1. 11/15/2010 Sell or Else — Century 21 on Empoweri…
Home About World's Greatest Salesperson
Century 21 on Empowering Agents & Brokers with
Social Media
- by Phil Buehler @pwbuehler on Nov ember 15th, 2010.
Real estate agents and brokers have been some of the earliest adopters of social
media, w hich isn’t surprising that they’re entrepreneurs w hose success is built on being
w ell connected in their communities. But for every agent engaged w ith Tw itter and
Foursquare, there are many more that have yet to take the plunge.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking w ith Mat t
Gent ile, Direct o r o f P.R. and So cial Media fo r
Cent ury 21 Real Est at e (@mat t gent ile) about
how brokers and agents are using social media, About Sell or Else
w hat they’ve been learning, and w hat he sees for
the future. With over 121,000 agents and more
Ot her Co o l Reso urces
than 8,000 independent offices, Century 21 has a
Digital Direct Marketing Thoughts
big challenge.
Ideas On Creativ ity
Phil Buehler: Can yo u t ell us abo ut t he
Tags
evo lut io n o f so cial media at Cent ury 21? 140 charact er conference @ johnbernier @ mat t gent ile
@pwbuehler Best Buy Blacksburg
Mat t Gent ile: I didn’t grow up w ith social media
Cent ury 21 Dav id M eerman S cot t Facebook
in the 80’s, I grew up w orking in more of a
Foursquare Fut ure of S elling Geo-local hut chinson
traditional public relations environment I w as
trained to look at everything as a channel or w ay
jeff pulv er John Bernier M ack Hanan Ogilvy
to disseminate messages. Initially, I saw social OgilvyOne Real Est at e Sell or Else
small t ow ns social commerce
media as another means to send a corporate message, w hich I must admit, w as
probably a fairly cynical w ay to look at social media in the beginning. social media
In 2005, I developed, w hat w as at the time probably one of the first training manuals
Social Selling Tw elpforce
Tw it t er V irginia Tech
for utilizing social media for real estate marketing and recruiting w ith the Director of
Training for the company I w orked for at the time. It’s amazing to think about just how
new social media w as at the time and how influential it w ould become as a
component of marketing. The guide leveraged LinkedIn for recruiting purposes for our
brokers. We encouraged our brokers and agents to create short videos that told a story
about a home they had listed and how to post a video on YouTube. To provide details
I w ish! RT @handshake20: Just
about their communities that consumers w ould be interested in. It w as basic, but
made reservations for tomorrow 's
innovative for the time.
6PM seating @622North for Old
What abo ut using so cial media fo r market ing? World vs. New World:
http://bit.ly/dcSooW
In terms of true customer outreach, through social media channels or developing an about 3 hours ago
audience, that w asn’t something that had been optimized w hen I came on board in We spoke to
2008 as Director of PR and Social Media. In 2009, I began to focus on the question, Best Buy's head of Tw elpforce
“Who is the audience that w e should be targeting, instead of w hat channel are w e about the challenges of bringing
using to push messages.” social media to an organization
w w w .sellorelse.com 5 days ago
Today, the audience that w e target specifically w ith social media is 25-35 year old
w omen. It makes sense for a number of reasons – they’re the fastest grow ing
"In marketing, psychology is
demographic in terms of home ow nership, and there’s a significant amount of influence
infinitely more pow erful than
that this demographic has on the homeow nership decision. I can tell you that because
technology." 21 days ago
the statistics back it up and because I’ve had the “real-life” experience to know that it
is true. We really felt like it w as the right target.
Thanks for all the RT juice -
Facebo o k is beco ming t he hub o f many market ers’ so cial media effo rt s - what @thinkingjosh @smelvo
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2. 11/15/2010 g Sell or Else — Century 21 on Empoweri…
y
has Cent ury 21 been up t o t here? @w ritemo @arifkhan7
@OgilvyOneBrasil @OgilvyCR
In 2009, w e mainly encouraged our brokers and agents to open a Facebook account (Have a great Tuesday!)
and reach back to their old sphere of influence. It’s an outstanding w ay to get in touch 26 days ago
w ith folks you haven’t been in touch w ith, for good or bad (laughing).
In 2010, w e felt like this w as a platform w here w e could really make a difference for
our franchisees and their agents. We’re now enabling brokers and agents to thrive in
this space. We developed and deployed a Facebook Home Buyer/Seller tab. It enables
our brokers in essence to create an environment w ithin their ow n company Facebook
fan pages, w here home buyers and sellers can access the same information through
Facebook that they can get by visiting a Century 21 brokers’ Web sites.
So yo u’re creat ing so me kind o f infrast ruct ure o r suppo rt fo r yo ur agent s and
bro kers…
It’s a branded, customized tab that brokers and agents can add to their ow n Facebook
company pages. First, w e developed the buyer/seller tab for the Century 21 corporate
Facebook fan page, w hich is facebook.com/century21.
After w e rolled this out, w e started hearing from a lot of brokers, “that’s really great, I’d
like to have something like that on our Facebook”. So w e developed the mechanics
and assets for our brokers to easily serve it up on their ow n Facebook pages. The first
adopter w as a gentleman named Mike Bow man in Fort Worth, Texas, and you can see
his buyer/seller tab up and it links back to his company’s dot com.
We’ve been seeing t hat in many co mpanies, t he sales peo ple are way ahead o f
t he syst em, get t ing o ut t here wit h Facebo o k o r Twit t er o n t heir o wn. Do yo u
have o t her peo ple, bro kers and agent s t hat are inno vat o rs, way o ut ahead o f
t he rest ?
We have a lot of brokers and agents out there blogging and attempting to drive
business through social media. The one broker that comes to mind is a gentleman in
Tallahassee. He w as one of the early adopters w ith blogging. He developed a
relationship w ith the major new spaper in Florida, and they asked him if he w ould blog
for them online. In essence he became the real estate blogger for the new spaper. He
now has over 100,000 follow ers on Tw itter and drives a third of his business via social
media marketing.
There are countless examples of Century 21 brokers and agents utilizing social media in
unique and innovative w ays to market and sell homes. We’re currently w orking w ith our
business consultants and learning team to identify those brokers and agents so w e
may highlight their best practices to the Century 21 System.
There are pro bably so me agent s and bro kers t hat feel t hey have so cial media
under co nt ro l, and t hen o t hers t hat pro bably feel lo st …
I often hear, “Can I hire someone to do my social media?” There are companies and
service providers out there cropping up that are taking it in that direction. They’ll say,
“Yeah, I’ll post for you and I’ll tw eet for you, I’ll do w hatever it is that’s necessary to fill
that content void.” We feel this is another area w here Century 21 has an opportunity to
create a differentiation point for our brand. We are able to provide our brokers w ith a
constant feed of content , so they can take w hat w e’re doing in Tw itter and Facebook,
and easily apply it to their ow n social netw orks. Just like the old adage, location,
location, location in real estate, its content, content, content in social.
Ho w are yo u get t ing t he larger Cent ury 21 co mmunit y int o t his? Fo r example,
at a co nvent io n where all yo ur bro kers and agent s are t o get her?
One idea w e’re exploring is hosting a “Geek Squad” style tent area at our International
Convention in Las Vegas, w here w e w ill literally take 6 - 10 brokers and agents at a
time, get them set-up on Facebook, Tw itter and LinkedIn. We w ill provide them w ith
some basic instruction on how to use these netw orks and w hat the best practices are
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3. 11/15/2010 Sell or Else — Century 21 on Empoweri…
for using each of these channels. In essence, getting the masses up to speed in the
social environment. For advanced users, our learning team w ill hold seminars and
break-out sessions to enhance already existing skills in how to optimize social media
for their business. We have seven (7) regional trainers that are out there providing similar
guidance on a regular basis throughout the U.S.
Are yo u dist ribut ing any o f t hat by video , o nline, o t her places?
For social media, w e’re w orking hand in hand w ith Dr. Christina Murphy, w ho leads our
aw ard-w inning Learning Team, to develop a series of short video vignettes that offer
best practices for utilizing social media. These are 3-5 minute short video snippets that
give Century 21 brokers and agents a significant amount of content in a very small
w indow . For visual learners, I believe it’s ideal.
We feel it positions our brand as a more innovative company. Anything w e can do to
enhance the perception of our brand w ith consumers, and folks that are potentially
interested in a career, is the direction w e should be moving. We really feel that’s an area
w here w e can hit some home runs… not only in marketing, but also learning.
Do t he agent s and bro kers say, “ I’ve go t t o get int o so cial media,” o r do t hey
act ually kno w t he benefit s and what t hey’ll get o ut o f it ?
I think it’s incumbent upon us as organization to unearth the true benefits of social
media from a business perspective. That’s the kind of w ork w e’re doing w ith our field
teams to solicit from the field best-in-class examples of how agents and brokers are
utilizing this media for actually developing and driving leads and ultimately contracting
business.
What wo uld t he bro kers and agent s say are t he big benefit s fo r t hem?
The most fundamental benefit is expanding your sphere. You have a netw ork of people
that you’ve grow n over the years, w hether that be school, w ork or leisure activities,
that you’re able to connect in one place, w hether it’s LinkedIn or Facebook, and they
have access to you. Instead of seeing them at the coffee shop or the hair salon, you’re
seeing them online on a more regular basis. I think the follow -up activity and constant
contact is w here the fundamental advantage of social media lies for a sales
organization.
We’ve fo und t hat so me o f t he mo st so cially co nnect ed peo ple are real est at e
agent s. Are yo u seeing a st eep learning curve fo r t he rest ?
As an industry, w e w ere probably a little bit late to the game, but once the benefits
w ere understood, I believe the industry jumped in w ith both feet. That’s w here learning
comes in, w e’re constantly driving home the fact that you don’t w ant to be the guy or
w oman that w alks into a party w ith a big sandw ich board on your front and back
screaming at people “I have a great 3/2 ranch for sale”, that’s essentially w hat you’re
doing w hen you’re spamming people w ith your listings in a social netw ork. The goal is
to provide content of value and the relationships and customers w ill develop based on
that value. The “have to give a little, to get a little” mentality is very pow erful in the
social space.
In t erms o f met rics, when yo ur management says, “ what did yo u do fo r me
lat ely?” what do yo u t ell t hem ?
We’ve kind of taken it a step further, this probably goes back to my traditional roots in
PR and tracking, to make sure you’re providing value at all times. The w ay w e’ve
managed to do that is by using something called bit.ly Pro, w hich enables us to shorten
and customize all of our links to all of the content w e’re putting out there. It can then
track a link from w hatever distribution point w e disseminate, w hether that is Tw itter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, or even YouTube for that matter, and track it back, to not only our
.com, but all the w ay through the process funnel to completing an online contact form.
We also use Radian 6 to do all of our metrics. I know how many leads are generated
through the content that w e’re putting out there.
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4. 11/15/2010 Sell or Else — Century 21 on Empoweri…
Ho w are yo u t rying t o empo wer t hese franchises o r t he bro kers and t he
agent s? Do es t he o rganizat io n kno w ho w t hat ’s go ing?
We just deployed the first home buyer/seller tab on one of our broker’s facebook
pages, and as far as I know , no other real estate franchise company is providing that
degree of support in the social space. So, yes, w e are definitely w orking to empow er
Century 21 System professionals to better understand and optimize the cost effective
marketing pow er that social media offers.
So me sales o rganizat io ns are st art ing t o make use o f Yo uTube, almo st
beco ming t heir o wn co nt ent pro viders o r jo urnalist s. Are any o f yo ur agent s
using video ?
Some of them are using it on their ow n blogs and providing market updates. We’re not
enabling that necessarily from the corporate side. The types of solutions w e’re looking
at for video have more to do w ith enabling the automated transition of still-frames of
homes, and converting them into video and mobile platforms. With broadband and
mobile becoming so w idely adopted, I believe video w ill become w hat online photos
w ere in the earlier part of this decade.
Is Cent ury 21 leading in t his so cial media area? Who else is part icipat ing?
We are holding our ow n, and leading in several categories. If you look at some of the
more “social savvy” real-estate brokerages, I think Better Homes and Gardens has made
a big push into that area. They have made social media a significant part of their brand
marketing. Coldw ell Banker is doing some good things, they’ve recently rolled out a
blog. I think they’re appealing to their ow n audiences, but I don’t see any one real
estate brand building a significant audience in this space. I think that’s w here Century
21 has taken a leadership role in identifying a very specific demographic and building
that audience.
Where do yo u t hink t his who le area will be in a few years? Will so cial media be
baked int o ho w real est at e is so ld, o r just a mino r part o f selling?
Given the rapid development of the types of media that you can generate in social
media today, I w ould anticipate significantly more complex and more robust social
media solutions to hit the market. Things that w e’re seeing are easy to do, like Animoto
and Flip video cameras, and the editing that you can do now as an individual is
remarkably easy.
I think it’s a w ide open area. I w ould anticipate mobile playing a large part in the future
of real estate marketing, w ith FourSquare and location-based services innovating in the
space.
Please share yo ur experiences wit h so cial selling - yo ur co ncerns, challenges,
successes, met rics, and o t her lesso ns. We’d lo ve t o hear fro m yo u.
Categories: Sales Interview Series, The Future of Selling
Tags: @mattgentile, @pw buehler, Century 21, Ogilvy, OgilvyOne, Real Estate, Sell or Else,
Social Selling
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Phil,
Thank y ou for the opportunity . You are bringing a lot of great c ontent c ontributors to
the surfac e with this blog.
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5. 11/15/2010 Sell or Else — Century 21 on Empoweri…
Regards,
MG
Posted by Matt Gentile on Nov ember 15th, 2010.
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