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Social Media Marketing Adds New Dimension to How We Sell
The last in a series on social networking and marketing new homes.
For even the most experienced home builder, selling a new home often feels like hitting a home run.
First, there’s the euphoria. Then there’s the need to run around the bases — to finish the home before the home buyer walk-through. Then comes the applause and accolades. Okay, so the applause is really only in your head.
While selling a home feels the same no matter how difficult or easy the market, the methods for attracting home buyers have changed dramatically in recent years. A few targeted magazine placements and a four-color ad in the Sunday paper are no longer reliable heavy hitters.
Today, more home builders are now following or directing their buyers to the Internet, where keyword-filled Web sites, regular Twitter updates and Facebook fan pages fill the lineup. But they’re still looking for that home run hitter to win the game, and they need to spend less in their quest to make a sale.
Measures of Success in Social Media Marketing
When home builders shift their advertising focus to Internet marketing, they’re generally looking for two things — increased sales and lower marketing costs.
Internet marketers set five additional goals unique to social media marketing as part of their equation:
- Online reputation management
- Increased Web site traffic
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Online brand creation
- Audience engagement
Home builders primarily target two audiences: home buyers — potential and existing — and real estate agents.
The following are case studies involving five builders and developers taken from the files at mRELEVANCE, LLC, an Internet marketing, social media and public relations firm with offices in Atlanta and Chicago.
These cases demonstrate the difference a well-built social media strategy can make, even as it saves on traditional marketing expenses.
Highland Homes: Growing Sales While Cutting Budgets
In the fall of 2008, Highland Homes, of Lakeland, Fla., cut its advertising program by 55%. That meant leaving behind most of its magazine and billboard advertising as well as changing its customary full-page, four-color weekly ad in the local Sunday paper to a half-page black and white placement — on a good week.
Highland Homes was in the process of updating its company Web site when it initiated the marketing cuts. As part of the transition, the home builder introduced additional online tactics such as placing banner ads in many online locations, including the local daily paper’s Web site. Highland Homes also launched a full-fledged social media campaign to attract more visitors to its Web site, increase the number of referring URLs to its Web sites and increase the keywords on its site.
Keywords and keyphrases are the words on your site that match the search terms that people type into Internet search engines. More keywords on your site will help improve its ranking on search engines and, more importantly, help drive traffic to your Web site. The more keywords that drive traffic to your site, the broader your Web site reach.
Tactics of the broader social networking campaign included building a blog; posting to external blogs; building a company Facebook page; tweaking its existing MySpace page; becoming involved in multiple social networking sites, including YouTube and ActiveRain; distributing company news through online public relations sites; and social bookmarking.
While Highland Homes has faced challenges getting the public to interact with the builder through Facebook and YouTube, the numbers show that people are listening even if they’re not interacting.
Just three months into the campaign, monthly tracking reports showed a 20% increase in keywords, a 25% increase in referring URLs, a 26% increase in overall Web site traffic, a 53% increase in Internet leads and a 13% increase in conversion of Internet leads to contracts.
And the numbers continued to grow as the campaign continued. Almost a year later, by July 2009, Highland Homes has seen a 35% increase in overall Web traffic, a 93% increase in keywords and a 76% increase in referring URLs.
Highland Homes averaged 60 contracts per month in 2009, compared to only 35 the previous year.
Bowen Family Homes: Engaging Buyers, Home Owners and Agents
Bowen Family Homes in Atlanta is known in its market for stretching beyond traditional advertising and incorporating new ideas. Working with Atlanta’s Flammer Relations public relations firm since 1999, the builder changed its traditional PR effort to include online press releases and participation in external blogs, including www.AtlantaRealEstateForum.com. Bowen Family Homes also was the first in the Atlanta market to dedicate an online sales counselor to follow through with a personal touch on all its Internet leads.
The next natural step for the builder was to implement a social media strategy.
In fall 2008, Bowen Family Homes launched an online campaign to optimize social media and to engage potential home buyers, current Bowen Family Homes' home owners and real estate agents in conversation.
Campaign tactics included building a corporate blog, posting to external blogs, creating Facebook pages for the company its individual communities, using social bookmarking tools, conversing with the 400 followers on its Twitter account and posting virtual tours on its YouTube channel.
One strategy the builder employed to invite conversation and interaction was a Facebook contest targeting real estate agents and offering a $10 gift card to Starbucks for being among the first 200 real estate agents to join the Bowen Family Homes corporate Facebook fan page. To participate, agents became a fan and wrote a note about why they liked Bowen Family Homes. The builder reached the 200 mark in just five days.
Bowen Family Homes’ social media strategy has already proven itself with strong search engine results. In July 2009, the builder’s Web site showed 371 referring URLs and 2,141 keywords.
In the past, Bowen Family Homes reached out to real estate agents primarily through ads in magazines targeted to Realtors® and through printed flyers, at a typical monthly cost of several thousand dollars a month.
By comparison, the Facebook campaign engaged — not just informed — 200 real estate agents at an initial cost of $2,000 for the gift card and minimal distribution costs for an e-flyer. Through Facebook updates and opportunities for real estate agent comments, the conversation is continuing at no cost to Bowen Family Homes.
Similarly, most of the traffic to the company’s Web site comes from referring social media sites, with AtlantaRealEstateForum.com and the company’s own blog the top two traffic-generating sites. Bowen Family Homes previously relied on paid advertising for print ads or billboards. Now most of its traffic comes from referring social media sites. www.AtlantaRealEstateForum.com is on top, and its own blog is among the top 10 as well. Social media is proving to be an effective way to get traffic at a fraction of the cost.
Connecticut Best Apartments: Being Seen Online
Connecticut Best Apartments, the Ceebraid-Signal Corporation's portfolio of luxury apartments in Connecticut, embarked on a social media campaign to improve its Web site performance, including the site’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
As a first step, the Web site was rebuilt to Web 2.0 standards to promote interactive information sharing and make it easy for search engines to find.
In addition, the developer created a separate blog to complement the apartments’ Web site. Topics posted twice a week are still driving direct Web site traffic and grabbing search engine traffic with keywords.
Facebook pages, Twitter and Digg accounts were built for the apartment communities to capture opportunities in social media and networking. The Ceebraid-Signal team was also trained to use these tools to virally spread the word about its communities.
No previous traffic reports existed for comparison purposes, but the reports generated for www.CTBestApts.com from January to June 2009 show steady increases in all areas. For example, the number of unique visitors increased 173% during that time and referring URLs increased by 146%. Search engine traffic showed a 182% increase, with a 197% increase in keywords.
Ceebraid-Signal is still integrating a follow-up and lead conversion system — a necessity if any type of marketing is to be successful. But after seven months, the apartment developer has already experienced an increase in Internet traffic — from roughly 23% to 48% of its total walk-in traffic, depending on the community — with half of that traffic converting into sales.
Sterling Custom Homes: Building an Online Brand
Sterling Custom Homes is a custom home builder based in Austin, Texas. Relying primarily on word of mouth rather than paid advertising campaigns, the home builder has quietly managed to amass more than 100 industry awards — and steady sales.
The main goal for Sterling Custom Homes’ social media and marketing program has been to maintain the builder’s online brand because there are at least two other builders that share the same name. The builder wanted to remain easy to identify and find through a simple search engine query.
Secondary goals of the program included reaching out to Realtors®, current home owners and prospective home buyers and engaging them in conversation.
Sterling Custom Homes strategically employed specific tools to reach its predetermined audiences.
Starting a Twitter account and Facebook page enabled the builder to establish a social media network of current and potential customers. A YouTube channel and a Flickr account have given Sterling Custom Homes a way to share videos and photos of their favorite home designs and features. The Sterling Custom Homes YouTube channel also contains footage with useful home building tips.
In addition to its own independent blog geared more toward home buyers, Sterling Custom Homes started a second blog on Trulia to build rapport with real estate agents in the Austin area.
Tracking reports and Google analytics showed improvement immediately after the launch of the program. Sterling’s online presence is much more prominent, as demonstrated by SERP results, and a Google search of “Sterling Custom Homes” now gives the Austin company six top results.
Referring URLs have increased by 25% and the number of keyword phrases has doubled. The corporate blog is now the top referring site for the main Web site, with YouTube, Facebook and PRLog, an online public relations outlet that was also part of the strategy, finishing out the top four.
Davidson Realty: Who Says You Can’t Sell a House Through Facebook?
Davidson Realty, Inc. and The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla., launched a social media program in July 2009 and are already seeing results. In the first month, the Facebook Fan page has grown to more than 250 fans — and one of the Davidson agents already sold a home to a Facebook referral.
The agent started posting and repurposing the content from the World Golf Village and Davidson Realty pages on Facebook to her personal Facebook page. Her pastor's wife, who never really thought about what the agent did for a living, started reading her wall posts.
A week or so later, when a friend mentioned to the pastor’s wife that she was looking for a new home in the area, guess who she referred the friend to? Best of all, the agent sold and closed the home.
Now What?
Remember that no social media plan will generate quality traffic and sell houses without a proper strategy and follow-up by the home builder.
Any plan must start with a sound plan for keeping conversations going and making timely contact with the potential buyer when a viable lead comes through your Web site or blog. What does timely mean? In the world of the Internet, your buyers are looking for a response within two to four hours.
Yes, it’s a fastball kind of world where the change-ups never stop. But with sound strategy, a good team and old fashioned pine tar — elbow grease — any home builder can find success with social media marketing at a fraction of the cost previously spent on advertising. You won’t even need to rely on tired sports analogies to make it work.
Mitch Levinson, MBA, MIRM, CSP, is managing partner with mRELEVANCE, an Internet marketing, public relations and social media agency focused on meeting builder and developer needs in a changing marketplace. For more information, visit www.mRELEVANCE.com.
 Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime
Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama.
Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit – including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers.
“The new tax credit provides a great opportunity for first-time home buyers,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “Combined with today’s near record low interest rates, the large selection of homes on the market and very competitive pricing, the tax credit should provide the extra incentive needed to get prospective buyers who have been sitting on the fence into the market.”
Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight the tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market.
 In Today’s Market, 'Think Sold!' With Help From BuilderBooks
“Think Sold! Creating Home Sales in Any Market,” available at BuilderBooks.com, is a practical, how-to guide for developing the self-awareness, knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the competitive field of new home sales.
The book covers everything from the home buying process and new home financing to strategies for making better sales presentations and sizing up the competition. It teaches readers how to overcome customers’ concerns and provides specific examples of how to explain the benefits of new home features in customer-friendly language.
“Think Sold” provides insights on how to approach sales and life from a position of optimism that will create successful outcomes; how to improve upon potential customer prospecting and follow-up skills; and how to communicate effectively with various types of buyers and learn how to adjust communication strategies to increase rapport and alignment with buyers’ motives.
To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
 ‘ValueMatch Selling for Home Builders’ Available at BuilderBooks.com
“ValueMatch Selling for Home Builders,” available through BuilderBooks.com, presents a selling process that focuses on selling feelings and appealing to prospective buyers’ emotional need to buy a new home in today’s market rather than product.
Learn how to build rapport with prospective home buyers, meet their needs, make powerful presentations that are focused on their values and go for the close.
To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
Subscribe to Sales + Marketing Ideas Magazine for Cutting-Edge Information
For additional cutting-edge sales and marketing information, subscribe to NAHB’s Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine (www.smimagazine.com).
Click here to learn about membership benefits of the National Sales and Marketing Council and the Institute of Residential Marketing.
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