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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.

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

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1
Dec 09

Finding your Voice

In the world of advertising emphasis is placed on the voice that best represents your brand and appeals to your target audience.  An advertiser will stress tone and rhetoric that can be carried throughout your campaign in order for your audience to identify with your message and your end product.  Colors, font style and photographs are also hand selected to reflect the image the advertiser wants to portray.

Social campaigns add a clear voice to brands. They narrate the story behind a building and a community, allowing the audience to learn more than what may be found on a website or in a brochure.  The bullet points come to life as they are expanded upon through video, photographs and article links.  Neighborhood maps with points of interest are no longer static dots, as specific local amenities: entertainment venues, parks, retail and restaurants are featured to showcase lifestyle.  A sense of community is truly built within a community.  Opportunities for co-promotion and third party endorsements increase as relationships are built. Social campaigns have the ability to expand, adapt and deliver key messages to different market groups. It is where your prospects, clients, broker-agent partners and influencers will all convene to gather information about your product.

This brings us to the one crucial difference between how traditional and social marketing define a “voice”.  In traditional methods, importance is placed heavily on the style of writing or “tone“, while social campaigns should be more concerned with value-added content or “message“.  If you forget everything else, remember these 2 phrases when launching a social campaign: Be Authentic and Content is King.

Do not try to use social marketing as a traditional advertising platform with colorful sales language to pitch your angle.  Instead, listen to your audience and deliver value-added content that they would find helpful.  Feature specific amenities of your building by expanding your brand narrative to include content about a sculpture designed for your lobby entrance, low VOC paints, living roofs, concierge services and modern architecture.  Feature special incentives, events and timely new release updates for your prospect and broker-agent audiences. Showcase your location within a community by spotlighting specific local businesses, events and service providers such as Movies in the Park, Jazz festivals, free tasting night at your local wine bar, neighborhood dog walkers and local moving companies.

While language use is still important, emphasis on “tone” should be reserved for web pages, brochures, press releases and advertorials. Social sites are places where “content” matters most.

Remember, the delivery of this content must be made in 140 characters or less using Twitter (including links) and 320 characters (with spaces) using Facebook, before expansion is necessary. This leaves little room for writers to showcase their skills.  It does, however, open up an opportunity to add video that defines LEED or Green Point Rated, the Men’s Journal featured story about your neighborhood, an article in NY Times about your local gastronomical treasures or a homebuyer testimonial.

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

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6
Nov 09

The Importance of a First Impression

Billboard-for-bogFirst Impressions -

We’ve all heard the saying – “you only have one opportunity to make a first impression”.  While it may be a bit cliché, it is very true.

A positive first impression is an important start in building a solid relationship with your customer.  This is true whether the interaction is over the phone, in-person or online.

It is important, especially in today’s economic climate, that you create a welcome and pleasant experience for your prospects and one that builds rapport with your current clients.  Your marketing collateral, including your community’s online presence, must be appealing, compelling and current in order to stand out from the competition.  Professionally-produced websites can have outdated news feeds, outdated images and preconstruction VR leaving viewers confused as to the state of the development.  Blogs and microblogs often go ignored and aren’t consistently updated leaving the impression that new media is an after-thought or unimportant to its owners.  It is crucial that your community’s presence be up to date;  the viewing public is interested in the present and future, not the past.

Online media is often your first impression. Your social media presence deserves the same level of professional attention found on all of your marketing collateral.  Too often we see Twitter feeds and Facebook fan pages with underdeveloped or irrelevant content. Often these posts look like an afterthought.  The whole purpose of social media is to create an ongoing, up-to-date narrative that evolves into a dialogue of relevant and valued content for the end-user. If your property is not managed with consistent, relevant content updates that add value to the end user - your first impression will not be a favorable one.  Bottom line – if you are going to use this media, be prepared to spend the time to use it correctly or hire someone who will.

Steps to Take for a Positive First Impression:

  • Create a strategy and plan ahead – plan a campaign with objectives
  • Post regularly - be consistent, avoid i-phone updates and randomly timed posts
  • Make it count – provide content that is relevant to each point of contact
  • Create value-added content – avoid speaking only about you – offer value to your audience
  • Be flexible – primary prospects, events and important news changes, adjust content accordingly
  • Be knowledgable – know your point of contacts and why they would find value in your content
  • Manage the campaign – immerse yourself and understand SMM strengths, purpose and guidelines

A fully-managed social media effort creates a dialogue and keeps your community in front of the major influencers – key to any successfully managed social media campaign.  These key influencers include:

  • Broker/Agents
  • Prospects
  • Neighborhood Businesses
  • Press (New Media and Traditional)
  • Current Residents

Branding your community in today’s market is more important than ever.  Consumers are looking to be informed in their decisions and are collecting information via online searches and opinions.  More than 300 million people have Facebook profiles and over 50% of social media  participants are now endorsing their favorite brands online.  Twitter is becoming mainstream. Small businesses are cutting a larger market share by supporting one-another and finding new promotionl opportunities through local co-promotion events.  Unlike static online advertising, properly managed social media marketing sites give your target audience a reason to return. Acknowledging that fact and commiting to the process by embracing new technologies and branding methods is essential to whether your first impression will be a lasting one.

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15
Oct 09

Facebook Leads Visitor Loyalty

The goal of every brand is to obtain a loyal visitor following.  Brands should give consumers a reason to return and a reason to purchase. Social media platforms target the geographic and pyschographic parameters of your market in a location where consumers choose to be and to return. A new online survey suggests that Facebook is the preferred vehicle for such loyalty, even beating out the big boys at Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Chitika, Inc., a search-based online advertising network, conducted a study to test reader loyalty.  The study was based on a sample of 33 million unique users across the Chitika publisher network in September, 2009.  It compared the number of visitors coming from major traffic sources – Bing, Digg, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Twitter – to the number of times those visitors came back to the referred site.  For this study “loyal” is defined as a visitor who came to the site four or more times over the course of a week.  Repeat visits equate to interest in the site overall.

loyaltyreferring

Facebook definitely came in as the leader, with over 20% visitor loyalty.  As far as sheer numbers, Google wins hands down. However, social media sites such as Facebook continue to grow. This is compelling evidence that social media platforms are here to stay and will continue to play a major roll in advertising and marketing campaigns, both now and in the future.

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

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1
Oct 09

15 Bad Habits that will Kill Your Social Campaign

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Social Media Misguided

6 Degrees Group recently met with a client to begin planning a new media campaign for a community; the client summed up what we have said, in so many words, many times over – “I’d rather not have a presence than have the wrong one”. Let’s sum up “what not to do” when participating in social media, shall we?

 

15 BAD HABITS THAT WILL KILL YOUR SOCIAL CAMPAIGN AND GIVE THE WRONG IMPRESSION

  1. Vanilla. No custom avatar, no custom background or a page that is inconsistent with your brand.
  2. Non-committal. Posting 4 or 5 times with all the basics that can already be found in your brochure or on your website, then walking away as if the job is done. Your property sits unattended and looks dead. You meant to use social media as an advertisement, but alas that is a big faux-pas & your target will notice…it should be an ongoing dialogue.
  3. Inconsistency. Off to a good start and then it comes to a screeching halt. You’ve seen this. Check dates on postings and tweets of active pages, you will see what we mean. Our favorite no-no – PR or Media firms that upload 4 posts in a row and then nothing for a week or two, sometimes three. You can tell this a job to them, not a partnership.
  4. I-Phone Uploads. This isn’t your personal site, this is a professional presence in a social environment. You don’t show up in sweats to the office, do you? An occasional simple I-phone upload is not going to look unprofessional, but consistent 1-line uploads – yep.
  5. Quantity not Quality. It isn’t about #’s. It is about the right influencers within your target audience. Don’t cheat the system and end up with a huge random circle. Do find leaders in your industry, press contacts that may want to blog about your news, interests and geography that match your target audience. We realize this research takes time. Don’t take short cuts, this is important for the quality of your campaign.
  6. Frequency. Too frequent = spam; Not frequent enough = disinterest.
    (Know your target audience & what is important to them)
  7. Lack of Links. We’ve seen this far too often. Your Twitter page and Facebook page should also link to each other and back to your website. Additionally, links should be included in Tweets and Postings. Include links to YouTube, Flickr and Yelp accounts, when applicable. One of the top benefits of SM is its value as a linkable campaign.
  8. Adult Sites. They pop up, sure. Scan your followers and make sure to block them visually for your brand. We scan our accounts 2x per week to ensure a professional look. You should do the same. Beware of the auto-follow tools…your brand could end up looking like it subscribes to multiple adult channels.
  9. Language and Tone. We’ve seen it all…from tweets that would most certainly violate Fair Housing Laws to swear words, inappropriate slang, consistent poor grammar and spelling to monologues purely about the community without value added content.  Beware of companies that outsource internationally or delegate the job to a disinterested intern that is also tweeting about how boring work is.
  10. Wrong Tabs for Your Content. You can customize Facebook tabs and yet so many pages don’t go the extra step to edit the tabs according to relevancy of campaign content. Often we see pages created with video tabs and yet no videos to view and a review or discussion tab with no posts and only 3 fans. While I am here, I want to mention the selection of wrong titles for your channels. It is important to use a descriptive and location when selecting titles. So many brands we see give no indication as to location or type of product. It becomes difficult to sort through the selection in cyberspace and this lack of description also makes it more difficult to locate your brand in searches.
  11. Speed Dating. That is what we refer to when we see the mistake of jumping in and asking your audience questions or engaging them in a discussion before they have gotten a chance to know you. Too often we see a great question posed too early in campaigns and it sits unanswered.  Awkward! Remember, it is give and take. Be patient.
  12. Lazy Uploads. You’ve seen them. It may seem like a good idea at first. It does make your life easier to simply upload your blog or Tweets to your Facebook account, but it also makes it look like you are just trying to make your life easier. Is the same content repeated on all of your channels at the same time? Beware: This is how campaigns appear flat, lack dimension and engaging content.
  13. Zero Following. You allow others to follow you, yet you follow no-one. What impression does that give? It says, I am here for a monologue, on my soapbox and I’m important.  Pick 1 or 3. That is what the SM audience will think of you. Zero Favorites Pages on Facebook demonstrates lack of outreach and disinterest in networking with other local businesses in your network.
  14. Lack of SM Culture and Etiquette. It’s an entirely new world out there. There are certain rules of participation (spoken and unspoken) that will make or break your reputation as a participant or simply another spammer/advertiser. Want to be credible? Become a part of the culture and learn the rules of engagement or hire someone that is immersed in the culture already.
  15. Auto-DM. Its much better to send a #FF or a direct personal thank you for following. I used to think this was a nice feature (when I was a rookie), now I agree with the SM mob that find it irritating and spam-like. There is an entire campaign to un-follow any auto DMers out there. Did I mention that there are particular etiquette?

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

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26
Sep 09

15 Reasons Why Broker/Agents should Fan New Home Communities

Blog_BLU_FB

At 6 Degrees Group, we recommend and create Facebook Fan pages for our real estate development partners in order to continue their community narrative, create brand awareness within geographic regions and add valuable content to existing marketing plans.  5 key groups are embraced: Prospects, Homeowners, Local Business, Press and the Broker-Agent community.

It seems most agents are on Facebook, but feel uncomfortable using Facebook as a tool to promote their business.  We agree that personal Facebook pages should be kept personal.  You are on Facebook to interact with friends and peers and to strengthen existing relationships.  New listing and sales updates can be provided through a website link on your Facebook page.

HOW DO SMART AGENTS USE FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS?

So how do you create new relationships, strengthen existing ones and market your service professionally, while keeping your Facebook page strictly personal?

  • Become a fan of real estate buildings in your geographic area.
  • Are you a condo, townhome and loft specialist? Fan specific types of real estate pages and interact by adding your voice and allowing the community to get to know you.
  • Request your brokerage create a fan page, and company agents become fans.
  • Create a neighborhood fan page where you specialize OR follow another one and lend your voice as you would on someone’s blog, adding insider tips and recommendations.

By becoming a fan of community pages where you do business, a message is sent out stating that (your name) is a fan of  Blu Condominiums in San Francisco.  A Blu Condominiums link is also placed on the info tab of your Facebook page.  You are now where your future clients will be.  Additionally, you will receive real-time updates from this community that may include special events, promotions, incentives, local neighborhood services and developer/builder specials on featured properties.  Your name and photo will be placed on the fan page showing that you are knowledgeable about the building or neighborhood, have existing clients or are a candidate to represent future buyers and sellers.

You are also reminding your clients, friends and followers that you have knowledge of these type of communities and are “in the know” by keeping in front of them.  While they may not currently be in the market, acquaintances and  friends may know someone looking to purchase a new home in the geographic area that you specialize in or someone looking to sell at the building.

15 Reasons Why Broker/Agents should Fan Real Estate Community Pages

  1. Trust – If you are associated with a product, buyers will trust that you know more about it than an agent that is not.  Name and face association with a brand also builds trust.
  2. Exposure – Be where buyers and future sellers are. Your face and name attached to a 24-7 online bulletin board increases your chance for new business.
  3. Knowledge – You will have access to more knowledge than the website and brochure.
  4. Communication – Be the first to know. Get the latest immediately - in real time.
  5. Name Recognition – You name and face becomes more familiar.
  6. Expertise – Become an expert on particular buildings with access to updated, detailed information all in one easy to find location.  Share your expertise with buyers.
  7. Relationship Building – Show your support for a community, product and an appreciation for their efforts to be a part of the dialogue.
  8. Rapport –Develop rapport with other fans as a recognized member of a community within a specific geography.
  9. Commitment –This step shows your commitment level to your work. You go above and beyond the expected.
  10. Tech Savvy – Are you up-to-par on trends?  Do you relate to your target audience?
  11. Marketing – This is an indirect, free marketing platform for your business.
  12. Events – Be invited in-person to network.  Put faces to names.
  13. Press – Receive access to relevant articles and press in one easy to find location.
  14. Community Feedback – Listen. Get real live information on your niche market, it’s like a giant focus group with invaluable information.
  15. Referrals – If you aren’t networking via social sites online yet, you should be. Over 85% of buyers cite the internet as their first place to begin their search. Be seen. Be heard. Be knowledgeable. Add value to your service.

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

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