FourSquare … GoWalla … Loopt … Yelp … BrightKite …

If you aren’t familiar with the lingo above, fear not. You’re probably not alone but I’m willing to bet that at least one of the terms above has, at the very least, crossed your ears recently.

Should you be paying attention to what these applications are? I’d say yes. Should you jump in and sign up for all five right now? Probably not. But my advice would be to learn more about them because all of these applications are gaining momentum and popularity every day.

Each of the above applications is a location-based social networking application meaning that the application allows you to identify, share and make use of your geographical position. In English? You can “check-in” at any venue or location you are visiting using your mobile device. What makes these applications unique is that users can be rewarded with special badges or bonus items after checking in. This feature makes the applications game-like and everyone likes to play games, right? So why not play a game on your phone that increases and strengthens your personal brand awareness?

For the purposes of this blog post, I’m going to focus on FourSquare only because I’m more familiar with this application (I intend to experiment with the others moving forward).

Not every feature on FourSquare is applicable to someone in the real estate industry but that does not mean it should be neglected and stuck in a corner to deal with at a later date. One of FourSquare’s most unique features, “Tips”, is extremely relevant and is one that strengthens brand awareness by keeping you top of mind.

As a real estate agent you are responsible for knowing the ins and outs of your area. Creating tips on FourSquare allows you to showcase this knowledge. But how?

• Once you’ve created your FourSquare account (I recommend using your name as your username as your name is your brand) go out into your area and “check in” at a location.
• Check in to location X where you will have the ability to add a tip.
  • If you know of a great park, restaurant, store or hidden gem in the area that others may not know about write a tip and recommend they check it out.
• What makes this a great marketing tool is that anyone else who checks into location X will see your tip with your name attached to it.
• Create enough tips in your area and pretty soon you’ll be known as the area expert.

While this doesn’t generate instant leads it keeps you top of mind. People will want to know who you are, they’ll Google you, find your website and discover that you’re a real estate agent. Your name will become synonymous with that area. Make sense?

By pushing your check-ins to Twitter and Facebook you can let people know if you are setting up an open house, closing a deal or trying to newest restaurant in town. Again, it’s not about generating instant leads but all about building and strengthening your brand and presence.