As of January 1st, fellow Geek Estate contributor Mike Price is now the social media manager for Diverse Solutions. From my understanding, he’ll still be running MLBroadcast, but will spend a bit less time on it. Or just work a lot more.

This hire makes complete sense for both Mike and the Diverse Solutions team from my perspective. Mike gets to use his existing network of contacts and social media expertise to further Diverse Solutions position as an innovative real estate technology provider and attract new clients. I’m pretty sure Mike already thinks the DS IDX product is top notch, so it’s not as if working for them is the only reason he’ll be endorsing the product. Diverse Solutions gets a well respected spokesman in the RE.net who knows the players and can help navigate the waters. I don’t know whether or not there are plans to integrate video from MLBroadcast into the Diverse Solutions IDX product, but it seems there might be an opportunity down the road to add video components to listing pages.

Even without a dedicated social media manager, Diverse Solutions is certainly doing something right — whenever the subject of IDX providers comes up with agents or brokers I talk to, I usually always mention them. Part of this is due to the fact that Jay Thompson and Kris Berg, both of whom I trust, are customers of Diverse Solutions and have had nothing but good things to say about them. Part of the reason is also that Diverse Solutions is a Zillow API partner, so I’ve spent time talking with Andrew Mattie (also a Geek Estate contributor) and spoken with Justin LaJoie at a few conferences over the past two years. But lastly, the biggest reason is that they have a great product, which makes it a lot easier to endorse them.

It seems real estate technology providers are realizing building bridges with potential clients using social media is a massive opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see whether any of the larger tech vendors such as z57, BIRDVIEW Technologies, Agent Image, or Advanced Access follow the Diverse Solutions lead and try their hand with social media managers of their own.

Congratulations to Mike for finding a great employer, and to Diverse Solutions for a fantastic hire. And it just goes to show, if you want a job in the real estate industry, you should really start blogging.