SMO Getting Started « 6 Degrees Group

SMO Getting Started

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.

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

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Sep 09

Creating a Winning Strategy

Once you’ve selected the right channels for your target audience and have goals in mind, it is time to begin planning a strategy.

Research is showing a shift from traditional media to non-traditional methods. Mediaweek recently polled agencies and 62.5 percent of respondents predicted their customers were either very likely or somewhat likely to fit digital or advanced advertising into their media plans. Reason? Consumers are empowered. Their purchasing power means something in today’s market. They want access to knowledge, prior to making decisions. And why not? Let’s face it, to consumers the lenders, realtors and builders/developers still wear the face of sub-prime. Bottom line – trust needs to be earned.

The internet has altered the rules of engagement. Social Media is a prime example of this shift. You have the ability to humanize your brand and have a direct relationship with your customer. This is an opportunity for you to maximize your brand awareness and create value added content to your campaign that cannot fit into a tile, banner or 3×5 column print ad. Social Media gives you a chance to expand upon your website content with real-life, real-time amenities, features and events that your community/neighborhood offers through the voice of peers. Be transparent and authentic. By listening to your consumers, you also have the ability to create a stronger brand, foster loyalty and gain third party endorsements.

So what is your strategy?

First and foremost, the most successful strategies will be relationship based. Get to know your consumer. What drives them to your property versus a competitors? What is unique about your brand? What is unique about your community? What do you offer beyond your building and brochure? Your best features? Your biggest objections? Express yourself. Tell your story.

People buy from people they like, but they also want value in what they are getting. Allow consumers to get to know the people behind your brand. Consumers are weary of salespeople and often forget that there is a human side and human story behind every business and brand. An insight into your world can eliminate fear and open the door to connecting personally with your target audience. The creation of quality content is equally as important. Add value to your marketing strategy by expanding knowledge beyond your community alone. Provide readers links to articles, event announcements and videos outside of your direct brand.

It used to be that people learned about your community from a) advertisements b) word of mouth and c) press reviews. Social media has elements of all of these and it is changing how we learn about products and how we get our news. At 6, we consistently hear breaking news stories from Twitter before they ever have a chance to hit the internet, television or papers. Consumers are generating content and spreading the word too. Give them something to talk about and they will eagerly spread your message.

We often are asked what should my content formula be? This is referring to the amount of personal content you should incorporate into your strategy versus the amount of business or promotional content you should share. Our answer – it depends. You cannot simply apply one strategy to all brands and all audiences. If you are a sole-proprietor or independent consultant marketing your service (such as a real estate broker) your strategy should most certainly be heavier on the relationship and personal nature of your business. If you are a group of professionals behind a brand that offers content and knowledge driven expertise on a particular subject (Mashable), your strategy will be heavier on educational tools, business articles, videos and links. Your audience doesn’t care how great the food is at a particular pub in Scotland, they are there to gain knowledge and benefit from your insights. Understanding the theory behind an 80/20 or 90/10 or 70/30 formula is what really matters. Social media is a relationship driven marketing strategy. You don’t want to be friends with someone that is always talking about themselves, do you?

When marketing a boutique hotel, real estate development or leasing community, we recommend building the content basic ABC’s. Introduce yourself and let them know who you are first. Next, begin adding valuable content information to expand your brand. Are you a green building? What elements make you green? Do you have a retail or restaurant component of your property? Is there historical significance to your location or building? Do you have an event coming up? This may include: community events, press articles, testimonial videos, photo content, etc… Once you have added the basics, you can begin building relationships, interacting and offering engaging specials, promotions and surveys, depending on your goals. In providing community resources and interesting links that appeal to your consumer, it becomes less about you and more about them.

Think of yourself as the building concierge. You are the first face they see and a source for an introduction. Yes, you can report back on the number and mix of rooms, quote price ranges and communicate the exact time the pool closes. BUT you also know the best Italian restaurant in the neighborhood with the most comprehensive wine list and where to get the smoothest espresso in town. You cannot provide value added content like this in a flat ad, but you can with social media.

Strategy Summary:

Build Purposeful Relationships and Trust
Get to Know your Audience
Tell your Story
Foster Advocacy and Endorsements
Humanize your Brand
Create Value Added Content
Give them Something to Talk About
Demonstrate Authenticity and Transparency
Build your ABC’s
Listen and Engage

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

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Aug 09

Selecting Social Media Platforms

You have set your goals and identified the key target audiences within your community social network. Next, we select which social media platforms are the best fit.

There are dozens of applicable online marketing and social sites that can help brand your product and accomplish your goals. Social media has quickly become a mainstay in modern marketing plans. New media is being introduced weekly. It is an ever-changing marketplace and is difficult even for committed, full-time professionals to keep up with the latest trends.

At 6, we want to be seen as your marketing partner, not as simply a vendor. 6 Degrees Group consultants have a combined 30+ years of real estate development marketing experience. We have been at the point of purchase, part of the onsite sales team, led the creative department, managed the sales, advertising and marketing campaigns. We have been a part of real estate developments from inception to completion. We have also been incorporating social media into our marketing campaigns for several years. We get it. Therefore, it is important for us to know what you are trying to accomplish, any internal goals, obstacles, deadlines, new releases or specific PR/Marketing strategies. The better we understand your brand positioning, the better partner we can become.

There are so many social media platforms. How do we choose the best fit?

Determine a realistic budget that you can maintain for a minimum of 6+ months
Examine your Primary, Secondary and Tertiary goals
Select Social Media platforms that your Target Audience(s) use
Determine your message and how it is best delivered
Assess your online campaign and compare it to your competitors

All real estate requires visual connection in order to be compelling online. It’s a fact that graphically pleasing ads of average product will gain more exposure than the most beautiful product without photos. The two most neglected forms of digital media that we see time and again are the lack of updated “live” photographs to replace builder VR and digital videos. At 6, we believe investing in fresh digital media to positively reflect your product brand and give it new eyes is vital to the success of your social media campaign.

What are the top six SMO channels you recommend in community campaigns?

There are many types of advertising opportunities within each SMO platform. Selecting the best type of ad campaign within each platform, its frequency and target will vary. However, we feel that the following list currently represents the best options for real estate sales, leasing and hospitality marketing campaigns:

Wordpress Blog or Blogger
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube or Vimeo
Flickr
Yelp or TripAdvisor
Postlets (for new home communities)

Other opportunities include: Craigslist, Trulia, Zillow, Smug Mug, Friendfeed, Mobile Apps & AR, LiveJournal, My Space, Wikipedia, Plaxo, Linkedin, Digg, del.icio.us, StumbledUpon, Daily Motion…

Now that you are able to select the best options to fit your campaign, you can create a strategy!

Stay tuned, as 6 discusses how to create a winning strategy next….

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

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Aug 09

Defining Your Target Audience(s)

You’ve allocated marketing dollars for SMO according to your budget and identified goals based on the marketing and absorption stage of your property. These goals have been ranked and set according to your campaign strategy. What’s next? In order to hone in on the most valuable SMO tools for your community, you need to identify who your viewers are and what tools are the best fit.

Define your top target audiences.

Who are you trying to reach? In previous posts, 6 has pointed out that most campaigns have more than one target audience. Social Media Campaigns are ideal to capture the interest of more than just the end consumer. When properly executed, your campaign has the ability to create your very own third party PR team, whereby your message and brand is not only spread virally, but endorsed by respected industry professionals and peers of your primary target.

Most communities have one primary consumer profile which can be defined by demographics that include:

Age Range
Geography
Income Range
Key Employers within Proximity to Site or with Existing Corp Relations
Entry Level to Luxury Consumer

Take a second look. 6 often finds a strong secondary and even tertiary profile within the existing consumer pool.

Identifying who defines your main and subsidiary buyer pools is an extremely important task in targeted marketing campaigns. However, sometimes we get so focused on prospect marketing, we tend to forget our other strong campaign allies:

Existing Patrons/Residents/Homebuyers
Real Estate Broker/Agents/Travel Agents
Prospect Peers
Neighborhood & Community Businesses
Press/Bloggers

Give your target audience(s) something of value. Your brand and message will become part of their message as well. Viral marketing and third party endorsement play a huge role in the success of Social Media Marketing plans.

Social media is about building authentic relationships with key groups. By establishing loyalty and trust, you can create new and strengthen existing relationships. Identifying who you reach out to and what methods work best for your current strategy is an important piece of the puzzle.

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

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Aug 09

Setting Your Social Media Campaign Goals

Setting Goals

Navigating the vastness of the social media universe takes time and planning. Before embarking on your journey, you must set clear goals. These goals should be defined before the launch of your SMO campaign or you will soon find your campaign lost and without purpose.

So where do we begin? A great place to start is by asking a very simple, yet powerful question, “What I am trying to achieve?”

At 6, we have found that the vast majority of our new home development, hospitality and leasing community partners are looking to achieve the following goals:

Improved Search Engine Results
Prospect Relationship Building
Third Party Endorsements
Improved Community Reputation Management
Increased Community Brand Awareness
Increased Relevant Web Traffic
Increased Relevant Foot Traffic
Increased Sales

What do these mean to me? I have more than one goal. How do I rank them?

Often this depends on your stage of marketing. If you are under construction or ramping up for a Grand Opening event, you may have different goals than a development that is at an 80% absorption rate. Define your stage of marketing and what you are trying to achieve.

A few examples of how and where these goals may fit into your overall campaign are defined below:

Improved Search Engine Results: A Social Media Optimization (SMO) Campaign can be a powerful tool to gaining positive SEO rank results (your internet website ranking). Over 75% of new home buyers begin their search online. If you are looking to strengthen your web presence, blogging and micro-blogging may give you the results you hope to achieve. Creative content with fresh keywords and link building frameworks could help generate greater exposure and sales opportunities.

Prospect Relationship Building: This is a popular goal with communities that are pre-marketing and under construction. It is difficult to keep buyers focused on your community with so much standing inventory. You need a way to grab attention, focus on what is unique about your product and give readers a reason to wait for the delivery to buy. While ideal for pre-construction projects, and momentum building for Grand Openings, it is important to note that in today’s marketplace this goal should be held by every builder-developer. Trust building, informative, engaging content and transparency are key to the success of any campaign.

Third Party Endorsements: Public Relations is an important tool. What is even better than Advertorials and PR articles in your local paper? Positive endorsements and informal “press” from peers of your target audience. To achieve this goal you have built key relationships with community influencers that are believers in your message and begin promoting your brand on their own via blogs, becoming a “fan” and Re-tweeting your message. This goal can sometimes be the most difficult to achieve, yet at the same time, the most compelling for your brand.

Improved Community Reputation Management: Competition is fierce. Perhaps your local neighborhood is saturated and you need an extra edge. You may have a common objection that you want to overcome or received some bad press that reflected negatively on your community. The goal is to positively influence the way potential and existing audiences perceive your brand. This involves creating SM profiles, listening to your target and monitoring/managing public forums and social channels.

Increased Community Brand Awareness: You know who your buyers are and want to get their attention and keep it. You need to be visible and stand out from the crowd. You want the local business community to act as a partner in your campaign. You are looking to Social Media to support your traditional advertising and rapidly generate word of mouth marketing and buzz. Perhaps you are experiencing a slow-down in traffic or sales. You may be releasing a final phase or at a 60% + absorption rate.

Increased Relevant Web Traffic: This is ideal for communities that have established a clear idea of their prospect(s) demographics. You want to grab attention quickly and drive it to your website. You may have a big event, Grand Opening, new phase or remodel expansion, incentive or campaign message that you are looking to convey. SM ads and relevant content via blogs/micro-blogs can quickly convey a new message and support your current e-blast campaign by adding exposure in real-time.

Increased Relevant Foot Traffic: The urgency of yesterday is gone. The majority of prospects visit multiple properties online or in-person before making a decision. The key is getting serious consumers to return to your community and getting them connected to the property and to your sales team. People buy from people they like, but now more than ever, they also need to feel like they are: 1.) Making an informed decision 2.) Getting value for their money
Your campaign goal is focused on delivering prospects a consistent message with the right mix of relevant community information, incentives to make the purchase and added content delivered with an element of personality from your onsite team.

Increased Sales: Isn’t this everyone’s end-goal? It should be. However, we are establishing a ranking of goals within your current campaign. You may be selling at a great pace right now, but want to supplement your marketing plan with SMO now, so that if you face a lull in the future, the social aspect of your relationships and community trust you’ve built can carry you to final absorption success. If increasing sales is your current primary goal, you will need to take a more aggressive approach in your campaign, which may mean an audit of online media, an increase in recommended channels and quantity of postings, a careful examination of your target audience and a recommended balance in your content formula.

Take some time and ask yourself how you would rank your goals.

Once we get a clear picture of our goals and objectives, we need to identify and utilize the appropriate channels with which to engage in an effective and compelling social media campaign. The tools available are numerous and the options may seem overwhelming, but identifying your goals and understanding your target audience will aid in the effective implementation of a successful social media campaign.

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

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Aug 09

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the state of the current market as it relates to qualified traffic and sales figures? Has lack of a sizable marketing budget left you feeling paralyzed? Let’s be honest, it is tough out there. Communities require maximum exposure in today’s market; so why are some owners, builders or proprietors still not embracing social media marketing as an integral part of their marketing strategies?

When we counsel builder/developers/marketing professionals and discuss adding social media optimization to their advertising mix, some aren’t convinced that social media sites, such as Blogs, Facebook, Twitter & YouTube, have anything to offer their new home developments in the way of qualified and potential buyers. There are those that have started the process, but find themselves unable to consistently manage their campaign. Others realize that it is a trend that is here to stay, but don’t know how or where to start. One proponent of social media marketing called it the “wave” of the future. Our take? It’s more of a Category 5 Hurricane.

Whether you outsource your social media efforts, or take the content creation and management in-house, take notice of the growing trend of social media and the informed audience who utilize, enjoy and embrace micro-blogging.

Social Media acts as both Public Relations and Marketing, while reaching 5 primary campaign targets:

Prospective Consumers
Current Homeowners/Residents or Loyal Patrons
Agents and Brokers
Community/Neighborhood Outreach
Media Professionals

Don’t be overwhelmed. 6 is here to help.
Step #1- Set your goals. Stay tuned for our discussion of setting realistic goals for your community in our next blog.

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

6 Degrees GroupNew Media for Real Estate Communities & Hospitality