The Top 10 Resources for Keeping Up with Social Media Trends
Jan/100
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.
The Age of Mobile Video
Jan/100
Guest commentary by Jason Amunwa
Cellphones today are a far cry from the chunky brick-like handsets we used to lug around back in the 90’s. Somewhat ironically, the smaller they get, the greater their feature sets seem to grow. Many of these features are somewhat inane (remember Sprint’s completely un-annoying Push-to-Talk phones?), however it seems we’ve reached the tipping point at which things are getting very interesting. I talk specifically about mobile video.
UStream and Qik are putting mobile video in the hands of consumers
UStream.tv and Qik (pronounced “quick”) have both caught my attention as heralds of a new age of video-on-the-go. Both are free services that allow you to capture video via your smartphone camera, and broadcast it live to the internet for the consumption of the masses.
Not only can you capture and share your every waking moment with a single button press, but you can invite your viewers to comment on what they see via real-time text chat, that shows up right on your phone’s screen, as you’re broadcasting. And to think that Justin, (of Justin.tv fame), required all kinds of headgear for the same effect, just 2 years ago…
The possibilities of these services are, to me, endless, and homebuilders especially should take notice: time to forget all the excuses you’ve been making about not being able to provide video walkthroughs of your homes – you can now do it for free, using nothing more than the phone in your sales agent’s pocket. This is absolutely perfect for those of you who work with out-of-state clients, that can’t make it to a tour in person, yet need to get a sense of the home from the inside, before becoming a serious prospect, or for when an agent’s and customer’s schedules can’t quite line up.
The only thing I think is missing is the ability to have these videos broadcast to viewers’ smartphones – at which point, we’re truly at the beginning of the golden age of mobile video, and the whole idea of Citizen Journalism will just have gone to the next level.
Balancing The Personal and Professional in Social Media
Jan/100
Does social media make you more comfortable, or less comfortable? For me, it’s both.
As my friend Amber Naslund said when I interviewed her on Twitter, social media enables her to have friends that are not dictated by geography or circumstance. And to me, the ability to find people with whom you have a kinship, regardless of where they live is an extraordinary opportunity.
They say it takes a village to raise a child (or an adult), and the relationships I’ve developed via the social Web are incalculably helpful to me personally and in business. Some of those relationships transcend the Web, as I’ve been fortunate enough to put names to avatars with many of the people I’ve come to know and respect online.
My online community cares about me, supports me, and laughs at my jokes. And that’s a comfort. (and I’m thankful for you every day)
But none of that works until or unless you’re ready to get out of your comfort zone online.
You vs. The Real You
The question I’m most often asked when working with corporations and business owners on social media strategy is “how do I balance my personal and professional life online?”
“Surely, no one wants to know what I’m doing on the weekend.”
Actually, they do. They really do. You’ve probably heard the saying that people don’t hire companies, they hire people. It’s why “chemistry” with the client is so critical in professional services firms. Why would you not want to pre-establish chemistry and commonality with your prospective friends and clients online?
The fact is, your personal and professional lives are colliding and blending like a 99 cent frozen margarita on Cinco de Mayo – and that trend will march onward, not backward.
Social media is rooted culturally in showing your real, whole self. Pondering whether someone wants to read a tweet about your Sunday camping trip is no different than wondering why someone cares what you think about a hotel in Akron, via your TripAdvisor review. But somehow (especially on Twitter) incredibly smart businesspeople clam up like Mob bosses pledging fealty to Omerta.
The fundamental truth is that your personal life is almost undoubtedly more interesting than your business life. Period. And, associating some sort of noteworthy character trait to your personal brand makes you more memorable in social media. The fact that you run a PR firm? Meh. The fact that run a PR firm, but also grow prize-winning roses? I’ll remember that.
Show Me Something
Now, there’s of course a difference between personal and banal. The stock criticism of Twitter being filled with updates on what you had for lunch is overblown, but the underlying principle is not. When tweeting or blogging or status updating about your personal life, it should be something that actually reveals a dimension of your life, or character, or belief system.
“I ate at Subway today” is not valid. “Went to Subway today. Had the veggie sub. On day 23 of vegetarian conversion” is valid.
In a socially connected world, where countless opinions and options are just a finger swipe on a mobile device away, differentiation is harder than ever. You have to build some hooks for yourself than transcend the office. That’s why I make it a point to emphasize that I live in a forest. And review restaurants. And have a bottle opener as a business card.
Your personal life? Your professional life? One and the same. I know that’s often uncomfortable. But it’s the truth.
What’s interesting about you outside the office?
(photo by popofatticus)
iPhone Apps for Real Estate
Dec/092
Some experts in real estate marketing are really starting to take advantage of mobile networks, and particularly iPhone applications. Think about it – this makes perfect sense in the real estate industry since we already know 89% of potential homebuyers seek digital information as their first resource. And what method of information delivery do we keep with us pretty much 24/7? Yep, our phones – except they really aren’t just mobile telephones anymore, they are smartphones capable of providing an array of information instantaneously.
No wonder smart marketers are discovering the benefits of mobile marketing, and specifically iPhone apps. With more than 2 BILLION applications offered through Apple’s AppStore, you can download an app for anything these days – even real estate listings. Plus the barrier for entry is becoming much lower. App programmers are proliferating, and the cost for building an app has decreased substantially. Because information has become ubiquitous, it is now possible to partner with other information providers (like Google Maps for example), and link content from those resources into your application.
The results are impressive – there are some very robust and useful offerings out there now. Let’s look at a few examples:
The Corcoran Real Estate Group’s app is very easy to use and gets high marks for visual design, and it matches up with their website graphics and functionality very nicely.
The Homes.com app is pretty simplistic, and like the website, allows limited access to real time information and visuals of the homes themselves. They do promote it nicely on the homepage of their website though.
The Shea Homes Southern California app is one of the few homebuilder applications I thought was doing it well. Much like their website, Shea is allowing buyers to find them easily, supplying information quickly like prices, locations and directions. Design is just so-so.
And my personal favorite:
Better Homes & Gardens Realty does it right. They give a buyer all the details he needs to make a purchase decision, including listing statistics, neighborhood information, great photos and even design and decorating suggestions with color palettes and more. Really nicely done and a lesson for homebuilders in what is possible.
Does anyone have any great homebuilder examples to share? We’d all appreciate learning from best practices out there.
Commenting on competitors’ content: Bad form or fair play?
Nov/090
Is it ok to comment on a competitor’s blog or content? You can be forgiven if even passing mention of such a crazy idea makes your skin crawl. For many marketers, the concept is akin to being forced to sit in the middle of Fenway Park during a tied-up World Series, wearing a Yankees jersey. But seriously, is it ok? We talk a lot about the world of social media being fueled by transparency and dialog, but should that conversation extend beyond the exclusive company-to-customer relationships that we’re all so feverishly trying to build?
To be clear, direct references to the competition in marketing are nothing new. Verizon’s “iDon’t” campaign is just the latest in a long line of high-profile rivalries. But when it comes to marketers engaging with their competitors (or competitors’ customers) via social media, public or fully-disclosed examples can be hard to come by – although there are doubtless tons of anonymous postings and comments out there.
Don't be one of these guys
I would venture that whether or not you should submit that comment/forum post/Twitter DM/whatever all depends on what you’re saying. Making anonymous, disparaging comments about competitors (possibly in an effort to drive their share prices down, prior to buying them, for extra negative karma points)? Bad. Nobody likes a troll, and acting like one while representing your company just damages your brand in the eyes of the customers you were trying to woo away from your rival (or at least attracts weirdos who enjoy that sort of thing). Contributing valid and valuable information to a discussion hosted or started by a competitor? Good, so long as the customers viewing it get something out of it. Even if they possess a deep-seated loyalty to your competitor, you’ve just popped up on their radar as a credible alternative source of information – and that’s where it all starts, right?
Remember that commenting goes both ways - expect a response from your competitors, and engage them in a positive dialog.
I think this line of questioning is especially valid for a space such as home building, where the entire industry is collectively dipping its toe in the social media waters. When done correctly, cross-competitor engagement helps create a more informed consumer, which benefits the overall industry. Remember, though, that it goes both ways: you’ll need to resist the urge to shoo your competitors off your front lawn, if you see them contributing valid comments. Instead, engage them! Show your customers that you’re not afraid to debate your merits openly and in a constructive way.
What do you think? Is commenting on competitors’ blogs or content stepping over the line, or is it a valid way of engaging with customers? Let us know in the comments!
Online Homebuilder Marketing at the Big Builder Virtual Conference
Nov/095
Big Builder Online began hosting its Big Builder Virtual Conference for homebuilders today, and I had the honor of presenting a session on social media and online homebuilder marketing.
Through an innovative new delivery channel, Big Builder has taken what was formerly a traditional conference that required attendance in person and changed it into an online conference that attendees can access at any time. This is a great example of new media marketing at its finest, and what better place for me to talk about online marketing than at an online conference?
In case you missed it, here it is for your viewing and listening pleasure:
Your Customers Don’t Want to Be Your Friend
Nov/091
If you’re Apple, Nike, or anything made with bacon, stop reading now.
If not, read on and recognize that your customers are probably not desperately trying to connect with your brand in social media.
As marketers, we’re trained to “see” brands and how they compete for our attention. Like a gold digger with a nose for AMEX, we’re disproportionately aware of opportunities and circumstances that could be used to create a communications advantage.
Your customers are not. They aren’t marketers, and typically they don’t spend time thinking about how they can advocate on behalf of your company.
Single, Non-Smoking Company Seeks Companion for Laughs, Maybe More
Your customers don’t innately want to follow your company or Twitter or friend you on Facebook, or read your blog, or watch your videos. There’s mountains of great content online unencumbered by a corporate dynamic. Thus, embracing your company and it’s content is not a high priority.
Your job as a modern marketer then is not to “target” or “communicate” or even “persuade.” Your job is to create rationales.
Answer the Question of Why?
Why would a customer want to connect with your company online? What’s the benefit? How does doing so provide value, or helpfulness, or enjoyment? You must make the case to the customer that by NOT connecting with you, they are missing out on something of value. And you have to deliver on that promise.
Socially-enabled marketing finally fulfills the promise that the Web itself once trumpeted. It truly is the great equalizer. Succeeding in social media isn’t about company size, or company type, or company history, or resources, or geography.
But it is about rationale. The companies that can create a compelling reason for their customers to connect will succeed on the social Web. And those that don’t put the necessary emphasis on helpfulness and relevancy will fail.
If Your Mom Isn’t Stoked, Your Customers Certainly Won’t Be
Do this. The next time you have some sort of social media idea – a lure or a hook that you believe will get your customers excited and friending you like mad on Facebook, take a step back. Call your Mom (or anyone else that believes in you disproportionately). Ask her to rate on a scale of 1-10 how excited your whiz bang idea makes her. If it’s less than 8, try again. You’ve failed the rationale test.
I’m still working through this idea of clearly demonstrating to customers WHY connecting with your brand is important. What do you think?
Cool New Mapping Tool for Twitter
Nov/093
A T
witter friend at Vantage Pointe condominiums in San Diego (@VantagePointeSD) just let me know about a great new tool for mapping via Twitter called Schmaps.
Schmaps is basically a mapping service that automatically matches your intended location with a quick and easy link attached to your tweet. Instead of having to look up and address and directions on Google Maps and then attach it to your tweet with a shortened link so it fits into your 140 character limit, you can schmap it with a couple of quick clicks.
This is a great tool for homebuilders interested in showing prospective buyers how easy it is to find their homes, or event to focus on a Home of the Week special with the driving directions included. From the information on the Schmaps website, it looks like quite a few realtors are using the site for open houses as they tweet hot homes for sale.
Pretty cool new tool…
Evaluating Online Marketing Predictions of 2009
Oct/091
Guest commentary by Jason Amunwa
The following is taken from a new post I contributed to Bailey Gardiner’s blog, Don’t Drink the Kool Aid as a kind of scorecard of some 2009 online marketing predictions. Although it has a bit of a broader focus, I felt that a few of these predictions were especially meaningful for homebuilders too. Enjoy!
1. “Social Media Advertising Will Come of Age” – eMarketer
A spot-on prediction, eMarketer! With the explosive growth of Twitter, Facebook, etc. making major headlines, advertisers were bound to take notice. Example: Facebook is on track to surpass a 70% increase in ad revenue over 2008. Why this is important for homebuilders: You must get into the conversation! By not participating, you allow the consumer to shape their perceptions of your brand, and really: how many people do you really like who continually ignore you? Anecdotally, it seems like the message is getting through – I’ve never sat in so many meetings with so many different clients, where people are openly discussing advertising opportunities in social media – it makes my heart sing with joy!
2. “Exclusivity trumps accessibility. Having thousands of friends becomes ’so 2008′ and defriending becomes the hot new trend, driven by overwhelming rivers of newsfeeds.” – Charlene Li, of Altimeter group
Nice one, Charlene! Some of you may ask how this predicted trend relates to online marketing? Well, it seems Burger King was listening when Charlene dropped this gem, and responded with their infamous “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign. Facebook is unamused. Why this is important for homebuilders: Measuring success by the number of fans or followers you have is a false metric – ultimately, the quality and level of engagement of your network will determine the benefits you reap from participating in social media.
3. “Mobile search will increase massively.” – Mark Johnson, Latitude
A tip of the hat to Mark Johnson at Latitude. While mobile search may not be on the tips of tongues right now, consider the reflex action that occurs whenever you ask an iPhone owner a question they can’t answer – “One sec, let me check Wikipedia”. With smartphones becoming increasingly common, can mobile search’s time in the spotlight be too far behind? Why this is important for homebuilders: Homeshoppers may overwhelmingly do their research online before heading out to look at models, but mobile search will give you a crucial opportunity to get into their consideration set, if you aren’t included when they step out the front door.
What do you think? Did you make any marketing predictions that either came true or failed to materialize in 2009 (c’mon, be honest)? Let us know in the comments!
Two Sides to Every Tweet
Oct/094
Guest commentary by Sarah Yaussi
Sarah Yaussi is a business journalist and editor of Big Builder magazine. Prior to joining Big Builder in early 2005, she worked for both The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y., and the BBC in London.
I had a colleague in the industry contact me with a really good question about Twitter. He wrote:
“We have been following your commentary on social media, which we find fascinating, but we’re not quite sure how to apply it to us. We have one very specific question for you: Do you think we should ‘tweet’ using our company name or as individuals? We’re still not convinced that our clients or potential clients are following Twitter yet, but we are convinced that people that could refer us to our potential clients are tweeting, so we think we need to participate.”
I think this is one of the biggest, most polarizing questions about social media out there. I don’t know if I have the right answer—I guess only time will tell—but here’s my take on it.
It seems as though most people passionate about social media, and more specifically Twitter, suggest that you need a “face” to be able to leverage Twitter correctly. While I think that argument makes a lot of sense—people do like to connect with people versus inanimate objects—I don’t know that I totally agree.
Back when Big Builder magazine had more staff, we had several people tweeting on the magazine’s behalf. The way we worked it out was that we each had our own personal Twitter profile and then we rotated on who controlled the Big Builder one. The end result is we had both a corporate brand and a personal touch to our tweets. It worked well—for awhile.
Well, like many of our readers, we are doing more with less these days. Now, we just don’t have enough people, so I’m the only person able to tweet as Big Builder. I’ve pretty much let my personal alias fall by the wayside. And quite frankly, I don’t know that that decision has hindered us in any sort of way. We’re still finding that we’re gaining followers, our information is being retweeted, and people are reaching out to us via direct messaging. I guess it’s not really all that surprising that we’ve seen zero change. I personally feel like Builder X in X market that I’ve never met is totally more likely to look for Big Builder than Sarah Yaussi. So, it works for us.
However, I say that with the caveat that I think it depends on a company brand. For example, it occurs to me that maybe someone like John Burns might benefit more from having his name/picture as a twitter alias rather than the John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC) logo.
I’ve also seen companies–I think either Wells Fargo or Citibank is who I’m thinking of—do something where they have a brand and they say, “This is Justin tweeting for X company. How can I help?” I think at first blush this may seem like the best solution—a compromise of sorts. This one person clearly doesn’t represent the whole of a national brand, but yet there’s a named person to whom people can connect. However, I don’t think that solution is entirely compelling either. It sort of reminds me of the virtual version of someone from some environmental organization trying to convince you to take a 10-minute survey as you’re just trying to grab lunch in the 15 minutes before your next meeting; they usually start by saying something like, “Hi, my name is Mary. Do you have a few minutes for the environment?”
Are you really going to stop? Not me.
So, my gut answer to this very good question is that using the company name as a Twitter alias is fine—particularly when the company is smaller and more compact in terms of not having divisions or franchises in multiple markets. But then again, maybe when you are big with a national footprint, the way to do it is how Lennar does it. They’ve got their corporate Twitter handle and then under the bio it says something like “Jane Doe, title, tweeting for Lennar.” And then the separate divisions have their own Twitter aliases as well.
But I guess really what I’m saying is that any way you want to create your Twitter profile, it’s the bio that’s the key. So many people never fill that out, and really it’s how you add credibility, at least in my mind.