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After using social media to find success in his current career, a Bowie entrepreneur is preparing to help other businesses excel through the same methods.

Leon Bailey, 33, is both a 7-Eleven franchise district manager and coordinator and a real estate agent with Desiree Callender & Associates in Bowie.

Bailey's newest project, CityLifeCard.com is billed as a "social savings network," a social network that allows businesses in the metropolitan Washington area to advertise in a Yellow Book-like setting, which also features links to the businesses' YouTube videos, picture galleries, coupon lists, customer ratings and dining menus if applicable.

Customers can also create profiles listing their favorite business hot spots, thereby encouraging others to visit those businesses. The site also ties into extra discounts that can be obtained through the use of a CityLifeCard, which is honored by participating businesses and can be purchased for a $10 fee. Business profiles cost a monthly $19.95, while customer profiles are free.

"This is a platform to do advertising at a low-cost rate," Bailey said. "I noticed social networking helped me build my name in real estate, and all I'm doing now is transitioning that to other businesses."

Bailey was the Prince George's County Association of Realtors Rookie of the Year for 2008 and has remained a top producer in the state, already earning $1 million in sales production since joining Callender in May.

"It's a tough market and him being a fairly new agent and still producing those sales shows he's steady," Callender said. "He has a drive and he's committed."

CityLifeCard is currently offering free memberships to merchants through February to build the network, he said.

Courtney Dunevant, vice president of Bonnie Heneson Communications in Columbia, said Bailey's business plan sounds feasible but it depends primarily on how well it is marketed. Dunevant's company regularly reviews marketing through social media.

"These sites really rely on traffic ... people have to be providing the meat," she said.

Dunevant also warned CityLife's limited scope could both attract users who only want to shop in the area but also deter those who would rather just use a national network.

Terri Holley, a Spencerville business owner who runs the social media strategy blog Creative Blog Solutions, approves of businesses having a place to centralize their social media profile and presence. Her main concern is whether sites enhance Internet visibility for their users. Holley's focus is social engine optimization, in which sites use key words and numerous links to ensure they appear first on searches such as Google.

Bailey plans to market his site through media blitzes, advertising on other social networks, college advertising and a merchant referral campaign in which each referred user earns the merchant $100. He especially wants to market the site's consumer side to college students and young professionals, saying they spend the most and are more familiar with Internet technology. Bailey hopes to build his search engine optimization strategy by June.

Graduating from Hampton University with a major in public relations, Bailey soon started his own urban clothing business, selling across the nation, before settling down in Maryland with wife, Bernita, and eventually getting into 7-Eleven and later real estate to sell his own house.

"I'm passionate about marketing, I'm energetic about seeing entrepreneurs succeed and I love getting a good deal," Bailey said.