social media apartment marketing
Apartment Reviews – This Wall was Not Made for Conversation
See this wall -it’s the Mills Properties Kudos Wall in our central office in Clayton, MO. Only one problem, it’s calendar year 2010 and I can’t converse with the people that took the time to write out their thoughts and mail them to our office.
I am certain that many of you can imagine the missed opportunity. My hope is that there are not others out there that have walls like this one in their offices. My plea to you if you do is to get digital fast –
We will be doing as much as we kick of the Get Social with Mills Initiative. Keying off what others have done in the industry, we feel it will be a necessary and fruitful piece of our on-line branding presence going forward.
Would love to hear your thoughts –
Get Social with Mills: The Journey Begins
It’s official – Mills Properties is taking the plunge into new media. For the past three years we have been at work producing real results with simple tools like Craiglist and vFlyer. One example, which I will fully detail in a later blog post, includes a manager that used CL exclusively to add 23 points of occupancy in just seven short weeks. It’s an amazing story but it is not where we wanted to be. We wanted to be fully immersed in the use of new media as it relates to marketing apartments.
The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One Step
I am jazzed to report that Mills Senior Leadership has given blessing for me to document the entire journey from soup to nuts. In doing so I hope to utilize all the rich media out there in order to produce some massively cool dialog. The chief aim is to bring real meaning to the word engagement as I am fully convinced that the word is very often misplaced and misused in the world of marketing and new media specifically.
All that being said, I invite you to join us as we take the first step to Get Social with Mills.
Update: And, if it starts to look and or feel like a ton of self promotion, company promotion or ego-centric rhetoric, say as much. Our intent is to tell a story that may add value to your new media marketing efforts.
M
New Media Apartment Marketing: Random Thoughts
Could not pass up the chance to share this list from Logic + Emotion. It’s from a post titled Random Thoughts. In it, David Armano lists five pretty simple yet compelling thoughts that should no doubt be a guide for all of us. The first thought he lists is; We all live in glass houses.
Be Mindful of What you Say
I think many times in the world of new media it is easier to say just what is on your mind without being mindful of the long term ripple effect. It’s really very easy to sit behind a keyboard and rattle off thoughts that are no doubt driven by our emotions. We have all been guilty of it – someone writes something on a blog or in a comment and wham-o Satan’s spawn comes dwelling up inside of our being and we lash out… Or, someone presses something derogatory about our Apartment Community on a ratings site and we sign up just to set the record straight by one upping them in the art of condescension. In this same breath I would suggest there is a difference between expressing passion and ignorance.
Be Mindful of Our Actions
Penned by some philosopher an undetermined number of years ago – actions speak louder than words. I think the essence of David’s thought is that the very act of throwing that stone is reflective of one’s character. I can say, with learning in mind, that there a number of stones I wish I had back in my collection. They were much more useful to look at when I had them in my possession. And, in the same respect, it’s my hope, as we become more and more embedded in our new media apartment marketing lives, that we remain mindful of our virtual actions. Just remember new media never forgets…
Marketing Apartments with New Media
As we continue to venture into the world of new media and the use of Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, FourSquare YouTube, Flickr and Local or Regional Blogs we will no doubt encounter plenty of opportunity to grab that tin of rocks we keep in the darker places of our mind, warm up the lizard brain and write away. The next time that happens exercise another ancient philosophy [amended for modern times]; write it a un-savable word doc, read it twice, sleep on it and let it go.
Let us know what you think? Drop us a comment below and let’s discuss….
Apartment Internet Marketing – Education
This is the second part of a five part series based on a recent emarketer survey. In part one we discussed the concept of Exclusivity. Today we discuss: Education as it relates to Apartment Internet Marketing.
I have included the chart here again for reference:
What is Education?
Education, according to Princeton.edu is defined as; a gradual process of acquiring knowledge. From the time of birth we are taking in information, processing it, making decisions and acting. All the while we are layering information on top of information, taking in the new and purging the old to make new assumptions about the future to come. In any case, we are subject to the people and the environment we choose to hang around and participate in. There is a Dave Matthew’s song called: The Space Between. In that song Dave belts: “the space between – the tears we cry – is the laughter keeps us coming back for more – the space between – the wicked lies we tell – and hope to keep safe from the pain” I would contend that space between is called – choice. And, that choice is the byproduct of a catalyst and the result is action – all couched in education or better said, knowledge.
Value Exchange
Education would lead us to understand that the single most important catalyst in today’s business environment is garnishing a individuals attention. With no equivocation – it is the most important determinant of business success. When asking someone to give you their attention, you are asking them to give you their most precious possession – time. Ask for that attention in the way of a negative event caused by you and or your organization and expect a less than positive consequence. Ask for that attention in the way of a positive event and expect – nothing. In the Internet age this is the price of admission. In the context of apartment marketing ideas, ask for that attention in the way of educating apartment patrons and you plant the seeds necessary for true engagement.
Consumer Expectation
There is yet another thing that human beings have in common – the need for insight. Insight is often a vibrant, happy and emotionally loaded space in any person’s life. At some level we are all after it – we all want to be in-the-know. The emotion and desire is hard-wired into our system. That is to suggest that consumer’s want – innately. It’s imbued on their hearts and minds. When we apply that fact we can quickly see the overarching need to embed listening, understanding, interaction and feedback into our concept. It all adds up to meaning for the apartment patron. It all adds up to the willingness to give us their attention. As an example – people spend an average of 25 minutes per session on Facebook – why? The need for insight is being met.
Offer it and They Will Come
We see examples of this all over the internet today but my favorite is Wine Library TV – dial into the 3:50 min section of this video – it is the point. You get people to this and you are on your way to what I will end this series with.
Have a over the top and compelling end to your week – we will be back in a couple days with another installment to this series.
Apartment Internet Marketing – Exclusivity
Came across an interesting survey at over at emarketer that spoke to the want’s of social following. The results were captured in the following chart:
Using this chart as a catalyst, we are going to do a five part series titled: The Five E’s of Apartment Internet Marketing. The overarching premise will be playing to the want’s of would be apartment Facebook, Twitter and other social medium friends. We start the series with Exclusivity.
What is Exclusivity?
Exclusivity can be defined as the sole right to a specific business function. AT&T’s exclusive right to market the iPhone is likely the most paramount example of this. Beyond that there is a huge push by aggregators to secure exclusive rights to content. We have seen this with the likes of Harvard Business Review striking a deal with an aggregator and Steven Covey striking a deal for distribution on Amazon’s Kindle. These are mass examples of exclusivity but the concept can be applied to things as simple as white papers. In this case the exclusivity comes in the way of getting for giving or more specifically, give me your email address and I will give you the white paper. It’s exclusive in the sense that not everyone would be willing to give personal information to get.
Value Exchange
The overarching point is that exclusivity has a give and take scenario baked in. You give up Sprint to get the iPhone, you give up buying from B&N and buy a Kindle so you can read Covey, you give up personal information to get information. The goods, services, experience or information requires an action on the part of the consumer and guess what, it’s the overriding reason they friend brands. They want to learn about specials, sales, etc..
Consumer Expectations
Human beings have a few things in common – one being the innate need to feel important, wanted or needed. When we apply that fact to the concept of exclusivity we can clearly see that the perception of being a part of what could be considered an elite group is compelling. We own an iPhone so we can feel cool. We read the HBR so we can feel cool. We read the latest Covey book so we can feel cool. We found our apartment on Craigslist and it was a great deal so we feel cool. Consumers are willing to give up stuff and things to feel important, wanted or needed – all day long.
Offer it and they will come
As it applies to Apartment Internet Marketing in the context of social mediums – more times than not, if you offer it they will come. Now, before I go on, I am not suggesting that you can just put any old thing out there and expect participants to join in, you have to work it. You have to willing to commit to listening, joining in, trying, failing, retooling and trying again. Otherwise it’s all for naught. I am suggesting, however, that if you do things as simple as offering a rent concession to the resident that increases your fan page base the most, or something we eluded to awhile back with tryvertising, or simply setting up a kiosk in your lobby set with twitter and facebook and asking anyone that walks in the door to friend you – you will gain an audience. However, it does not stop here…
…in part two of this series we will talk about what to do with that audience: Education
In the mean time, feel free to continue the Exclusivity conversation by leaving us a comment below.
And, have a compelling day!
