Focusing on celebrity real estate
If TMZ has taught us anything, it’s that America is obsessed with celebrities. Move, Inc., Zillow and Trulia have long blogged about the goings on of celebrity real estate with consumers eating up the glossy photos of how celebs live.
Today, rather than continue to house celebrity real estate news on their corporate blog, Trulia has launched Trulia Luxe Living, with the header asking, “WHAT THE LUXE? We’re obsessed with all that glitters. If it’s fancy, funky or high-society, you’ll find it here.”
The heated race to get celebrity news
Like Move and Zillow, Trulia knows that consumers obsess over celebrity real estate but real estate professionals often don’t care, so separating the “Luxe” out of the corporate blog makes a lot of sense as the race toward breaking real estate celeb news heats up.
“We are real estate enthusiasts at Trulia and we love looking at homes. Who doesn’t want to see how a celeb decorates or what kitchen appliances they use? It is a simple guilty pleasure that we share with millions of Americans. Luxe Living gives us a platform to share these homes with consumers just like you and I!” Ken Shuman, Trulia’s Head of Communications told AGBeat.
First up: star maps
One of the site’s first major endeavors is the publication of their interactive star map, a play on the old tradition of star spotting. Looking at the map of the L.A. area, users can hover over stars to see who lives there, a picture of the celebrity, how much their listing is going for, and links to photos of the listing.
Using honey to attract bees is pretty smart- get consumers to click around on celebrity news and they end up in a listing on Trulia.com. It will be interesting to hear what the bounce rates are once consumers land there, or if the honey actually works to get them to check out their own neighborhood. Clicks should go up and if the trap is set properly, agents should see more exposure for their listings as consumers potentially click around once inside the Trulia search site.
Drew Meyers - Virtual Results
August 1, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I know there is traffic opportunity with regards to celebrity real estate…so this certainly doesn't surprise me in the least. But it's not a differentiator nor is it first mover advantage. And it's the last subject on the planet I personally care about; even my good friends at Zillow know that celebrity real estate is not my cup of tea. I could care less that Hulk Hogan or PDiddy – or any other big name celebrity – are selling their homes.
Stephanie Crawford, @AgentStep
August 3, 2011 at 1:13 am
I once wrote in a blog post about Taylor Swifts condo development, the one she lives in near downtown Nashville. I still get hits on that post.