6 Degrees GroupNew Media for Real Estate Communities & Hospitality

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?

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