Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Is Linkedin Catching Up With Facebook?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on December 29th, 2010
I am often asked what the benefits are to using Facebook versus LinkedIn in social media strategies. I usually explain the difference between the two and let that person decide where they should be focusing their efforts.
Recently I read a very interesting blog about the differences in the two social networks. The blog, published on Social Media Today, made the insightful observation that professionals are using the networks in two different ways. Professionals that are looking to network themselves individually tend to do so on LinkedIn instead of Facebook. LinkedIn was designed to be the professional network. This observation holds true but the interesting point is that more businesses or companies as a whole, develop a Facebook page. So, your professional individuals are networking on LinkedIn while their company pages are on Facebook. It seems that a concentrated effort on just one of the social networks would be more beneficial than the current norm.
On November 1, LinkedIn made a strong attempt to steal those wondering professionals and their business pages from Facebook. It announced the new enhanced Company pages that would allow others to recommend their business. Recommending is very similar to the “Like” button on Facebook.
So will these new LinkedIn pages decide the battle? I have my doubts but LinkedIn is making a strong push. It recently announced that its Groups would now be public to non-members, which has been a criticism from professionals. Facebook pages have always been open and more accessible. Now LinkedIn is joining in on opening groups.
The battle between these two social networks has a lot to do with advertising dollars. As companies continue to increase their budgets for social media, they are also increasing their online advertising budgets. These two networks have good advertising models that are yielding promising results for users. It will be interesting to see if LinkedIn can compete with a giant and if Facebook can become more professional in the eyes of its users.
Two Year Confidence Mark For Social Media
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on December 13th, 2010
In a recent survey discussed on Social Media Examiner, researchers found that there is a two-year confidence mark for social media.
This means that on average, companies incorporating social media as a part of their business model don’t feel entirely confident in the first two years of its application. If you think about what it really takes to successfully orchestrate a social media strategy, you can see why it takes a while to feel fully confident about your efforts.
Whether you are using social media for advertising, customer relations, or lead generation, it will take time to fully execute a strategy and it will take even more time to gauge its performance. The idea that a company can successfully plan, execute, and evaluate a social media strategy in a few months is outlandish and this survey proves it.
In addition to the two-year confidence mark, the survey also identifies other insights into how businesses are using social media. According to the survey, most businesses focus on the big 5 social networks. That includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blogs. While there are many opportunities on niche networks, it’s obvious that businesses are easily finding their customers on the big 5 networks.
So if you are still feeling uncertain or uncomfortable about your new social media strategy, take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone. It’s going to take time for your strategy to take off and only then can you realistically gauge its success. It is important to have realistic expectations for your strategy and to understand that there will be hiccups. Changes in your strategy are inevitable.
Greenwashing A Concern For Buyers And Agents
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General on December 10th, 2010
Incorporating green features is necessary to compete in today’s market. No one is going to debate that. With the demand for green products come the schemers and the dishonest.
According to a recent Builderonline.com article, “greenwashing” has officially landed in the housing market and Realtors, builders, and homebuyers are concerned. While sustainability has found its rightful place in real estate, there is still a lack of knowledge on the consumer side. This has allowed sneaky firms to offer fake Energy Star plaques for homes. This is obviously a problem for agents and buyers.
The numbers don’t lie. Buyers are looking for green features in their next home. According to the article, the price premium in Portland, Oregon was 18 percent for a green home. Here in Atlanta, a certified green home sells on average 14 days faster than conventional homes.
It’s easy to see why sellers are so eager to slap that Energy Starr rating on their home. And even if they are real Energy Star plaques, there is still a lot of gray area to deal with. In Arizona 70 percent of homes have ceiling fans in them. This qualifies as a green feature but it could be misleading to claim green features in a home with ceiling fans as its only feature. For the most part, green claims are self-policed creating a challenge for buyers and real estate agents.
It really all comes back to educating the buyer. As long as you can understand and show them where the savings and benefits are, you are eliminating any doubt and you are also making sure that a home is truly green.
Controversial Profiling Technology On Its Way Back
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on December 3rd, 2010
It appears that the once controversial profiling technology known as “deep packet inspection” is making a strong comeback.
It was recently reported on WSJ.com that a couple of technology companies are looking to reinvent or redesign the once frowned upon internet profiling technology so that ISPs (internet service providers) can take full advantage of the advertising potential of their systems.
In the past, this profiling technology has been considered highly intrusive. Considering spy agencies use it for surveillance, you can understand why it’s greeted with so many red flags. The difference now is that the two companies pushing the technology, Kindsight, Inc. and Phorm Inc., are stressing the privacy and protection for the users that will be profiled. For starters, Internet users that use ISPs with the technology will have to opt in from the start. The idea is to provide free security software in exchange for opting into the service. The full potential of the software will not be used as user e-mails will not be read and sensitive online activities will not be documented. Personal user information such as names will not be recorded either.
For advertisers it could mean a highly sophisticated ad targeting system that could help deliver precise ads at the optimal time. The question is whether or not users feel comfortable with someone essentially spying on their online activity. When you put it in those terms I don’t think there will be a lot of buy in. The idea of scaling back the intrusiveness of the technology could prove to be very valuable for marketers and the ISPs who choose to use it. It will be interesting to see how users greet it.
A Few Tips For Your New Blog
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Social Media on November 24th, 2010
Builderonline.com has a good article with a few tips for builders looking to start a blog.
Smartly, the article points out that for builders, a blog will benefit your website and brand recognition which reinforces the idea that a blog should never replace your corporate website. It should be a new way to get more potential buyers closer to the buying process whether it be your website or a sales agent. The tips listed in the article come from Brad Bombardiere. His first tip talks about selecting a blog platform. He suggests WordPress and I would agree. At the moment, WordPress is the most user friendly and developed blogging platform available.
My favorite tip has to do with posting content. The article uses a great metaphor comparing the social space to a cocktail party. If you were at a cocktail party and you kept talking about yourself and not listening to others, you probably wouldn’t make a lot of friends. This rings true in social media as well.
Another good tip is to add some humor to your writing. When blogging first started to become popular, traditional journalists deemed it unprofessional. According to their style rules it was unprofessional but the blog has turned into a major player in the world of journalism and their authors are still writing by their own rules and own style. I am not saying that you should write in an unprofessional manner but don’t be afraid to put your own personal touch on things. Social media was designed for people, not companies. It’s always good to have a face and a personality to go with your blog.
There are other tips listed in this article that will help any start-up blogger. It’s even a good read for the long time blogger as refresher. I suggest taking a look.
Social Media And Its Relation To SEO
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on November 22nd, 2010
Courtesy of Carlos Luna
Very often we focus on the benefits of social media that come from conversing with consumers on a neutral playing field. Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, most of our strategies focus on creating a two-way conversation with consumers.
While this definitely is a positive thing, I think we sometimes overlook one of the other major benefits that come from utilizing social media in our advertising strategies. The effect social media has on SEO for a brand is amazing if done correctly.
I have found that a social media strategy should consider message content and interaction before SEO. This is because most well planed strategy already takes SEO into consideration without the strategist realizing it.
As long as you are providing relevant content that strategically ties to your overall marketing strategy, your keywords for SEO will develop on their own. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make sure that your content such as blog titles are SEO friendly and relational to your goals. It means that you should focus on the conversation first and worry about the SEO later. By creating rich content you will also encourage links to your blog and other social media pages. This is a huge contributor to SEO.
It’s easy to get bogged down with SEO in all of the social media strategy talk. The truth is that it doesn’t have to be that difficult. I suggest starting with a blog and making sure you are writing useful and insightful content. Through web analytics, you can see what keywords are strong for your blog and then use that information for your SEO strategy development.
Companies Shift Focus Back To Corporate Websites
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Trends on November 18th, 2010
According to a recent blog written by the very wise Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group, major corporations will be shifting some of their focus away from interactions on just their Facebook pages but also on their own corporate websites.
As of now, most companies have created an imbalance and have met their customers on their terms whether it be Facebook , Twitter, or any other social network. Companies are failing to lead consumers back to their website closer to the buying or action process. According to Owyang, the balance will be restored, as companies will start to take the most trusted or prominent discussion topics from social networks and attempt to infuse them into their own corporate sites. We are already seeing many companies doing this through sharing and aggregation tools. Most of the popular social networks already have website embeds available and their appropriate protocol for use.
According to the blog, most companies are up to date in posting on social sites but still lack insightful messages that encourage on-going dialogue with consumers. Most are still unable to abandon traditional marketing and advertising strategies. Formulating engaging conversation strategies will be a large goal for corporations next year.
Another observation by Owyang is that there is a lack of quality tools when it comes to social media monitoring systems. With the drastic increase in social media over the last two years brand monitoring tools simply can’t gauge the actionable measurements needed to make insightful suggestions or provide useful insights. Knowing the number of mentions for a brand is not nearly enough information to formulate a strategy or alter a current one. Owyang predicts that 2011 will see the emergence of social analytics vendors which will replace or out pace traditional brand monitoring.
I recommend you take a look at Owyang’s blog regularly if you aren’t already. It’s a rich resource that has become a go to resource for social media strategy and insight.
How Social Media Will Play A Big Role In Behavioral Advertising
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on November 11th, 2010
Behavioral advertising has been very popular among marketers and advertisers in the previous years and for a very good reason. The idea of presenting ads to highly targeted segments based on behaviors such as search inquiries and browsing habits should be attractive to any advertiser. You combine this information with demographic and geographic information and you have a highly sophisticated targeting system.
In all its greatness, there is still the problem of timing when it comes to behavioral targeting. In order to generate sales advertisers must act in precise opportune moments. Fortunately for us, social media is changing that.
Traditionally, data was gathered for behavioral targeting through surveys, public records, and questionnaires. This of course is pretty labor intensive but social media is changing how this data is collected. A user’s online footprint tends to offer up most demographic information that advertisers are looking for. Not only are they presenting demographic data but they are also presenting their wants and likes, their opinions, their interests, and what they are focusing on. The hard part is that most of this data comes in real time and can be hard to track. It is also hard to track how friends on the different social networks can influence the buying decision and overall behaviors.
According to a recent Mediapost.com blog, social media is going to play a huge role in the future of behavioral advertising. The blog says that determining the “in the moment intent” is crucial in successfully delivering targeted ads. It needs to be precise and this is where behavioral advertising has come up short in the past. While search has done well with behavioral targeting in relation to search keywords, real-time information will be crucial for display advertising on the web
The Blurred Lines Of Advertising
Posted by Sibet B Freides in General, Marketing, Real Estate Trends on November 5th, 2010
The digital marketing space is flooded with e-media and social media adverting. Advertising agencies across the country are encouraging clients to start writing and generating “relevant” content for blogs and other social media platforms. This has come at the expense of traditional media outlets including print and display. It also raises the question of whether or not advertisers are slowly becoming publishing companies. I don’t think it should be taken that far.
I think we are trying to use an old label for something entirely new. As of right now, the advertising landscape is still changing. Social media has still not completely caught up with its hype but it’s getting there. People are trying to define what role companies will play in the future. From media companies to search engine marketing firms, everyone wants to know what their role will be as the industry continues to evolve. The truth is that most of these specialty shops will merge and blend with others. Companies are beginning to mingle and integrate with other digital advertising disciplines. For example, search engine marketers are starting to dabble in display. There is a convergence right now that is blurring the distinctive lines of advertising.
So can advertisers be considered publishers? Maybe but that would be a shallow assumption. What are you going to do with the material? When should it be published? How does it integrate with your e-media banners? It’s still too early to throw out a sweeping definition of future advertising. We just aren’t there yet.
Baby Boomer Retirement Expectations Continue To Falter
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, General, Marketing, Real Estate Trends on November 2nd, 2010
Retirement expectations among baby boomers have changed drastically over the last two yeas. From expected investment returns to the increased concerns about the cost of living, most boomers are about to retire in a way that seems totally different than once imagined.
According to a recent poll commissioned by Humana, 42% of baby boomers surveyed expect a sharp decrease in their investment returns. In addition to a smaller margin of return, 21% of those polled expect to begin a new career upon retirement. This won’t be caused by boredom but by necessity as many boomers are taking care of others instead of themselves.
According to the poll, almost half of all baby boomers feel that tending to the health and well being of others comes before their own health and happiness. Across the board, boomers are giving up free time for personal hobbies, skipping vacations, and dipping into personal savings in order to care for aging parents. This coupled with millenials moving back home due to a weak job market makes multigenerational housing a need in today’s market.
As boomer retirement expectations continue to drift from resort style living, builders and developers are creating floorplans, communities, and amenities that are conducive to boomer attitudes and lifestyles. This includes multigenerational floorplans and community amenities that appeal to both boomers and their parents. For some the golf course retirement dream is on hold and I am not sure if anyone truly knows when the days of a lavish retirement will return.
