LandAmerica webcasts shareholder meeting

LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:LFG) has announced that it will broadcast its Annual Meeting of Shareholders live over the internet on Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 9:00 AM ET via LandAmerica's website (www.landam.com).

The event will then be archived and available for replay starting two hours after the completion of the live event through June 13, 2008.

For companies that have the ability to stage a competent team of executives, opening up these meetings to the world is likely to do wonders for their share price. Not only does it provide additional transparency, but it's probably one of the best ways to sell the companies core messages to potential investors.

Social sites for real estate finance

I've been saying for some time now that the first bank that sees the value of treating its customers as part of a community that it serves online will score a major marketing win. A recent post over at the future of real estate marketing blog now leads me to believe that it won't come from the finance side at all, but rather from the real estate companies.

In the post, blogger Joel Burslem talks about a number of brokers and agents that seem to get this whole social media thing. I was particularly impressed with ChaseNation.

Our homes are a huge part of who we are. Financing them is a necessary part of the game for most of us. Companies that learn to provide valuable content around these issues will be in a position to attract virtual communities on the Web. They may, as in the case of ChaseNation, be tied to a real-world location, but for a major national lender or real estate company they may not.

The key will be providing enough value to bring people back. I haven't seen that in many places yet, but I expect to in the future.