Hi all
Rarely do I do two posts in a day but I could not pass this one up.
I think it goes without saying that the proliferation of platforms that draw us more and more near the people that we want to touch in some way is just crazy. And, that trend is forever taken to new heights this time of year when the famed SXSW technology and music conference in Austin, Texas kicks off. This is the conference where tech and musician startups jockey their way to internet and main stage stardom. Remaining on the tech side of things, it was in ’07 – that Twitter was the darling of the event. And, in ’09 it was Foursquare that stole the show.
Over the weekend, I caught a piece written by Robert Scoble about two companies that, by his early estimations, are the show stoppers for ’12. glancee and highlight are two to watch. The detailed piece on the two companies is over at TNW.
Apartment Marketing
A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece on the future of apartment interest graph marketing where I talked about IGs becoming the route to deep and meaningful relationships that lead to more fruitful business.
glancee and highlight speak to right to that vision. Scoble describes the two services like this;
So why will these two apps be so hot at SXSW? Well, when you’re walking down Sixth Street in Austin, new names will pop up on Highlight. You can see their titles. Their hometown. Their interests, er, Facebook likes, and how many they have in common with you. Where they are. Which friends you have in common on Facebook. Then you can message them with something like “I noticed you like the Next Web, I’d like to meet you, can we do that?” I’ve done this dozens of times walking around San Francisco and it hasn’t failed yet to get a meeting.
Apartment Marketing Gone Creepy
I will admit there is a creepy factor at play here. There is something innately weird about these kinds of services. And, in the same respect, maybe not. We do sign up to participate, right? We throw creepy out the door by opting in. That said, it might turn out to be a very cool way to speak to people who have similar interest to you and more important – your community.
It makes finding that community personality that I mention in the interest graph piece even more important.
I mean, can you imagine strolling in front of a downtown apartment community only to have our team give you a shout out as it relates to your love the Saint Louis Rams? (The community in the link above sits right in front of the Edwards Jones Dome where the Rams play) I know, I know – it’s hard to believe anyone would care about the Rams. But, if you did and we were able to strike up a conversation that ultimately lands you in our office then we both win. If the creation of that bond is crazy compelling – it will be shared.
So much flying through my mind on this one – would love to hear your thoughts if you get a minute today. Hit me up in the comments.
The world of marketing is shifting once again and Interest Graphs are – well – interesting.
Your always interested in the interesting multifamily maniac,
M
pic credit to TNW.com
0 Responses
I completely agree with the overall idea of the apartment company connecting with the community, and this latest crop of apps hitting the Web presents some really interesting opportunities. But here’s my question: a lot of these apps, such as Highlight, are built on the Facebook platform … does this mean we need to invest more in allowing our marketing teams to personally identify themselves as great community resources?
While an app like Instagram translates well for brands, apps like Path and Highlight have a very personal focus. It doesn’t make sense to see which “brands” are close to me (except maybe when I’m at a mall), but it might be cool to know that I’m eating at the same deli as my property’s concierge or property manager, especially if I know that person has some personality. Make sense?
What do you think?
Mike
Thanks for taking the time to add some thought here.
I think the simple answer to your question is – yes. In that same respect, the really good marketers and on-site teams are already doing this offline. It’s just important for organizations to finally allow that conversation to move online for the masses to see and participate in. I see the investment as critical. Doesn’t mean your business will die if you don’t do it. It just makes you a little less relevant in a connected world.
I agree with your second paragraph – I see it from the other direction however. It may be a bit quixotic and borderline creepy but what if you had a TV monitor set up in your leasing office that streamed a really cool social media dashboard that included Path, highlight, glancee, a twitter (think: stock price stream) stream across the top, foresquare, etcc. And, imagine an pop-up that clues you into twenty people within a block of your location. (I am thinking The Laurel in downtown STL) And, because you can see the things that those people are interested in (say: a movie that is showing across the street). What if you ran over and paid the tab for those twenty people. And, toss in some popcorn and a soda. Boom. Done. The interests are endless and the actions we can take in alignment with them are endless. The point is now we can tailor our message to the most detailed level in real time and unscripted. It’s a WOM igniter waiting to happen….
Hope your day rocks!
I like the Glancee look and fee better than Highlight. Events and conferences are a great place to introduce this type of app to our industry.
There may be some “creep” factor, it was also like that when businesses started replying to tweets that mention their name. People adapt. If used properly, this could be very interesting to watch.
There is potential here – good article Mike!
Charity
I really appreciate you taking the time to add some thought. It means alot given your hectic schedule.
I agree – these apps will rock as a “brainstorming the use of” topic. And, I love the word adapt. It’s in my top five words for 2012.
Hope your week is a fruitful one.
Take care and I hope to see you around these parts more often.
M
Tying in with Mike Whaling, it could be great for businesses in that if a future customer/prospect visits a place or drives by a place, they could potentially see what types of people live/hang out there and decide if those are people relate to them, have similar interests, etc, and that could determine whether or not they choose to live/visit that business. And if there was a way to tie that into our businesses’ websites, it would be a gold mine. Aside from the creepy factor, which I think is going to be the hard part in this reaching Facebook status, this is an insanely cool idea!
J
Great to see you adding to the discussion – I really appreciate it.
It’s funny I was thinking about these apps in the total opposite sense. But your summation is equally if not even more powerful. It really screams to the idea that our communities and businesses are large need to be on point with their respective messages. That is they are speaking to the community that they want to attract. As you suggest, now we can see in an instant if we want to stay and play or cut and run.
I am exited by the way applications and thus market intelligence gathering are evolving – it’s a very fun time to be in the marketing space.
M