Build Your Social Network
Connect and create a dialogue with buyers on a global platform.
RT @Lennar: “Lennar has just launched our mobile version of Lennar.com. Definitely check it out at: http://m.lennar.com/”
@ConstructechReader: This tweet was posted on the social-networking site, Twitter, the online message-routing system, at 7:32 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2009.
Lennar Homes, www.lennar.com, Miami, Fla., typically tweets between five to 20 times a day, providing nearly 50,000 followers with information about its communities, housing news, and contests, as well as other topics that relate to its prospective clients and existing homeowners.
This is one among many social-networking tools the homebuilder uses. It also updates its blog nearly every day, and has a strong presence on such other social networking sources as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and ActiveRain.
This past summer, the homebuilder had a contest on its Facebook page, inviting clients to write poems about where they feel the most at home, with the grand prize being an iMac computer. The results were fairly significant—nearly 100 poems were posted to the homebuilder’s wall—what Facebook calls the page to which all replies are posted—allowing existing customers to connect with the builder on a global platform and to show prospective homebuyers just how fun owning a home can be.
According to industry sources, more builders can learn from Lennar Homes, saying its online strategy is one of the largest and most visible in the residential construction industry.
Online campaigns in the residential construction industry have been changing. Lennar is just one example. A number of other firms have begun using social-networking technologies to reach out to prospective homebuyers and existing homeowners.
This shift has come as a result of technology-savvy buyers wanting more than just information when they sign online. Many are looking to network and develop relationships. While social networking has roots in the consumer-to-consumer world, businesses are now finding they can tap into this technology to create a dialogue with existing and prospective buyers. The good news is the tools are free. However, developing a strategy and following through can take a bit of time and effort.
Creating a Business Model
More than 10 years ago, builders were encouraged to build a Website to get their company and inventory information out to buyers in a digital format. While Websites still serve as a good information hub, social-networking technology is considered by many to be the next step—helping builders develop and foster new relationships, and eventually new customers.
When it comes to social-networking platforms, two types of strategies can be developed: B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business). While builders can use the technology to create online relationships with realtors, colleagues, and partners in a B2B environment, the benefits of using the technology in a business-to-consumer method should not be ignored.
Jonathan Bailey is CEO of Bailey Gardiner, www.baileygardiner.com, San Diego, Calif., an agency that works with builders to improve branding on the Web. He says builders can use the social networking movement to their advantage, helping to improve brand recognition, increase sales, and heighten communication.
“As we all know the buying period—the amount of time it takes from the time a potential homebuyer expresses interest to the time they actually close escrow and move into their home—has turned into a very long multimonth process,” says Bailey. “So establishing that rapport and that relationship with the sales professional or the homebuilder brand and the buyer over that period of time as they ultimately make their decision has been incredibly useful for homebuilders.”
When creating a business plan for social networking, Bailey advises builders first establish goals, focusing on answering the question, ‘what do I want to accomplish?’
According to Bailey, since these technologies can be used for a multitude of business items including branding, sales, and communication, builders need to identify what they want to accomplish and develop their strategies from there. Builders also need to categorize their potential audience—prospects, buyers in the purchasing process, or homeowners already in an existing community. Defining the audience will also determine how to best use social-networking technologies.
Carol Flammer, managing partner, mRelevance, www.mrelevance.com, Cartersville, Ga., a social-networking agency specializing in residential real estate in the Southeast, agrees with Bailey, saying the first step is to decide on the overall Internet goals. “You don’t want to go jumping out there and embracing social networking if you don’t have the rest of your Internet marketing strategy in place,” she says.
While prospects are a good market to reach out to, she suggests builders also consider reaching out to existing homeowners through social-networking platforms.
“I think a great example of that is Bowen Family Homes (www.bowenfamilyhomes.com, Atlanta, Ga.) launched a campaign this summer and they were encouraging their homeowners to go to their Facebook page and write what their staycation memories of the summer were,” says Flammer. “It is a great way to get their current homebuyers embraced and hook into them through some of the networks. Your current homebuyers can be some of your best referral sources.”
After identifying online goals and the target audience, builders need to find dedicated time and staff to oversee the social-networking platforms. While the tools may be free to use, most social-networking experts agree it takes a significant amount of time to create and implement a strategy. Once builders have developed an online plan and strategy, they can begin looking at some of the social-networking platforms that are available today.
Picking a Platform
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are all social-networking platforms, but serve very different purposes. For example, YouTube allows users to watch and post online videos. For builders, this means distributing videos about properties to prospective buyers. Some builders even post model home tours to this forum.
Originally a consumer platform, Facebook now offers profiles specifically for businesses. This tool gives builders the ability to share content, photos, and links, with its ‘fans.’ When Facebook was first introduced as a consumer application, users would network with friends. Now that the application has expanded to serve the needs of businesses, users can choose to be a ‘fan’ of the organization. This platform allows builders to converse with buyers on a global and open platform.
Twitter can be used by builders to send realtime messages to prospective buyers and is designed to get information out quickly to multiple followers.
Bailey describes the different tools in terms of human nature. He says, “Facebook is a very social platform. We use it to connect with our friends. If a builder is going to dive into Facebook, they have to be fun.”
He adds that YouTube has to be entertaining and Twitter is a great tool for pointing users to take action.
LinkedIn is more a tool to create a network of professional contacts in a B2B environment. Although, Bailey says builders might still be able to use it to connect to consumers by reaching out to friends of friends.
These are just a handful of the social-networking platforms that are available today. How should a builder go about deciding which platforms to implement first? Flammer recommends implementing such technologies in steps. Step one, she says, is to launch a blog, and step two is moving to the aforementioned social networks.
According to Flammer, Bowen Family Homes, which launched its social-networking plan earlier this year, is a great example. Namely, in the first 20 days, its blog served as the No. 5 Web referral source to the builder’s Website, meaning social-networking technologies can be a good way to drive attention to a Website.
While some in the industry say social networking is a great sales tool to push out content about homes, Erik Cofield, vice president of sales and marketing, BuildTopia, www.buildtopia.com, Rockville, Md., considers them to be more communication type tools.
“Twitter is by far a mass communication tool,” says Cofield. “Facebook is more to allow them to come into you and show information you wouldn’t want to put on your regular Website or for them to come in and engage with you in a very non-threatening way. The main benefit for a builder using social media is that it is really a two-way communication and people are engaging with you.”
So, what is the difference between Facebook and a Website? According to Cofield, a Website has a corporate face, while Facebook is frequently updated and engages conversation. That conversational nature is one of the biggest elements that separate social-networking technologies from more traditional email or Website campaigns. In some cases this technology can be integrated with other marketing platforms, including a builder’s Website, email campaign, and even, in some cases, backend software systems.
Network with Software
While email marketing and social-networking technologies are very different online marketing strategies—the former providing information in a one-way ‘blast’ format and the latter allowing open communication between the seller and the buyer—the two can be integrated, combining the informational and conversational benefits of online communication.
Social bookmarking is a method that allows Internet users to store, organize, and share their favorite social-networking Websites. Builders can provide a link to their Facebook or Twitter page with bookmarks on the homepage of their Websites or in email blasts they send out to prospective customers.
One example of an email-marketing module within sales software comes from Sales Simplicity, www.salessimplicity.net, Chandler, Ariz. Earlier this year, the company built a new module for programmatic email marketing campaigns, meaning a builder can create templates and schedule emails to go out to certain people at certain times. While this new tool doesn’t reach into Facebook or Twitter, a builder can use the same information in those outreach tools.
One of the benefits of the email-marketing module is that it can all be customized and controlled.
“There is a tool inside Sales Simplicity that allows, for example, a builder to build his own html documents with pretty pictures and channel links,” says Barry Forbes, president, Sales Simplicity. “Then he can allow certain pieces of that to be changed from the field in case you have sales agents sending them out.”
According to Tim Kassouf, director of marketing, Builder1440, www.builder1440.com, Baltimore, Md., customization and personalization is one of the reasons social-networking technologies have become so popular. Sales1440 from Builder1440 also includes email-marketing features.
“(Email marketing) has become an extremely effective tool for builders,” says Kassouf. “One of the really cool things is email marketing can actually be used to integrate social media to kind of dip your toe into the social-networking pool.
“What a great way to announce a new community, announce a price change, announce some inventory of a beautiful model home that has been for sale, and then tie in very easily a link to allow someone to post that to your Facebook page, post that to Twitter. Let other people know that there is something really good going on.”
According to Kassouf, integrating email and social-networking technologies—simply by including a link—will help spread the news faster, and will ultimately open the doors for collaborative communication.
While social bookmarking combines email and social-networking campaigns, builders can also look to combine social-networking capabilities on their Websites. Of course, including a link on a homepage to link to profiles, and vice versa is an important element to online marketing campaigns.
In August, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems, www.constellationhb.com, Markham, Ont., acquired the company The Enterprise from Move Inc., www.move.com, Westlake Village, Calif.
Through the recent acquisition, builders can now take advantage of the newly developed Constellation Web Solutions, which includes multiple online marketing products such as custom Website development for homebuilders, among others.
According to Sky Hill, general manager of Constellation Web Solutions, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems, it can tie social networking into the Website experience.
“We are driving their social network through the marketing that we are doing for them through this Website and giving them a good consumer experience and then gathering more detailed personal information from them and creating a lead for the builder,” says Hill. “So really social-networking platforms have become an integral part of the cycle of lead generation that our products contribute to.”
Linking social-networking capabilities to email and Website strategies can be a good way to combine multiple online campaigns. Above and beyond, builders can also integrate social-networking strategies with backend software solutions.
For example, in 2008, Salesforce.com, www.salesforce.com, San Francisco, Calif., and Facebook developed a relationship to combine its business applications with the “interpersonal power of social networks.”
Through Force.com for Facebook, companies can use the Facebook APIs (application programming interfaces) within Force.com applications. One example is the Facebook social graph, which can layer onto the Force.com application, allowing homebuilders to leverage Facebook capabilities in enterprise applications.
Earlier this year, Salesforce.com also announced Salesforce CRM (customer-relationship management) for Twitter. This technology allows builders to search through tweets and identify appropriate tweets and then join conversations.
According to the company, it’s an opportunity for businesses to not only listen, but also actively participate in conversations with customers. And in the end, that might very well be the biggest differentiator social-networking technologies bring to the table for builders.
While social-networking experts and software providers understand the concerns of builders, they also point to this new technology as a wave of the future—something that will compliment a Website and email campaigns and drive communication between builders and buyers.
Although social networking is garnering a lot of attention, and there is some business value to the applications, the technology is still so new that builders may want to approach these strategies with a bit of caution.
Just like some other CRM technologies—email campaigns and Websites—there is a lot of hype and potential, but with this comes a bit of trial and error. Additionally, there is still no clear ROI (return on investment) of the technology.