Editor’s note: This post explores a marketing tactic submitted by Dream Town Realty, the most recent winner of #madREskillz, a weekly Inman News Twitter competition.

One day this summer, a University of Chicago student biking to school was struck by how a sculpture featuring figures holding their heads in exasperation seemed to mirror the mood of many of his college peers, who at the time were mired in finals week, according to Yuval Degani, president of Dream Town Realty.

Captured by the parallel, he whipped out his smartphone and shot a photo of the angsty figures, Degani said.

That proved to be a smart move on the student’s part: The photo ultimately bagged him $2,500, after garnering the most votes in a Facebook photo contest hosted by Dream Town Realty.

Cash prizes were just one aspect of the robust marketing campaign that Dream Town held over the summer. The competition’s success demonstrates that hosting photo contests can help catapult a broker’s Facebook following and boost online engagement.

Calling for submissions of photos of the Windy City, “Chicago in Focus” helped Dream Town collect more than 4,000 likes on its Facebook page in just one month, more than tripling the amount the page had gathered over the four previous years of its existence.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/09/26/generate-leads-by-the-thousands-with-facebook-photo-contests/#sthash.IZt7POmF.dpuf