The Hidden Power of Social Media for Apartment Marketing

•Grow Overall Web Traffic

•Drive Google Rank

•Build Community & Engagement

•Drive Leads & Referrals

Apartment Finder is three powerful platforms

Supporting three effective marketing

strategies…

We are taking everything we’ve learned at Apartment Finder about how to effectively connect shoppers with apartment communities -- and deploying this with your social media strategy to connect and engage with residents

The Social Media Explosion

•11% of all time spent online in the U.S. is on social media

•1 in 4 U.S. internet page views in Dec 2009 occurred at one of the top social networking sites

•6 of 10 Americans interact with companies on social media sites

•The fastest growing segment of social media users is between 35 – 55 years of age

71% are 18 to 54 years old – Ideal Apartment Demographic

According to The Nielsen Company, global time spent on social networking sites is up 82% year over year (led by Facebook & Twitter)

Unique visitors to Facebook alone is now comparable to the major search engines . . .

The way users get content

from the web changed this

year . . . Google Web

A vast database of searchable information with content returns based on algorithms and technology that feed off of search criteria

Social Web

Developed personal news feeds of content from people we know, trust, or believe have something important to say or share about a topic of interest to us…facilitated by a series of platforms that allow people to connect and share information – creating an entirely new, contact-based search dynamic

Content vs. Contact search

And examples of contact

searching:Recipes

Retail bargainsRestaurantsBest Pizza

Coffee SpotsMedical AdviceMovie Reviews

Wine FavsAuto Recommendations

Events NotificationSports Tix

Decorating TipsCoupons

Keep residents & Find new

residents When asked which factors would contribute to renewing a lease or referring a friend:

Renew Refer

Prompt attention to maintenance 79% 76%

Attractiveness of grounds 71% 73%

Politeness of management staff 69% 74%

Friendly relations w/ other residents 61% 51%

Friendship with other residents 47% 41%

Personal relationships with staff 31% 32%

--NCI White Paper

Start somewhere and buildYour social media strategy.

Be patient, it takes time.

Content MarketingSystem for DrivingWeb Traffic . . .

Uncovering theSecret of SocialMedia ContentMarketing . . .

Users log on social media platforms, which drive them to various blogs and websites via content links, resulting in increased visits.

The basic

framework of a

social media

marketing plan

includes . . .

o Regular content creation published on blog platform

o Strong linking between blog and website to refer SEO value created by blog to website

o Market content across social platforms to drive referral traffic through blog link sharing

o Content should resemble information consumers are searching the web for when they are active in seeking leased space

o Content remains consistent with brand identity and personality

o Participation in social platforms for engagement and recruitment of followers

Apartment

Finder’s social

media marketing

program

drove our web

traffic, search

results, and

keyword

performance

o Apartmentfinder.com traffic increases from 1.3M to 2.0M visits per month during the year following our blog launch and social content marketing campaign

o Our social marketing activities drove a 54% total increase in monthly visitors without additional SEM investment

Lift to our website was meaningful and measurable!

o Keyword traffic increases by 40% from 570K to 800K monthly visitors following social campaign launch

o 258K different searches drive 6.7M visits…..increased content and keyword creation works to drive organic traffic, due in large part to our social media presence

Bainbridge Product Sample

A

CommunitySherpa

Case Study . . .

The Bainbridge

Companies

The Bainbridge Companies (www.BainbridgeCompanies.com) is a leading owner, developer and manager of luxury multifamily apartment communities in the Eastern United States, having over 10,000 apartment homes in 23 communities under management.

“We needed a robust platform, resources to monitor the content, and resources to develop it. We simply didn't have those resources available.” - Jared Miller, VP of Marketing

Fortunately, Miller learned about the CommunitySherpa program through his existing Apartment Finder account team. Recognizing the potential, Miller made the decision to implement the service for 21 of 23 Bainbridge properties

Results have far

exceeded the

program

expectations!

“Now that the blogs have been live for some time, we are seeing stronger organic placement and overall web traffic monthly. The growth is building each month.”

- Jared Miller, VP of Marketing

o Since launching in late 2009, every property has experienced an increase in organic, non-paid traffic to their web sites

o 10 properties have realized an increase in organic traffic of more than 70%, and four of these have seen more than 100%

o As a result, Bainbridge has been able to eliminate over $150,000 of annual online marketing spend in paid search advertising

Bainbridge

success factors:

o Regular participation by the apartment community management team

• All property managers post at least once or twice a month, and many post several times a week

• Topics such as property enhancements, parties, and neighborhood news generate a high level of interest and engagement

o Cross-linking and internal promotion

• CommunitySherpa blogs are configured to link directly to each property website’s url

• They link to the blog from text within website pages and integrate blog content within websites

Social Networking and Content Marketing

for apartment communities

Content Management <> Network Creation & Maintenance <> Reporting & Analytics

Taking it to the next level . . .

We start by

building a blog

website for your

community, or a

network of

community blogs

for your property

management

company

blog.YourCommunity.ManagementCo.comYourCommunity.myaptportal.com

Blog.YourCommunity.com

A Facebook Fan

page & Profile are

created for each

community, and

content from the

blog website is

streamed into the

page

There Are Two

Legitimate Social

Media Marketing

Paths for Property

Managers

People You Already Know:

Social Networking

o Resident engagement

o Social network (FB) focused

o Blog as community tool

o Feature engaged resident exp.

o Primary focus: Retain residents and showcase resident experience as rental tool

People You Want to Know But Don’t Yet Know:

Content Marketing

o Active apartment hunters search lots of stuff, lots of opportunities to be found

o Content marketing allows active renters to find the information they want… and you….simultaneously

o Social networks (FB) primarily used to distribute content that live on web

o Blog content marketing builds own audience of new prospects through keyword build up

o Blog content drives website results through increased keywords and organic search results

o Primary focus: New residents

A Twitter

account is

established, and

“tweets” are

created with

content

headlines & links

to the blog

website

We will source

and place

content from

several

“buckets” for

variety and

relevance

The focus within the

Sherpa team will be

on a high-quality

content marketing

schedule

o Sherpa Community Managers design a blog platform and content strategy with you

o 2 quality, tagged, linked, and optimized pieces of content posted to the community blog weekly

o Blog content linked and shared across your Facebook and Twitter networks

o Outreach and recruitment activity on Facebook and Twitter to locate more fans and followers

o Linking, commenting, and other content marketing activities created

o Local property management training program for leveraging content creation through their own social networking activities

SEO techniques

applied to your

content marketing

campaign to

optimize your site

for Google’s spider

– what are people

searching?

<p>Welcome to our <a href="http://thereserve1.community-sherpal.com/" title="Online Community for The Reserve in Duluth Georgia">The Reserve1</a> in Duluth, Georgia! If you'd like to be part of the <a href="http://thereserve1.community-sherpal.com/forum/" title="Forum and Message Board for The Reserve

Keyword tags + Appropriate, Fresh, Relevant Content + A Strong Linking

Strategy = the most effective SEO formula!

Set-up is guided

by your Social

Media Account

Manager who will

work closely with

you on an ongoing

basis

o In-depth set-up interview with your CommunitySherpa account manager

o Banner and color scheme design created

o Detailed questions about:

o the community

o local attractions and activities

o Major employers

o Local media sources

o Regional attractions

o Entertainment

o Training is conducted with your team to familiarize them with resources and opportunities, engagement techniques and reporting

o Your CommunitySherpa account manager maintains ongoing communication to capture community information and encourage engagement

CommunitySherp

a will market

your social

platforms to your

residents and

prospects

o Announcement letter from community manager

o Email blasts to residents asking them to join in.

o Important: your resident e-mail addresses will be critical in order to effectively market your program!

What do you need

to do to optimize

CommunitySherpa

’s effectiveness?

o Site staff should check sites daily for opportunities to engage with fans, followers and blog members

o Blog, facebook and twitter posts by staff create authenticity and increased engagement

• 2-3 Facebook and/or Twitter posts per week

• Timely responses to all comments

• Encouraging residents to engage; ask questions, take polls, have contests, promote community events, post community information

• Including your url’s in all marketing materials

o Communicate with your Online Community Manager to help keep them informed about community and area events and information (a weekly standing appointment works great!)

o Your site staff should be focused on additional “social networking” opportunities, while we focus on the “content marketing” function

Your resident

posts and

comments will

be monitored &

alerts provided:

We’ll deliver a

report on activity

and results every

month

o Business Activityo Phone leads

o Website click-thruso E-mail leads

Social Network Activity

o Blog visits, page views, time on site

o Members, subscribers, fans/followers

o Blog and Facebook comments

o Content Marketing Successo Organic Traffic Patterms

o Top Search Terms

o Top Referring sites

We Can Help You Understand and Measure The Social Media Campaign’s Impact on Your Website Traffic

Some important

details…

o You own each of the elements of the CommunitySherpa program – social identities, content, interaction, customer and prospect database (exception: licensed stock photos and non-exclusive licensed content)

o NCI will subject each marketing element of CommunitySherpa to legal review to ensure compliance with Fair Housing and Intellectual Property Rights law.

o The investment is only $350 per month per community

Apartment Finder is three powerful platforms…

Supporting three effective marketing

strategies…

We are taking everything we’ve learned at Apartment Finder about how to effectively connect shoppers with apartment communities -- and deploying this with your social media strategy to connect and engage with residents

Let’s take a look at some CommunitySherpa success stories . . .

City Lights Apartments, from Sept ‘09 – Apr ‘10

•4018 Page Views

•1260 Unique Visitors

•90 fans & followershttp://blog.citylightsapartments.com/

Arelia James Island, from Nov ’09 – Apr ‘10:

•5453 Page Views

•955 Unique Visitors

•261 fans & followershttp://areliajamesisland-jackson

ville.myaptportal.com/

West Village, from Nov ’09 Apr ‘10 :

•3816 Page Views

•1051 Unique Visitors

•68 fans & followershttp://blog.westvillagedurham.com

/