Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to DevelopYour Business Online

Chapter 56. How Do Realtors Demonstrate Community?

Through a conversation in Twitter, I happened across Life in Bonita Springs, a blog by Chris Griffith (aka @Twitterzilla). The first post that caught my eye was a beautiful shot of a public area^[214] called Coconut Point, with a really small dog in the foreground. The blog post was about a "small-dogs-only social." Wow, I thought. Now that's something you don't see every day. It got me thinking.

REALTY CAN BENEFIT A LOT WITH THESE TOOLS

There are lots of ways social media can be applied, but look at real estate. If your job is to sell community, you can do lots of things. Create a video blog of interviews of people in the community you're trying to sell into. Build an events page or a community site where people can gather, share their stories, post events, and express themselves. Take mountains of photos on Flickr, showing off the best in community art, as well as some of the finer homes.

HOW DOES IT ALL TIE TOGETHER?

If I'm reading a community or realty blog, how will you convert me from a blog reader into a home buyer? What are the right ways to convert me gently? For example, on Chris Griffith's blog, I see the sidebar has ways to connect me to her. If I'm an RSS subscriber, I won't ever see that, and there's nothing in the post to connect me to business.

This is great if the only goal is to keep people in the community aware of what's going on in the community, but if another goal of the blog is to sell homes, is there a way you ...