robert Scales, Vancouver’s own adopted sons, who are teaming up to plan Barcamp Shanghai and Barcamp Beijing. Leave it to them to return to the land of the Great Wall with their free-spirited, open-sourcedness to host an unconference in a place where free speech doesn’t even exist.

Kris also wants to remind folks that he’ll once again be hosting Photocamp at the Vancouver event, so bring yer cameras.

What is Barcamp, You Ask?

For a comprehensive “What is BarCamp” lesson, visit the BarCamp.org rules page, or the BarCamp wikipedia entry. In short:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

When you come, be prepared to share with Barcampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

After last year’s event, I was so amazed at the things I learned and the people I met that I wanted to help out anywhere I could this year. So I joined (invited myself onto) the organizing committee, and thus I feel it is my duty to share a bit of Barcamp How-to.

So here are some details and a bit of “what’s-what” for the local gang, as stolen from James’ info email that went out this morning:

A Barcamp Vancouver Hotlist

• If you can’t make it, and you’re on the list, please give up your spot. Spread the word about this too, there’s still tons of cool folks waiting to be among the lucky few. If you can’t come, let somebody know and have yourself replaced on the wiki.
• T-shirts are always the hottest topic, and this year will be no exception. They are fuschia in color (I’m not making this up), and as last year will going for a suggested donation of $20 at the door.
• If you’re ready, go to the wiki and look for the “Topics” headline, and share a few words about your presentation. The more you share now, the better chance of being selected on the day, and likely a better turnout as well.
• Bring your tools: cameras, laptops, mobile devices and any other cool gadgetry as you deem fit. And while you’re at it, bring an open mind, and your best ideas. There is always something to be learned, and plenty to be blogged as well.

And Lastly, A Schedule of Events:

Friday, August 17: food and drink at the Alibi Room

• Appetizers all evening
• Drinks starting at 6:30 pm
• We’re in the private area downstairs
• The Alibi Room, 157 Alexander Street @ Main (map)
• Sleepover at Workspace, 21 Water Street, Suite 400

Saturday, August 18: conference day all day

• Start at 8:30 AM with day organization
• Pastries and coffees available
• Pizza lunch to be delivered at noonish (special diet grub is also available. Yes, your special diet. Zak thinks he has them all covered)
• Workspace, Suite 400 - 21 Water Street (map)
• End at 5:30 PM

If you have any questions that aren’t answered here, feel free to leave it in a comment below, or ask an organizer:

* KrisKrug - www.kriskrug.com
* RolandTanglao - www.rolandtanglao.com
* RobertScales - www.robertscales.org
* ZakGreant - www.zak.greant.com
* JamesSherrett - www.adhack.com
* IanivSchweber - www.blogaholics.ca
* MeganCole - www.megancole.org
* JordanBehan - www.telltenfriends.com
* AaronGladders - www.2paths.com

I for one am eagerly looking forward to it. If you happen to bump into me this weekend, please say hello. Whether we’ve already been acquainted or if we’ve never had the pleasure of meeting, I’m always in the mood to say hi and have a conversation. See you then!

Remember those guys that brought you the Crazy Messed Up World of Ecommerce that I linked to a few weeks back?

Well, now my friend Dave Olson from Elastic Path has informed that they’re offering a free webinar on the subject of “social commerce.” Put simply, they’ll discuss the pros and cons of enabling user-generated reviews on your ecommerce site.

For folks doing business on the web, that is cool all on its own (sign up here), but it also affords me the opportunity to post another one of those funny videos they started publishing a while back:

Haha. Ain’t that the truth. BUY NOW!

Once again, the folks from the Common Craft Show have put together a great tutorial; this time on the subject of social bookmarking.

Lee LeFever lays out the concept of bookmarking using Del.icio.us, and along the way explains how tagging works, in just under three-and-a-half minutes:

Click To Play

A great resource for people getting their feet wet in the web marketing space. Remember, every time a site gets bookmarked in this nature, it raises that site’s (or page’s, or entry’s) SEO ranking as well.

For good measure, why not bookmark Lee’s original post, or if you like, save this one too: