6 Degrees Group — No comments
25
Jan 11

6DG is Remodeling…

6 Degrees Group is Remodeling

Please visit our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/6DegreesGroup to get continued updates!

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

Facebook — No comments
02
Aug 10

12 things to-do to get your circle of influence to “like” your Facebook Page

Relevant fans and followers are important to broaden your circle and get the word out about your “brand”.  Whether your goal is to heighten awareness, create brand loyalty, drive traffic or promote an event, create new relationships and find new opportunities or to simply tell a story – you need an audience.  Newcomers to social media make the mistake of valuing quantity over quality. While this may work for a broad-based brand that appeals to varying demographics without geographic limitations, such as Nike, Kimpton Hotels or Dr. Pepper, this often is an exercise in futility when aiming for real-life quantifiable results. A better strategy for location based businesses and brands starts with building the right relationships among your circle of influence and growing from there. Think 6 Degrees of Separation.

12 things to-do to get your circle of influence to “like” your facebook page

  • Use a call to action phrase preceding your links – Join ___, Follow ___, Like ___,
  • Always place Facebook and Twitter links in your email signature for all correspondence.
  • Make sure that your social links are on the very first page of your website and under your contacts page, if applicable.
  • The old-school way -Send a personal email to your network and influencers asking them to “like” the page. Offer content, event invites, and promos on your Facebook page that is not obtainable elsewhere.
  • Include your facebook page link in any digital press releases.
  • Include your facebook page link on blogs, forums, etc.
  • Always ask! Networking and co-promotion is a huge part of social media. If you are working with an association, vendor or small business, ask if they will link to your page and give you a plug on their blog, facebook page, Eblasts (email ads), and twitter. Reciprocate. Strength in numbers. Widen your circle.
    • For more advanced users – you can also tag pages that are within your circle of influence by personally following their brand and using the @<brand name> when writing on your business page wall. This creates a duplicate of your message on that brand’s wall (when settings allow).
    • Make an announcement on your Linkedin account and link to the new business facebook page.
    • Include links in your twitter feed back to your new business facebook page.
    • Encourage participation. Request inspirational photos be posted to your wall. Get users to give feedback on a subject through a poll or questionnaire. Create a survey and ask real-life friends to weigh-in.
    • Create a contest and offer a freebie. This can be done with any brand and the award can be small – 2 tickets to an event, etc.
      • Boutique Hotels have been very successful at getting their name out there by offering a free weekend stay to a winner and a friend of their choice through viral means.
      • “ENTER our GETAWAY Contest! Just introduce new friends to our Like page and get them to vote for YOU to win a fabulous 2 night getaway. The winner is the couple who introduces the highest number of their friends to (Name of Facebook Page)  PLUS: YOU get to choose  a friend and bring them along! Here’s the link to ENTER and share with friends (insert link)
      • Example of tags on wall: I am a new fan of <Facebook Name>! …I was referred by Kirstin Burghart!”
  • Have a personal Facebook account? Here are 3 ways to promote your business page –
    • Make an announcement to all of your facebook friends by writing on your wall – Just launched a new facebook page for (my business), check it out and “like” the page to follow along. Your support is appreciated! <insert the link to your new business page under the message>
    • Send a direct email within your personal facebook page to all “friends” – using the announcement above
    • Insert a link to your business facebook page in  your “about me” section

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

6 Degrees Group / New Media — 1 comment
16
Jul 10

Press Release: BLU Uses 2-D Barcode Tag for Virtual Model Tours and More

PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
Lennar Urban – BLU, San Francisco High-rise is 1st to use Microsoft Tag Barcode Technology for New Home Marketing

Polaris Group, a real estate sales, marketing and consulting firm, announced today that it is contracting with 6 Degrees Group to implement a smartphone marketing campaign by deploying Microsoft’s new 2D bar code technology, Microsoft Tag, for the penthouse release of Lennar Urban’s luxury downtown high rise – BLU. 6 Degrees Group released a new service to industry partners in January 2010 called ITS – Integrated Tagging Solutions, through which they pair barcode technology with specific, customized marketing objectives to capture the ever-increasing mobile market.

BLU is a 21-story residential tower over a single story podium containing a retail space and residential lobby at Folsom and 2nd in San Francisco.  Located in San Francisco’s vibrant South Beach -SoMa District, BLU will benefit from customized retail window and directional signage with tags. The frontage will feature a tag showcasing a virtual video tour of the new penthomes narrated by Sales Manager, Wendy Novia. Busy professionals in the area will be able to snap the signage with their smartphones to get the latest information at BLU before, during and after sales center hours. The custom tag will also be placed in the newspaper advertisement, allowing a multi-media dimension to a once flat ad.

Microsoft Tag connects almost anything in the real world to information and interactive experiences on your mobile phone. The “Tag” is a graphic image bar code that creates an instant connection to the Web via an end-user’s smartphone browser.

How does it all work?  When a consumer downloads the Microsoft Tag application and then snaps a picture of a Tag, the application performs an action, such as opening a Web browser and taking the consumer to a URL or launching an online video. Consumers simply go to gettag.mobi to download the Tag application, and then they’re ready to snap away.

“Bar code technology for mobile devices is an emerging technology in the United States and has unlimited potential to increase the end user’s experience by expanding upon a message usually limited in print and sign media” said Kirstin Burghart, owner of 6 Degrees Group . “Microsoft Tag allows for the fusion of traditional and new media”, she said. “The potential for this technology is virtually unlimited as it empowers the consumer by giving the buying public the information that they readily need in a convenient and portable way”.

About Lennar Urban

Lennar is one of the nations’ leading builders of quality homes.  With more than a half century of experience, Lennar is committed to Quality, Value and Integrity.  These principles are the underlying foundation upon which Lennar was established, and this commitment continues to guide business decisions today.

About Polaris Group
Polaris Group is a sales, marketing and consulting firm with years of experience in successfully bringing new residential real estate to market in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California.

About 6 Degrees Group
6 Degrees Group is a new media marketing group specializing in real estate community branding.

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

Twitter — No comments
30
May 10

Twitter is Everywhere

On a recent trip through picturesque Sonoma County, we happened across a road construction sign on the side of the highway informing motorists about future closures and road conditions affecting their travels along scenic Hwy 116.

For those of you who think Twitter is of little value or a passing fad, we respectfully disagree.

Click on the image below to watch the short movie clip.

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

New Media — No comments
05
Apr 10

More Than Just Topography

New Bing Maps and Augmented Reality Bring Imagery to Life

Bing Maps has evolved into a robust mapping system, challenging Google Maps for a slice of the on-line mapping market.

Meta data, user-submitted images integration and with the introduction of augmented reality (physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery) overlay, Bing Maps has an impressive array of tools and gadgets to make it a toe-to-toe contender with the best of the mapping giants.

Finally, a real reason to geo-tag those Flickr photos. Bing will allow your property, community and the surrounding points of interest to come to life. Get on the map and become part of the virtual world!

Watch the video below to see what’s new in the world of Bing Maps. We’re sure you’ll be as excited as we were with all the new technology that will further enhance mapping visibility.

Gotta love competition and a free market place.

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

New Media / Social Media Campaigns — No comments
24
Mar 10

YouTube Is Massive

WOW. YouTube  has recently announced a huge milestone/statistic:

24 hours of video is now uploaded to the social video site every sixty seconds.

Just think about that stat for one moment. It may be hard to wrap your brain around the fact that for every second you are browsing YouTube, 24 minutes of video is uploaded to the site.

That is a 17% increase in upload rate from just 10 months ago…. An impressive increase by any standard and another statistic that video is here to stay and will become an even bigger player in your media mix.

More than two million minutes of video (or 34,560 hours) is now uploaded onto YouTube per day. Simply amazing!

The video site even provided a graph depicting its growth:

In less than two years, YouTube has doubled its upload activity. And of course, YouTube is owned by Google, so video will play an even more important role in organic SEO campaigns for your brand.

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

Facebook — No comments
18
Mar 10

More Analytics From Facebook

This announcement is perfectly-timed, as more and more clients are requesting statistics regarding their social media campaigns. Facebook is adding another level of analytics for Administrators of Fan Pages; introducing the latest addition to improved analytics -  the new weekly email report.

Although the reports aren’t the most detailed in nature, they do offer the administrator a nice “snapshot” of traffic and engagement for the Fan Page.

Some of the stats covered are:

  • number of fans added
  • summary of wall posts, comments and likes in the past week
  • and the number of visits to your page this week, compared to last week’s visits

All of this signals the importance that Facebook is placing on insight into your Fan Page activity.  The more details Facebook can provide regarding demographics, longer-term growth, and engagement trends

…..the more the Fan Pages will appeal to brands

……the more the brands will spend on Facebook advertising.

Makes perfect sense to us and we love the evolution of branding options on the world’s most popular social media channel.

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

New Media — No comments
26
Feb 10

Google Search & New Location-Based Options

Understanding the importance of locational searches, Google has just added a new “Nearby” tool to the Search Options.  So what does all this mean?  Just that users can refine results for a more custom search process which is focused upon location.

You have to try it out for yourself to actually experience the power of this new tool. To give it a test-drive, do a normal Google search, then select “Show Options” -> “Nearby.” This feature allows you to switch between your default location and a custom (of your choosing) location. Filter results by city, state or region.  It’s all up to you!

Google is very aware of the importance of geo-tagging and location-based searches. The search giant’s location services will complement each other more and more, from location searches to social-media check in technology, all in an attempt to create an entire location-aware Google experience for the end-user.

Can you say “Location, Location, Location”?

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

Social Media Campaigns — No comments
13
Feb 10

10 Social Media Successes that aren’t measured by ROI

The greatest successes you will have in Social Media Marketing will not be able to be measured by the number of followers and fans. It is natural to want to quantify the success of a campaign by a simple number count. Since the work performed uses digital methods, many assume all ROI can be measured by number of clicks, impressions, mentions and forwards.

Many of our successes come in ways that aren’t so simple to quantify, yet yield a much greater ROI than a number count.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 successes we have had in just the past 10 days:

  1. Approached via Twitter with 3 free press opportunities in national industry magazines
  2. Local brokerage Facebook page hosted our community Facebook page as a favorite
  3. 3 communities dominated top 4 Google rankings through organic SEO
  4. Official Facebook page for a city hosted our community Facebook page as a favorite
  5. Received 13 thank you notes from homeowners, area businesses and local agents
  6. Well known shopping center hosted our community Facebook page as a favorite
  7. Fielded 56 questions about our communities
  8. Twitter lists created by 12 area real estate agents and businesses naming our communities
  9. Architect made our community YouTube channel a favorite
  10. 2 homeowners offered unsolicited testimonials

How much value would you put on an article featuring your property in a national real estate magazine or a homeowner offering a testimonial for your community? What about industry professionals, like well respected brokers and architects, endorsing your property publicly?

Half page ad in a luxury magazine $4,300
Weekend 3column ad in local newspaper $2,440
Monthly PPC campaign $2,900
.com online listing $600
online banner ad $260
Happy homeowner referring local co-workers to your property = priceless.

Big numbers are great, but in our experience, the strength of your relationships with homebuyers and the local broker-agent community yields the greatest number of qualified, relevant traffic through the door.

Have you had any unmeasurable successes in your marketing campaigns? We’d love to hear of other examples. Share with us!

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

New Media — No comments
29
Jan 10

Active Listening through New Media

Listening is part of the process of learning. In real estate development, traditionally, builders and marketing firms have projected what the demographics and psychographics of a target market would be based on past experiences in that location and based on the mix of units (size, floor plan type, price projections, style, finishes, etc.). It is amazing how many new tools are out there that can act as a real-time focus group!

New media, geotagging and mobile technology allow us to gain valuable, specific and increasingly relevant insight into the interests of a particular neighborhood geography and its demographic. By listening to our fans and followers and paying close attention to their interests and concerns, we are able to provide valuable content, build trust and potentially overcome objections.

How to actively listen through New Media:

  • Research by analyzing the analytics of a pre-launch campaign. Note what cities are most interested in your community and what VR videos, floor plans and price ranges received the highest number of hits or had the longest viewing time.
  • Google search your development name and see what bloggers, micro-bloggers and Yelpers are saying about your product and neighborhood.
  • Review who has listed your Twitter community and what/who else is on their list.
  • Review your community Facebook fans and see what other fan pages they have listed.
  • Create a blog and pose questions to your readers or approach a popular blogger to write about a particular subject that may help you gain valuable market insight.
  • Create a Gravatar, and when appropriate pose a question related to the hosts topic (i.e. Architectural style, Specific neighborhood…)
  • Post an open ended question on sites like Trulia or ActiveRain to gain Broker opinion. (i.e. What size space are your buyers looking for in X neighborhood)
  • Listen to feedback via mobile geosocial sites like Gowalla, Foursquare, Blockchalk, Yelp and Groundmap. Users can not only check-in via mobile and notify others through a tweet or Facebook message, but they also have the capability of leaving a review, recommendation or quick note about the place visited. Ideal for Broker tours, open houses, homeowner testimonials and unique new home events, right?

Related Articles:

6 Degrees Group New Media for New Home Real Estate Developments, Leasing Communities, Resort Properties & Hospitality

← Older Entries