Location Based Real Estate with Booyah, Facebook Places, Foursquare, Gowalla & Yelp

Real Estates best known motto is “Location, location … location”, and now with GEO targeted location based platforms the statement holds even truer.  Real Estate Agents, Brokers & REALTORS © spend their time trying to convince us they are “Neighborhood Experts”.  Well the time has come to show and prove, put up or shut up, talk the talk and walk the walk … you get the point.

With Facebooks latest addition of Places you will be able to check-in, claim your business (once the business has been added – by you or others) and really show others that you are in fact the “Neighborhood Expert”.   (See Also: Facebook Places FAQs)

Facebook was not the first to introduce a location based social networking service but with over 500 million users will probably be the most used.  Before Facebook (BF kinda like BC) there was Booyah (myTown), Foursquare, Gowalla & Yelp.

For a savvy Agent, Broker or REALTOR © these location based social networks should be a no-brainer.  Setup your profile(s), claim your business (if you can), and find ways to interact with potential clients and users around you.  What a great opportunity to showcase your neck of the woods, what you now about it and what makes it a great place to live!

This would be another component to an over-all effective on and offline marketing strategy.  As with everything we recommend you take baby steps and start with one network and expand to others as you become more comfortable.

See what these guys have to say:

HubSpot (full article): Facebook has delivered a major blow to not Foursquare and other location-based social networks, but to Google and Yelp. The social network has announced the launch of a major new feature: Facebook Places. We have talked many times about the adoption and marketing implications of location-based social networks on this blog in the past. However, this trend just got a lot more interesting for marketers …

Mashable – Field Guide to Using Facebook Places (full article): Whether you’re a developer with a great app idea, a business with an interesting location marketing plan or just a regular Facebook user who wants to get involved with Places, there are a few details to note before you start using Places. The feature is fascinating, but it still has its limitations. And our guide isn’t without caveats, especially for users.

“Location-based apps help you reach out to consumers in your neighborhood. They let you offer timed and targeted special offers to the people who are best-suited to respond to them. And when conducted at a small scale as part of a larger marketing mix, location-based campaigns can offer valuable insights and even some decent ROI for the bottom line-minded small business owner.” (article here)

Techcrunch (full article): Today at an event in Palo Alto, CA, Facebook unveiled its new Places product — essentially their check-in utility. Obviously, there has been a lot of talk about what this means for the current players like Foursquare and Gowalla. Well, Facebook is partnering with both of those guys …