Multi Housing News July 2012 : Page 26
❝ Once residents are settled in, interacting with [them] to up-sell services, report service issues and raise awareness... will turn the mobile device into an always-on marketing channel. ❞ “It’s really all about residents talking to friends, and the things that can be done to improve and enhance those discussions are fantastic,” says Ed Spiegel, founder & CEO of RentMineOnline, which combines resident referral programs with the power of social net-works. “There are proof points in the industry showing causation between promotion on these networks—Facebook, Twitter, Linke-din—and as the industry is maturing, you see more indication of these recommendations that can be tracked and lead to conversion.” It’s the modern day word of mouth—real-time, actionable, track-able and authentic. In an industry where referrals are the second largest leasing source across the country, the more you propagate the interactions and dis-cussions on social networks, the more it ulti-mately will lead to leases. In an effort to produce a high-quality ex-perience and ensure success, Alexis Vance, national marketing director for Alliance Resi-dential Company, engages a number of social media sites. “Currently, our main focus and participa-tion is with Facebook, and additional channels are added to the mix for communities as they become more sophisticated in their strategy,” Vance explains. “At all times, we are testing and monitoring new social media trends, web-sites and tactics that would benefi t our com-munities and impact our portfolio positively in the future.” Vance believes the shift from promotional messaging to advocacy-driven tactics is mag-nifi ed within social media, and that the future possibilities for social media in the multifamily industry are unlimited. Alliance is actively re-searching new social sites such as Google+ and Pinterest and will be integrating on video and sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo this year. Mobile marketing The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth by the end of 2012. That staggering statistic comes from Cisco’s “Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffi c Forecast Up-date,” which marketers can use to forecast the impact of visual networking applications on global networks. By 2012, over 100 million smartphone us-ers will be using over 1 GB/month of data, and close to 100 million tablet computers will be scooped up in the marketplace over the next 12 months. “Marketers that integrate mobile notifi cation systems for desired rental profi les can help accelerate the closing process and elevate rental rates by increasing their market size,” says Andy Meadows, CEO of 44doors.com, a technology services fi rm that provides insights into impactful mobile and social engagement across online and offl ine consumer touch points. “Once renters are settled, interacting with [them] to up-sell services, report service issues and raise awareness of sharing new property availability will turn the mobile device into an always-on marketing channel.” It’s no wonder that shrewd property manag-ers are taking advantage of these devices to advertise, market and lease units. New to the fi eld is G5’s newest DXM plat-form, which replaces the standalone mobile website with a responsive design feature that can detect the size of the browser, specifi cally catering to a tablet or smartphone. “If you’re using a smartphone, it coordinates so it knows where you are located,” says Dan Hobin, CEO of G5, a leading provider of mobile services to the apartment industry. “If you searched on Google for a company with multiple properties, it shows the prop-erties closest to you based on geographical location and features the best display for the device you’re on.” The driving force behind the responsive de-sign methodology was the penetration of tab-let devices, which Hobin says happened faster than anyone in the industry ever projected. Local marketing Geo-fencing awareness involves marketing to consumers by matching up smartphone geographical locations with user-identifi ed browsing and purchasing preferences. This al-lows multifamily marketers to tailor their mes-sages to a specifi c demographic or neighbor-hood and interact in real time to customers based on a locality. Mainstream marketing is beginning to adopt local marketing techniques through check-in services like Foursquare, and the location-aware loyalty wars are beginning to heat up, but the challenge is that most systems are pro-prietary, and mainstream adoption is limited. “There are some leading-edge marketers experimenting with geo-fencing and location-aware native mobile apps; however, these are truly experimental and aren’t even close to mainstream adoption,” Meadows says. “When a ubiquitous global standard begins to debut, the mainstream marketer will move quickly to integrate and adopt this technology.” As these tools gain prominence, using plat-forms such as Foursquare, locally targeted geo-mobile coupons with leasing incentives can be triggered to generate additional inter-est and social buzz. By using the right online marketing tools, one can create a digital experience that en-gages renters at every touch point and turns them into advocates for your property. MHN To comment on this story, e-mail Diana Mosher at dmosher@multi-housingnews.com 26 July 2012 | Multi-Housing News
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