Mike Whaling of 30 Lines presents a case study about Urbane Apartments and their use of social media as a communication channel for marketing and customer service. Originally presented to the Minnesota Multi Housing Association on March 10, 2009.
>> Background
>> What Urbane is doing
>> What others are doing
>> What you can do
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
“The power of the consumer’s voice
has never been stronger...
It’s impacted consumer behavior
and how companies operate.”
>> David Daniels, VP & Research Director, Jupiter Research
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Internet is booming...
MyNewPlace estimates over 70%
of apartment searches now begin online.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
... Yet, your website is less important.
53% of online users consume content
outside traditional corporate websites.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Internet searchers are impatient.
Less than 10% of searchers read
beyond the rst three pages of results.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Social media impacts your reputation.
One-third of all Internet users post opinions.
36% think more positively about
a company that maintains a blog.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Social media?
Web 2.0?
Kid stuff, right?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The best thing to happen
to your organization.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
>> It levels the playing eld
by giving you a voice.
>> It gives you a direct connection
to your customers.
>> It gives your customers a direct
connection to each other.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Those conversations are powered by...
• Social networks • Widgets
• Blogs • Social bookmarks
• Online chat • Message boards
• Podcasts • Photo sharing
• RSS • Video sharing
• Microblogs • Wikis
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Where does it t?
>> Marketing
>> Branding
>> Customer service
>> Resident retention
>> Internal communications and training
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Internal Resources
>> 2 employees spend 1 - 3 hours per day
>> 4 - 6 compensated resident bloggers
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Change the way you think about
the entire customer experience.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Results
• Website traffic up over 65%.
• Blog traffic up over 4,300%.
• Participation in Urbane Lobby tripled.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Results
• No paid advertising in past six months.
• Nearly 100% increase in lease conversion.
• Rents consistently higher per square foot than
local competition.
• Brand awareness drives referrals and resident
retention.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Marketing
>> Increased traffic to website
>> Better traffic to website
>> Increased % of lease conversions
Branding
>> Increased presence on search engines
>> Responsive on ratings/reviews sites
>> Increased % of lease conversions
Customer Service
>> Higher ratings
>> Increase in resident testimonials
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Look at the whole picture.
>> Your brand is how people perceive you.
What other say about you is more
important than ever before.
>> Like it or not, social media leads to
conversations about your company.
Participating helps you control the
message.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Five sites to try this week:
>> Google Alerts
>> Facebook
>> Yelp
>> Multifamily Insiders
>> Twitter
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
...And ve more:
>> RentWiki
>> Delicious
>> Flickr
>> Vimeo
>> Ning
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Mike Whaling
386.795.8000
mike@30lines.com
30lines.com
Twitter.com/30lines
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Editor's Notes
Housekeeping items...
“the guy behind the guy...”
No need to take notes...
Audience level of experience: Facebook? MySpace? Property blog? Blogging this now? Twitter? Twittering this now?
From Universal McCann
This is actually where the name 30 Lines comes from...
This is actually where the name 30 Lines comes from...
Imagine your property website is a single match ... If I light that match, it puts off light, and I can probably see it in a dark room.
Now imagine your best customers, your biggest fans, are all shining a light on you. Probably changes how other people might view your business, right? This is what you really want... Let’s find ways to get our biggest fans shining their light on us.
(Note the cell phone in the foreground ... How times change, eh?)
Urbane Lobby: See this at UrbaneLobby.com ... Online community, incorporates ResidentHub, about 40-45% of residents participate.
Leasing staff sells as virtual clubhouse.
Cost: $30/month
Urbane is selling an experience thats reaches beyond its residents. VIP cards (given to residents, sold to anyone else)
Discounts to local vendors. Vendors get stickers to put in their windows, so the Urbane logo will end up plastered all over town!
Text messaging program...
In all her glory...
More examples...
All of this has to mean something for your business, right? Let’s turn these happy residents into our best salespeople...
Question I get a lot: How much work does all of this take?
What others are doing... Start with a critical business function: Customer Service.
My favorite line from Gary V.: “Want a marketing plan? CARE.”
Transformed a $2 million family wine store in NJ into a $60 million global wine destination. Gary is hosting a “Thunder Cruise,” secured a book deal, now travels the world speaking about social media and how businesses can benefit from social media.
Woody Allen once said, “80% of success is showing up.”
Get out of broadcast mode and start listening to your customers.
Use tools like Google Alerts, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search, and Technorati to identify where conversations are happening ... conversations about you, your brand, your staff, your neighborhood, your competition, anything relevant to your business.
Online tactics don’t play out in a vacuum, and they don’t replace your current marketing efforts.
Urbane puts itself at a disadvantage.