Century 21 Gets Social
Century 21 has really been pushing to move beyond the Gold Jacket lately. First, they announced they were dropping all of their television advertising in favor of an all-Internet play (see Century 21 Ditches TV for Online)
Now they have announced that they’ve launched “C21 Communities” – a social media platform.
Century 21 Real Estate LLC, the franchisor of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization, today announced the launch of C21 Communities, its new social media platform. C21 Communities is available directly from the company’s Web site, www.century21.com, and this new platform bundles a dynamic set of social media tools designed to enable online conversations between its agents and consumers, including:* Talks, an online interactive advice forum,
* C21 Talk Radio, an online radio channel for consumers interested in real estate, and
* CENTURY 21® social networking sites on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.
While I’m not a huge fan of the site design (the tag cloud seems to dominate the page – and is not a navigation element I’ve ever found particularly useful), I love that the brand is seeking to redefine itself with all of these social elements in place.
The interactive forum, specifically, has a lot of interesting possibilities. Especially if C21 were to leverage the interests and passions of their community to highlight and promote “super-users” as authorities on particular subjects.
Much like Apple does within it’s own support forums or like Verizon did to leverage the experience of its customers and let them take the lead on its customer service.
Promoting knowledgable users (read ‘agents’) through a national portal like Century21.com might very well be one more value-add that a large broker brand like C21 could offer to its franchise network.
It also begins to claw back some of the conversation that is currently being siphoned off by third party sites like Trulia and Zillow.
Owning the conversation is something that every broker brand, big or small, should be thinking about doing.
Astrid | Apr 28, 2009 | Reply
I was at a sales rally this morning and the we were encouraged to get with C21 Communities. So here I am.
foreclosure expert | Apr 29, 2009 | Reply
C21 Communities would prove a boon for the sellers and the buyers both. Indeed a good step to help the people who are already affected by economic crisis.
Colin Egbert | May 6, 2009 | Reply
I believe more and more real estate brokerages will start moving into the social arena doue to the growing trend of everything becoming more social an apparant.
Rent Collection | May 29, 2009 | Reply
Good to see this development. As real estate as a sector moves more to an online, social media based world key issues about landlords, tenants, rent collection can be more openly addressed
Jackson Hole real estate | Jun 12, 2009 | Reply
great tips. I enjoyed reading this
Will | Dec 7, 2009 | Reply
We posted an article written by George O’Neill about using social media to your advantage as a real estate professional: http://www.remonline.com/home/?p=4163
“Most sales representatives’ and brokerages’ websites are stuck in Web 1.0 brochure-ware days. Many post for sale listings, proudly boast sold properties, and often include information about the market. But those sites are not designed to truly engage the viewer, and do not allow the consumer to provide direct input and share their voice.”
Web 2.0 allows for two-way communication with your clients – and the sooner you take advantage of that, the better.
Desert Mountain AZ | May 28, 2010 | Reply
Good to hear such a large brokerage “gets it” and has given up tv advertising. Good luck to C21 with the new social media program.