I’ve got something a bit different for you this week.  And agents, this may not be for you (it might be, though) so if it isn’t, please pass this along to your broker, because this is definitely something that they should be looking at doing.

We all KNOW the importance of building our brands to the point that we are the first thing that people think about when they are looking for the service that we provide.  We also know that the traditional methods that we used in the past are nowhere near as effective as they were even a few years ago.  And finally, we know that social media has become the darling of everyone looking to build brands, acquire new customers and to solidify relationships with existing customers.

We know all these things, yet the promise of social media has yet to be realized by most agents and brokerages.  There are just too many unanswered questions about where to be, how to get started, what to say, when to say it, how often to say it and so on.

Too many of us have tried to go it alone by attending seminars, “camps”, classes and meetings hoping to find that “pearl of wisdom” that will lead us down the golden path.  Some have succeeded to one degree or another, but most have failed.

I recently spoke with Chitra Rakesh, who is the Founder of Chitsie, a startup whose business is built upon the effective use of social media to build brand awareness, about these issues and how her company could help real estate brokerages.  

Chitsie has a revenue model that is very similar to that of the real estate industry in that they offer a 100% performance based model (as well as a fixed price model).  They build brand awareness through the use of contests, business games and exciting brand campaigns revolving around your brand.  You can see the three current campaigns on http://www.chitsie.com. Please take a look, and to get an idea of what they are doing, go ahead and interact with the three brands.  Who knows, you might win a cash prize or a merchandise prize. (Prizes are provided by the brand).

Given that Chitsie has a performance based model (Sounds a lot like our commission based model doesn’t it?) your brokerage could get some real professional help to build brand awareness without the huge cash outlay that traditional social media agencies typically charge.

Seems to me that you need to at least contact Chitra to find out if there is a fit.  Drop me a line and I’ll put the two of you in touch.