1. 4/8/2011 Century 21 puts a consistent brand on …
Century 21 puts a consistent brand on its
diverse social media channels
Real estate franchise launches a blog in working to bring its agents nationwide
into the online fold.
By Matt Wilson | Posted: April 7, 2011
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A little more than two years ago, Century 21 took its name to heart Ragan workshop: Internal communicators:
and ditched all of its advertising in 20th-century media, such as TV, Improve your social media efforts in only
in favor of digital ads. (It has since softened that position somewhat.) 8 hours
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That decision was made separately from the PR and social media newsroom that reporters will love
division, says Matt Gentile, director of PR and social media for Using blogs and video, social media
Century 21. But “there’s a logical connection to be made” between ‘guests’ give hotel a surge
that advertising decision and the company’s social media push, he says. Rayovac using social media to recharge an
established brand
“Certainly social and mobile are playing a major role in where we’re trying to put our message,”
Gentile says. “We saw that social media is playing an important role in how consumers are getting
their real estate information.”
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As the company’s chief marketing officer, Bev Thorne, told SmartBlog on Social Media last month,
no one piece of the puzzle is more important than any other. “Each channel serves its own purpose,” Featured Article
says Gentile. Featured Article Topic Pages
Social Media
The newest piece, the @C21 Home Matters blog, launched in February.
Everything in its proper place
When Gentile joined Century 21 in 2008, the company’s social media effort was already under way.
On YouTube, agents nationwide were posting “open house” videos that married humor with features
of properties. “The details of the home were sort of spliced into the narrative,” says Gentile.
Gentile quickly moved to standardize the company’s social media entities. For instance, set forth that
all of Century21’s account names would end with “Century21.”
His team also did some research into the audience it needed to reach.
“We looked at the National Association of Realtors profile of home buyers and sellers, and we
quickly learned the single female homebuyer and female homebuyers in general were making up a
more significant portion of that data year after year,” Gentile says.
In addition to tailoring the message toward that audience, the company has a specific philosophy for
each social media outlet:
Facebook – Early on, this was the place where Century 21 focused most heavily, Gentile
says. “We realized it was becoming the dominant player in the social media landscape,” he
says. Because it enables users to post video, pictures, links and text, it gives agents a great
platform to get their message out, he says.
Twitter – Century 21 views Twitter as a platform with longevity “because the next generation of
buyers and sellers are very active with smartphones, and the conveyance of information is
down with much smaller bites,” Gentile says. Twitter enables the company to get a “plethora of
content” out to smartphone users.
Flickr – “An ideal channel to communicate visually,” says Gentile, particularly photos of award
winners and agents who have been singled out for good work.
YouTube – Distribution of “anything video related,” not only for the public, but also for agents.
Videos such as Facebook 101 serve as tools to teach agents how to use social media.
YouTube has also become a showcase for property listings. Any for-sale home listed online
with at least six photos automatically gets made into a video presentation, which is then
automatically posted to YouTube, Gentile says.
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2. 4/8/2011 Century 21 puts a consistent brand on …
“All this together, we package into our blog,” he says.
A nationwide profile
In communities all over the country, Century 21 agents are the face of the company, which is why
they’re going to be a big part of the new blog, Gentile says. Guest posts from agents are on their
way.
“Our content plan is not yet at maximum speed, but indeed that is a huge part of our plan, to put our
professionals front and center through this blog,” he says.
Century 21 is also pushing for agents to make a name for themselves in social media, he says. The
company is working with YouReach Media to train agents to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and
other services, he says.
Century 21’s agreement with YouReach is fairly new, says Gentile, so he didn’t have data for how
many agents have signed up for it. However, the National Association of Realtors reports that 63
percent of real estate agents use Facebook. “Anecdotally, the number of Century 21 brokers and
agents engaged with social media is probably much higher,” he says.
The mobile piece
The latest update to Century 21’s mobile app, released just a few weeks ago, adds another prong to
the company’s online efforts—hyper-local information.
“The powerful part about the app is, you not only get the listing information, the photos, the videos,
but … community information and hyper-local information,” Gentile says. “So now you’ll also be able
to see, what are the schools like? The local attractions?”
A few Facebook fans piped up to say the new apps—available on all major smartphone operating
systems—are a plus.
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