I am a Facebook junkie. There, I said it. I love widgets, I am a Ninja, a Mobster, a Knight, and for some reason people love giving me Karma.
That being said I do believe, whole-heartedly, that Social Media is a viable source of business. Business, that Coldwell Banker and others are trying to wrangle up as they stake their claim into the new medium. I give lot’s of them credit as they are doing smart things. Sherry Chris and her team at Better Homes & Gardens are all over Facebook, Twitter and other sites establishing themselves as the “new” Real Estate model, leveraging technology and social media from the onset of their brand. They even have a blog that is frequented by their top brass.
But can you teach an old dog new tricks?
YES.
Coldwell Banker has recently launched a great Facebook Application, Housetrology, that has real business credibility behind it. Sadly, I tried loading it and using it today on my profile, but i got an error - maybe crashing due to popularity from all the press? In the meantime, you can find the app on the Coldwell Banker homepage. With Housetrology, users are presented a series of photos that would place you in one of 6 homebuyer types. Thus giving you your “housetrology” sign. Then they enlisted the help of a well-known psychologist to interpret the findings and release some interesting details about these buyer types. Depending upon your selection, you are either a Colonialista, Urbanist, Contemporarian or 3 other categories of buyer.
So, in one fell swoop this Facebook Application has gotten them National Press, over 1,500 users on Facebook and an insight into what homebuyers really want. Plus a great level of brand engagement for the users engaged with the application. Coldwell Banker is not the only one, and clearly Real Estate is not the first industry, but it is great to see a brand like Coldwell Banker embrace this genre with this kind of application.
There may very well be other facebook applications for real estate out there, there must be, and feel free to link them below - but this one, just has that little something, the authenticity, the ease of use, and “game” quality that you need with a facebook application. I give this one a big thumbs up! You can read more here at FoxBusiness.com.
See you on the web: Facebook, Linkedin
Popularity: 3% [?]
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August 7th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Great post! I added Housetrology to my Facebook page a few weeks ago and the app worked great. I am a “ranchero” apparently
I hope that CB will continue to crank out the social networking apps for all the junkies (myself included).
August 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Thank You Stefanie! Yeah, I am a colonialista, which I suppose rings true, i like old architecture and grass - but I live in NYC. How can that be… well..
I have bought a few old homes and rebuilt them - they both had backyards and were in more quiet parts of the city, so i guess it is right on! :O)
August 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
talk about staying ahead of the curve! good for coldwell banker. this is sure to be just one of many efforts by major real estate companies to capitalize on the popularity of online social networking. it’s actually kind of surprising that it hasn’t happened sooner. i guess you CAN teach an old dog news tricks…it just takes a little longer.