In today’s real estate marketing we are hearing the term Hyperlocal more and more. Many real estate professionals are asking what does it mean, how does it work and why should I be interested?
The origin to the term Hyperlocal, can be traced back to the news media industry, whereby local citizens wanted access to news and information that was more closely related to their community, neighborhood or district, however the mainstream media was not reporting on. For the longest time, news such as local governmental issues, school sports & activities, neighborhood events, new developments taking place and especially the neighborhood real estate market – that have not necessarily been of interest for an entire city or broadcast area of a news channel or newspaper – largely had inconsistent coverage, yet the citizens were interested. The challenge for the media is how to cover news at a Hyperlocal level?
This question begins to be answered with the development of hyperlocal blogs, digital cameras and low cost portable video whereby now the citizens who live and work in a neighborhood or community can very inexpensively and easily do their own reporting, transcending to the term “citizen journalism”.
The power here is that the people do the reporting adding a new level of purity to the process as well as an opportunity for the community citizens to render feedback through comments and blog posts. The challenge is organizing your community, marketing your destination and locating consistent and compelling content. | 
Hyperlocal community site
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This scenario is the perfect storm for real estate marketing. The power to provide local thought leadership and newsworthy content is proving to be a huge opportunity for real estate brokerages and professionals who want to dominate their neighborhood. REALTORS are in the neighborhood, they meet the people, they have to keep close to the day-to-day activities in a neighborhood and never before has there been such a golden opportunity to own the neighborhood information portal online (aka a Hyperlocal blog site), because that is the delivery mechanism that the community can easily engage with.
Don’t get me wrong, certainly the newspapers, who are dying on the vine right now are seeing this same transformation and are trying to capitalize on it as you read this, however, they need the journalists that work or live in a neighborhood and cares about the activities going on that neighborhood and in my opinion, there is no one more suited for the role as local news leader than a real estate professional and NOW is your time to act. It’s time to start your own Hyperlocal news and information community.
Consequently, this type of information is what Google and the other search engines call “organic” content, since it is not necessarily marketing and promotion, but really news by real people. Guess what? Organic content is exactly the information that Google LOVES most, so the net effect of running a Hyperlocal blog is the potential to dominate the top positions of Google and the search engines for the area you are targeting. Not only that, but this type of marketing becomes incredibly valuable for the agent who becomes recognized for thought leading and engaging the neighborhood. Homeowners who join the community blog are more likely to conduct a transaction with the agent who is most visible in informing the community. A properly set up Hyperlocal system will of course showcase the local real estate market and properties available so you end up with a win, win, win, win between the owners, buyers, sellers and the REALTOR.
 | Agents who have successfully implemented a Hyperlocal strategy have increased their concentration of listings, increased their pool of buyers and are double ending more transactions. Many agents ask, how am I going to get started, how much is it going to cost, what time investment should I expect to budget and how am I going to produce a steady stream of content? |
| All great questions that I look forward to answering during the exciting educational session I’m facilitating as this year’s RISMedia’s Leadership Conference & Social Media Summit in New York. |  |
I encourage you to join me and my esteemed panel of experts including:
Gregg Neuman, CEO of the Neuman & Neuman Team with Prudential California Realty, who will be sharing his Hyperlocal strategy that has him dominating the Downtown San Diego condos and hi-rise market. Gregg will share his online and offline marketing systems including how he has used his Top 5 In Real Estate℠ membership to power up his listing presentations and marketing activities in order to continue to close over 200 transactions a year, even in this market.
Francine Reali, Broker and CEO of Safari Realty, who will share how she is using Hyperlocal marketing to dominate her Staten Island real estate market and how she and her husband have engaged themselves in the local community to bring awareness to issues and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities creating bonds that has her clients staying extremely loyal as they advocate her services.
Becky Boomsma, REALTOR with Coldwell Banker, will provide our audience with real world experience in how she has successfully dominated her Franklin Lakes, New Jersey luxury home marketplace with the combination of Top 5 In Real Estate℠ merged with her version of a Hyperlocal marketing system.
When: Thursday, June 10, 2010 1:00 PM-2:00 PM EST
Where: Hilton Rye Town - John Halsted Suite
699 Westchester Avenue
Rye Brook, New York 10573
For a complete list of sessions, visit http://rismedia.com/events/leadership-conference/sessions/.
Who Will Attend? Leaders of the real estate community, including Top 5 Members, other leading real estate sales associates, team leaders, leading brokerage owners, economists and a host of related industry visionaries from around the United States.
Register Now at http://events.rismedia.com!
If you are not able to make it, I will be writing more on this subject over the upcoming weeks and months. Stay tuned.
About Steve Hundley
As CEO of 1parkplace, Inc. Steve’s passion is to develop the most cutting edge real estate marketing systems and technology solutions for America’s top REALTORS and brokerage firms. He founded 1parkplace in 1995 after a 10 year successful real estate career listing and selling homes in the Silicon Valley of California.
1parkplace is an industry leading real estate marketing and technology solutions provider that develops custom lead generation solutions, contact management systems, website technologies, hyperlocal BLOGGING systems, strategic SEO services and real estate social marketing systems for maximum sales results.
Steve is also recognized as an industry expert on real estate social marketing and has co-founded Dalton/Hundley 2010 Real Estate Social Media Census with industry veteran and former REALTOR.com CEO and Top 5 In Real Estate President, Allan Dalton.
As an innovator, Steve constantly strives to blaze new trails and his company continues to grow at record pace as its supports a growing number of US real estate brokerages and sales associates with industry leading 1parkplace technology.