marketing to the masses with social media
DESCRIPTION
Originally presented to the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando by Greg Starr of Property Centric and Mike Whaling of 30 Lines on April 15, 2009.TRANSCRIPT
Marketing to the Masseswith Social Media
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>> Why bother?>> What apartment companies are doing>> What others are doing>> What you can do
“The power of the consumer’s voicehas never been stronger...It’s impacted consumer behaviorand how companies operate.”
>> David Daniels, VP & Research Director, Jupiter Research
The Internet is booming...
MyNewPlace estimates over 70%of apartment searches now begin online.
... Yet, your website is less important.
53% of online users consume contentoutside traditional corporate websites.
Internet searchers are impatient.
Less than 10% of searchers readbeyond the first three pages of results.
Social media impacts your reputation.
One-third of all Internet users post opinions.36% think more positively about a company that maintains a blog.
Social media?Web 2.0?
Kid stuff, right?
“Social media” is peoplehaving conversations online.
...But it’s about more than a conversation.
The best thing to happen to your organization.
>> It levels the playing field by giving you a voice.>> It gives you a direct connection to your customers.>> It gives your customers a direct connection to each other.
Those conversations are powered by...
• Social networks
• Blogs
• Online chat
• Podcasts
• RSS
• Microblogs
• Widgets
• Social bookmarks
• Message boards
• Photo sharing
• Video sharing
• Wikis
Where does it fit?>> Marketing>> Branding>> Customer service>> Resident retention>> Internal communications and training
Interactive local search
Residents can search for local info, community events or merchants by keyword
Merchant directory represents 95% of local searches
Integrates directly intoproperty’s resident portal
Mark-Taylor Results• Website traffic: 55K -140K searches per month
in Phoenix metro area
• Traffic rank: 518K to 145K in 6 weeks (Alexa.com)
• Organic ranking in search engines
• SEO expenditure savings: $4,500+ monthly
Vi
Goals• Reduce spending on paid listings.
• Build sense of community and exclusivity.
• Sell a lifestyle and experience.
Nobody cares aboutyour apartments.
Only using online classifieds
MySpace
Facebook profile
Facebook page
Resident social network
Community blog
Extend your reach.
Give ‘em somethingto talk about.
Fail fast.Try again.
flickr.com/photos/urbanelife
Ask for the review
Internal Resources
>> 2 employees spend 1 - 3 hours per day
>> 4 - 6 compensated resident bloggers
Results• Website traffic up over 65%.
• Blog traffic up over 4,300%.
• Participation in Urbane Lobby tripled.
Urbane Results• No paid advertising in past six months.
• Nearly 100% increase in lease conversion.
• Rents consistently higher per square foot than local competition.
• Brand awareness drives referrals and resident retention.
Another benefit...
Change the way you think about the entire customer experience.
Change the way you thinkabout customer service.
So what can you do?
“80% of success is showing up.”
NOT ANY MORE
Stop shouting.... Start listening.
Sites to try this week:>> Google Alerts>> Technorati>> TweetBeep>> Google Reader
Find your audience. Find ways to connect.
Find ways to complementyour current efforts.
Sites to try:>> Facebook Pages>> Twitter>> Ning>> WordPress >> Local blogs
...More sites to try:>> Apartment Ratings>> Yelp>> RentWiki>> Flickr >> Vimeo
How does it all fit together?
Look at the whole picture.>> Your brand is how people perceive you. What other say about you is more important than ever before. >> Like it or not, social media leads to conversations about your company. Participating helps you control the message.
A slow drip...
Marketing>> Increased traffic to website>> Better traffic to website>> Increased % of lease conversions
Branding>> Increased presence on search engines>> Responsive on ratings/reviews sites>> Increased % of lease conversions
Customer Service>> Higher ratings>> Increase in resident testimonials
Industry sites and resources:>> Multifamily Insiders>> Resident 2.0>> LinkedIn groups>> Twitter contacts
Multifamily influencers: (and their Twitter names)>> Eric Brown: @Eric_Urbane>> Lisa Trosien: @ltrosien>> CharityHisle: @CharityHisle>> Heather Blume: @artchickhb >> Brent Williams: @brentwilliams2>> Eric Wu: @RentWiki>> Resident 2.0: @resident20
Keep learning:>> Groundswell>> Cluetrain Manifesto>> Tribes>> SocialMediaToday.com >> MarketingProfs.com
Build your brand to new heights.
