Everybody is talking about branding. Developing your own unique real estate brand is a way to create instant client recognition and set yourself apart from your competitors. Social networking has made brand development easier, faster and incredibly more affordable than every before. Savvy realtors and real estate brokers now use social network platforms to create a viable and recognizable brand in weeks and months instead of years and decades. Of course, the advantage of owning a recognizable real estate brand is increased lead and client generation.
In the olden days before the advent of Facebook and Twitter, brand development used to move at a snail's pace. Real estate agents and brokers were forced to rely on pricey magazine and newspaper ads, yellow page spreads, billboards, radio spots, property signage and thousands of handouts and mailings. It was tough enough - and wildly expensive -- to saturate your local market; realtors didn't even consider trying to create a national identity. The expense of branding beyond your immediate neighborhood far outweighed any potential gain. Minimal, if any, regional or national presence was achieved by association with one of the national real estate franchises that did dabble in national advertising.
Then came the Internet and a whole new world opened up. Real estate agents were able to connect with potential home buyers and sellers online and create a personal identity. Website logos, slogans, mission statements and blogs were all interconnected and branded with the realtor's unique personality and vision, initiating the creation of personal brands. The national and global reach of the Internet made it easy and affordable for a local agent to extend his reach beyond his local zip code.
The advent of MySpace, which led to the more fluid and less formal Facebook, and the progression of Instant Messaging (IM) to Twitter have allowed tech-savvy realtors to create unique personal brands in ever-shorter time frames. The instant and constant access made possible by today's social networking platforms not only keeps your brand in front of potential clients continuously, ensuring progression from lead generation to client to sale; it recreates the personal realtor-client relationship that was lost in the anonymity of web communication. Twitter use on new generation smart phones in particular allows real estate professionals to promote their brand and build important personal connections with home buyers and home sellers that generate sales.
