Today’s buyers are interested in not just a property, but a lifestyle. In this week’s guest blog post, hear how Charles Cherney, a Charter Member from our new Boston Metro North chapter, takes this principle one step further in his marketing.
Nothing beats storytelling—just about everyone enjoys a good story.
Buyers (and sellers) are looking for you as their real estate agent to tell them the story of the town, the neighborhood, or the house for sale.
A powerful (and free) way to tell stories online is via Storify.com. Storify allows one to weave together strands of social media (photos and videos and posts and links) to tell a story.
I have put Storify to work to tell the stories of the neighborhoods of my marketplace – Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. You can see my Storify stories at CambridgeandSomervilleMA.com.
For example, check out my Mid Cambridge neighborhood story at DiscoverMidCambridge.com (I have linked each of my stories to an easy to remember URL). This story opens with my description of Mid Cambridge and weaves together the following:
- Photos of houses (some of which are my listings)
- A neighborhood map
- A link to my blog posts on Mid Cambridge
- My YouTube videos of Mid Cambridge
- My Flickr photos of Mid Cambridge
- My Mid Cambridge Tumblr posts
- Links or posts by others about neighborhood establishments, like the public library.
What’s great about Storify is that the story you create is not set in stone. Add or subtract elements to the story at any time, and reorder as you wish. I am constantly recreating my stories.
I have also used Storify to tell the story of the neighborhood of a listing – see DiscoverFranklinSquare.com.
Everyone is now a reporter. Storify gives a real estate agent the opportunity to shine as a knowledgeable and informed source of information. Start storifying online today at Storify.com. The possibilities are endless!
Charles Cherney (VP Hammond Real Estate) is a Harvard graduate, local Cambridge resident and top real estate broker in Cambridge & Somerville, MA since 1999.