10 Tips For Consistent Branding in Social Media Marketing
by Kimberly Mackey, MCSP, CMP, Realtor®
You have worked hard to build your brand and the identity that goes with it. In the past, using only traditional methods of marketing made it so much easier to carefully craft your image and the message you wanted to send to the outside world. But now, in this whole new world of social marketing the lines are often blurred. How do you really make sure that what you are putting out there is enhancing the brand you have worked so hard to build? How do you layer in all of the variables that come with the open platform of social media and yet keep your image consistent? There are no 100 percent-guaranteed rules to define exactly how to do this in cookie-cutter fashion; however, I have observed that if you incorporate the following 10 concepts into your social marketing strategy, you will be much happier with the integrity of your brand and return on investment (ROI).
(10) Define Your Target Audience
Although this one seems obvious, if you spend any time on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or blogs you will quickly realize that the vast majority of companies out there have no idea who their target audience is. So, are you trying to reach out to Realtors®? Current homeowners or customers? Or are you trying to reach out directly to new prospects? There is no right or wrong answer here and no requirement that it just be one audience. You can and should be able to reach multiple resources with an effective social marketing campaign. The difference is to know what types of information or content each of the targeted audience members will be interested in reading or seeing. Social marketing is not about pushing a message out there like a traditional advertising campaign and hoping that your target will respond to it. It is about providing interesting content that will cause your target to want to engage with you.
(9) Decide Who Will Deliver The Message?
Again there is no right or wrong answer here. It is much more important to know what the message will be than who delivers it. Even if you decide to outsource to someone to upkeep your social marketing, you should still have a very strong hand in crafting the message. Those that come from agencies tend to be pretty “vanilla” and really lack that personal touch. Some builders have assigned their marketing person to keep up with their sites as part of their normal duties. This plan can work really well if there is a very well thought out strategy in place and a team to support doing the research to find and write interesting material. And still others, particularly the local or regional builders have their principal or senior management staff carefully crafting the message. The person you choose should be someone you know will put a lot of effort into making your social marketing the best it can be, someone who clearly understands your brand and types of messages you want out there.
(8) Define Your Strategy and Set Realistic Goals
The second question I usually get regarding social marketing is how many sales have I gotten off of it. Is it really worth the effort? Or phrased another way, what is the return on investment. All of you analytical people out there are not going to like the response here. It depends. Here is what I can tell you: sales do happen every day as a direct result of social marketing. Like everything else in business though, they don’t just happen automatically. While the ultimate goal of engaging in any marketing activity is to increase sales, we know that some marketing is better at building brand awareness and public relations. A good campaign will produce all of the above, but it will take planning, implementation, trial and error, and most importantly effort. So while you should measure sales and try to determine their origins whenever possible, some more quantifiable measurements may need to be applied to your social marketing campaign. If you are trying to build your co-brokerage business, it would be important to reach out to Realtors® on sites like Active Rain, Facebook, Twitter and even LinkedIn. Measure your follower growth in that area. Measure the number of interactions or comments to your posts—are you getting any?—are they positive in nature? Then, how many of those interactions actually result in Realtors® bringing their clients in to view your models?
If your target audience is existing customers as a referral source, then a key metric would be to measure how many of your current customers are following you? How can you increase that number? Are you getting interactions regarding any of your posts? These are the ways you measure effectiveness at first, then if those measurements are on target you will start to see the referral prospect come in and if you have a well-trained sales force, you will see the conversions from those prospects.
I think one of the simplest reminders about any sort of networking is that people do business with people they know, like, trust, and remember. Social marketing is a great way to make sure that you stay top of mind.
(7) Understand the Media/Platform(s) You Are Using
To me, this is one of the most important things to consider. There are a lot of aggregators (systems that let you blast out to all social media outlets with one click) out there and it can really be tempting to use them to save time, but you really have to be careful or you will turn off your audience and you will start to see your followers drop off. On Facebook, for example, users have the ability to hide updates in their newsfeeds (the landing page after log in, with all recent updates from friends listed) from friends, groups, applications and pages. In this case, you might never even know if you have done something to offend. Each site has its own purpose and its own set of etiquette rules. Please make sure you understand those for each site you are utilizing, otherwise you may not be able to cultivate any brand awareness.
One example of improper social media use is when people or companies use Facebook like Twitter. What do I mean? On Twitter you can post up to around 30 times per day and no one would think twice about it. However, on Facebook if you post that many times, you are monopolizing the newsfeed on your fans’ personal profiles (those Facebook users who connect to your business via a fan page, which is a page that businesses can create to connect with individuals) and they won’t read it. In fact, they will have a very adverse reaction to it. Facebook updates should be limited to a few times per day at the very most. LinkedIn should probably only be updated a couple of times per week if you really want people to read what you have written.
On Twitter, you might include a whole host of articles regarding positive press about why now is the time to buy or perhaps the $8,000 tax credit and you can even use services like Socialoomph.com to plan tweets ahead of time and delay publishing so that they appear at different times of the day. Some of the best tweeters retweet their own articles at varying times because you get a different audience at different times through out the day.
Now, let’s say you want to use some of this same information on Facebook. Pick out only the one or two top articles you want to share. Space them out, so you don’t appear to be hogging the newsfeed of your fans. Again, target these articles specifically to your audience on each venue—don’t post the same exact thing on each platform. If you have more Realtor® followers on Twitter, use specific call to actions or link to your inventory page with several of your tweets. This can help establish or maintain branding messages of community or cooperation.
If you have more of a customer following on Facebook, you might post great home ownership-related items, such as the importance of caulking your windows once per year or new painting techniques that everyone can do—great reinforcement for any builders trying to brand themselves as experts in the field. Perhaps even feature a happy homeowner each month and have them tell the story in their own words about why they enjoy living where they do and how great their experience was with you. Such a posting is now an unsolicited testimonial that can strongly maintain a customer service brand message, for example. Hold fun contests via social media, but keep them simple. Support any articles you post on Facebook by also posting them on Twitter (not the other way around).
Blogging is also a fantastic way to interact with your target audience, and you can have different blog sites for different audiences. It is also a great place to state your brand messages strongly, as you have more space and control over what appears on the blog. You should certainly support your blog with your other social marketing efforts, but again be careful not to overexpose. Rather than posting all of your blog posts on your social media sites, just post the occasional one to draw your audience there and get them to subscribe. But do support your social marketing efforts on your blog. For instance, you get an amazing comment from a satisfied home owner on your Facebook fan page, copy it and post it on your blog and your website. Also make sure you tweet it and link back to your blog and website.
Perhaps you are a builder whose brand revolves around excellent model homes. You might focus on Youtube and Flickr more (because we know that a picture is worth a thousand words). These sites allow you to support your brand and drive additional traffic in ways never before seen, just because of the appeal of video. Even more powerful than written testimonials is the power of video testimonials. When people see people like themselves talking about a great experience, they are much more likely to both believe the message and act on the message than if it is only in written form.
Absolutely everything you post out there should have a link to your Web site. Currently, I am only using organic methods of search engine optimization (SEO) for my Web site, and I can clearly spot trends on the effectiveness of my social marketing campaigns and have now been doing this long enough that I can almost predict how many new prospective projects I will get based on watching the analytics for my web site and my blog. The main point here is that the messaging can remain consistent across all the sites, and even support and drive traffic to and from the different sites despite the fact that each site typically serves a different purpose.
There are services out there, where for a fee you can track the effectiveness of your social marketing campaigns. If you have the money in your budget you might want to consider these just for convenience sake; however, all of the tracking mechanisms they employ are generally available for free, but they take a lot of work to find and consolidate into a workable report.
(6) Interact
Using social marketing is the equivalent of going to a big networking event—only without the restraints of time and space. You can be at multiple events all at the same time; however, if you only go there and don’t talk to anyone, you aren’t going to get very much out of it. Even if you hire a service to manage your posts for you, it is still important that you go on and read what others are posting. Take the time to comment when appropriate. Comments to posts can be just as valuable as adding your own posts. There is potential to create or expand brand awareness without trying too hard.
For instance, commenting on a blog or group in LinkedIn can bring you a whole new audience to your sites that you wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise. While you should always avoid blatant self-promotion on these comments, it is perfectly acceptable and encouraged to sign your posts and include a link to your website, blog or other related. Get very involved with LinkedIn groups related to home building, sales and marketing to share ideas with other professionals. This is a great way to ask questions and brainstorm with your peers. Join groups for Realtors® so you can interact with them and stay top of mind whenever they have a client moving into one of your areas. Alumni associations are another example of groups you can join to cultivate buying referrals. Try to think broadly, rather than narrowly when deciding whether or not to join a group. You never know when that next connection is going to be the right connection for whatever you need.
Both Twitter and Facebook have their own mechanisms to allow you to interact effectively. On Twitter, you can retweet (RT) when you like someone else’s post. Retweeting is a huge compliment to the original poster and you will see an immediate spike in your followers by doing so on a regular basis. Facebook allows you to share your positive opinion on something quickly by simply clicking on a button when you like something that someone else has posted. Once you click on that button you get the option of sharing by posting to your profile or e-mailing it to your friends. I encourage you to post to your profile whenever it is appropriate. Of course, always give credit to the originator of the post. Both Facebook and Twitter allow you to put the “@” symbol in front of the poster’s name and it will automatically alert them and give them credit.
Of course also use your best party manners. Thank people for following you. Thank them for sharing your comments with others. And, do comment back when someone posts a comment on your blog or elsewhere. Remember this is about two-way conversation.
(5) Fix Some Problems in the Open
Many builders are nervous to open up two-way conversations because they have occasionally been burned by the upset customer who went on a rampage contacting the media, setting up bogus websites, etc. While you certainly can’t please all of the people all of the time, most of these problems could be avoided by open dialog. Even when dealing with an irrational person that no matter what you do, they are just not going to be happy. If the rest of your audience sees that you are making a good faith effort to go the extra mile. That alone will help to diffuse the situation and expose the irrationality of that person.
So, if someone posts something about a perceived warranty issue, don’t be afraid to permit that post to appear. Take the time to respond in a non-confrontational manner, outlining the efforts that were made to resolve the situation. If that occasionally means you fix a cracked tile 14 months after closing, fix the tile. The PR alone is well worth the few customers who might “take advantage.”
(4) Use Self Promotion Sparingly, But Do Use It
Going back to the networking event analogy, if you were to go to an event and only talk about how great your company is, you would probably find yourself alone before too long. The same holds true on social networking sites. Ninety percent of your content should be relevant, interesting articles and information that your target audience would enjoy. The other 10 percent can be promotion of an event or a sale, etc.
I am giving you this rule of thumb regarding the obvious promotional items. There is an art to working more subtle promotions into your posts depending on the site you are using. For instance, if you are on Facebook, and one of your Realtor® fans sells a home in one of your communities, you may want to congratulate that Realtor® and her clients on taking advantage of such a great opportunity in a beautiful community, etc. There are lots of things you can do along these lines to keep the content relevant and not appear boorish.
(3) Get ALL Your Associates Trained
Probably one of the most overlooked areas regarding brand consistency is not training your associates on the use of social marketing. Like it or not, many of your associates are already out there on social networking sites. Although they are generally using these sites for personal reasons, these associates are still a reflection of you and also a huge opportunity for you to reach a broader audience. However, without proper training and understanding of the impact and ramifications of actions on these sites your associates can quickly deteriorate your brand rather than support your brand—even though they may have the best of intentions.
As I go into companies to do this type of training, often times the management teams tell me that they only want to bring in a core group of individuals because they want to be able to better manage their social marketing efforts. Sadly, it is only after they have completed the training do they better understand the importance of training the whole team.
(2) Update Your Policy & Procedure Manual to Include a Social Networking Section
Once you have all of your associates trained on how they can help to support your brand and what not to do to deter the brand, it is important to follow this up by updating your policy & procedure manual with a code of conduct regarding social networking. Once you have this written, make sure that you have each associate to sign off on it that they thoroughly understand your policy and agree to abide by it. It is probably a good idea to have an expert help you to craft this policy so that as many pitfalls as possible are included and the language is clear and easy for your associates to understand your expectations.
(1) Make it FUN and Interesting
Lastly, social networking and marketing is and should be fun. Try to avoid controversial issues like politics and religion. Share good news about our industry wherever you find it. I think you will find that if you are out there looking for good things to share and helpful information, you will realize that this market isn’t as bad as the mainstream media makes it out to be and your own attitude will be uplifted in the process of uplifting the attitudes of your target audience.
Kimberly Mackey, MCSP, CMP, Realtor®, is the founder of Creative Sales Solutions, which provides sales and leadership training in all aspects of business development — including social media strategy and training — and sales and marketing management and training. For more information, visit the Creative Sales Solutions Web site at www.creativesalesnow.com, or visit Mackey at LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlymackey; Twitter, www.twitter.com/CreativeSales; and Facebook, www.facebook.com/CreativeSalesSolutions.
For more information about this item, please contact Tamsin Ayre at 800-368-5242 x8673 or via e-mail at tayre@nahb.com.
***Reprinted by permission of the Sales and Marketing Channel at the National Association of Homebuilders.
5 comments November 3, 2009
Happy Halloween!
In honor of Halloween, I thought you might enjoy these Jack-o-Dogs! Stay safe!
Add comment October 30, 2009
Coming Soon to an Association Near You
This is the Kick-off event. To find out how this program can benefit your HBA or other Group, please e-mail: glees@creativesalesnow.com
You can click anywhere on the flyer to register for this event.
Add comment September 19, 2009
Your Market Prospects Are Well Within Reach on Facebook
As seen in Nation’s Building News, September 7, 2009:
The latest in a series on social networking and marketing new homes.
It seems like you can’t even turn on the news these days without hearing about Facebook, and there is a very good reason for that.
Next to Google, Facebook is without a doubt the fastest growing Internet phenomenon we have seen.
Facebook says it has more than 250 million active users, 120 million or more who log on at least once a day. But before you think that Facebook only appeals to young people, let’s dispel one myth about social networking right now. It’s is not just for kids anymore.
According to two leading aggregates of social media statistics, IStrategy and Mashable.com, the 55-plus and 35-54 age groups — the two groups many, if not most, of us target — are the fastest growing segments of Facebook users, at almost 515% and 190%, respectively. And Facebook is not only growing in popularity, it’s bringing in results.
A few weeks ago, a Realtor® client of mine contacted me in search of a very specific type of home. She had already searched most of the home builders’ Web sites that I had recommended to her, but she couldn’t find exactly what her client wanted.
So, after her call, I posted a status update on my personal Facebook profile and, within 10 minutes, I had responses from four on-site agents who are part of my Facebook network letting me know what suitable homes they had in their inventories. The Realtor® made appointments with two of the agents and wrote a sale from one of them that very afternoon. Since then, the Realtor® and on-site agent collaborated on two more deals.
There’s one more wrinkle to this story. The on-site agent who made the sale was actually off the day I posted my inquiry for the Realtor®. His wife saw my Facebook post first.
So, Facebook works, and it’s rapidly changing the face of business today. It’s helping Realtors® and sales agents find prospects and close sales and Facebook is helping builders and remodelers improve customer service and business. It’s truly an opportunity for you to network on a while new level, but before you jump in with both feet there is a lot you need to know.
Getting Started ― Your Profile Is for Personal Use Only
Getting started on Facebook is as easy as going to Facebook.com and setting up a user profile. However, like any other networking site there are certain terms and conditions you must follow.
First, understand that Facebook was created to be a social network for personal use. But don’t let this dissuade you from including it in your viral marketing strategy. A ton of business is being conducted on Facebook. All you have to do is follow the rules.
User profiles must be legitimate, and they have to be for individuals, not companies. You cannot set up a “dummy profile.” If you get caught, and the odds are that you will because someone will report you, your profile will be revoked.
One of the biggest mistakes I see builders making is that they try to set up a profile under their builder name and then try to attract “friends.” You cannot do business on your profile page. If you are strictly posting your listings and information about your company on a profile page — your profile will get revoked. Not only that, you won’t gather many “friends.”
Facebook Is About Conversation
I like to think of Facebook as being like going to a cocktail party. If all you do there is talk about your business, how many people do you think actually will want to talk to you?
Facebook is truly about conversation, about providing valuable and entertaining information. It’s about making and keeping in touch with friends.
But don’t worry, Facebook does have a provision designed for business called a Fan Page. Once you have your personal profile set up, you can add a Fan Page. To create a Fan Page, go to facebook.com/pages/create.php. Many of my clients have created Fan Pages and have literally seen their fans or followers grow overnight.
After creating a base of at least 100 fans, Facebook allows you to set up a vanity URL or Web address that will be easier for you to advertise outside of Facebook.
When creating and building your Fan Page, remember that, even if your page is all about self promotion, if you don’t provide interesting content, you won’t get many fans, and many of those who are your fans will unsubscribe. So be sure that you are providing valuable information ― and having fun ― in addition to any company promotions that you want to share.
For instance, contests on Fan Pages provide home builders with a real opportunity to make fun and meaningful connections with prospects, current and former customers and Realtors®. Contests provide a golden opportunity to craft your brand, showcase your unique selling proposition and stay in the minds of your fans for when they are in the market for a new home or, more importantly, when they know someone who is in the market for a new home.
Fan Pages can also purchase advertising within Facebook. There are multiple options, but ads are highly targeted and are generally provided on a pay-per-click basis, so they are reasonably priced.
Facebook recently created a Face Page analytic tool called “Insights” that provides your fans’ demographics and the number of fans you are attracting as well as the number of interactions your posts are attracting. Insights is a free Facebook service. More comprehensive analytics services, including many that can analyze your entire viral networking campaign, can be purchased from outside vendors.
Facebook’s Challenges and Pitfalls
Facebook is free, which can certainly keep the hard dollar cost to get involved in this type of marketing low, but it is extremely expensive in other ways.
Facebook ― as well as other social networking sites ― requires time and man-hours to research, implement and sustain.
A major pitfall that can potentially do damage to you, your company, your brand and your image is to venture into social networking and create Facebook and other accounts without a viral marketing strategy that clearly defines your goals and the road map to achieve them as well as what paths to avoid.
It also is extremely important to communicate your plan to all your associates and staff members, that you solicit their buy-in and that you encourage and reward their participation and support.
While social media and viral marketing often create more questions than answers, especially for the uninitiated, they really can no longer be ignored and are too important not to pursue correctly, given current economic conditions and viral networking’s vast potential.
Kimberly Mackey, MCSP, CMP, Realtor®, is the founder of Creative Sales Solutions, which provides sales and leadership training in all aspects of business development — including social media strategy and training — and sales and marketing management and training. For more information, visit the Creative Sales Solutions Web site at www.creativesalesnow.com, or visit Mackey at LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlymackey; Twitter, www.twitter.com/CreativeSales; and Facebook, www.facebook.com/CreativeSalesSolutions.
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2 comments September 9, 2009
LinkedIn May Be the Network You Need to Grow Your Business
*As seen in Nation’s Building News, August 17, 2009
The latest in a series on social networking and marketing new homes.
With the cost of networking with other professionals through such traditional methods as printed materials and meetings an expense that is difficult to justify in today’s market, LinkedIn.com just may be the tool that can help you make the most of your professional networking and grow your business.
For instance, Jared Weggeland, of Southern Homes, based in Lakeland, Fla., used LinkedIn to “obtain referrals on potential new hire candidates” as well as “stay abreast of what’s really going on in the market.”
While other social networking sites are perhaps more truly social in nature, LinkedIn is more akin to attending a networking event hosted by your local HBA or to attending the International Builders’ Show — only much bigger.
According to LinkedIn.com, the professional networking site “is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries.” The site enables business professionals to “find, be introduced to and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.”
In less than two years, Ed Doss, new media director for NewHomesdirectory.com, was able to create a LinkedIn network of more than 1,200 new homes professionals nationwide. Since the network was created, he said, LinkedIn and some blogging have provided a huge boost for his company’s “brand dispersion and brand recognition.”
When you join LinkedIn, you begin by creating a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. Then you invite trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network then grows because it consists of your connections, your connections’ connections and the people they know, “linking you to a vast number of qualified professionals and experts,” according to LinkedIn.
This is clearly a very powerful tool that, in my opinion, is the easiest and most straight-forward of all the social networking options available — especially for those who might be a little reluctant to get involved in social networking. So, if you want a safe option to really learn what all of this is about, LinkedIn is the choice for you.
Let’s explore some of the basics and benefits to help you become more familiar and comfortable with the idea.
First, LinkedIn Basic is a free service. Although LinkedIn offers some premium services and various levels of membership, I have rarely experienced a need to utilize the services offered for a fee or subscription. You may find that you do have a need to upgrade, but I encourage you to fully utilize the free service before making any financial investment.
To Begin, Create a Profile
The first thing you do is go to LinkedIn.com and set up your user name and password. Use your name, not your company name. Women may want to include both their maiden and married names so they can attract more of their former friends and associates to their network.
LinkedIn has simple online tools and instruction to help you set up your profile, and the password-protected security to protect your site.
When creating your profile, remember LinkedIn is “all business, all the time,” so post your professional head-and-shoulders photograph on the site, not a cutesy photo. You will also be asked to create a “Professional Headline.” Don’t limit it or confuse it with your company’s name. Make it something descriptive that uses keywords to help identify you and what you do in professional searches. Mine reads: “Mgmt. Consultant, Trainer, Keynote Speaker, & Author at Creative Sales Solutions.”
Include Your Work and Education History
When creating your profile summary, use as much of your work and education background as you deem relevant. If you want to stay connected to former colleagues, I recommend that you use as much as possible so that anyone searching for you on Internet search engines like Google can find you.
I not only have my current company listed in my profile, I also list my local HBA and sales and marketing council so that anyone searching for fellow HBA and SMC members will also be able to find me.
To complete your summary, I recommend that you read the summaries of several other professionals that you admire to give you an idea of what information to include and how to write it. Keep in mind that your summary is not your resume. Your resume can be added as an attachment.
LinkedIn does a great job instructing you on how to complete your profile and in letting you know what important information might be missing. Having a fully complete profile will help you to make the most of your LinkedIn experience. It can and should continue to be a work in progress — so don’t just create it and post it. Take the time to continually update and improve it.
Solicit Recommendations — But Not From Everyone
When people are willing to recommend you, whether in person or online, your status increases. That’s why LinkedIn’s Recommendations are an important feature of your profile. It enables you to display recommendations from other industry professionals. There is some etiquette involved, however.
For instance, if you are connected to someone who has genuinely had a positive impact on your life or your business, don’t wait for them to request a recommendation from you. Pay itforward by writing a recommendation for them and sending it to their profile. Believe me, people appreciate it.
And if you know someone well enough to know that they will send you a recommendation, it is appropriate to request one. On the other hand, if you don’t know the person well, and haven’t genuinely earned a recommendation for something specific — don’t ask for one. One of the biggest faux pas on LinkedIn occurs when a person solicits recommendations from everyone they know.
To Post or Not to Post
If security is a major concern of yours, rest assured that LinkedIn does a very good job of enabling you to customize your security settings. But, one of the most common mistakes I see among new users is that they are overly cautious about what information they want to have blocked.
Bear in mind thaththe spirit and purpose of the site is networking and don’t worry if other LinkedIn users are able to see your connections and professional network. If members of your network don’t want to be seen, they probably won’t be on your site to begin with. And if the information is embarrassing or private, don’t post it in the first place — problem solved.
Another great option with LinkedIn is the ability to control your Public Profile — the information visible to those outside the LinkedIn network who conduct Internet searches. You determine what you want to include in your public profile and how much of your information you want to share with those outside of LinkedIn.
In addition, LinkedIn allows you to select what is commonly called a Vanity URL or Web address. It’s a more precise way of letting people find you during their Web searches — and much easier to remember than all the technical code in typical URLs.
Spread the Word by Inviting Others
Now that you have created your profile, you should try to connect to everyone you know because the point of the site is not only to connect with who you know, but to be connected to who they know. However, only invite people you know and who know you to join your LinkedIn network. This is important for a number of reasons.
First, LinkedIn strictly prohibit you from “spamming” other LinkedIn users.
Maybe even more importantly, if you send out invitations to people you don’t know well and don’t send a note explaining where you met them or why you want to connect with them, you could hinder some of your networking.
For instance, I frequently get LinkedIn invitations from people who I may know but who don’t include information to help me determine our connection. This compels me to reply with an awkward note asking that person to help me refresh my memory. It’s like being at a party faking your way through a conversation with someone who really seems to know you, but whom you can’t remember.
If you invite people to your profile site, remind them who you are and how they know you. Even if they do remember you, they will appreciate the effort.
Finally, if you are interested in connecting with someone you don’t know but would like to meet, LinkedIn enables you to request an introduction from one of you contacts.
The Importance of LinkedIn Groups
To take full advantage of LinkedIn’s networking capabilities, I believe you should take part in some of its more advanced features, like Groups. Many believe you should belong to at least 50 groups and even more sub-groups. I, personally, don’t think you should join groups just for the sake of joining. You should join groups where you have a common interest and can legitimately interact and provide value.
So to begin, I recommend that you add only a few groups and track the discussions and news posts so you can get a feel for the culture of that group. After that, take part by adding to the discussions and providing answers and feedback to posts.
One group that I would recommend joining is New Homes Professionals. The group offers some terrific interaction and shares plenty of information. Your HBA or SMC might have a group to join and you should join the National Association of Home Builders Group.
LinkedIn also provides plenty of groups and opportunities for home builders to connect with Realtors®. These groups generally have fewer restrictions on the kind of information that is posted. Realtors® have amazing referral networks that are worth linking to. You just never know when a Realtor® in one part of the country has a client who is moving to your area.
When participating in LinkedIn groups, think about the rules of etiquette you follow when attending a function in person and apply the same rules. Don’t post “in your face” business promotions. Instead, post positive articles about the industry, ask meaningful questions about what buyers prefer and answer questions that others post.
Social media is all about providing relevant, interesting information and taking part in meaningful discussions. This is how you create your added value and in the process build your brand. Of course, always provide a link to your Web site on everything you post, such as in your signature line, just be discreet when you do.
Make Your Participation a Team Effort
Also, to realize true value, develop a clearly defined team strategy — with clear policies and procedures for your team members — before you begin to participate in LinkedIn networking. After all, each team member knows different people and has different skills and interests. With your team participating, you broaden your networking.
LinkedIn is an excellent tool for recruiting new staff. Many of my clients who have used the Recruiting/Job Searching function have been thrilled with the caliber of the candidates their network was able to provide.
Before you begin, however, pay attention to the LinkedIn rules and regulations, especially the “Do’s and Don’ts” in its online “User Agreement” that most people don’t read. The rules enhance the quality of the network, and LinkedIn strictly enforces its policies.
If you aren’t using LinkedIn yet, I encourage you to join in. You really have nothing to loose and everything to gain. If you are worried about saying or doing the wrong thing — don’t worry.
I have found that if you really do think about any of these sites in terms of a traditional event or business party you might attend, and follow the same rules of etiquette, you will be just fine. Just like at a traditional party though, if you stand with your back against the wall and don’t participate in the conversation, you probably aren’t going to have a very good time — and will deprive yourself of the opportunity to network with some pretty amazing people.
For more information, visit the LinkedIn Learning Center at http://learn.linkedin.com.
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Kimberly Mackey, MCSP, CMP, Realtor®, is the founder of Creative Sales Solutions, which provides sales and leadership training in all aspects of business development — including social media strategy and training — and sales and marketing management and training. For more information, visit the Creative Sales Solutions Web site at www.creativesalesnow.com, or visit Mackey at LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlymackey; Twitter, www.twitter.com/CreativeSales; and Facebook, www.facebook.com/CreativeSalesSolutions.
1 comment August 28, 2009
How to Use Social Networking When Marketing New Homes
I am very excited to have been quoted for this article on Nation’s Building News. I hope you will read all the great information NBN has compiled for you here and look for the additional articles in the week’s to come.
The first in a series on social networking and marketing new homes.
Social media is quickly becoming a mainstay in modern marketing plans. It’s fast, it’s direct, it’s inexpensive and it’s catching on.
According to the “Social Media Marketing Industry Report” by Michael Stelzner, who writes and blogs about marketing and other business-related topics, 88% of marketers surveyed for the study use social media in their overall marketing strategies. And of those surveyed, 72% indicated they only started using social media in their marketing recently.
For new home builders who are considering joining this trend, social media is simply using Internet-based networking tools to engage with online communities in order to generate exposure and sales opportunities.
But what builders need to understand is that using social media when marketing new homes will not necessarily generate direct sales. Social media is a different marketing tool than a builder’s sales center and even his Web site.
Social media is versatile, offering builders opportunities ranging from finding interested and targeted prospects to generating public relations and providing immediate customer service. It’s all about building relationships and conversation, but it is not necessarily about closing the sale.
“Home builders are asking us if social media works,” says Dana Forrest, sales and marketing director at Simmons Homes in Tulsa, Okla. They want to know if a sale can be tracked to social media, she says.
“For us, this question seems a little short-sighted. We look at our social media and networking efforts as a way to build long-term relationships and powerful communities. We know this won’t result in immediate sales, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest our time and effort,” Forrest says. “We know a strong relationship is not built overnight.”
Since social media requires a different approach to new homes sales and marketing than what builders traditionally use, to give builders a better understanding of social media and its capabilities, Nation’s Building News will feature a series of articles about social media in upcoming issues.
The articles, written by social media experts who work in the building industry, will discuss several of the most popular social media sites — such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and blogs — and point out how they can be used effectively.
The series will culminate with case studies providing building industry examples of how these social media sites can be incorporated into an effective social media campaign.
To begin the series and familiarize builders with the most popular social media sites and tools, the following is a quick overview of the sites that will be discussed in the series:
Add comment August 11, 2009
10 Reasons Why You Won’t Do Content Marketing (and continue doing the same thing)
July 15, 2009 Original Article posted on Junta42blog. I thought you would appreciate seeing:
I had an amazing conversation this week with an agency that was trying to convince their client to invest in a content strategy and full content marketing program. Just to give you the quick take, the client’s goal was to reach certain consumer segments in the southeastern states. They had a budget of $2.5 million dollars for marketing spend for the campaign. The client’s VP of Marketing didn’t think anything could be done with a marketing budget that small. That client is thinking about the world we used to live in. The world of radio, television and placed media. It’s hard to believe, but most of the marketing world still live in this reality. Just think what kind of impact we could make with a $2 million dollar content marketing budget. Boy, hire a few expert journalists to crank out some amazing content and you still have almost $1.9 million dollars left. The conversation made me realize that, even though content marketing is certainly a legitimate and growing field today, there are still so many reasons why (we, you, I) don’t do it. Here are ten reasons. I think it’s helpful to know the reasons why we don’t do something, which then may help us pull the trigger. Now here’s a “Top 10″ you don’t want to be on. Top 10 Reasons Why You Won’t Do Content Marketing 1. Your company is set up to sell products or services, not to provide relevant and valuable information to customers and prospects. It takes a real mindset change to start thinking about your customers’ informational needs as part of your marketing strategy. 2. You have well-worn marketing paths that are easy to follow. Going off the beaten path into uncharted territory is intimidating. 3. You have strong relationships with media partners that may go back decades. It’s not easy to break those relationships by pursuing a brand-new content marketing strategy. 4. The reduced effectiveness of traditional marketing may have occurred so slowly that no alarm bells have gone off within your organization. You also may think things will come back at some point. 5. Many companies (possibly yours) aren’t measuring their marketing, so you may not even be sure what is and what is not effective. Hard to make any changes when you don’t know. 6. You lack both the right people and the right processes to implement a new kind of marketing. 7. You are reluctant to abandon traditional marketing tactics for what they may believe to be unproven content marketing or new media practices. 8. You lack content marketing role models from whom they can learn best practices. 9. You place very little value in marketing versus other aspects of the organization (operations, product development). Little do you know, that every part of the organization is affected by (or actually is) marketing. 10. Even though I’d hate to think this one is true, I’ve seen it first hand…You have some real idiots running marketing for your company that don’t have a clue about the needs of your customers or what to do about it. Before you can even look at content marketing, you have to ditch the idiots. And Bonus #11 – It’s hard. It’s more difficult to consistently create valuable and relevant content to our customers than place media. It’s easier to just place an ad. Listening, creating, co-creating, commenting, and actually having real customer conversations is harder. Higher payoff, but harder none-the-less. #12 (from Jonathan Kranz): You don’t know how to connect your knowledge/experience/expertise with the hopes, fears, desires and objectives of your target market. What did we miss? In order for a company to alter their mindset toward one of new media or content marketing, they need one of a few things to happen: * Business gets so bad that they start trying new things. * Voluntary or involuntary turnover creates new thinking in the organization. * A culture change in sparked in the organization, through an internal champion, external customer demands, or the merging of a new business culture through an actual merger or buyout. The opportunity to become the expert industry source for your customers is there, right now. How you take advantage of this opportunity is up to you.
For more on Junta42, click here:
http://blog.junta42.com/content_marketing_blog/2009/07/10-reasons-why-you-wont-do-content-marketing-and-continue-doing-the-same-thing.html
1 comment July 16, 2009
On and On It Goes, Where It Stops No One Knows
This morning I was presenting to a group of Realtors® and Homebuilder On-site Agents the Best Practices for using Facebook. One of my opening slides is this one:
Can you just imagine the stunned look for those who were completely new to Social Networking? When you look at it this way, how completely overwhelming are all these new terms?
Never fear though, by the end of it they all new what the difference in a Personal Profile vs a Fan Page was, how to Tag a Photo, Poke someone, or send them a gift!
When you are setting up your Viral Marketing Strategy, or just thinking that Facebook and other sites might help you build your business, don’t go it alone. Just like any other marketing campaign you need a strategy and a message.
What was your experience with learning all of this when you first started using Social Media?
Add comment July 15, 2009
