Builder Social Blog

Online Marketing Presentation from PCBC 2010

Jun 9, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized

The world of marketing has changed forever, and homebuyers along with it. Traditional ad resources like newspapers, direct mail, radio and TV are dropping like flies, and all we hear about are the great new online marketing opportunities. As homebuilders and the industry continue to migrate to the Internet, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine which new tools might be most effective, and why. The below presentation from this years PCBC, shows innovative new tools in online marketing including user profiling, behavioral targeting, and contextual advertising. The keynote also covers social media, mobile applications, pay-per-click, search engine optimization and email marketing, and how all these pieces fit together into a cohesive online marketing strategy.

Please feel free to leave us any questions in the comments.

Homebuilders – Transferring Your Brand & Marketing Programs Online

View more presentations from Bailey Gardiner.

Comments (3)

Social Media Dont’s for Homebuilders

By mswanson

Jun 4, 2010 | Posted in Social Media Strategy

Social Media is a new and ever-changing tool and homebuilders are scrambling to learn the million and one different rules and strategies. No one company does it perfectly (although some may claim they do) and everyone learns at different rates. Because of this, I find myself pretty tolerant of blunders and of people who accidentally break one of the unwritten rules.

That being said, there are a few social media “dont’s” that I find especially irritating, and I would like to take this opportunity to put them out there. Let me know what you think I’ve missed.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Media Don’t #1 – Automatic direct messages on Twitter – You follow me, so I follow you back. Then a few hours later I receive a direct message from you saying, “Hi. thanks for the follow. Buy my house.” What this message really says is, “Hi, I couldn’t care less about you. I am only on Twitter to rack up followers and to get more people to buy my houses. I have very little interest in interacting with you.”

Yea, no thanks. If the whole point of Twitter is two way communication, why, oh why, would you choose to have your first interaction with me be from a Twitter robot? That does not bode well for our future Twitter relationship. I would much, MUCH prefer no response to my follow, than an automated one. And if you do want me to buy your house, then take the one minute it takes to write me a personal DM. That will go far to help build a relationship and gain my trust. Then, maybe, one day, I’ll consider checking out your homes.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Media Don’t #2 - Streaming your tweets into Facebook – I’m all about efficiency, and I understand the desire to want to simplify the process of updating all of your people about your newest properties or sales. However, I think this is a misguided shortcut. Facebook and Twitter are two extremely different mediums, and in order to be respected on either, it’s best to treat them that way. For most, your Facebook friends are the people you actually know - people you’ve grown up with, or went to college with, or work with now, or dated in high school, etc… Because of this, the majority of status updates are about what users are up to, what they are thinking, or just something random and irrelevant. This can still be advantageous to selling homes because Facebook allows you to strengthen ties with people you already know. This will make them much more likely to come to you when they are looking to buy a house because they consider you a friend.

Your Twitter followers on the other hand (again, generally speaking) don’t know you and most likely could care less about what you are doing. They are following you to talk with you, to learn from you, and to share ideas with you. They want suggestions, news about your communities, great articles, insights and conversation about homes, real estate, etc. It is therefore extremely challenging to write a single status update or tweet that speaks to both of these different audiences at once.

There is also the difference in expected frequency of the two sites. On Twitter, if you update 6 times a day, that is completely normal. On Facebook, if you update 6 times a day, you are “that guy.” Don’t be “that guy.”

Plus all those RT, #, @ etc look really silly when they come through a Facebook stream.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Media Don’t # 3 – Start a Twitter account and immediately begin following 500 people – This is an especially big no-no for companies. Most people will not follow you if you don’t have a picture, a history of tweets, a bio and a proportionate amount of followers to following. I’d recommend building out your profile and slowly beginning to tweet. When you are ready to start adding people, go for just a few a day and practice interacting with your new followers. It’s a slow process to grow followers at first and there are no legitimate shortcuts. Sure, if you follow a couple thousand people you may get 300 spam bots to follow you back, but I have to wonder how that’s going to help you sell houses moving forward.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Media Don’t # 4 – Ask to be my friend on Facebook if I’ve never met you. There are some people who use their Facebook for meeting people, but the vast majority don’t. In fact, I recently conducted a Twitter poll to see who of my Twitter followers accepts random friend requests on Facebook: 100 percent of them said no. And Facebook itself claims its number one focus is connecting people online who already know each other offline. There are so many other places to connect with people you don’t know (Twitter/Linkedin/email). There’s no need to try and bunch Facebook into that group.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Media Don’t # 5 – Un-follow and re-follow people on Twitter. So many companies follow hundreds of people at a time trying to boost their followers. Then, when 90 percent of those people don’t follow them back, they un-follow people to try and make their numbers look more proportional. Two days later I’ll get an email that X company is following me – again. There is nothing more annoying then when the same Twitter user keeps un-following and re-following you. If someone didn’t follow you back the first time, annoying and pestering them is not the way to go. If it is a case where you really think it’s someone who should be following you, (say an active real estate agent or a person looking to buy a home) send them an @reply and begin a conversation. You could also try re-assessing your content. Are you only streaming links to your website over and over again? Perhaps that is why people aren’t returning your follow. In short, there are all kind of options that don’t include pestering people.

In the end, we all use social media differently, but I think it’s important to know the ground rules. So, what do you think? Do these things bother you? Do any of you have any other social media pet peeves?

Comments (1)

5 Steps for Homebuilders in Social Media

By jon

Jun 3, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized

SOCIAL MEDIA-AN UNTAPPED RESOURCE FOR HOMEBUILDERS

How to reach new customers by developing your online community

Jonathan Bailey is CEO of Bailey Gardiner, an integrated marketing agency that specializes in digital solutions for homebuilders and others.

Did you know nearly nine out of 10 homebuyers begin their quest for a home online? Yet few homebuilders are engaging the space to reach customers. Banner ads and pay-per-click are no longer enough. Your online presence must be interactive, open, and build a two-way relationship with audiences. At a time when the housing industry is slowly climbing out of an economic abyss, it’s imperative developers commit to building this online community because, well, your customer is already there.

What scares me lately is the widespread belief among companies (and their agencies) that social media can be bought or constructed as a bolted-on initiative. Like an aftermarket roof rack or super funky license plate frame, it attaches to the car — but it looks ungainly and unnatural. You can’t fake authenticity, social media or otherwise.

So what can you do as a homebuilder to create your own social media program? Here are five steps to help you get started:

#1 Listen

Before embarking on any social media program, it’s crucial you know what’s being said about your brand — the good, the bad and the ugly. Then, you can strategize how to jump into the conversation. If there’s negative chatter, the last thing you want to do is begin a social media program oblivious to this fact or you’ll get slammed. In an ugly way. If the homes and communities you build are wearing halos right now, good to know too. Take advantage of the love.

Watch and listen how Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other tools behave and how your competitors (or other brands you admire) are using different platforms. You’ll learn a great deal about using these tools.

#2 Develop A Strategy

The biggest mistake I see companies make in social media is they dive into using tools before developing a strategy — and it shows. If you take one thing from this article, please let it be this: YOU MUST HAVE A STRATEGY. Like any other marketing program, social media requires strategic planning and direction to be successful. Define why you’re using social media. Is it for brand awareness and sales? Reputation management? Customer service? Thought leadership? Issues advocacy? Extension of PR? All of the above? You would never embark on these programs without a carefully crafted plan.

#3 Define Your Brand Voice

Now, who’s gonna drive this boat? Marketing? Sales? Happy customers? No wrong answers here, just more questions.

Since social media is all about authenticity, you need to create an honest bond between your marketing efforts and your customers. If customers are asking for things you currently don’t offer, then you know Product Development is best equipped to be that information source. Is your audience asking for information about locations, financing and prices? That’s a Cue sales and marketing.

#4 Build a Community

Once all this is figured out, THEN you can start building your communications platforms. Here are a few to consider:

* Blog – Easiest way to engage with existing and potential customers through regular updates and interesting news.

* Facebook – Great way to build an online fan base of engaged and excited participants.

* Twitter – Talk with people who are interested in your brand online and point them to your blog/website.

* YouTube – Powerful way to show your products in action through the second most popular search engine on the Web (behind Google).

* Flickr – Photo sharing can help you further engage with homebuyers.

* LinkedIn – May be helpful if you’re trying to build a business and sales network.

Different platforms engage with users in different ways. Your strategy should focus on how to repurpose your content for each platform.

#5 Interact With Fans

Remember, it’s a conversation, not a monologue. You must devise a strategy to interact with fans. Talk about your company, your mutual love of finding the right home, other shared interests, and even random stuff with no relationship to anything other than you think it’s cool and wanted to share it. This is what forms a relationship, and these are things your social media program should employ to build your fan base — and keep them coming back for more.

Comments (1)

The Top 10 Resources for Keeping Up with Social Media Trends

By jason

Jan 15, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized

Guest commentary by Caron Golden

Caron Golden is a freelance writer with clients in the homebuilding industry. She is passionate about social media training and helping businesses implement social media strategies. She can be reached at caron@goldenwriting.com, as well as on Facebook and Linkedin. You can follow her on Twitter @carondg.

Clearly you already know it’s a good idea to be reading up on what’s happening in social media. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading Builder Social Blog. And, yes, this is a great source for information specific to homebuilders. But, we’re not the sole source, nor should we be. Each of us who contributes no doubt subscribes to useful email newsletters or blogs or visit websites that offer the latest information about technology and techniques, trends and tips. And, we tend to share these tidbits via Twitter and Facebook.

Here are my must reads. And, I have to admit, they have no direct link to homebuilding. But, so many industries have done such a good job integrating social media into their business that it’s worth the investment of time to learn about what they’re doing and then apply it to our world. Sign up for their newsletters or feeds so you don’t have to go chasing around the web to keep up with them.

Mashable: The Social Media Guide. This website is filled with riches. You can learn about new iPhone apps and Facebook security measures, how to create a successful social media contest, and the latest and coolest tips for tweeting. And, you can get all this info delivered to your email box, thanks to their daily newsletter.
Ad Age Daily News. Most of the pieces fed by this newsletter into my mailbox are irrelevant to what I do, but I subscribe anyway because at least once a week there’s a gem that deserves my attention. In a recent issue, it was a piece called “The Official Social Media and Mobile Glossary of 2010.” You just never know what will click and it’s worth my time to skim the newsletter to see if that gem has surfaced.
SmartBrief on Social Media. SmartBrief.com covers a number of industries and topics. Social Media is one of them. The editors scour the web to find stories that reflect the best practices of an industry, in this case social media. In a recent issue, there was a piece on how Starbucks brews social-media success, how Web consumers become offline brand advocates, and getting started with your social strategy. These digests come daily and are sourced from publications like Inc. socialmediaexaminer.com, eMarketer, and TheNextWeb.com.
Convince and Convert Blog. (Full disclosure: Jay Baer is co-developer, and a frequent contributor to this blog, but that shouldn’t stop his wealth of content and insight from being recognized, right?) Jay Baer’s brilliant blog is smart, often funny, and always relevant. Baer is a social media consultant, coach, and speaker. Sometimes his blog posts hit on a salient topic, like how humble companies who make mistakes end up being lauded for their honesty, or he’ll post a transcript of a Twitter interview with a prominent social media practitioner, like Trey Pennington. Whatever he does, you’ll end up learning something.
ProBlogger Blog Tips. Does your company have a blog or want to launch one? While blogger Darren Rowse tends to focus on individuals looking to monetize a blog, his tips, strategies, and insights are powerful and worth absorbing. He addresses both the broad and the mundane—how to develop compelling topics that will draw in readers and literally how to find the time to write consistently and frequently. Dig in.
The eMarketer Daily. eMarketer pulls together articles and blog posts that give you a perspective on the latest trends around social media, marketing, online sales, and related issues. You get metrics and forecasts about social spending growth, what age segment is fueling Facebook, smart device use. Learn the trends so you can get to know what might work as you reach out to your homebuyers.
Social Media Today. This is a very interesting site that functions as a community of social media bloggers. You can register and participate or you can just read the flow of blog posts that have come in and been approved by the moderators. You’ll learn about CRM, the hierarchy of tweets, the evolution of mobile marketing. You name it, someone here is writing about it.
WebWorkerDaily. As they like to say, WebWorkerDaily offers practical tips and advice for people who use the Internet for work. Currently, they’re featuring pieces on ways to use Facebook for business, how to make the most of your social media time (you know you’re worried about that one), how to deal with comment trolls on your blog, and branding opportunities.
Social Media Examiner. It’s a jungle out there and this site brags that it’s our guide through it, helping businesses discover how best to use social media tools to find leads, increase sales, and generate more brand awareness. There are video interviews with the likes of Steve Rubel of Edelman Digital, social media maven Chris Brogan, and Ford’s Scott Money; case studies featuring Souplantation, Avaya, and Domino’s Pizza, plus all sorts of “how-tos.”
Chris Brogan. Social media consultant Chris Brogan is one of the biggest names in social media. He is president of New Marketing Labs and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Trust Agents. I get his newsletter and, of course, follow him on Twitter. But I like to check in regularly with his blog. I’ve learned about using outposts in social media, geopocketing, and Google Wave (Don’t know what the heck I’m talking about? Well, you’ll have to go to his site to find out.). Great insights and ideas—and they’re all practical and applicable.