apartment interest graph marketing
More Outlets Does Not Equal a Better Story…
…People do.
This is a simple unscientific case for passionate apartment marketing (professional or otherwise) content producers [Read: conduits]…
I picked the following quote off of a blog some time ago and pasted it into a file for future posting. Now, after a few search engine attempts, I can’t find the author of it so if it’s yours – please claim it and I will give you the due credit.
There seems to be a curious thing happening – the more outlets for stories we get… the less and less we’re hiring writers, content strategists, editors, designers. It’s like the second spawning of “reality programming”- no need for writers … it’s real life.
It’s a very interesting dilemma that we find ourselves facing in the apartment marketing space; do we go it alone in an amateur more reality based way or do we go pro? It’s not a simple answer but a necessary question to consider. And, the reasons run concurrent with trends in the way we influence, are influenced, how we consume and how we distribute information as a society.
The Niche is Coming Into its Own
With the absolute proliferation of platforms that host and syndicate blog content along with the opportunities to narrow our focus by creating lists and circles on the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and the king of the them all Facebook, we all have a niche to serve in some way.
Niches are not a new concept but they themselves are new to the likes of being served information in a passionate and pointed way. And, in mass from marketers, friends and acquaintances. And, thus the need for a professional or an amateur but passionate writer…
The Simple Case For
I am very much a visual person so I took the time to draw this out on a piece of paper. While visual, I am clearly not artistic so feel free to toss fruit from the front row…
Be it you advocate professional content producer/managers or the Sunday driver version; I think you would agree that you need a guru…[term used very loosely – in fact I hate that word – let’s go with…] someone who knows what they are doing.
I have been reading the book: Grouped by Paul Adams the Global Brand Experience Manager at Facebook. You might recognize my pic as an adaptation from the book. He makes a much deeper case for what I am trying to loosely convey in this post so buy his book – it’s a goodie. (The link is not tied to an affiliate account).
As we further fragment based on interests and or outright fatigue, the ability to connect via influencers (seemingly more a myth than realistic) is waning and or presenting itself as more of a fallacy. Small groups connected by someone who cares and someone who knows what they are doing will be the way to continue on with the conversation. Continue down the current path or seek the alternative and we’re just creating noise for ourselves. And, as the number of outlets increase, we have to ask ourselves are we just being noisy in more places? Instead, be a conduit and bring together the small groups that will move business in the future.
See that person in the middle of my pic – for the theory to work, that person must know (intimately) someone in each of the four outcroppings. The way this works is that this person is the conduit of/for information (influence) to flow between the outcroppings or small niche groups. Without the conduit, the potential potency of this group is never realized. They will never have the chance to know one another because they will have no real reason to do so.
The job of that someone who knows what they are doing and cares enough to do it is to bring the groups together in a way that is appealing to the individual members. He/she gives them a reason to believe. A reason to be merry. And, a reason to be intimate with one another. Intimate in a way that moves business forward.
Experiment
As I flesh this concept out in real life experiments – I’ll be sure to post updates.
Your – interested in interest graphs – multifamily maniac,
M
Apartment Interest Graph Marketing
To preface, this post is likely several years off in terms of being really germane to apartment marketing.
I have been reading a ton about Interest Graphs as of late. An interest graph is akin to a digital map that captures and demonstrates everything you like or frankly don’t like. Be it coffee, tea or me – it takes everything you like about your personal adventure through this world and packages it up into one nice comprehensive picture of you. Think Pinterest – the red-hot picture pinning site. In my estimation IG’s are a marketers wildest dream come true.
Apartment Marketing a Few Years Hence
Imagine with me for a moment – if you will. Tomorrow morning you walk into your office, pop open your email and you read:
Hi all,
Today we are embarking on a new marketing initiative. As such, we are completely revamping the information you commingle to make up your demographic set. But, unlike many of our other initiatives, for this one you don’t need to do a thing. In fact, this thing is so brilliant you are going to have a tough time keeping up with the new-found demand we intend to create.
You see, we have crafted a quasi-quant algorithm that constructs your apartment communities Interest Graph. That is to suggest that your community has a personality (and, a friend making ability) and we have found a way to define it based on the premise of how moving it is. Then – get this – once we have defined that personality, we are going to align it with people with like kind personalities or Interest Graphs.
Confused? That’s okay, it will all make sense at some point –
Stay tuned,
Your Marketing Team
Fish Where the Fish Are 2.0
As the internet becomes more and more fragmented with special interest groups (not to be mistaken with those who lobby politically), the more specific we can get with where we have our conversations. And, we can be more precise about what we say and don’t say. Today, we know we have to have a website, a blog and we have to get connected on Facebook. Tomorrow, we will still need those things but now we will be able to find and converse with exactly who we are looking for in the exact place where they don’t mind sharing and talking. Because the conversation will center around the very things they love and cherish as represented by their interests. So long as we are patient and exercise all the simple lessons Dale Carnegie taught us – we will open the flood gates. That is don’t be a stalker.
I see a day when we know exactly who it is that we want to rent our apartments, who will actually rent them, when they will actually rent, and how much rent they are willing to pay. All by simply defining and promoting our communities Interest Graph and coupling them up with people who have like kind interests. In my head, it’s akin to creating personas of the people who you want your marketing messages to speak to but much more amplified and much deeper, richer and more compelling. Much more intimate. It will bring together a like hearted and like-minded apartment community that will attract like kind people. And, that my friends will likely be the lead into the beginning of singularity.
Your Apartment Interest Graph Marketing Junkie (at least this week),
M
